David_Tolley

To be honest, and I hope this doesnt upset anyone, but I hadnt. I have 4 college aged kids, and I first found out when my son who works for Apple in Boston called me up in hysterics, and tried to explain to me what was going on. I know I probably look pretty silly with some of my posts, and answering YouTube comments, but hey, its spring break, and I need to catch up on this stuff for my college students (they will laugh less at me).

Thanks

Great, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I wasn't nervous because I didn't have time to think about what was really happening. Honestly, I would have been terrified if I knew 28 million people were watching every note I played, lol. Yes, it did change my life, but I'm not exactly sure how. It made my life a lot more exciting from time to time. But I think it also took some of my work ethic away from me. Since being one of 8 kids raised by a single mother, I always had to work for whatever I got.

As far as what my life would be with out that event, very interesting, not really sure. I think I would always being doing music and art though, because I love to create things.

Wow, these are all great questions from everyone. I find inspiration from almost anything around me when I open my eyes and ears to notice. Honestly, we are surrounded by so many miracles and beautiful things (my problem has always been not taking the time to notice them). I learned early on that I needed to separate making music from praticing technique (otherwise my music sounded very technical and too much thinking) So you can actually practice all of your pieces musically, then flip a switch in your brain, then practice slow and precise and turn segments of every piece into an exercise. I hope that made sense. Tough Tough question - I tell my college students to find their core genius (what they love doing and what they're great at), then pursuse it with great passion and don't look back, AND another option is to find a good stable career job like nursing, then create your art at night & weekends (in hopes that some day it will set you free financially from your other gig). Both ways are equally good, and there are many paths in between, now its up to you to find your best path. All the best.

Mr Carson was an extremely private person, he was also known for not being seen in and around LA & Malibu at all (Probably because of being in the public eye so much ??) He was extremely nice to me on both shows, and he would communicate to me through the Producers of the Show (like signing and sending a picture of himself to me, and also let me come back and get several photos of me on the show from time to time. He also was the one who told them to let me play AMAZING GRACE on the 2nd show (I only had a week to think of what to play for the 2nd show, and I wanted to do something a little different).