Next week is my final week in Los Angeles.
For almost two decades, this has been home. And for a nerdy little queer kid from Montana, life in the City of Angels has been one hell of a ride.
I arrived with exactly $2.75 to my name. No job. No apartment. Just the fantasy of becoming a California boy and working with the original queen of pop Tiffany!
In those early days I crashed with my childhood best friend and her family in Camarillo, working two jobs, at Starbucks and Wood Ranch, while spending every spare moment writing, auditioning, and picking up the occasional event assignment for local magazines around Ventura County.
It wasn’t glamorous. But it was fun – and more importantly, it introduced me to some truly incredible people. One of the coolest of which was Alexis Arquette.
My first Hollywood acting gig came as a small role in a short-lived web series called Retail. It wasn’t great – mostly because I myself had no idea what I was doing, but the experience did open more doors and introduced me to the wonderful Zoë Chao.
Around the same time, I also found myself crossing paths with a few people I had grown up watching on television, including Alexz Johnson and David DeLuise.
After a year in Camarillo, I moved in with the family of my childhood idol, A’me Lorain, and suddenly found myself surrounded by music.
Living with her family taught me one of the most valuable lessons of my life: sometimes the strongest bonds we form are not with the family we’re born into, but with the family we find along the way. I will be forever grateful to them for that.
A’me was instrumental in helping me take my first real steps into my own musical journey. She introduced me to songwriters and producers who helped transform a song I had written in college into an actual piece of recorded music.
Then I met Romi Dames, and suddenly everything in my life began to blossom.
Through her, I met my agent and some of the most incredible friends I’ve ever had in my life, including the team who helped bring the music video for my first (and still only) viral single, ｢Unlock Your Heart｣, to life.
It still feels surreal to me that, ten years later, some of these songs are still being played on the radio, including ｢It Was Love｣, which remains one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. I had the privilege of writing it with one of the best songwriters I’ve ever met, Phil Evans. I was also able to record a song written by Tiffany, ｢Holy Water｣.
When the global pandemic brought the world to a standstill, I discovered the wonderful world of BL. An innocent Japanese series, My Love Mix-Up!, ended up changing my life forever.
The stars of the series, Ren Meguro of Snow Man as the adorably clueless Ida and Naniwa Danshi’s Shunsuke Michieda as the hysterically lovable Aoki, were both performers under the same agency. Curiosity got the better of me, and one quick search later I had found the agency’s international press division.
I sent a message.
And from that small, impulsive click, an entirely new chapter in my life was written.
Since 2021, I’ve been a proud follower of STARTO Entertainment, covering not only Naniwa Danshi and Snow Man, but also groups like King & Prince and timelesz.
And of course, my personal favorites: SixTONES and Travis Japan, whose music helped inspire the writing of both My Dead Boyfriend and My Super Fiancé.
Now, next week, I’m moving to Japan to begin a brand-new chapter.
It’s fun.
It’s exciting.
It’s a little scary.
But I’m ready.
More adventures are on the horizon, so…
Stay tuned.
Life In Cartoon Motion 