Lions and tigers and Broadway, oh my!
The interests of Carrie Hart require her wide range of talents
Computer programmer and business analyst by day in her free time Carrie Hart shares the musical jewels of composers Rodgers and Hart and others.
She’s wined and dined on Mulligan stew and never wished for turkey. Probably hitched and hiked and grifted, too, from Maine to Albuquerque. But, social circles may spin too fast for she, as her Hobohemia seems her place to be.
My apologies to lyricist Lorenz Hart for mild alteration of his words, but, after a short conversation with longtime Palos Verdes Estates resident Carrie Hart (no relation, though she probably wishes otherwise), the Broadway legend would most assuredly understand. The lady, contrary to the gist of the above song, will never be a “tramp.” She admittedly enjoys the free, fresh wind in her hair, but never hates California – especially the PV peninsula — be it cold and sometimes damp.
By day, Carrie Hart, computer programmer and business analyst, advises international companies on how to oversee their products. In her free time, she shares the musical jewels of composers Rodgers and Hart and others. Oh, yes, she also offers inspirational words on a couple websites she created. All this from a mother of two, grandmother of five.
“I wear all these different hats. I’m a management consultant and, at the moment, I’m working with companies which do manufacturing overseas,” said Hart. “I install software to help them track merchandise so the factories in China can log on and share information. I work a lot with apparel companies because, obviously, with apparel everything is done overseas.”
Next time in Macy’s, try to find one article of clothing made in the USA.
“Basically, I’ve been working with computer systems forever and I just can’t seem to quit.”
Yours for a song
Carrie has a long-time interest in singing and music, and has recorded CDs of her original songs.
“Yes, and I have a show coming up on May 1 in Studio City at Ditello’s. I’ll be singing standards and Broadway music. We’re going to have a trio for accompaniment,” she said with excitement.
How much time can ably be spent on music by a fulltime computer geek?
“It’s one of those things that, at certain times in my life, I’ve focused a huge amount of effort, and then I get involved in other things. But, I keep coming back to music because it’s my passion. I was never able to make a living (in music), but I love singing more than anything,” said Hart. “For a while I did songwriting as well, and did a couple of albums of originals. So, I was doing gigs to see if something would come of my original music. Then – I don’t know what motivated me – I wrote a one-woman show called ‘Courage of the Creative Spirit,’ which tells the stories of the greats of Broadway.
“For example, Oscar Hammerstein had an early hit, then went through 10 years of writing nothing but flops; but he kept on going. It’s stories like this that I tell about the greats of musical theater, then I sing one of their songs.
“I did a performance of the show for a recent fundraiser and it was great fun and well-received.”
Life on(the)line
Visit carriehart.com. Her life as a computer programmer has also facilitated her creation of this and other websites that are navigationally easy – surprise, surprise. In a file named “One Woman Show,” Hart tells a great story about legendary songwriter Richard Rodgers, culminating with her singing of “Bewitched” which Rodgers wrote during his 18-year collaboration with Lorenz Hart.
“At one point in Rodgers’ life, he [was] one day away from giving up music altogether. He was offered a job selling baby clothes, but decided to wait a day to decide whether or not to accept the sales job,” she tells in the show. A music gig came up and the rest, as is said, is history. As Hart explains, “The little voice in his head said, ‘give it one more chance,’ so he did.” Hence the title of the show: “Courage of the Creative Spirit.”
“Carriehart.com is largely focused on my music. Then there’s poweranimalsunleashed.com, which is so much fun. You have to visit the site and get your power animal for the New Year,” Hart said. On New Year’s Day, she had 2,600 people “rush to the site” to get their power animals, and since Jan. 1, she’s getting “about 2,000 people a day” wanting to secure their beasts for the year.
“You have to experience it. The idea is that you go into the Enchanted Forest and, when it feels just right, you click and you get an animal, plus a description of the characteristics of the animal and kinda what that animal stands for.” There are 33 animals in the garden. Music and animal sounds appropriate for each entry are included during the visit, “except for the tortoise and a few others. I didn’t know what sounds to give them,” said Hart.
During my visit to the Enchanted Forest, I excitedly searched for mushrooms, but eventually I calmed and clicked on the serene screen setting. A buffalo appeared and made buffalo sounds, I guess. Not being recently intimate with bison, I could only recall the taste of burgers (see: Rocky Cola Cafe on PCH), not their verbalization tendencies. The voice could very well have been that of a baritone Canadian goose, given my limited experience with furry, horned critters that roam the outskirts of Avalon. Thankfully, the expedition is not sniff-enhanced.
“The program is looping through – I know that because I wrote it myself – so that whenever you click, the computer selects the animal. The whole idea is that you’re using your intuition, so you breathe and relax and click when it feels right. I recommend people get a power animal for the year, but you can also find one before any event or any relationship. For example, you can ask for a power animal for your relations with your children or grandchildren.”
In my case, the only power animal appropriate for my grandchildren would be a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but he was absent the day I romped through the forest.
Hart says the same programming principals are in place at her other site, Quado’s (kwa-does) Garden, though she said the results are different. “What happens in Power Animals Unleashed is that you get a power animal. In Quado’s Garden, you receive an inspirational message – there are about 60 different messages – and each of them is accompanied by a picture of a rose from my own garden that I have taken over the years. When you go to Quado’s Garden, you sit on a stone bench like the one I have at the back of my garden. It’s surrounded by a white azalea. Your mouse is a little butterfly and, again, you just click when it feels right and you receive an inspirational message.”
Opening doors
Hart recently completed a book: A Call to Greatness: the Exciting, Joyous Journey Your Soul Wants You to Take.
“I spent 15 years on a deep spiritual journey where I just wanted to try everything. It’s interesting that one of the doors to spirituality opened through music. When you’re a songwriter, some of the greatest work that you do is stuff that just comes to you. If you read interviews with songwriters, they say ‘I don’t really write the songs, I just receive them,’ which opens up a window to the question ‘Where is this coming from?’
“The Power Animal site came from the time I was exploring Shaman,” Hart said. Shamanism encompasses the belief that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human and the spirit worlds.
Healing is done with plants, and spiritual healing is done through animals. Hart’s book talks of her journey. “My point of view in the book is that I am more of a seeker. I don’t have a set of beliefs that I want other people to share. I wrote the book to say, ‘Okay, I explored everything I could think of. This is what I discovered that seemed true to me. The book is simply urging people to embark on their own explorations.”
Avast, me hearties
During Hart’s three minutes of time devoted for relaxation in a given year…
“(Husband) Ed and I have a sailboat in the King Harbor Marina in Redondo. We’ve been members of the King Harbor Yacht Club for over 20 years and are also members of the Los Angeles Yacht Club in San Pedro.”
Okay, to keep your scorecard up to date, Hart works fulltime as a management consultant, has raised a family, performs Broadway show tunes upon request, records original music, creates and oversees three websites which offer words of inspiration, studies Eastern religions, nurtures and photographs roses in her garden, and writes books. Her day planner must be the size of the L.A. phone book.
And you think your life is busy.
Visit www.carriehart.com, www.quado.com and www.poweranimalsunleashed.com. PEN