Enough of politics. Time now for a different subject.
Achievement! Innovation! Those have always been glowing words in
the history of our country. Before the Civil War, the pioneers
moved west, searching for new beginnings throughout the 1800s.
”
Teddy
”
Roosevelt’s Manifest Destiny continued into the 1900s.
Enough of politics. Time now for a different subject.
Achievement! Innovation! Those have always been glowing words in the history of our country. Before the Civil War, the pioneers moved west, searching for new beginnings throughout the 1800s. “Teddy” Roosevelt’s Manifest Destiny continued into the 1900s.
In the 1930s we suffered some drastic downturns in the economy. However, our national resiliency brought us out of World War II into a raging economy of growth.
Yet in this new century, our country’s economy has nose-dived. Unemployment rises and the national psyche is greatly depressed.
What we need now more than ever, are more innovative people who can bring us out of our doldrums. And, I know one. Jerad MacLean.
Several years ago I decided that I needed a new cover for the second edition of my book, “We Claim The Title – Korean War Marines.” I found Jerad.
An accomplished graphic designer, Jerad had taken a break from the music industry to work as an art director and senior graphic designer for the world’s largest international trade association for the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley.
I was not aware of his musical accomplishments, but quickly became aware of his artistic abilities when he completely re-designed my book cover. Our friendship continued over the years.
Recently, I was surprised when he e-mailed me an ad for his DVD, “Moon Over Santa Fe.” I had to have it.
Jerad MacLean is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, arranger, producer and performer. His music has been described as adult contemporary, adult alternative, pop, new folk and contemporary folk, depending on whose ears are categorizing his music.
Jerad was born and raised in a small town in Michigan. He studied English, literature, writing and art and graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. During his college years, he embraced his love for music and was a member of a popular folk band that played coffee houses and clubs across southern Michigan. Eventually, Jerad moved to California to play and shop his music. After four years of performing in California, he returned to Michigan to fulfill performing contracts there.
Ultimately, he landed in the Bay Area again, as an art director and senior graphic designer.
But his passion always remained with his music. He left his graphic design career in Silicon Valley and dove headlong into writing and recording what was to be his first self-produced CD entitled “When We Meet Again.” This recording project also included songs he wrote during his travels from experiences that influenced his life and muse.
Jerad currently lives in the countryside near Santa Cruz, where he travels to his other adopted home of Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2009, he returned to Santa Fe to film his new video “Moon Over Santa Fe” for the Santa Fe 400th Anniversary,
He recalls, “I remember it as if it were yesterday. My first visit to Santa Fe. It was like a dream, a beautiful dream, like I had been transported to another world – a colorful and vibrant world that was an amalgam of cultures, art, music, history and architecture. A wonderland of sorts, a mixed palate of sights, sounds tastes and, yes, smells. The smells of the earth, pure high desert air, aspen leaves in fall, and glorious gourmet food wafting in the air. For an earth sign like myself, this was heaven. It felt like home, like I’d been here before in another time, and all these seemingly familiar sensual delights were reawakening sleeping memories somewhere deep inside my soul.
“I was like an ink blotter walking around absorbing everything … Just drinking it in and enjoying every minute of it. I wasn’t remembering or retaining the details so much as just floating in the vibrationally creative energy that seemed to be the heart and soul of what this old city was fueled by. I felt alive here and I wanted to take it all to heart.
“Santa Fe, New Mexico – a Mecca, an oasis, an island of sorts, like no other place on earth.
“After returning home, I felt the urge to preserve these impressions in my own art forms. What better way than to pour those fresh, swirling, beautiful images and feelings into a song? It had been a while since I had written anything, even though I thought of myself as a singer-songwriter. I had been living a second life as a graphic designer, which is part of the reason I was so visually enamored with the art and architecture Santa Fe had to offer. As soon as I picked up the guitar, it started flowing just like the dream experience I had just had in northern New Mexico. Once the guitar progression was established, the melody came immediately. These are the moments a singer-songwriter dreams of having.”
Jerad MacLean’s song and video of “Moon Over Santa Fe” can be heard, seen and ordered on his website at www.jeradmaclean.com).
Achievement! Innovation! We need more Jerads.
Burton Anderson is a Purple Heart Korean War Marine veteran and the author of “We Claim The Title – Korean War Marines.” He can be reached at ba****@*ol.com.
