About Me
Hey there! I’m Anthony, I’m an Upstate NY-based, mountain-loving, philosophy-seeking musician, photographer, and audio engineer/producer.
Since leaving Ithaca College as a recording engineer student in 2016, I’ve scored award-winning films, released multiple full-length albums, garnered millions of streams through my original music projects AGE of the BEAR (solo/folk), Page 1 (hip-hop/r&b), and Cubbage (indie rock), and written and recorded with grammy award-winning musicians such as Scott Hoying from Pentatonix.
I’ve also recorded and narrated multiple audiobooks on Audible, and most recently have had the honor of performing for 12 weddings, and photographing 8 weddings in 2023.
Enough about me though - would love to learn more about you!
What I Believe
Everyone deserves the same level of respect
No matter someone’s age, gender, race, sexual orientation, mental or physical ability, everyone deserves to be treated like an expert at something.
We’re all complex, multi-faceted people
And we need to respect that truth not only in other people but also in ourselves.
Most of us have the habit of defining people by a single characteristic - we’ll say “Oh yeah, that’s Michelle, the real estate agent,” or “ That’s Larry, the cable guy.” It’s easy. But in reality, we’re all a lot more complex. Michelle might do community soccer, and Larry might be a brilliant painter.
I think it’s important to work toward normalizing the idea that people are multifaceted. We live in a world that’s so hyperspecialized that it strays so far from our propensity for seeking out variety and change (to some degree). We need to respect our own and others’ need to explore, grow, and learn in other areas than just their profession or the expertise they’re “known for”.
Living is about maximizing the time doing what you love with the people you love
My current mantra - it’s not always realistic to only do what you love. Which is why I use the word “maximize.”
Even people who love their jobs have complaints about certain aspects. But if we’re open to learning about ourselves and observing those imperfections in our life, we can continue to chip away at it like a piece of marble, until it becomes something we’re proud of.
The art of creation is never easy, but it’s one of the most satisfying feelings, especially when it comes to molding your own life.
Everyone has potential to learn
I was talking to a polyglot (someone who speaks multiple languages) the other day. I told him of my constant attempts to learn a language and asked if becoming fluent was near impossible after a certain age of having no bi-lingual experience. He said that when he moved here from India, spoke mostly English, and then went back to visit years later, he had to re-familiarize himself with Hindi in order to keep up. The same happens with any instrument or even driving - because other people do it every day, we don’t question their ability to have to practice, but in reality, everything requires repetition and practice, and that’s the only thing standing in your way.
Everyone has creative potential
Creativity doesn’t always show itself in the most obvious tangible ways (like visual art or music). Applying skills in a creative way can mean de-escalating a tense conversation, or navigating without a phone, when service cuts out.
We’re all experts at something
Before you say kids aren’t an expert at something, think back to how you felt when you heard the first song you loved, or ate your favorite food for the first time. I’d argue that kids are experts at emotion. As we get older, we learn to mask emotion, and eventually, we have to unlearn that masking so we can allow ourselves to fully feel what we want to when we want to.