Music
Motorcycling
Tango
Bicycling.
The first is how I made a living for two decades.
All four (at one time or another) have been personal obsessions.
And the last two consume most of my recent discretionary energy. Thus the theme of this web site.
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Growing up in Southern Californian, music was all I knew. Dad was a high school band and orchestra director (but not in the school district I attended), all my siblings sang and played instruments, and my junior high school band director made the career defining decision of switching me from trumpet to French horn in 8th grade. High school choir was fun and social, and by contrast, the band was quite competitive and business-like. We even played a couple of NFL half-time shows. In my senior year, the USC Marching Band director recruited me to become a music major at that university.
I was blessed with incredible French horn teachers at USC: Vince De Rosa, Jim Decker, and Wendell Hoss. I think one's private teachers are the main reason to choose a music school.
I freelanced as a French hornist in Los Angeles from 1976 to 1993. My first union gig was playing extra (3rd) horn on the LA Chamber Orchestra recording of Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances, conducted by Neville Marriner . Jim Decker and Art Briegleb were the 1st and 2nd horns. My part was this funky bass line that, even though not hard, caused me to sweat bullets. Most of my work afterwards ended up being in musical theatre. Dreamgirls (1983) was my first big show. Phantom of the Opera (1989-1993) was my last. In between, I played quite a bit of ballet, some motion picture and TV sessions, and a lot of chamber music. Back at USC, five of us had formed a woodwind quintet that stayed together (in one form or another) for 20 years! The oboist (Kathi Robinson) and I were in it for the whole time.
I took the opportunity of Phantom's closure in LA to pursue a new life ... in an ashram in Portland. I had already been attending classes of the Nityananda Institute at a satellite/home in Santa Monica. So when the Institute moved from Massachusetts to Oregon in 1993, it seemed like a good opportunity to tangibly commit to this spiritual practice.
I continued to play French horn in Portland, although a lot less, subbing (for a while) with the Oregon Symphony, and performing for 7 seasons with the Oregon Ballet Orchestra. Practicing was a challenge at the ashram, and I eventually made arrangements with off-site members to practice in the basements or studios of their homes. Having a practice space ended up being the justification for moving out of the ashram into a studio apartment in the Multnomah Village neighborhood of SW Portland. I continued my "house job" of cooking wheat-free pancakes every Friday morning at the Nityananda Institute for a couple more years, but my involvement there gradually lessened.
Coincidentally, Argentine Tango discovered me in July 1997, almost 4 years after my move from Los Angeles to Portland, and 4 months before my move out of the ashram. Also coincidentally (or not), the place I moved to was only 2 miles from Clay's Dance Studio, which was more or less "the center" of Portland's tango scene during the first three or four years of my involvement with that dance.
Maggie Daly and Mira Ames were the ashram members that first introduced me to Argentine tango, but it was overhearing Clay Nelson tell a student, "you should take my tango class...that's where it's really at" that convinced me to really learn the dance that Clay seemed so passionate about.
The rest is history. Countless classes, lessons, workshops from masters (in both Portland and Seattle), and festivals. I tangoed every night during my 2nd and 3rd years. I developed the web site that is now portlandtango.com. I traveled to Buenos Aires. I attended two "International Tango Weeks" in Nijmegen, Holland. I also ended up turning significant tango energy into preparing recorded music for DJ'ing
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Lately, bicycling has carved significant inroads into my tango time. It all started with an invitation in July '05, from Dan and Monika Johnson and Cynthia Stillwell, to ride from Portland to Astoria. I got out my 18-year-old mountain bike with road tires and (except for one stretch of highway with a heavy head wind) managed to keep up with my bicycling veteran friends. I vowed then and there to get a proper road bike. Ironically, I ended up spending so much, I had to ride the new bicycle everywhere to justify the expense.
My first really long ride (since Astoria) was from Sherwood to Eugene on Christmas eve day '05 (114 miles, solo and unsupported). Had a lovely Christmas dinner of crab and lobster with friends Pam Joffe, Rick Roman, and Greg Estes upon arrival in Eugene.
I have ridden five centuries since then, most of them in June '06. The last one was the Livestrong Challenge in July '06. Lots of friends and relatives donated funds to the Lance Armstrong Foundation on my behalf, allowing me to participate in the ride.
I've also begun dabbling in bicycle racing. (I've done 37 races so far in 2006 ... Oregon is good for that.) I'm certainly not competitive, but racing gives my cardiovascular system a workout unlike any other. My favorite venues are the Mt. Tabor circuit (in July) and Friday Summer nights at the Alpenrose Dairy Velodrome. Track racing (done on single-speed fixed-gear brakeless bicycles) is all about (for me) overcoming fear. But there's something mellow about hanging out at the Bike Central-sponsored event after a tough week at work.
And then there's cyclo-cross. Oregon's famous for the number of people that particpate in this type of bicycle racing. The routes are comprised of a combination of pavement, dirt roads or single track, and obstacles or run-ups that require riders to carry their bicycles on their shoulders. Over 700 riders have been showing up lately at the Portland area's Cross Crusade events. That's about the same number as dancers who showed up at Portland's TangoFest. And there I was during that 3rd weekend in October trying to juggle both.
Significant tango friends/teachers tell me I should continue riding ... I seem so much happier and fit.
Hmmm..
Bill has studied with dozens of Argentine tango masters, some of them several times. HIs two decades as a professional French hornist greatly influence his relationship to the dance and its music.