ARIZONA COWGIRL

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Photo: Mom :-)

The western lifestyle was full of adventure. My family belonged to a western saddle club that provided many ourdoor activiites. Sunday morning breakfast cookouts were followed by riding trails in the mountains. There were plenty of horse shows, hay rides, cook and camp outs under clear night skies, moonlight rides and excursions. And I had many friends to explore the desert with.. My horse, Taffy, and my dog Cindy were with me many wonderful years.... I began riding about age 7. Along the way of growing up ,, learned to play Hawaiian steel guitar, took Hawaiian dance and ballet. ~+¥+~ My Freshman Year: In the late summer Mom and I moved into the city. My western lifestyle had vanished, my parents divorced, and all my connections severed with my saddle club friends. It was a new way of life ART I saw an ad on a match book cover... some of you may remember: "Draw Me"...which I did and submitted it...and of course, I was accepted...and enrolled in the "Art Instruction Correspondence Course" based in Minnneapolis. From this I learned the mechanics of faces, human form, spatial concepts, etc. I sketched during classes! Oops! Drew portraits of my friends. ARCHITECTURE I began designing house plans at night at the kitchen table after my homework was done.. I could imagine how the houses would look and feel to be in the rooms, how the windows let in light, including the colors and arrangements of furnishings. DANCE That year, I also took up dance skating,..never satisfied to just try to stand up on skates, I had to learn how to dance skate or not at all! I managed to get into one competition and bar exam before moving on. My freshman year was a turning point. ~+¥+~ My Senior Year: DRAMA Drama and speech were favorite subjects all four years. I landed the lead role in "Our Town" as Emily. It is a metaphysical play that changed my life. Through it's story, my understaning of relationships, life, the here after...and the importance of living in the "now" began ot awaken. ~+¥+~ ELECTRONICS After graduation, taking the advice of my mother, I enrolled in a vocational school to learn electronic assembly...and began my work destiny with manufacturing. I began a life of mobility...living in Arizona, California, Colorado, and eventually Iowa...where I sprouted roots. ~+¥+~ Having in mind to be fully adept in art, I worked with several Art Galleries as a professional framer and consultant. And I took many hours of night art classes at our community college to expand my abilities. But, it wasn't until '97 that I finally "cracked the code" finding my niche in art, which encompasses abstract composition, mysterious realms, and intuitive skills..i.e... hand illustrations, in brilliant color and design that creates a unique personal Mandala. (See: My "Handy" work below.)

MY PASSION FOR MUSIC On our nation's 200th year of Independence, 1976, I celebrated by playing with my first band at the municipal park... yes...It was called The Awful Truth... I'd picked up an electric guitar the first of the year and learned some chords...with intentions of having a rock band. It was a short lived venture with that particular group of young ones..as we split up to form other bands..Which lead to meeting my husband of 30 years!! Together,our passion for music has lasted thoughout the years...and I like to think the best is yet to come.

THE TOURIST BAND

Denver, Colorado 1982-1984

This picture is from a half hour music video we made at the local TV station in Littleton, Colorado...1983. The station was filming a series of local artists. I have no idea how many times it played on the independent channel.
Doug is playing lead guitar and I switched from rhythm guitar to bass .

Our booking agent sent us all over the state to play one night gigs! ugh! La Junta, Sterling, Durango, Alamosa, Loveland, Central City, as far away as Scottsbluff, Nebraska!!! It was arduous but exciting at the same time.
And we had full time day jobs!!

Other Band mates: (Not Pictured)
Jim Hart- drums, vocals (fomer Iowa band mate)
Rick Zimmerman, lead guitar, vocals

SHILOH band (Set To Stun)(Wolf River)
1985-1993

From Left to Right:
JR, drums, vocals
Doug, Lead guitar, vocals
Me, bass, vocals
Rich, rhythm guitar, vocals
Michelle, keyboard, vocal

Doug and I moved from Colorado back to Iowa when he secured a good job here.
After a year of not playing, the "bug" bit me again. So I joined the Shiloh Band that was looking for a bass player..it finally morphed into the members in the photo..and Doug joining to play lead guitar.
Together eight years we were great friends!!
But everything has an end..

REUNION:
June 2005
Our first reunion!
Thirteen years passed since we were all together..
When we gathered to play, it was like time had stopped and it was just like it used to be...fun..!!

Aug 2006
The 2nd Annual party ! It's always fun to get together with old friends.. it was a great time.

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1988 GIRL TALK
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I first met Mikki in 1988 when she answered an ad I placed in the paper for female musicians...she played keyboard, Pam played drums, Brenda played bass and I began playing lead..(one of the things on my "to do list"..).

We pooled our talents to write a ballad together which had the flavor of the day ,,the short time we were together was great.. we had a ball.

From then on, Mikki and I were best friends. We went to art classes and a dance class together. We got small parts in a community play. Went to hear rock bands and dance. We had had such fun!

UPDATE:
Just last Christmas, (2007) I went with her and her eldest son, (my Godson) to pick out his first electric guitar. It was fun to think of myself as his Godmother of Rock!! We had a laugh over that.
And he had his first jam with Doug and I this September (08) when we had a big house party, inviting all our friends..And Mikki played keyboards!

SIG NIXON BAND - Big Steve

Steve and Doug have been life long friends and they worked together in bands in the 70's!

Big Doug on Drums- Mr. Doug on Guitar

Our band: Six Nixon was together five years. 1994-1999

The most recent photo. 2008

2009 UPDATE MUSIC In April of '07, the year long collaboration with family members to put together a CD album culminated when it got some air play on the Bob Dorr show "Down On The Corner"...it was a delight to hear our music on the radio. We got eight plays in total... He plays local artists of Iowa, providing a terrific service for musicians. Snips of our music can be heard on CdBaby ..the band name..."Static Paradise". The album title..."Pop The Cork." Other sites where we are listed include: cduniverse, radioindy, allmusic, i-tunes. Just type in the band name on the "search engine." Time seems to be racing by! November 2009 update: We have reworked two songs from our first album, with Marty, a marvelous drummer, in his studio. Taxi expressed interest, but wanted a live drummer to make it more applicable for their needs.. Fortunately, Marty is the best of drummers and his studio is state of the art including his expertise. For those of you who listen to our songs on stream or CD Baby....the songs are "Met Upon A Wiseman" and "I Can't Save The World".. We also have a new song, "I Dream Of You" which is already mixed, mastered and submitted to Taxi. wish us luck!! We hope this one is the beginning of a more professional album. We've learned a lot through this process and expect that our next album will greatly surpass our first.

BELLY DANCE Christmas 08 We were given a DVD of "Bellydance Superstars Live in Paris at the Folies Bergere." It was marvelous. Since then, I've been working with DVDs of Dolphina, Fatiem, Jillina, and Blanca. -------------------------- I simply LOVE the art form of Tribal Fusion and have collected DVDs of Rachel Brice, Ashara, Sharon Kihara, Kami Liddle, Moria, Samantha and Sherri. I'm becoming an avid collector. ----------------------------------- Since May a number of us have enjoyed weekly workouts with our instructor, Roxanne. She's creating a studio to work in that we'll soon be enjoying! We are putting together a little troupe. It's marvelous fun.

METAMORPHOSIS II

I think it's safe to say, we need to keep actively engaged in living to the fullest as we are able. Age should be no barrier to trying and learning new things. Always remember, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Jam 1990

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