Alimar

I went to school for graphic design and photography, and have been free-lancing for 30 years. Minored in Philosophy and Astronomy, with a little Psychology thrown in.

I have been around music and art ALL my life. I was raised in an artistic and musical family. My Mother was an artist, and my Father still paints and draws.

My Grandfather played mandolin, guitar and ukelele. My Dad plays banjo, guitar, uke and some keyboards. My Bro plays 5 string banjo, tenor banjo, and guitar. My uncles and cousins have tremendous musical and artistic skills. My cousin Jack Gavin was the drummer for "The Charlie Daniels Band" for many years. I was resistant to learn an instrument in my youth. Oh, the PAIN!

And, my wife is a drummer! Several of my close friends are professional musicians, recording engineers, sound men, singers, drummers, writers, composers, music store owners and music teachers.

I started working with local bands right out of high school as a sound and light man. I did that for 8 years. From this experience, and with my artistic skills, I started creating logos and promotion (including CD and Album covers) for many bands over the next 20 years. During this time I got my Press credentials which gave me a plethora of backstage passes where photographed and met such greats as ELP, Genesis, Yes, ELO, The Who, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa... to name a few. Their influences have made a mark on my style of musical composing. A photo collection can be viewed here: Alimar's Concert Photos: http://homepage.mac.com/alimar/.Pictures/concert-photos.html

In between all of this, I spent 15 years as the Art Director at a local college, designing promotional materials in conjunction with the Public Relations department. I also taught Macintosh Basics, Advanced Mac and applications from 1985 to 1993. I was an onsite computer admistrator for many ad agencies while they were making the transition from traditional to electronic generated design.

It wasn't until the introduction of GarageBand, in early 2004, that I actually started writing music and singing. Music has been with me all these years.

Everyone around me gave their's... now I'm giving it back. I have recently started playing live on my compositions with moderate editing in GarageBand's Track Editor.