Ardis In Residence
~ An American Symphony in Song and Story ~
I created An American Symphony in Song and Story considering our American Constitution’s promise: “…all men are created equal”. But there have always been exceptions for women and black and brown folks. Being a disc jockey and writer, I examined the genesis of America’s creative music…primarily music by black folks who, early on, made up songs while they picked cotton for the farms of the American South. These slaves had to deal with the white slave masters who ran the farms – and who profited literally on the backs of the blacks and women oppressed on so many levels. But over time, the slaves found a new “language” by creating lots of music, richer for us all, of EVERY type and style. This rich ‘harvest’ of music grew to become what I began to call An American Symphony – with many, many players – following those terrible, racist beginnings. Recently, I discovered the National Museum of African American Music – known as the NMAAM – located in Nashville, Tennessee. NMAAM is the only museum dedicated to preserve and celebrate the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans www.nmaam.org.
About Bill – Passed Away 2/22/2024. RIP.
I was born in San Angelo, Texas, in 1940. In 1950 we moved to Austin, Texas, where Mom’s sisters, brother, and other family members lived. My father – realizing he was gay – moved to San Francisco, which at that time had become a welcoming city for gay folks more than Texas.
I have relatives who live in Central Texas, too – a great place to live. Austin is a terrific music town — hello, Willie Nelson! — with many artists and a raft of Sixties hippies determined never to grow old. Keep Austin Weird; that’s the motto of its Independent Business Alliance.
My first wife, Pat, and I brought forth a son, Randy (Pat did the heavy lifting). Randy is a guitarist, an excellent husband to his lovely wife Linda — and they are parenting their three remarkable children, bright, sunny and hilarious.
I’m retired now from life as an all-night disc jockey: “Ardis Against The Night” on WHAM, and “Ego Trip Underground” on WCMF, both in Rochester, New York, in the late Sixties. During my time at WHAM, I wrote liner notes for Lou Donaldson’s Blowing in the Wind (1966), Elvin Jones’ Midnight Walk (1967), Ray Bryant’s Take a Bryant-Step (1967), Gabor Szabo’s Dreams (1968), and Brother Jack McDuff’s Getting Our Thing Together (1968). I recently discovered – much to my delightful surprise – that Wikipedia refers to me as a “jazz powerhouse” from my time at WHAM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCMF-FM)! Post-deejaying, I veered off into work as a technical writer, grants writer (Stand Against Domestic Violence), marketing and voice recording artist. More recently, I located the first love of my life from The Late Sixties/Early Seventies. We moved later from Northern Virginia – a stone’s throw from Washington D.C., The Land Where Traffic Never Stops – to a quieter home farther south. Ahhh! Peace and quiet! What a concept.
Feel free to send us your questions, comments and any suggestion.
Email: bill@ardisinresidence.com