THE POLKA DOT PLAYER
ABOUT
Hey! They told me to describe myself as a creator. It's true—I do create things. Drama. Also writing, art, and music.
Some fast facts about me:
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I like making people laugh, especially unintentionally.
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In my free time, you'll find me laughing at my own jokes and fleeing hordes of suitors.
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I specialize in comedy writing, which in itself may be the funniest joke in the world.
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A few other things I love include argumentative writing, comic art, and the electric bass.
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I was, indeed, dropped on my head as an infant.
WRITTEN STORIES
My first "sports mockumentary", which has turned out to be my favorite pilot script. The idea came to me during an extreme sports documentary marathon: what if alligator wrestling was as popular a sport as boxing or MMA? Entirely masturbatory? Yup. Impossible to research? You betcha. Thus, there was a lot of "filling in the gaps" with my imagination, though also personal elements of my own life. The result is atriciously unloyal to reality(before I get lawsuits) but it's got some razzle-dazzle of its own.
1
Florida's Best
(Fiction, screenplay excerpt)
My first "sports mockumentary", which has turned out to be my favorite pilot script. The idea came to me during an extreme sports documentary marathon: what if alligator wrestling was as popular a sport as boxing or MMA?
Entirely self-indulgent? Yup. Pain to research? You betcha.
So, there was a lot of "filling in the gaps" with my imagination, though also personal elements of my own life. The result is atrociously unloyal to reality(put the lawsuits away) but it's got some unreplicable razzle-dazzle.
2
The Atlantic Sleeper
(Science fiction novel excerpt)
In the words of Bob the Builder: We can fix it!
The product of my school's short story class, taught by the amazing Penny Weibly. Hi, Ms. Weibly! Thanks for tolerating me arriving with my "final science fiction draft". If you were wondering if I knew where I was going with Sleeper 1.0—no. I, too, was thoroughly confused by what I had apparently written the night before.
For a while, The Sleeper and I played a vicious game of Whack-a-Mole, with me creating infinite plot bunnies by trying to solve preexisting plot bunnies. Ultimately, thanks to deadlines, the process of this story forced me to streamline what I normally would've elaborated on and crank out tight escalations.
Also, sharks. What a better way to exert some of my vast shark knowledge? Felt great.
3
Songbird
(Realistic fiction; pilot screenplay)
The finished product of my time at IYWS. This was a divide-and-conquer style group project that took about two weeks to complete.
The original concept—aspiring songwriter vs. evil 60s boyband—was an idea I'd wanted to do for a while, so getting to write it was a blast. Furthermore, this process developed my ability to write in a new format, genre, and time period, and work closely with other writers.
LIVE PERFORMANCES
Schizoid Man
Ghostbusters
PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC
ORIGINAL SONGS
Click to View Lyrics
Coffee Lady Merengue
"I told you not to make me watch La-La Land."
A Flight of the Conchords-style song.
After watching La La Land, I found myself with an insatiable thirst for jazz, which I channeled into some jazzy jazz about a jazz pianist who is so taken by a lovely customer, keeps losing track of where he is in the song. The track almost sounds like the main character is playing slightly ahead of the beat, which is an effect of an 4-against-7 polyrhythm. It's about enjoying what life throws your way. Best of all, it's got an absolutely brutal bossa nova track to match.
GGG (Galactic Gumbo Groove)
"Well, it's not just Primus But Jazzy, it could also be Rush But Heavy—like math rock. But funky. And jazzy. So it's just, y'know, a jazz-rock, funk-rock, rock-rock, math-rock track! Shouldn't take more than an hour."
Welcome to the cosmic world of "Primus, But Jazzy"! This two-day creation is a musical journey that will take you to the depths of the galaxy's illegal dance clubs. Get ready to illegally groove to the funky, cowbell driven beat, and let the music take you on a wild ride. And there's a guy named Gumbo who may be helpful. Maybe.
Solstice Station (ft. Alejandro Fuentes)
"This is so much better than Bohemian Rhapsody."
This song won't ever be not funny to me. In our sophomore year, Fuentes and I decided we were masters of prog, and celebrated by whipping up an 8-minute behemoth that featured two 3-minute solos, a slap bass walkdown, and multiple key changes.
The original recording is lost to time, but who knows, maybe it'll resurface as an actual prog masterpiece. The lyrics depict a man wrestling with self-doubt at a train station, alone, in the dark of winter. Maybe it's a metaphor for loss or something. It's, uh, up to interpretation.
COMIC ART
79 MILES PER HOUR
how many times have you watched Back to the Future and thought, "man, this would make a killer heavy-metal-alt-soft-rock-disco-rock-electronic blues-rock-Prog-rock song?"
Someone's gotta do it.
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Five of us wrote our own theme in our "preferred genre", which resulted in the stylistic shifting of an earthquaKe.
Well. The challenge of merging five distinct tracks was daunting, but it lead to the creation Of a couple of great transitions, which are, in my humble opinion, the best parts of the song—the countdown and Fuentes' "SEVENTY NINE MILES PER HO-U-R-R!".
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I loved creating this track, especially once we got to watch it happen in the studio. I'd had the idea that all studio recordings are stiff and managed by a scowling old producer, but the process was loose and lively—most of what you're hearing is improvised.
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Co-writers:
Alejandro Fuentes
(theme e)
(guitar/vox]
William Robertson
[THEME D]
(keys)
Nash Dahl
[Theme C]
(Lead Producer/Co-lyricist)
Lucia Kovalik
[Theme A]
(guitar)
DAVIN Hunter
[Lead Vox]
CHRISTOPHER MCGLATHERY
[Drums]
Original Character Design
"This Lady Definitely Buys Her Way Into Heaven" This piece was the result of my week-long fixation on Stairway to Heaven. I would search through my old sketchbooks late at night with my headphones on, trying to find the source of the deja vu that the song gave me. I finally discovered my old "red lady" piece(see below) which the song reminded me of so much. That was a cool week—despite having heard the song on radio stations for years, for the first time I was able to connect to the majesty of the song, which I wanted to channel in this painting at least a little.
"Pastel Bastard" Ever since I realized an individual's visual essence is in the smile, I've been trying to "capture" the people I know this way, including me. This is the closest I've gotten to capturing my own smile in a drawing. Plus, I like the eye-level perspective and unconvential color balance, which provide contrasting elements of (normality) and (quirkiness) to the piece. I'm pretty content with this piece.
The original Red Lady! I can't remember much about the origins of this piece except I wanted to draw a hawkish woman. As I began drawing her, though, emerging details such as the glittering dress, throne, and headdress began to paint more of a picture. Later, after listening to Stairway to Heaven, I decided the lady in the song could be the Red Lady, which inspired me to redraw this piece. This was NOT done with procreate!
I love drawing the posters for our school's theatre production. Even if it didn't give me at least a little clout amongst the art kids, it's given me a taste of what advertising might be like, and it's exciting as a puzzle: what picture/color palatte/ style would best sum up the product. Accordingly, I tried for a commercial, simplistic style that gets the point across.
Since most of my character designs feature heavy gradients and filters, I wanted to try a flatter, unrendered style, similar to the Mean Girls poster. My favorite thing about this piece is that the monocrome palette actually (promotes) visual contrast between the two characters. The differences in coloring, posture, attire, etc. also fit the characters very well. Despite the pixelly final result, I feel I captured the characters perfectly in this drawing.
CREATOR RESOURCES
Resources for Writers
Resources for Musicians
Growing up in a non-musical family, I worried that I would forever struggle to comprehend the music I was learning, as if I lacked something that my peers had. This mindset is not productive and will only hinder your own progress. You can take your creative education into your own hands!
If you don't have access to traditional education for your craft, it can feel impossible to make any progress or even start. But, in the digital age, it's possible to teach yourself the building blocks of pretty much anything -as long as you know where to look.
Here are a few places to start.
CREATORS OF TOMORROW SPOTLIGHT:
ALEJANDRO FUENTES
Metal enthusiast Alejandro Fuentes makes his music—including writing, recording, mixing, mastering, and logo design—in the comfort of his own home. His 2023 single, Dusk(Turn Back) showcases his original thinking, as well as his skill on the guitar and drums. What he has achieved with his work ethic proves that resourcefulness, not a musical childhood or tons of equipment, is the determining factor for success.
As a self-taught musician hailing from a non-musical background, Fuentes represents a demographic of musicians that rarely get their voices heard by the media. So, I decided to track him down as the first entry of the "Creators of Tomorrow" Series.
What inspired you to start making music?
I wasn’t all that involved in music until I heard Ozzy Osbourne for the first time, and after that, I desperately wanted to play guitar just like Randy Rhoads. I was really blown away by the sounds and melodies he could make with his guitar, and I knew I wanted to do that too. But I wasn’t really thinking about making original music until my close friend Davin Hunter started his own project. His songs were really good, not at all what you’d expect a highschool artist to sound like. Suddenly, making my own music seemed so much more possible, and I started my own work right away.
What goals do you have for yourself? Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Goal number one is pretty clear. Complete my debut album and promote it to the best of my ability. I want to create something spectacular and share it. That’s where I plan to start, but after that, I’m not completely sure. I guess if it goes spectacularly, I’ll immediately start on another album, but otherwise, I’m just going to shift my focus to college and journalism until I find myself in the right place to keep producing music. Music is my passion and I’m never going to stop, of course, but unfortunately, I have to keep my career in mind and keep music as a side hobby, bar some sort of breakthrough.
Who are some of your biggest influences?
The three biggest influences on me are Children of Bodom, Ozzy Osbourne, and Peter Gabriel. I guess I take different things from each of them. From Children of Bodom, it’s the energy and catchiness that all their songs are filled with. I want to capture that sing along feeling that their songs have, and create music that brings people to life. From Ozzy Osbourne, it’s also the catchiness that I aim to emulate, but in addition, there’s a very emotional, deep side of his music that I’d like to evoke when it’s right. Finally, Peter Gabriel is what inspires me to do stuff that’s really out there, like he was never afraid to do. From sampling the voices of Africa to writing an album without any cymbals, his music is full of ideas that make me want to push myself.
When writing my own music, I often visit songs from my favorite artists to A. capture the right emotion, and B, to see what they would have done in a certain situation. For instance, if I’m in the middle of a chorus, but I can’t get the guitar to feel right, I’ll simply visit a similar chorus and figure out how the rhythm and chords should interact with the vocals to nail the feel. “Oh, there’s a stop right before this chord comes in? I can do something similar.”
Have you faced any challenges as an independent musician? How did you handle them?
The main thing that’s held me back is a lack of people to share my music with. It’s hard to find other people who really listen to metal, particularly the style I’m going for, and as a result, the right kind of criticism is hard to find. It’s difficult to tell if I’m going in the right direction, and if the stuff I’m making is good or bad. There’s no way to tell if the breakdown I’m writing is heavy as hell, or just kinda soft, and I can’t rely purely on my own judgment.
And finally, can you share a moment when you felt particularly proud of your work?
Getting my very first song out there has been my proudest achievement so far. I never really thought that was something realistic, so seeing a song that I wrote on Spotify has been incredible. Especially knowing that it was 100% my work. Artwork, recording, lyrics, all mine, and thanks to all that work I put into it, it’s now out there for the world to see. But it’s not going to even compare to what I’m working on now, and that’s what’s most exciting for me.
Walk me through your process, from idea to finished result.
I almost always start from a simple music idea. Maybe it’s a building synth riff, or a bassline, or maybe it’s just the idea to tune my guitar to an unusual tuning. If I can have something that defines a song, the rest of it almost writes itself. After that initial idea, I want to give the song a really quick sense of self. I’ll give it a scratch name, like Jungle, or Rainfall. From there, I just continue to sketch out the song, making up riffs as I go. Still, I try to get a good recording of every part I do, just to make sure I don’t have to re-record anything. When I get to the chorus, I usually start writing lyrics, to lock a melody in my head, and write the instrumentals around that. Once again, these lyrics have a theme, but are more or less temporary. After that, it’s all polishing. Solos, synths, basslines, and little sound effects to top everything off. Once that's exactly where I want it, I go back, rename the song, and rewrite the lyrics if I feel the need to. (which is almost every time.) After that, I get the vocals recorded, and the song is complete. If I have the time, I’ll leave it be for a few months, then come back to improve the mix a bit.
Animal & Wildlife Advocacy
Stray Animal Foundation of India
If you've ever been to India, stray dogs are a part of city life.They travel in packs, are always underfoot (they're dogs), so any rabies outbreaks can become a people problem. However, the bad rep of a few stray dogs leads to many more harmless (and lovable!) ones getting turned away. This org does an amazing job with education outreach and adoptions.
https://strayanimalfoundationindia.org/usa-donation-options/
All Things Wild Animal Rehabilitation
A wildlife nonprofit where I volunteered;
I was originally interested in working with raptors, to get experience and eventually obtain a hawking license. Instead, I was taught to coax a flightless Red-Tailed hawk into being able to fly again, which was a pretty unforgettable experience. The process of earning the hawk's trust was slow but fascinating, and sticks in my mind as the closest I've ever been to a wild animal. Afterwards, I was inspired to read H is For Hawk, which remains one of my biggest inspiration for literary prose today.
I also got bitten by a possum and stuck by a porcupine on two different occasions, which is the most interesting thing about me.
INSPIRATIONS
COCKROACHES
Bomb-proof. Lightning fast. Able to survive being crushed under a brick.
Terrible. But if DC sold a Robin Hood archetype named Roachhead, I would buy the entire series and read it in a night.
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MY BROTHER
02
Wardrobe inspiration. Love the Easter Egg boardshorts.
GIMME SHELTER
03
As you may have deduced from the design of this website, I'm pretty tough. Stoic. Unflappable. Six-five, conservatively.
I will tell the one way you can make me cry: play some 70s hits.
Not exactly. But there is a song that inexplicably chills me to the bone every time.
I didn't really care about music before Clayton's vocals hit me so hard I removed myself from the auditorium and plot how I was going to make the next Gimme Shelter. Which is still cooking, for now, but expect a bongo solo that will mess you up.
IMPRESS ME
sf867@gm**.***
