Currently Creative gun-for-hire. Designed annual report, CD covers, and interfaces for multimedia projects for Sonic Solutions of Novato, California. Designed (and wrote) direct mail for Intershop Communications. Designed catalog covers and collateral for Lawrence Research Group and advertisements for ComputersAmerica. Constructed Websites for the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (a prestigious Washington, D.C. "think tank"), Alfred Schilling Chocolates, and LaMarche Interieurs. Designed animated banners for Upside magazine andCyberMeals.
1996-1997 Graphic designer, Destiny Telecomm International, the infamous Oakland pyramid scheme. My responsibilities included, but were not limited to, the design of print advertisements, posters, brochures, and phone cards. Moreover: Creative Director, Wilma W. Wilson Websites.
1995-1996 Freelance design projects for clients as diverse as Hillcrest International and Cypress Men (apparel manufacturers), Bravo Marketing (high-tech advertising agency), and San Francisco’s Climate Theatre. Temporary design and production positions with West Advertising and Young & Rubicam. Learned HTML and started my own Website design business.
1994 Launched Empty V, an advertising business specializing in packaging unsigned musicians. Designed collateral material for Retail Revealed, a San Francisco consulting firm. Designed a 128-page book and a CD boxed set for Rhino Records. Freelanced for such strait laced clients as the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and a CPA firm. Designed booklets for such clients as a Los Angeles corporate recruiter (i.e., headhunter).
1993 Designed various publications for Rhino Records, including their 16-page employee handbook. Designed a full-color 48-page mail order catalog for Spartacus/Centurians, the West Coast’s leading dealer of fetishwear. It was a living. Turned right around and designed a brochure for Bedside Manner, a Great Neck, New York-based manufacturer of pricey denim sleepwear for gentlemen.
1992 Bought my first Macintosh, along with Quark, FreeHand, and Photoshop; was in Seventh Heaven. Designed (and wrote) ZooNooz, a monthly magazine for Zoo Entertainment of the megaglobal BMG family.
1981-1991 Designed things mostly for pleasure as I earned my keep primarily as a freelance magazine writer and advertising copywriter.
1981 Art directed, designed and wrote a 24-page mail order catalog for a Los Angeles New Wave haberdashery, Clothes for Heroes.
PLEASE NOTE: I own my own high-end Macintosh Power PC clone, and am highly skilled in the traditional triumvirate of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Quark Xpress.
1995 - PRESENT Scripted multimedia CD introduction of IBM’s OS/2 Warp 4 for Animated Systems & Design. Wrote articles for Wired and Gentry and advertising and collateral copy for Wadsworth Publishing, publishers of college textbooks, Young & Rubicam San Francisco, O’Reilly & Associates, and Bravo Marketing. Rhino published my autobiography, I, Caramba, to glowing reviews. Wrote and directed a succession of satiric theatrical revues for The San Francisco Hysterical Society, which I founded.
1992-1994 Wrote feature articles for SF Weekly, Playboy, and Wired. Wrote and designed advertising and promotional material for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Both wrote and designed ZooNooz, a satirical monthly newsmagazine/ publicity organ, for Zoo Entertain-ment of the BMG Music family. Wrote press biographies, "canned features," press releases, and ad copy for A&M Records and Atlantic Records and for Zoo.
1991 In spite of nearly universal stonewalling, researched and wrote an unauthorized biography of music and movie mogul David Geffen for Birch Lane Press, which ultimately decided, with help from Geffen's lawyers, not to publish it. Wrote feature articles for SF Weekly.
1990 Wrote two novels, Boytoy and Depth of Field. Resumed writing for Rolling Stone. Annotated Rhino Records' acclaimed History of British Rock series.
1989 Wrote the screenplay for Rhino Films' (the new wing of the beloved record company) maiden production, Big Daddy's Back in Town.
1985-1988 Wrote collateral copy for such clients as Santa Rosa's Lawrence (fine art) Gallery and features and columns for the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and San Francisco magazine. Was one of the winners of the 1986 PEN Syndicated Fiction Contest, a national short story competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Was voted Critic of the Year in Creem's annual Reader's Poll that same year.
As Editor-in-Chief of Marin magazine, conceived, assigned, and edited articles for a glossy, four-color general interest magazine for California's wealthiest county. The project came to nothing when the publisher, finding it harder to line up backing than he'd anticipated, decided to retire to the South Seas.
Researched and wrote The Kinks Kronikles for William Morrow Publishers. “Buoyant and informative!” enthused the New York Times, even though I made fun in the book of the staff critic who wound up reviewing it! Also wrote two novels, Wrongside and Some Peanuts and Crackerjack, and many magazine articles.
1982-1983 As copywriter for Rapp & Collins/ West, wrote brochure and direct mail sales letter copy for products and services as diverse as Mauna Loa macadamia nuts, the Gault Millau guides to European capitals, Great Western Savings, and the American Song Festival.
Wrote about high technology, TV, music, film, and fashion for national magazine ranging from Popular Computing to Musician.
1979-1981 Editorial Director at A&M Records, Hollywood. Wrote copy for everyone from Metro Air to Azteca Foods for Marsteller Advertising in Los Angeles. Art directed, wrote, and designed a 24-page mail order catalogue for The Village Mews, a Los Angeles retail clothier. Wrote feature articles for Oui, Us, Creem, and other national magazines.