The Beginning - Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

In 1976, I gave a concert to my Arizona neighbours by singing along to the Carpenters Greatest Hits at the top of my lungs. I've never been able to stop singing.

But I have been able to lose focus. Able to get frustrated with the lack of opportunities out there to sing and play. Not necessarily for money - though that is becoming a nice little bonus - but just the chance to get together with other musos and to play. Hotsource has been created just for me. I want to know everything about the music industry: who is who, where people are playing, how to get out there myself, and how to improve. And the more I talked to other musos - that's what they wanted to know to. Ah ha!

I suppose some of my background might be useful/interesting or a good space filler.

Family - In Arizona, I have a mom (singer) and a dad (saxophone player, keyboards, flute at one point, not much guitar, and back-up singer) and a "little" brother (with a great car sound system). I've been happily married to Alan since 1989. We've got one Golden Retriever - Mogy - a shedding white monster who we love dearly. We lost one, too - Pro - maybe I should leave him out since he's not here anymore - but to me he was our first child. Well, look at that - he's in.

Music - I've never had a private singing lesson, but I grew up singing in school choirs and getting instruction from our chorale directors. I took piano and saxophone lessons when I was in elementary (primary) school. I performed in school musicals (high school and uni) and I've been a guest singer in bands since I was 14. In 1989, I bought my first guitar and took lessons for a few months. Then I didn't play it for 11 years (see work section for lame excuse). In 2001 I picked it up again and have been taking lessons consistently for the last 4 years. I'm loving it. I'm able to get more opportunities to sing because I have something else to add. In various bands I'm singing and/or playing in public every week and I'm starting to get paying gigs several times a month. I've even started writing and performing my own songs.

Education - I have more degrees than I know what to do with. I know they've all helped me along the way and they've certainly given me a great background of knowledge to base my decisions on. My motto is that I make everything up - but, honestly, I know that most of what I make up is pretty much based on a sound, rational, intelligent thought process - the rest I make up. J Anyway - all of my education (except for one year as a theatre student) is business based. I'm good with numbers and good with words. Marketing is my passion - I believe a strong marketer makes a great business leader.

Work - I think my favourite job ever was waiting tables. Seriously. I loved giving great service and getting rewarded instantly for it. I worked at a great restaurant in Scottsdale Arizona - and a few here in Sydney. Definitely prefer to get tipped. I love the motivation to perform well. Anyway, I worked in the hospitality industry for about 9 years. Then I went to get all those degrees and moved into a corporate environment - in telecommunications. From 1994 until 2004 I worked for big phone companies. I moved up quickly and I got paid a lot. And I was miserable. I worked mega hours every week and never seemed to finish anything. I stopped doing things that were important to me - like music. I felt trapped and unempowered and wasteful and bored. I tried everything to get inspired, but getting out seemed like the best thing to do. So I did.

I launched The Metro Gnome website in October 2004. It was completely exhilarating. I knew my passion for music would drive me forward in ways I couldn't imagine. And once I met Sue, the whole world opened up. We are music loving marketers. Better than that - we are musician loving marketers. We both want exactly the same thing - to work in an industry that continually inspires us, to add value directly to the whole industry, and to have complete control over the balance between work and LIFE.

So we made Hotsource happen. We've created a marketing inspired music community with a great website and super programs that help musicians GET OUT THERE. It helps everyone in support roles GET OUT THERE, too. It benefits the whole industry and makes us feel good everyday. It's hard work - and incredibly fun.

The United States - I'm a Seppo (Yank). Over the years, I've lived in Virginia, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Texas. Still haven't gotten my Australian citizenship - though that's due to laziness rather than political stance. My husband is Australian and that's what initially brought me here in 1988. Now we live here completely by choice - we love Sydney!

The End - And that's about all. Well, not really, but I've written a song with more - you'll just have to look up when I'm playing and ask for it. Just check out the Gig Guide and search for WLC! See ya!