I was born in the former Soviet Union, in Bendery, Moldova to be exact. You might think that there were lots of hardships, but I don't remember too many of those. I had a lot of friends, in particular my friend Tanya that I played with and generally made my life as fun as I could under the circumstances. Living in the Soviet Union meant few toys, but I do remember one boy baby doll named Dima. Wow, a long time ago. Anyway, in 1973, my family (my parents and older sister and I) applied for and got a Visa to leave the then-Soviet Union. After waiting a few months, we left Moldova and flew to Israel. We lived on an ulpan in Dimona and then in B'Nai Braq until December when we moved to Italy for two months. In Feburary of the following year we immigrated and moved to Oak Park, MI, where I lived until college.

I was a geek in school. I was the smart kid with the funny name that no one could ever pronounce (let's face it, I've gotten mail for Izimbra Dragonburger). I was in choirs and did theatre and yearbook, and forensics, and foreign language drama club and pretty much every extracurricular activity that you could think of (except student government). I sang a lot in high school and played Bellamy in "The Fantasticks" (my first stage role) and then did a lot of Shakespeare, whom I love dearly.

I did get to sing the class song (Theme from "Mahogany") at my high school graduation, though, and that was fun. I also probably hold the record for the shortest valedictory ever. It was about seven seconds long. There was so much going on around graduation and I knew I'd have to make the valedictorian's speech, but I just didn't have the time to actually write one. So, at Commencement, when I got up there, I just said something about being grateful to have gotten through it and stepped away from the mic. It was one of the those priceless moments when the audience has no idea what to do and after a few seconds or so, someone realized that they should applaud and so I got a nice round that turned into an uproar because everyone realized that it was over and they wouldn't have to sit and listen through a long, boring speech.

One of the great joys of my life is singing, and an even greater thing is that my Mom is a singer as well and I've been singing with her since before I can remember. She sang Russian and Yiddish folk songs and I came up with harmonies even before I could talk, according to her. To make things more interesting musically, my step-grandfather began teaching me the violin before we left the FSU. Then, after my family emigrated from the former Soviet Union, I played the violin in orchestras, sang in choirs, and discovered musical theatre. In high school, I discovered jazz, specifically a cappella jazz.

I went to the University of Michigan and after many a major (pre-med, pre-law, international relations, etc.) I settled on English with an emphasis on Drama (I did a lot of theatre in school and had a blast). While there, I got reacquainted with a guy from my past, Jon. I'd known him somewhat briefly in my early teens, and he looked me up when he transferred to MI. That started a five-year tumultuous relationship the details of which are probably better left un-rendered :-). He did do something really wonderful for me though. He started me on the path of being the total kitty cat lover that I am. I fell completely in love with his kitty Isha and then at the end of my junior year, got my own in credible black girl named, Ariadne. Then, in September of that same year, I got Belly and my fate was sealed. These kitties changed my life and my views on the world. At any rate, I moved to DC right after graduation and Jon moved here also. After a couple of years living in DC and working at the Information Prospector, Jon and I parted ways and he moved to Oregon. He's a terrific person and he's off in Oregon with his wife and sons living the life he's always dreamed of.

While living down in DC, I hooked up with an a cappella group (the name of which I can't recall, sadly) and then a few of us from that group split off and created another. The women in that group were Heidi and Elena and me. And then, Darcy joined up and Heidi left and Elena, Darcy and I became Fleur-de-Lis. As Fleur-de-Lis, we did a cappella music ranging from madrigals to originals to jazz and some blues and folk. Later, we added instruments, (me on fiddle, Elena on guitar and Darcy on hammered dulcimer). We started doing the MD Ren Fest and there I met Cynthia Cole and the rest of Purple Unicorn gang. Outisde of the fact that they are a great bunch of people, that meeting changed my life.

I used to have these Waif Thanksgiving dinners (ie when someone can't get hom e or their parents are traveling, they came to my house and we ate like piggys on a vegetarian feast). And, one year, Cynthia said, "Hey, my friend Rich is back in the country after traveling a lot, can he come?" And I thought, sure, the more the merrier. So, he came over and the first thing he did was insult my cat Ariadne's name. And I thought, "What a jerk." Ah, yes, that's how every great romance starts, isn't it? (Someday, I'll put up how Rich and I actually made it into a relationship. It's quite a story.)

After many adventures (going to see Bob Burkee perform being one of them) Rich and I started dating in March of the following year. He moved into the great house at 1711 (where a bunch of us were living) and the rest is history. (More on that later.)

Because of knowing Cynthia and Jay, I began working at the National Geographic Society. I worked there doing all sorts of tasks including env. education material development and software evaluation and even voiceovers for some of their educational products. If you happen to have the National Geographic Atlas of the World on CD-ROM, I'm the Russian speaker's voice.

From there, I moved on to NASA and did tech support for the Terrestrial Physics Lab and then moved to working on Th e GLOBE Program's Soil Science Protocol portion. Some of the stuff that I've gotten to do is: go to schools and teach kids about the soil and the earth and conservation, develop the soil science education home page, help develop learning activities for the soil portion of the program, and travel to places like, South Africa, Estonia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and all over the US to teach the soil science protocols to teachers and trainers. For some of the photos from some of these trips, check out the gallery.

Hmm, let's try to keep it all straight. In the music world, I left Fleur-de-Lis and did some stuff on my own as a fiddler and then briefly joined up with Kiva, a local pagan/New Age band. Then, I worked with a dear friend and incredible dulcimer pla yer and vocalist named, Kathleen Ullman (now Johnson). Our crowning achievement was at the Oatlands Celtic Festival where we did the story of Peter Kagan and the Wind, and held the audience for over 12 minutes with the incredible tale of love between Peter and his Selkie wife. Then, I worked briefly with Elemental, and then went on to form, Myriad (later to be re-named, Gina and Izolda). After Gina and I parted ways (I am on her first solo CD release called "Drifting") I began to concentrate on my own solo performance career. To that end, I worked on the guitar and developed my own style of music which I call Folk Nouveau. To see that whole part of my life, head over to the Folk Nouveau website. Recently, I have begun to work in a the band, called Folk Nouveau with two fabulous women - both named Diana and a terrific flute/whistle player named Dave. They are Diana McFadden, Diana Sunday and David Landis - of the band Kiva (among others). The Dianas are both on my CD, Sound the Deep Waters, that was released in June of this year. For more on that....

A little more from the music world: In the autumn of 2001, I began to teach my "Learn to Sing" class series. It is a four-class series (each class has eight class meetings plus a recital) and it is designed to help people find and free their singing voices. Often, the people who come to these classes are adults who feel that they cannot sing, and we work together to help them begin and open themselves to this wonderful mode of self-espression. I teach it at the Greenbelt Recreation Department and at famed music store, House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD. I also conduct "Learn to Sing" and "Finding Your Singing Voice" workshops with groups that range from church choirs and other associations to the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit. I will be branching out into the corporate sector to teach team-building and confidence there as well. I have also begun teaching the, "Finding Your Sacred Voice" workshops for various groups and organizations. Using vocal technique, aesthetics and mechanics, these two-hour workshops invite people to develop joy in singing.

I must also say that one of the thrills of my life was to perform in Ireland. In the Spring of 2003, I performed in one of my favorite places on earth, Dingle, Ireland at the Cafe Pooka and sessions as well. Many and big thanks to Gary and Karine and most especially to Mazz for that honor and real joy.

I've been writing my own songs/tunes for the past few years, and boy is it thri lling? It's so easy to get up in front of a crowd and sing a jazz standard and it's so much harder when they are your own lyrics/melodies. To me it feels like, "Hi, here it is, here is a piece of my soul for you to listen to." But, it's really rewarding and incredible when someone really gets what you're trying to say. One of my songs, "Sound the Deep Waters" is about what wee folk do at night when we're sleeping and sometimes when we play it, someone comes up to me after the set and says something about how they've wondered themselves. Here are the lyrics to some of my songs (this will take you to my music page, Folk Nouveau Music) and here are partial mp3s of some of the songs on the full-length CD and the new Folk Nouveau traditional music demo, as well as an MP3 of the first track off the CD, called Sun-warmed. And, I'm busy developing myself on the guitar. What a treat. It's time consuming, and I get lost in it and suddenly two hours have passed and my fingers hurt but it's been worth it. I really believe that this is the instrument I was born to play (outsi de of singing). The rich tones and the unbelievable versatility of the instrument have made me weep on more than one occasion. I perform with a Takamine LTD-99 (the one of the mountain on the Sound hole) and it's just a joy to play.

On a cool work/personal note, I went to Seattle to visit old housemates (Kirk and Sondra and their one-year-old twins) and I got to go to the Experience Music Project (Paul Allen's homage to Rock and particularly Jimi Hendrix). The place was incredible and to be honest the highlight for me was that I was able to go hear myself. Yep, that's right. I'm in the Experience Music Project. Let me explain.

A few years ago, my friend Dan was interviewing for a job with Quatrefoil, a local company that develops exhibits for museums. They happened to ask him if he knew anyone who does voiceovers and he thought of me. So, I got in touch with them sent in my demo and was hired to read for two of them. I recorded one for the keyboard and one for the electric guitar. Let me explain further. In the EMP, there is a "Sound Lab." There you can go try out a number of instruments and learn how to play along to different songs with them. For example, there are an electric guitar, bass, keyboard and drums set up and connected to computers. You can touch the screen on the computer and it will direct you on how to hold and play the instrument. There are songs that you can play along with. Well, I'm the voice that tells you what to do for the electric guitar and the keyboard. So, there I was buying my ticket and I was excited and told the guy that I was going to go hear myself. I explained that I was one of the voices in the Sound Lab and he was very sweet and didn't run my card through; he let me in for free and told me to just have a great time. Thanks Biff! So I went up and listened to "Louie Louie," by the Kingsmen and Alanis Morrisette's "Thank You" and listened to me tell me what to do. It was surreal and very much fun.

Kitty- and puppy-wise, after Rich and I moved out of 1711 and lived on our own, we got the incredible Thena bear. Then, we took in Lynx and shortly thereafter, her babies. And, then Belly our loveliest puffy boy, died after a hard fight with bone cancer. We got the three new babies, Thor, Seegie and Loki on September 3rd, 1998. Heartbreakingly, Seegie died on November 1st of 1999 and we missed her more than I can say. And on December 22nd of 1999, we got our little Tempest girl. Then, our beloved Thor was killed in January 2003 and we grieved for him as well. In June 2003 we got the newest of littlests, Pyro. So, now Rich and I live in our house in the woods with the kitties and the puppy and many fun toys like juggling clubs and guitars.

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