by Daniel F. Scherl
Hello. I'm Daniel.
My guess is, you're reading this to find out a little about what that means, being "Daniel." Let me say first, thank you for taking the interest. I appreciate it, and I'm sure your life is also worth reading about, so maybe you should write it down for you, your friends and family to enjoy. Posterity is important.
Secondly, in case you're wondering, when creating this website, I decided to write my own bio instead of having an industry colleague or friend do it for me, because that way, as much as possible, you'll know it's as real as these things can get as I'm the one telling the story. If you're bored enough to read the whole thing, you may even learn something exciting or at the very least, walk away with some trivia with which to play Entertainment Business Jeopardy! Or, if you're just bored at work, let's face it, this is more fun than filing out "TPS reports." With that...
The first thing you might ask is, why the title "Dancing on the Edge of the Red?"
Here is the answer: In the world of audio engineering (and in many other technological and electronic areas), when you are recording music, you monitor the audio signal via a slue of cool looking equipment, most of which is composed of a set of lights that go from green to yellow to red (see below), and some of them even bleep, whirr and blip in a very sci-fi way that is a LOT of fun to be around, and one that soothes my inner nerd (and my outer one too...).
When you are recording or playing back the audio, the amount of signal coming in or out of that particular device is displayed by the movement of those colors in direct correlation to how strong the signal is. Green is fine, yellow is good, red is not. The trick, as you've now probably gathered on your own, is to learn how to make that signal (as I once wrote, poetically...) "dance" on the edge of the red lights. Most of the time, you want a nice, strong signal, but you don't want to cross over into the red zone too much or your signal will be distorted and sound like garbage. Or... like most of the popular music released in the last ten years.
I thought the name was good for my bio (and a book I started writing) since I have lived the bulk of my life in a similar manner. A nice, strong life filled with experiences, good and bad, and adventures galore, that dances on the edge of the red.
So in short, you can stop reading now if all you wanted was an explanation of the title. The rest is just flotsam and more bad jokes.
I wasn't sure what people might want to know about me, so I am basically going to ramble on, throw in some facts and hopefully that will suffice. In doing so, I thought I'd give you the "Readers Digest" or "Cliffs notes" version of the story so far because let's face it, most people just want to know about the good, juicy stuff.
I am originally from Ohio and spent a lot of time in the Midwest where I learned how to live, love, cook, clean, be a good person, appreciate family, friends, nature, the world and the Universe-at-large, wrote a lot of music, wrote a lot of words, told a lot of stories and was awed by lots of good books and Carl Sagan's "COSMOS."
Then I grew up, moved away, forgot most of that, had a bunch of less-than-noteworthy relationships, lost my sense of self, tried to be a lot of things I wasn't, moved around a lot more and along the way picked up a degree in Creative Writing from The State University of New York at Buffalo. I wrote some more music, wrote some more words, moved some more, had some more less-than-noteworthy relationships just for fun because the first six or seven hundred weren't miserable enough, and then I moved to Los Angeles to write and score films, where, for the first six years I lived here, I did precisely not that.
However, I have always been a fantastic cook.
During those six years, while still making an effort to forget all those great lessons I learned in the Midwest, and in the midst of a long-distance less-than-noteworthy relationship and a few brief interludes that followed, I was graciously given a nice job at EMI Music Distribution where I learned a lot about the music industry, including confirming the truth of this quote by Hunter S. Thompson: "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
I made a lot of money and built up a pretty nice life and some material things. And as all good fairy tales go, then it all came crubling down. After losing a friend to brain cancer (something I don't ever want to forget), and then being laid off along with 3,500 other employees of EMI/Capitol, I completely ignored all of my instincts, and made a bad choice in investing in an artist who not only stole my money and my time, but robbed me almost-blind; an event that began a downward spiral.
There I was, in my early thirties, watching as my life fell apart faster than a record company uses the company credit card to purchase cocaine and hookers in New Orleans at a Marketing convention (no names...). I was at bottom, near-bankruptcy and had to sell everything I owned, repossess the car and piano, and move an hour away into my Mom's house with only forty-two cents in the bank, no job and a huge pile of debt that would increase to over $20,000 by the time it was all said and done.
The worst part about the whole debacle was that I actually allowed it to happen, a very painful lesson in what it means to be blinded not only by other peoples' facades, but also by our very own insecurities and fears.
In the months that followed, I learned to take responsibility for my choices, and figured out what life is all about, which I credit to three things: One, my Mother's emotionally warm home and love, two, my own insight and philosophizing, and three, the fact that I watched all four years of Farscape from front to back in a matter of weeks and saw first hand just how mind-bogglingly phenomenal television could be.
Then I had to face another big choice: do I return to Los Angeles and literally start over from scratch or do I take the little bit of money I made working odd jobs, about $400, and head overseas with a backpack and walk my way around the world for fun, making my way as I go?
You may have heard the lyric "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" from the song "Big Yellow Taxi," (originally by Joni Mitchell). That pretty much sums up L.A. and most of the entertainment business. After being in the business for a while, you start to see what that really means and how it applies to more than just entertainment, but regardless, people like to joke, they try to make it seem okay on some level, but the reality is that it's not okay, and in my opinion, is one of the greatest tragedies of our culture that we have allowed not only the entertainment business to become such a cesspool, but even worse, that most people are in denial of its influence over our species.
Make no mistake, and whether you believe me or not, entertainment is one of the giants that stands tall and decides what course human culture will take, and it is controlled by people who do not have the best interests of humanity at heart. This is, of course, assuming that these people actually have a heart, (or anything even resembling an emotion that could be defined by any of these following words: caring, concern, empathy, understanding, honesty, and truth), which may be a bit of a stretch as it is.
Parking lot or not, at the end of the day, I had fought too hard for too many years to allow one person's evil to send me running away with a backpack full of "coulda woulda shoulda's," so I moved back to L.A. and decided to form a little company called "Group 8 Productions." How I got the name is a secret that only a few people know, but I assure you, it's not only incredibly nerdy, but it's actually so cool that if I told you, you would turn to stone and start listening to the complete works of the original Marillion. Look them up ("Misplaced Childhood" is a great place to start).
I figured at that point, new company, new life, starting over again, finally starting to remember all those ideas and things that were ingrained in me growing up in the Midwest, I should probably get on to making my own career happen and not get sidetracked with the careers of others.
I went ahead and didn't do that for another couple of years, but did enjoy working with some very nice and talented people, the one most worth mentioning, the astonishing Jill Marie, an incredible singer/songwriter, and someone I am proud to call a friend. I also worked very hard to make Group 8 Productions something worth talking about and more than just a dream.
During that period of time, I also lost my Sister-in-Law to brain cancer, and my family had to endure even more intimately what I had already been through with my friend Michael just two years previous. I would like to interject at this point, that there are all kinds of loss in this world, and anyone who has ever lost someone close to them knows that there is simply not a lot to say, but I think most people hope that the rest of the world will see perspective and that hopefully we are moving towards a "Star Trek-like" world of peace and no money where people can do what makes them happy and not worry about food, shelter and medical care, to name a few, and people are good to one another. The lessons in loss are some of the most powerful a human being can ever endure and/or learn, and for me, that was the last lesson I needed to get me off of my fat ass and do the right thing.
Finally, at 36, eight years after I moved to L.A. to pursue my career, and with a newly clean-shaven head because I lost most of my hair putting up with L.A. traffic and the entertainment business, I decided it was time to actually build the website that had only showcased a coming soon page for almost as long as good films have been absent from mainstream cinema.
And here we are.
At the end of the day, I'm a guy from Ohio who likes to create. Some of the stuff on here is older and in need of a re-write, re-recording and/or re-mix, but I'm more than just a little bit busy playing World of Warcraft, so it'll have to wait.
Since my friends are always sending me those annoying surveys, I thought I would close my bio by finally filling one of them out.
Lastly, please remember... friends don't let friends use Windows PC's. Macs rule. Stay in school.
Stats:
Name: Daniel Frederick Scherl.
Age: 36.
Birthsign: Caution: Child at play.
Eyes: Brown/Green.
Hair: Sportin' the Picard.
"And these are a few of my favorite things:"
Colors: Blue, Gray, Brown, Desert Tan, Black
Favorite Musicians: My father and mother, My brother Michael, Basil Poledouris, David Foster, Marillion, John Denver, Thomas Newman, Chris DeBurgh, and many, many, many more.
How many songs in your iTunes library?: 20,532. No, I'm not kidding.
Five songs in your favorite playlist right now: "Ask Yourself" by Daniel F. Scherl, "What About Everything?" by Carbon Leaf, "Yura Yura" by Hearts Grow, "Fields of Gold (remake) by Eva Cassidy and "Yellow Moon" by Akeboshi.
Favorite instrument(s): To play = Piano and drums. To listen to = Strings, Piano, Drums.
Music you dislike: Opera, really heavy metal, grunge, most people who can't sing on tune, most rap, hip-hop and R&B, especially the talentless hacks who sample other people's music and think they're creative for playing "research and duplicate."
Movies: The Princess Bride, Dune, Star Trek II, III and IV, The original Star Wars films, Most Zucker/Abrams/Zucker movies, Highlander, The Dark Crystal, and many others.
TV shows: Farscape, Firefly, Babylon 5, M*A*S*H*, Doctor Who, Eureka and The Soup. The Middleman is also a LOT of fun.
Actor: Peter O'Toole, Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Harrison Ford.
Actress: Cate Blanchett, Embeth Davidtz.
Authors: Douglas Adams, Guy Gavriel Kay, David Brin, Jack Chalker, Paul Kemprecos, Paulo Coelho, my mother, my girlfriend and me.
Concert you've been to: Marillion, most orchestras.
Hobbies: Reading, Cooking, Photography, Philosophical Conversations, Video Games, Crafts, Gardening.
Place to shop: On-line.
Video Games: The Journeyman Project, Half-Life, World of Warcraft, Unreal and Halo.
Place to eat: My own kitchen, small Mom and Pop "joints."
Food: Chicken, Pizza, Cheeseburgers, Italian, Greek, Middle-Eastern, Mexican, Japanese and Chinese.
School Subject: Anthropology.
Favorite animals: Dogs (most), elephants, horses, luck dragons, turtles, bears, most soft, fuzzy things and eagles.
Animals you dislike: Cats. Except my friend P.J.'s cat, Tigger. He's awesome. And all cat owners say the same thing: "I know you don't like cats, but you'll love mine." Not true. Your cat is stupid and so are you for saying that.
Article Of Clothing: A REALLY soft t-shirt.
Radio Station: Most radio today sucks.
Kind Of Chip: Pretzels.
Drink: Water.
Soda: I don't really drink it anymore, but I used to think Diet Coke was great. Not anymore.
Holiday: My Birthday!
Scent: My girlfriend, the woods in the Midwest, freshly baked bread, the woods after a rain, a woman's clean, long hair and natural pheromone, mountain air.
Personality traits you like in people: Humor, sarcasm, honesty, bravery, healthy ambition, drive, endurance, openness and trust.
Personality traits you dislike in people: Selfishness, lying, closed-mindedness, adherence to unhealthy societal influences and people who think they have to "keep up" with the proverbial Joneses.
Website: I don't think I have a fave. I like looking at different photographers' websites and seeing other peoples' creativity.
Disney movie: Tron. It's amazing.
Disney character: The Little Mermaid and Belle. I like the music.
Pizza Topping: Cheese.
Cereal: The Original Alpha-Bits before Post "remade" them to taste like complete shit.
Candy Bar: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Lindt milk chocolate.
Magazine: Astronomy, Macworld.
Salad Dressing: French, Thousand Island, Asian Sesame, Raspberry Vinaigrette.
Person to be with: My girlfriend, myself, my friends and family. Cool dogs.
Season(s): Autumn, Winter, and Spring.
People to talk to online: Friends.
T-shirt you own: Old, baggy super-soft "woobies.".
How often do you talk with your Mom: Almost every day.
How often do you talk with your Dad: Usually at least once a week.
Sport(s): Racquetball, Rock Climbing, Hiking, Cycling, Swordfighting, running around and jumping all over like a lunatic.
Place outside of the U.S.: So far, England. There are a lot more I want to see and experience.
Person(s) you would like to meet, living or dead: My Dad's parents, Carl Sagan, John Denver, Douglas Adams, Ken Grimwood, Cleopatra, DaVinci, Einstein, the person who invented pizza.
Macintosh or Windows?: Honestly, if you think there is any comparison, you are very poorly educated. Apple makes the best computers in the world today. Period. Windows machines are not worth the chips they're running on and I sincerely hope Microsoft gets a clue.
Things you have been quoted for saying:
1) "The Universe took Eva Cassidy and left Osama Bin Laden. Yeah, that makes sense."
2) "People think life is complicated. It's not. It's actually rather easy. Wake up, do what makes you happy, don't hurt other people, don't let other people hurt you, enjoy living, breathe a lot, eat well, have lots of safe sex, listen to lots of music, love your friends and family, try to understand and take things lightly, get good sleep, don't sell yourself short or allow others to let you think you have to compromise your integrity, and remember my Mom and Dad's two golden rules: One, when in doubt, don't. And two, well, that was either do the right thing and be true and faithful, or don't forget to wash your hands after you pee, but either way, sound advice."
3) "If I wasn't an artist, I would be an Archaeologist and/or a History Professor, because basically, Indiana Jones and I have a lot in common. Well, except for the name. And the dog. And my Dad is a Dentist. And I don't have a whip. [Pause]. Okay, so maybe "a lot" was a stretch. But I do like to play in the dirt."