What a life I have had, over 20 years ago I sang With the NEW GENERATI0N for over a year, then moved to Maryland to finish high school. There I decided I must come back to California, so I left home, moved back (to L.A., got an apartment, got a job, rejoined the group and tried to re-live the earlier days. The problem was, life was moving on, I Was getting older and I had great expectations for myself.
I always wanted to work in entertainment somehow. At the time I thought music would be my ticket. I moved back to Maryland and went to the University of Maryland. There I studied music. Theory, conducting. voice, piano, all the things I )(new would need. I made my way through school with "church jobs", making a few bucks here and there, enough to get by and enough to say "I am a musician.
After several years, I began to get interested in Television. Though I kept my singing jobs and stayed in music school1 I began to work free. lance in television. I got a part time lob directing at the local Washington D.C. CBS affiliate. What a thrill. I was working on material that hundreds of thousands of people were watching. Now, this was really show business.
A few years later I began to get heavily involved in the technical side of things. I always had a knack for the technical1 so I really took to this television stuff.
Before I knew it I had lived in the Washington D.C. area for 10 years. I really hated it there also. Windows closed all year: "Too cold in Winter, too hot in summer." I did manage to get married though. I met a girl at college who also worked in TV. She was a technical director at NBC. We are now married 18 years, and still going. She is the president and CFO of my current company.
I finally got my chance to leave the East and move home to CA. This was my dream. I got a job with Doug Trumbull working in Star Trek The Motion Picture. This was the beginning of the current age of motion picture visual effects. Doug was gathering people of various talents to work in his facility in Marina del Rey. MARINA DEL REY !!! I KNOW WHERE THAT IS !!
My wife, Rhonda and I sold everything and were back in California in less than a month. Was I glad to leave.
So here I am again. Still working in visual effects. I see a few of you from time to time, This would be our third reunion. I missed the second one, I Was out of the country, but I have been looking forward to this one for months,
So how many of us are still in show business?
Don Bluth, Rick "MR. R", Tom Whitson, Me there must be more. I constantly keep my eyes and ears open for someone I know from the past. I eat at the Roll and Rye regularly. Finally, I bumped into Rusty Haft. After all these years, he recognizes me ! Now I certainly don't look the same. 35 pounds heavier and two thirds the hair. As a matter of fact, after I bumped into Rusty, I kept on bumping into him five or six times,
Anyway, I hope you have all anticipated this gathering as much as I have and I hope that at least a few more of us can re-connect our old friendships.
The New Generation was a most joyous time of my youth. I can't look back without relating everything to the group. I have forgotten most of my high school friends, but not my friends from the New Generation. Best of luck to all of you and I hope we continue to reunite and remember those wonderful times of our lives.
My best To All Of You
Mr. M