Veteran musician recalls career at First Friday Club Meeting

In this week's Sun Community Newspapers www.suncommunitynewspapers.com

Veteran musician recalls career at First Friday Club Meeting
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

A lesson on quantum physics might have been the last thing Studio City Chamber of Commerce members expected February 1 during their monthly First Friday Club breakfast meeting at the Daily Grill.

But that was what featured speaker Ray Colcord said he had in mind: “I’m sure the same questions are running through your mind that are running through mine. Who the hell is Ray Colcord? How do I write a really good blues tune? And, dude, what’s up with this quantum physics thing?”

Colcord, who has composed music for over 700 television episodes spanning shows including “My Two Dads,” “Silver Spoons,” and “Facts of Life,” is a Studio City resident, past president of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, and former A&R executive for Columbia Records. He said he discovered such acts as Aerosmith, Jim Croce and Bonnie Raitt, but failed to convince Columbia Records head Clive Owen to sign them on at the time.

“This isn’t the Wichita, Kansas Chamber of Commerce, this is Studio City,” said Colcord. “You see actors everyday – you know they’re nuts.”

As promised, Colcord shared his formula for crafting a good blues tune. He first advised coming up with a good opening lyric. “‘I got a good woman’ is a bad way to begin a blues song unless you stick something nasty in the next line – ‘I got a good woman with the meanest face in town’ – now we’re talking,” Colcord joked, also adding that blues lyricists should mention cars such as Chevys, Cadillacs, Fords and broken down trucks. Volvos, BMWs, SUVs and hybrids would all be frowned upon.

Other pointers? Something really good to complain about, Colcord suggested. “A man with male pattern baldness ain’t the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is the blues,” he said, garnering audience laughter.

Colcord then provided an unexpected lesson in quantum physics, showcasing the depth of his knowledge on the topic. He used poster board diagrams, flash lights, a basketball and other visual aids to show the evolution of a wave-based model of light to a photon-based model. “The rest of the day compared to this is going to be so easy for you,” he noted.

At the end of his speech, Colcord shared anecdotes from his experience touring with Lou Reed as a keyboard player at age 21. He discussed the difficulty of life on tour, when he cherished the rare days he could sleep for more than three hours between gigs during a hectic schedule. He also addressed how the development of the internet and web-based sales in the music distribution industry has resulted in the shutdown of brick-and-mortar record stores. But Colcord said he didn’t see this having a negative impact on the live music scene.

“As far as I know, boys are still interested in girls, and they need something to do…There are things that are just more enjoyable shared with another group of human beings.”

LAUSD’s Monica Garcia unveils new district goals

Article in this week's Sun Community Newspapers - www.studiocitysun.com

LAUSD’s Monica Garcia unveils new district goals
BY NAZBANOO PAHLAVI

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board President Monica Garcia addressed members of the Studio City Chamber of Commerce at their monthly First Friday Club meeting January 4 at the Daily Grill in Studio City.

The gathering marked Garcia’s first community appearance in 2008.

Garcia, 39, shared stories from her educational path growing up in East Los Angeles and attending UC Berkeley. “There were so many Garcias in the Chicano studies classes that I got somebody else’s ‘F,’” she recalled.

Garcia received a heavy dose of identity politics at the school, whose emphasis on pushing minority quotas led to her now-amusing realization that “I was a person of color, which I had no idea.”

She joked that she was “shocked that my life was so much in peril” growing up as a Latina in a working class family in the barrio – labels that identified who she was as a person.

The experience, she said, fuels her drive to “change the belief system” in the LAUSD to put the 50 percent dropout rate into perspective rather than just viewing it as a statistic.

Garcia, along with a school board that was newly elected last May, has worked with Superintendent David Brewer III to devise a strategic plan that would change the course of the LAUSD.

“We do a very, very good job in L.A. with some kids,” Garcia said, citing Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School downtown as one of 28 national blue medal schools.

But despite such exceptional standouts, LAUSD still failed to meet three out of 46 yearly California assessment criteria that included language arts for special education, language arts for English learners, and graduation rates. “LAUSD cannot stay the same,” said Garcia.

As a result, the board has devised an eight-part resolution to move LAUSD forward and bring about needed change. The resolutions include recruiting top-notch teachers, training principals and administrators, paying employees on time, and refocusing facility use.

To address the low graduation rate, the “Diplomas for All” resolution has set the bar high – a graduation goal of 100 percent by 2015. To keep the district in check, a system of metrics will be used to evaluate its progress during reports to the community.

“We have an imperative to change our graduation results. We have an imperative to be the district of choice for teachers and principals and parents,” said Garcia, who said she was excited to be involved in Los Angeles education.

Garcia said the LAUSD is currently waiting to hear from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, since 80 percent of the district’s funding comes from the state level. “Our challenge today, really, we have to wait for Sacramento to tell us how much pain we’re going to endure with this budget crisis.”