“Safe Passage” was a perfect example of who I am and what drives me. Chris Casaburi came to me and asked if I wanted to join with him and some others in a 21 day video contest. We had three weeks to write, film and produce a 5-8 minute video with only the title given to us. Working with a blank page and a team of friends, we dug in and created something totally outside our comfort zone. Sure, it’s not an Oscar winner but besides being very proud of it, the process brought out the best in all of us and we were left with a wonderful little gem of art.

So that’s what I am, an artist. I kicked off my career with the most unusual gig of entertainer on Amtrak’s Train #81, the Silver Star, a sleeper from NY to Miami.

I learned the trade of a recording artist in the 70’s at Chip Taylor’s studio, owned also by his brother, Jon Voight, and his keyboardist, “Crazy” Joe Renda. I tutored with the man who wrote “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning.” And I met and worked with his many songwriting partners: Billy Vera (“At This Moment,”) , L. Russell Brown (“Tie a Yellow Ribbon,”) I also brought in old Bronx buddy, Ace Frehley, to record and worked with him on KISS Dynasty tracks, including my idea of “2000 Man'“ which became a signature song for him. We stayed friends to this very day, and even wrote a song together for his Billboard #9 LP, “Space Invaders.” “Past The Milky Way” is a fan favorite but about an ex-girlfriend of his. So, it doesn’t get much airtime.

Ace recommended North Lake to Eddie Kramer who had just finished Ace’s hit solo LP (“Ace Frehley”) with the monster song, “New York Groove.”

Eddie came by, loved the place and proceeded to do several projects there including the Simms Brothers LP. He taught me many of his secrets, including miking, compressing the overheads, 24 track “window” edits and utilizing our MCI 2 Track machines in tandem for extended tape delay (with mike stands as guides and capstans.) I am forever grateful to Eddie for it all.

Songwriting and short stories were my art for the next several decades although I never reached mainstream. Along the journey, I found I was a top-notch team-builder and worked with over fifty Fortune 500 companies around the country and the world (Chevron brought me to China to teach their China Energy group.)

In my late twenties, the Scandinavian sport of Orienteering completely captured me and I threw myself into it. You are given a detailed topo map with circles on it indicating the location of checkpoint flags. Visit them all in order and the fastest time wins. Map-reading Tortoise can beat the very fast Hare. And I proceeded to teach school children as well as corporate leaders the finer skills of problem-solving on the move. Bjorn Kjellstrom, the man who coined the term, orienteering, as well as inventing the modern-day Silva compass, became my friend and mentor. He sent me to Sweden to learn the finer things about teaching maps from the world’s best. He taught me more than that. He showed me how a successful millionaire communicates and is with the world.

By the 90’s I split my time recording and treasure hunting with corporate execs and school children. I got a call from old friend, Chazz Palminteri. We met when I recorded his friends, The Earls, who the #1 “Remember Then.” I sang with them for almost ten years, singing baritone and playing guitar in every major venue in the northeast.

Chazz needed help with the acapella music for his cult classic, “A Bronx Tale.” It was only several weeks but I got to work on the film with Robert (Please, call me Bob) DeNiro. I recorded all the street-corner singing with the white kids and then the black group. Easy stuff but they needed it right.

Filming “Safe Passage” on the Appalachian Trail in Pawling, NY with Chris Casaburi, October 2020. Picture by Doug Abdelnour, Bedfoto.com

With the North Lake Sound brain trust: (L-R) Chip Taylor, CC, Jon Voight, “Crazy” Joe Renda. 1979

With Eddie Kramer 1981 at North Lake Sound. Photo by Crazy Joe Renda

Bjorn Kjellstrom, inventor of the modern-day liquid-filled (Silva) compass. He’s holding magnetite and I have the world’s largest compass. His business card read, “Magnetism changed my life.”