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Charlie Imes
Around the time he graduated from high school, Charlie began writing songs... mostly on his acoustic guitar as that seemed to produce better results. Influenced by the music of his friends, parents and older sibs (like The Beatles, Nat King Cole, James Taylor, Loggins & Messina, Queen, John Denver, Jimmy Buffett, Bing Crosby, the Eagles, Jim Croce among others), Charlie’s sound and style slowly began to take shape over the years. On his CD, “On An Island”, the effect of these influences, as well as a life spent on the beaches of California, has become quite evident. In 2001, about a week after the 9/11 attacks, Charlie learned that he had cancer and after a successful surgery and a very rough round of chemo treatments, he had fought his way back to health. It was during that long recovery that Charlie spent a lot of time watching the news and growing increasingly concerned about the actions of the Bush Administration. Prior to 9/11, Charlie had thought that Bush was uninspiring as a President and hoped that at best he might do no major harm. Then the world changed. At first, when President Bush stood amidst the ruins of the WTC and vowed to get the people responsible, Imes fully supported the President and hoped that he “kick some ass” and really lead our country and the rest of the world in bringing these people to justice. Then, somewhere in the midst of going after Osama Bin Laden, Bush and the gang started mentioning Saddam Hussein. This opportunistic diversion and run up to the war in Iraq was obvious to Charlie early on, and he watched with growing concern as a false case for war with Iraq was built up by the Bush Administration, using a complicit media as their accomplice. Charlie decided see if he could make a difference and volunteered for a political campaign for the first time in his life when he heard a speech from a relatively unknown Governor from Vermont in March of 2003. Over the next few years, he went to work for a number of other local and statewide campaigns. In Sept. of 2006, another brush with mortality found Charlie back in the hospital undergoing a series of surgeries to once again save his life. Over the next 10 months, as he clawed his way back to health, Imes began taking a long, hard look at his life. Told by his doctor to stop doing whatever was stressing him out, Charlie decided right there that he had ended his career in working for political campaigns. While healing up, Imes was encouraged by his friend Martha Sullivan to finally record a CD of his songs that he had written over the years. With Martha on board as Executive Producer, Imes contacted his friend Jeff Berkley, an accomplished musician, singer/songwriter and producer and began the work to record his long-overdue first album in the Fall of 2007. Just as the project was getting underway, inspiration struck and a song was born out of a phrase Charlie had begun to repeat more and more often – “Bush has clearly become the Worst President Ever”. The song practically wrote itself and was envisioned as a “duet” from the very beginning. Finding the right person to voice Bush was the trick. After chasing down several dead end leads, Charlie called his friend, comedian Marc Maron, and asked him if he knew any good Bush impersonators. Marc simply replied, “You want James Adomian. I gotta go.” The rest, as they say, is history. To be fair, Charlie’s music is not political as a whole. This is the one song he wrote in that genre (so far). The rest of the album is filled with catchy tunes that span a variety of styles, but that Charlie sums up as “laid back jazzy beach folk rock”. The album features performances by some world class and renowned musicians, and has been gaining popularity on its own merits. We invite you to check out the rest of Charlie’s music at his “Crimes of Music” website (www.crimesofmusic.com). There you can listen to all of the songs from his CD, and if you would like to purchase any CD’s or T-shirts, the site is set up to accommodate you. Charlie’s music can also be found at www.cdbaby.com, iTunes, Rhapsody, MySpace and most anywhere that music is sold on-line.
James Adomian
"James Adomian’s voice and mannerisms are so like our president it's scary. His talents are broad and likely to survive the end of George W's presidency. His malapropisms, mispronunciations and evident confusion were not only an accurate portrayal, but funny in a way that also raised a poignant wish for our country's deliverance" - N.Y. Stringer Magazine |
The son of
an Army Major and a Secretary, Charlie was 5 when his father retired
from the military and settled with the family in Southern California.
He developed his love of music at an early age and took trumpet
lessons as a child. By the time he was heading into high school,
he decided the guitar was more his style and spent the next few
years playing in a few rock bands and learning the instrument.
I laughed so
hard I cried the day James Adomian came into the studio to record
his part for "Worst Presnadent Ever". When I wrote the song, I knew
I needed to find someone to really nail the Bush part. I searched
all over San Diego and Los Angeles, asking everybody I knew in the
Liberal Talk Radio and political activism businesses. While I found
a few leads, nothing panned out until I called my friend, world
class comedian Marc Maron, and asked him if he knew of anyone who
could pull it off. He just said, "You need James Adomian" and that
was it. As I researched him, I began to kick myself and wonder how
I hadn’t heard about him before. 