Welcome to my website!

I was telling somebody the other day about this thing and they said, “Yeah? Cool. What’s it about?”

Hmm. That’s a good question. I’m not sure I have a simple answer.

When I began making this site in September 2002 I intended it to be a very simple, bare bones headshot-and-resume site to complement my life as a professional actor. But very soon I found myself in the grip of a sort of happy fever. Website making was, it turned out, a lot of fun! And whatever you put on your site ... was being seen by real people around the world! The potential of being on a new, electronic ‘stage’ and drawing an audience was all the inspiration a born ham like me needed. So fairly soon ... and after a brief struggle with modesty that lasted, oh, about eight seconds ... I added a photo gallery. Then a music page. Then stuff about the Beatles. Then more and more and more.

Today, the safest thing you could probably say is that this is a sort of exploded-closet website, containing a hodgepodge of things that I either find fun, interesting, or that are important to my life.

A big part of this site falls under a heading you might title Paul the Actor. Although I’ve been on hiatus from acting for nearly six years now (and have no idea when I’m going back to it), there was a time (most of my life between 1977 and 2002) when the dramatic arts were my unquestioned ruling passion. In the Acting department, then, you’ll find my old photo and resume, a history of my acting career, a selection of what the critics have written about me, etc., etc. Testament to a lot of time and energy spent ... and an awful lot of fun had!

Partly this site is also about Paul the Renaissance Fool. Acting may have dominated my early-to-middle years, but there are plenty of other Muses I’ve kept in touch with during that time too. And there are new Muses that I’ve struck up a friendship with now that acting no longer dominates my life. If you hop around this site, then, you’ll see that I also write music, compose poetry, draft screenplays, make art with photographs, build model ships, and more. (In fact, I often think I do way too much.) I’ve always wished I had a place to give free rein to all this pent-up energy. So this site has become a sort of one-man gallery, printing house, and record store.

In fact, I suppose another way of putting it would be to say this site is about Paul the Self-Publisher. For years I’ve been making art in one way or another, and it’s always disappointed me that the things I create kind of sat on the shelf afterward gathering dust. Not that I think I’m so brilliant, but like any loving parent, my creations were dear to me and I wanted to see them go out into the world. But how? Getting a ‘real’ book deal or record contract isn’t exactly as straightforward or easy as it may seem. Writing letters and sending demos and manuscripts is a very time-consuming and expensive exercise. Not to mention one that requires determination. Did I really have time for such things? I was already a full-time starving actor. Did I need to be a starving poet too? Forget it. I’ve always valued simplicity in my life. So I decided early on that this site was going to be the place where my creations, new and old, saw the light of day. Nice and simple. Ahhh. I felt better already.

Beyond the arts, partly this site is also about Paul the Family-and-Friends-Loving Guy. My life is unique and fun in a lot of ways. I have amazing friends, and I have a wonderful family. This is the place where I can crow about both. Check out the ’Ol Photo Album in This & That, or my Links pages, to see more.

Finally, this site is about Paul the Omnivore. I find all sorts of things in the world quite interesting. I’ve decided that this website is the place where I’ll point a few out. Check out my Weblogs, the This & That page, or my Links. Or just roam around at random. You can’t go too far without seeing some of the things I’m interested in. And when you do, please feel free to send me an email if you’d like to comment on something you’ve seen here. I’m glad to hear all points of view. Honest.

Okay, now enough of my talk.

Welcome!

Go, have fun. Rummage. Ransack. Download to your heart’s content. Everything here is free, and it’s all for you.

Enjoy...!

:-) Paul