CURRENT MISSION

to support myself as a working pianist in Europe.

ABOUT ME

I am a person who cares very much about art, politics, and spirituality. Specifically, I'm a jazz/cabaret/ musical theater/piano bar pianist who enjoys collaborating with singers and other instrumentalists (see www.sheldonforrest.com).

My last show in the U.S. was called "1968--the Concert" and featured 90 minutes of music from the anglophone world written, recorded, or released in the year 1968, with a lead vocalist, two backup singers, a drummer and a bass player.

My first gigs in Paris have been "Les Aperos Lyriques"--classical music with a French soprano, and "Jam Vocale"--open mic with an American swing/blues singer; both at Swan Bar, Montparnasse.

I've also worked a lot in music education--in San Francisco at City College, Crestmont Conservatory, and International Studies Academy, and in New York at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Politically I am basically a democratic socialist (think Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich) and an opponent of the Neo-cons & other global elites (think Rockefellers, Rothschilds), the New World Order (think IMF, WTO) the so-called "War on Terror," the consolidated media (think Murdoch, Berlusconi) and I believe in nonviolent but active and outspoken resistance.

Spiritually I am a follower of the Dalai Lama and identify myself as a Mahayana Buddhist. I have seen His Holiness speak on several occasions and have visited Dharamsala, Bodhgaya, etc.

I am an avid reader and traveler, enjoy good food and wine and good company, love conversations with intelligent, interesting, offbeat people, and am a bit Europhile and 60's-esque in many of my sensibilities.

I have profiles on both MySpace and Facebook, for those of you Couchsurfers who belong to either of those networks.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe I was born on this planet in this lifetime in order to bring both pleasure and awareness to others through my art. Conversely I believe that everyone who is attracted to me through my art is a person whom I am meant to learn from in one way or another.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I belong to the Paris Couchsurfing Group

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've been to Paris Couchsurfing group parties and have Couchsurfed in Amsterdam

Interests

Philosophy, poetry, languages, writing, performing, activism, investigation of life, cultivating sensitivity, empathy and compassion, actualizing potential, growth, learning, creativity, increasing understanding, being maximally alive, becoming more attuned to finer vibrations.

• arts
• writing
• poetry
• theater
• concerts
• education
• dining
• wine
• partying
• politics
• traveling
• music
• classical music
• jazz
• piano
• blues
• communications
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: The Gods Must Be Crazy, Gandhi, Sense and Sensibility, Excalibur, Requiem for a Dream, Casablanca, Pink Floyd's "The Wall," Koyaanisqatsi, Little Murders, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, Annie Hall, Hannah and her Sisters, Brazil, Pan's Labyrinth, Babel, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Twelve Monkeys, Little Big Man, Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources, Mindwalk, My Dinner With Andre, Winged Migration,

Music: Ravel, Crosby Stills & Nash, Billy Joel, Bach, BB King, King Crimson, Bela Fleck, Ravi Shankar, Led Zeppelin, Schumann, The Zombies, Yves Montand, Joni Mitchell, Georges Brassens, Memphis Slim, Oscar Peterson, Jimi Hendrix, Rachmaninoff, Bill Evans, Cat Stevens, Prokofiev, Don McLean, James Brown, The Beatles, Mozart, Brian Eno, John McLaughlin, Tito Puente, David Bowie, Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith, Dexter Gordon, Eric Clapton, Yes, Art Tatum, Lila Downs, Paul Horn, Etta James, Jacques Brel, etc. etc. etc.

Books: Hamlet, Confederacy of Dunces, Crime and Punishment, The Little Prince, The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha, The Name of the Rose, The Communist Manifesto, The Tao of Physics, The Teachings of Don Juan, Meetings With Remarkable Men, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, In Cold Blood, Poems of Rumi, autobiography of Gandhi, autobiography of the Dalai Lama, The Lord of the Rings, anything by Nietzsche, Heidegger, or Foucault, anything by Rilke, Holderlin, Garcia Lorca, or Neruda; anything by Marquez, Borges, Calvino.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Traveling in India...from the Ganges to the Himalayas, including many holy sites of many spiritual traditions

Teach, Learn, Share

I can lend my piano/keyboard skills to any situation that calls for a pianist/keyboardist--and there are many, from creating shows to entertaining at parties to teaching beginning pianists to coaching vocalists to jamming with other instrumentalists...

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Romania, Spain, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States

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