Nothing careless
about careerStephen Bishop performs in Hawaii
Musician, painter and sculptor Stephen Bishop is a very tough guy to track down even when you have his home phone number, cell phone number and personal e-mail address.
Stephen Bishop with The Chris Planas Band
Including special guest Jake ShimabukuroWhere: The Doris Duke at the Academy, Honolulu Academy of Arts
When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $20 advance, $25 at the door
Call: 532-8700
"Memory full," was the mantra of his answer machine this week.
"He's a night person and doesn't get up very early," his local promoter apologizes.
Eventually, Bishop does call back unannounced -- twice actually -- attempting in lengthy messages to discuss his life ("Not much to say that hasn't been said") and his new record "Yardwork" ("It's my first studio album in seven years and my first solo one, too").
The reason behind the frazzled communication is that Bishop is performing tomorrow night at the Honolulu Academy of Arts' theater. The always-popular Jake Shimabukuro will open for him.
Bishop, a two-time Grammy and Oscar nominee, was born in San Diego and is best known for his hits "On and On" and "Save It for a Rainy Day." His musical roots took hold while attending Horace Mann Junior High during the 1960s, playing with his garage group the Weeds.
"I came from a low-income family," Bishop says. "We always had food on the table, but things were hard.
"When I was 10, I was supposed to go with my dad to the Elks Lodge for the annual Christmas party. All the kids got gifts, and it was something I looked forward to. Well, dad was late, and by the time I got there, it looked like nothing was left.
"We were about to leave when dad found a small package behind the tree. It didn't look like much. But when I opened it, it turned out to be a transistor radio. I was thrilled. Back in those days, that was really something. That radio really affected my life music- wise."
At 13, Bishop found himself at a crossroads. A clarinetist with hopes of becoming a history teacher, he was forever changed after watching the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
"I convinced my brother to buy me an electric guitar," he said. "Then I took a Mel Bay chord book and taught myself to play guitar and make up chords."
That resulted in his first song, "Surf's Turf." with his band The Weeds in 1967, which he now calls "a pathetic sounding instrumental."
The Weeds played at local fraternity parties, incorporating Bishop's own songs with various top 40 tunes. The band won second place at the Claremont Battle of the Bands.
"I moved to Los Angeles, where I played songs for lots of Hollywood music publishers," he said. "Eventually, I got a deal at $50 a week for E.H. Morris Publishing."
One song was recorded but it would be another seven years before that happened again.
"I actually considered leaving L.A. to return to San Diego to work for my dad's insurance company," Bishop said.
THEN FRIEND Art Garfunkel heard some of his new songs and recorded two of them on his gold record, "Breakaway." After that Bishop was able to play his songs for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Diana Ross and Michelle Phillips. Soon, Bishop was signed to ABC Records, which released his first album, "Careless." The two aforementioned hits from that album pushed its sales to gold-record status and his next album, "Bish," went gold as well.
Bishop sang the hit theme, "It Might Be You," from the movie "Tootsie," as well as wrote and / or sang on the soundtracks of 13 other films. His most infamous appearance was in "National Lampoon's Animal House," where, as a sensitive folkie trying to woo a girl by singing "I Gave My Love a Cherry," John Belushi's Bluto grabs the guitar out of his hands and smashes it gleefully on a nearby wall.
"(Director) John Landis was a friend, and he gave me a small part ... I saved that guitar, and had the whole cast sign it," Bishop said.
With Bishop's new album "Yardwork," the singer/songwriter has joined the growing legion of artists marketing their own music on the Internet. The album has 17 new songs and several familiar ones, including "On and On" and "Separate Lives." Some cuts have vocal and guitar overdubs, but the purity of the song comes through in Bishop's own memorable style.
"I hate to sound mercenary, but I make so much more money through my Web site," he said. "Of course, I have to do a lot of the work myself now, so there is that."
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