When I formed the new wave band Café Society in Los Angeles in the summer of 1982, the 19-year-old me from Chicago probably could have never imagined it would take 38 long years before I would release my band’s first single and music video.
But they say that all good things come to those who wait…
Over the next five years, Café Society would become one of L.A.’s most beloved unsigned local bands, playing alongside up and coming artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Meat Puppets, TSOL, Cock Robin, Bang Bang, Steve Vai, Los Lobos and The Minutemen.
In 1987, after five years, dozens of gigs and a handful of studio sessions, I decided to return to Chicago to attend law school at DePaul University. But while attending my 10-year grammar school reunion that September, I re-connected with an old childhood friend and decided to put my plans on hold and join my friend on a trip to Spain.
Having spent more than a year living in Granada, in Spain’s southern Andalucía region, I directed a lot of creative energy on writing songs, poetry, short stories and one-act plays and decided to return home to pursue my academic studies…but not in law as I had once desired to do.
In the spring of 1988, I enrolled at the Theatre School of DePaul University in their new playwriting program, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in June of 1992. I stayed on at DePaul and earned a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (English, History & Education) in June of 1994. I completed my teacher training at Stephen T. Mather High School on Chicago’s north side…the same high school where I graduated nine years earlier (and was a sub-par student!).
Putting my creative aspirations aside, I became a teacher and remained an educator for 26-years. I moved back to Spain in June of 1996 where I would remain until 2008. After living in Liverpool, England for two years, I relocated to the Netherlands in August of 2010.
In 2019, I joined up with Russian bass guitarist Andrey Zakharov and Paraguayan drummer Christian Palmieri to re-form Café Society…32 years after disbanding the original L.A.-based group.
In March of 2020, along with Zakharov and Palmieri, we recorded the first Café Society single, “Daylight Storm,” at SAE in Amsterdam. The track features L.A.-based Irish-Cypriot composer, musician and producer Jason Soudah, who contributed both the keyboard parts and mixing, and original Café Society saxophone player Jeff Dellisanti, who reunited with the band after 35 years to play on the recording.
“Daylight Storm” was released on Café Society’s indie label Retro Records on 15 August 2020. A music video, directed by Barbadian-St. Maartener director Kristen Sorton, featuring myself and my three youngest daughters, premiered on 23 August 2020.
Café Society's new single, “On the Bright Side of Rosa,” mixed and mastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, was released on September 1st 2021 and features my daughter Bella, making her debut on keyboards.