Writers Wednesday 5/3/06

Here is part of the profile on Michael for the book I'm writing.

Profile on Michael

Name: Michael John Lowrance
Birthday: Sept 8, 1960
Age: 45
Profession: Keyboardist, guitarist, musician, songwriter for Dark Night. Formerly of Black Ice.

Appearance- long blond hair, a few inches longer than shoulder length, round face, tattoo on left bicep of a red heart and musical bars/notes wrapping around it. About 5’9”, 160 lbs physically fit, likes to work out to keep in shape.

Clothing- on stage likes leather pants, tight shirts. Off stage prefers jeans, button down shirts, usually black or white. Likes boots. Always wears his shirts unbuttoned half way down.

Jewelry- always wears a large silver cross necklace.

Education- graduated high school. Was in college for 2 years, majoring in music education. Got more serious about his band in college. Took piano and guitar lessons when younger and taught himself how to play other instruments.

Born and raised in Sacramento CA. His family still lives there.

Personality

Is outgoing. Loves to talk to people, loves his fans. Tries to talk to his fans and sign autographs when he gets the chance.

Is a follower. Tends to do what others are doing, sometimes doesn’t have a backbone, especially around the band.

Sensitive- can cry at a good movie at times

Romantic- loves to pamper the woman he loves

Generous- gives a lot to those he cares about, sometimes too much

Loves the life he has led as a rock musician. Feels he wouldn’t make it at a normal job, he would be too bored.

Creative- writes the majority of the band’s songs

Talented- plays numerous instruments, can sing, write, engineer, produce

Confident- very confident in what he does

Responsible- takes on his job/responsibilities very seriously. When given a job to do he does it well and follows through until it’s done.

Playful/humorous- likes to goof around and joke around. Loves to make people laugh.

Used to love the rock star lifestyle- drinking, drugs, women. That lifestyle has now gotten old and is just interested in making good music. Loves his job/career, wouldn’t change it for anything.

Likes to keep up on pop culture, music, entertainment. Likes to go out to see the latest movie.

Loyal- is very loyal to his friends/family.

Down to earth and modest- the rock star status hasn’t affected him to the point that he has a big ego. He’s very humble and though he has many fans, he’s very down to earth about his status and fame.

Family

Laura (67) mother- retired insurance claims data processor. She has always supported Michael with his music and career. She always wanted him to follow his dreams and passions since she never had a chance to do that when she was young. She got married rather young and didn’t have money to be able to follow her dreams. She greatly encouraged that with all her children. She has always been his biggest supporter and fan.
Daniel (68) father- retired store manager. A modest man from a small and humble back ground. He worked hard all his life and believes strongly in a strong work ethic no matter what the job is. He had dreams of Michael being the star sports player in the family. Michael is the first born and Daniel had high hopes for him. Was disappointed at first when Michael started a music career, but once he saw how much he loved it and how good he was, he supported it. Daniel has always had a passion for music as well. He taught Michael how to play piano starting at age 5. They couldn’t afford a teacher and Daniel knew enough to get him started. Once Michael learned the basics, he self taught himself many songs. At age 9 Daniel noticed the musical ability Michael had and bought him his first guitar.

Michael is the oldest of 4 boys.

Brian (43)- Michael and Brian are very close. Michael learned how to play the piano and guitar, and would teach Brian. Brian always looked up to his older brother and wanted to be just like him. When Michael first started a garage band Brian would hang out and play, but once Michael got into a real band (Black Ice) Brian fell behind in the background. He hung out with Michael’s former garage band (Hindenburg’s Demise) and ended up becoming the lead guitarist for them. They started off small, playing small local gigs in town, and then made a name for themselves around the regional area. They haven’t made it any bigger, but Brian is ok with that. He just enjoys playing. He is not married at this time, but has been in a serious relationship for 6 years with Amanda (38).

Adam (40)- Systems Administrator. Adam is married to Carrie (41) who is a Pediatrician. Adam is very different from Michael. He wanted nothing to do with music while growing up and afterwards. He enjoyed listening to Michael’s playing as they were growing up, but he resented how much time his father spent with him teaching him and encouraging him. He decided while growing up he wasn’t going to be anything at all like him. When Michael and Brian would be jamming in a garage band, Adam would hang out in the house playing video games or doing homework. He thought Michael was crazy for wanting to be in a band for a living. He was/is an overachiever and troublemaker as a child, trying to get his dad’s attention at times. Their relationship now is ok. Sometimes a bit strained since Michael lives a carefree lifestyle based around music and touring. Adam has the “American” lifestyle of wife, kids, house, and stable job. They don’t relate well to each other and many times don’t know what to say to each other. Michael enjoys the kids though….lives vicariously through them since he doesn’t plan on having any children.
They have 3 children
Elizabeth (10)
Charlie (7)
Iris (3)

Christopher (35)- Carpenter Chris is the baby of the family and since he is quite a bit younger than the rest of them, he didn’t grow up with the shadow of Michael’s prodigy or Adam’s rebellion. He is very proud to have a famous brother and tells people every change he gets. Unfortunately Chris didn’t inherit the musical talents like Michael did, but he loves listening and hanging out with Michael whenever he gets the chance. He goes to concerts and email Michael on a regular basis. He and Adam get along well too. Chris tends to be the “middle” man during family get togethers when Michael and Adam get into arguments.
Chris is in a serious relationship with Sarah (34) for several years. She is hinting around at a more serious commitment (a ring) but he just isn’t quite sure yet. He loves her and wants to spend his life with her, yet he is afraid of the commitment. He sees how Michael has the carefree lifestyle and thinks that’s cool. Not sure what he wants yet. Meanwhile, Sarah is getting impatient, her biological clock is ticking.

Michael loves his parents and is close to them. He emails them or calls them on a weekly basis and when he’s back in town he visits them regularly. Since his parents are retired now and getting on in years, he tries to help them out around the house, either he does or he hires people to help out. He tries to come home for the major holidays, though sometimes he doesn’t make it.
Michael gets along well with his brothers, and being the oldest of all boys, he tends to have a take charge attitude on most situations. He gets along best with Brian, since they have music in common. They are always talking shop during family dinners, much to the annoyance of the rest of the family. Michael is always trying to convince Brian to talk with his manager Brian or Freeman to get the Hindenburg’s Demise a record deal. Brian won’t hear of it. As much as he loves Michael and admires him, he doesn’t want his help or influence. He enjoys the small town gigs. He saw all the crap Michael had gone through due to being famous and Brian would much rather stay a small town musician. Michael enjoys seeing his nieces and nephew and spoils them rotten when he sees them. He also enjoys spending time with Chris. He gives Chris advice in the love department and thinks of Chris as the little adoring brother.

Relationships

Mary (16)- Michael’s first real girlfriend. They were juniors back in high school. They met in orchestra. Michael played the piano in the school orchestra and Mary played cello. She was a big support while he was playing in his garage band. She loved listening to his music and believed he would one day make it big. At that time he never really had the dreams to make it big; he was playing mainly just to play and goof around. His band during high school was never really serious. Mary had urged him to go for his dreams after high school. They were together for 2 years; all throughout the rest of high school. He lost his virginity to her. They broke up when Mary was offered a full scholarship to Julliard for cello and she moved there. Michael was upset but supported that she was following her dreams of her music career. He realized through Mary what he really wanted; a career as a professional musician. He got more serious about his band after she left.

Cheryl (19) Met her at one of the gigs he did with Hindenburg’s Demise while in college. She had been to all the gigs for a month when Michael came up to her and they started talking. They dated for 2 years. She attended the University of Southern California-Sacramento, studying psychology. They would see each other in between classes and gigs. They broke up when Michael started Black Ice and got really serious about getting into a professional career in music. Cheryl had another year of school left and wanted to continue on to get her master’s. He broke it off when he realized she wasn’t as committed to support him on his career path. She was more interested in her education and career.

Deborah (25) Deb was a friend of Matthew's in Black Ice. She would hang around the band frequently while they were partying. This was the time when Michael and the band were making it really big and there were parties all the time. Michael hooked up with her at one of the after show parties. It started as a fling but sort of grew as she was always around. They would party and get high along with the band and Mark's band. They dated for about 1 1/2 years. It was more of a fun relationship. Once the tour ended, Deb stopped doing drugs and wanted to straighten out. She felt she was too old for this now and wanted to settle down, have kids, get a real job. Michael by this time was too far into it to stop. Instead of helping him out, she left. At the time Michael didn't much care though because he was perfectly happy with his drug induced lifestyle.

Becca (18) More detail in “Backstory”

Kelly (32)- Michael was 39. She was an exec at Nickel Records where Dark Night was making their album. His first serious relationship since Becky. Michael was very weary of commitments since Becky left him for another man. He shied away from anything more serious than a few dates, until Kelly. He was intrigued by her. They flirted around a lot while he was there making an album with Dark Night. She ended up moving into his place by 6 months of dating. He was happy with the live in girlfriend concept, until she started hinting toward a ring and further commitment. He was touring a lot and she didn’t want to be the little girlfriend following him around. They broke up after 1 yr of dating when he told her he wasn’t comfortable getting married.