Life in LA

As you can see, a lot has changed since the year and half I last updated. After the last post, my wife, Jamie, and I left the wide open spaces in Appleton, Wisconsin, journeying westward to Los Angeles, California. Because we are both aspiring filmmakers--specifically screenwriting for her and composing for me-- it was time to leave the Midwest and achieve our goals. Though it seemed ideal to stay in Wisconsin, buy a home, and live quietly and contentedly among family and friends, I knew we'd someday regret never trying. Since we're both risk-takers, it made sense to pick up and go... as soon as our lease was up (we're risk-takers who value a good credit score).

So we sold our Ford Focus, traded in our PT Cruiser for a spacious minivan, gave away and sold a lot of our things, bid farewell to our families, and headed cross-country with our two cats, Niko and Cooper.

Our first road trip sunset in Iowa

Although it's never easy leaving loved ones, it was time: the way was paved, aligning all the elements to clear a path west without any problems. The road trip was fast. We left Friday afternoon, finally stopping in Nebraska the first night, exhausted and incredibly grateful Jamie's mom had packed sandwiches for us. Traveling with our cats complicated matters when trying to find hotels each night. We spent a good half hour looking for a place in Nebraska that allowed animals since the Holiday Inn we'd originally booked turned us away. The next day-- my birthday-- proved even more challenging driving through the mountains of Denver. I'd driven my sister to LA years before but we'd gone the Salt Lake City route, not directly through Denver, so while I thought I understood mountain driving I had no idea about the insanity that would ensue. "Runaway Semi" ramps, double sharp curve signs, and cars racing around and down steep curves at 70mph made for an intense, white-knuckled day. Between prayers for dear life, Jamie managed to reserve a room at the Residence Inn Marriott in Glenwood Springs, CO as a special stop for my birthday.

Oasis in the mountains.

Sushi, cocktails, and a soak in the hot tub relieved the exhaustion from driving. It was such a beautiful place we almost postponed our arrival in California for one more day.  Our journey on Sunday took us through the rest of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and ended in California. If you've never done a cross country road trip (or even a regional road trip) in America, do yourself a favor: save the money and make the time for a few weeks of traveling the US. We live in such a beautiful, diverse country with an unbelievable amount to see and do. Jamie remarked how it would've been great to turn our 3 day trip into at least a week, but having a cat that hates to travel makes that difficult:

You can see Niko's excitement for car travel on his face.

Our other cat Cooper seemed to enjoy himself.......

After arriving in Los Angeles, clearing the financials and paperwork with the leasing company, and unpacking our things that arrived FOUR DAYS after we did (God bless air mattresses), we began settling into our neighborhood of Atwater Village. LA is great, scary, pretty, smelly, confusing, exciting-- it's a mix of extremes and eccentricities that will Culture Shock even the most Urban Midwesterner. Five years in Chicago was not enough to prepare me for the asinine highway system and terrible drivers. Jamie and I will have high blood pressure until the day we leave LA-- you just have to live with it.

Yet there is always something happening. The food is wonderful, diverse, and EVERYWHERE. There are tons of places to explore and the weather-- while hot on the east side of LA-- is great. Not having to find our car buried under 6 feet of snow this winter was a relief. Plus we spent Thanksgiving seeing sights like the Chinese Theater:

Not to mention we were fortunate enough to find a great gated apartment community that we chose blindly over the Internet. It's an oasis among this crazy city:

After the stress of moving and adjusting and just trying to get our bearings, we took some time to relax and soak in the fact that we packed up our life (with the help of movers) and moved to the West Coast. So what are we doing here? Breaking into Hollywood, of course.  This takes time, patience, networking, and a discipline at always practicing our craft. Jamie is writing screenplays in the hopes of having one bought or optioned. She's also keeping busy with her own blog and was recently hired to write for another website. Her confidence, use of language, and imagination will guide her into this Industry and continued success-- I'm proud of her.

As for myself, I'm here to compose digital music for film, TV, commercials, trailers, and video games, which brings me to the changes on my blog.  You've probably noticed the SoundCloud player at the top of my blog: it's a direct link to all of the music I compose, and I will continue to add more pieces as the weeks progress. This blog is a way for me to share my process, my inspirations, and my life in LA. Since I love talking about film and music, I'll write about that as well.

Living amidst the Film Industry excites me and I'm eager for people to hear my work and know my craft. I began digitally composing back in college when a roommate let me play around with his Soundtrack Pro (now a part of Logic Studio) software one summer. Since then I've scored music for short films, created a piece for a documentary, and had my music used in a non-profit AIDS awareness commercial. While I've had an innate musical talent from birth, my music background truly begins at the age of 13 when I started drumming. My friends and I formed the band "Breathing Machine," made 3 albums, got signed to a national label, and toured the country. I left the band to join the Marines but was medically discharged in boot camp after the doctor there discovered I had an eye disease. So while I work solely through the computer right now, I am, in fact, a musician. My music is meant to be heard so listen and enjoy. I always appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE feedback so feel free to leave comments or send me a message.

While the Biz is incredibly hard to break into and requires more than just a journey cross country, coming to LA is half the battle. Staying is the other half. I hope you want to come along for the ride.