About Carrie Hart

Thank you for your interest in my website.  I hope you enjoy reading about my journeys as a singer/songwriter and spiritual explorer as well as my career in computer and corporate life.  It continues to be a great adventure and I am delighted to share it with you here.

My First Great Triumph 

My first great triumph in music took place in the 6^th grade, when I was chosen to sing the coveted “Five Gold Rings” line in the Twelve Days of Christmas for the Parson’s Elementary Christmas pageant.  It was a great moment, one I can still see in my mind’s eye.  Really.

Over the coming years, I sang in occasional choirs and around campfires, always glowing when someone commented on my lovely voice.  But I was just too shy to get out there on my own.

After college, I fell into a career in computer programming, back when this was called Data Processing (DP) and the most popular language was COBOL.  To give you a feel for the times, I was the only female programmer in the DP department, so when the secretary took a break, naturally I was selected to cover the phones.  Here I am in the photo on the right, with short skirts and long hair I tried to straighten with Dippity Do and huge pink rollers.   

I met my husband, Ed, at work when he dropped my card deck in the computer room (yes, we had punched cards).  And we built a good life together near Los Angeles, one we still share.  It amazes me sometimes that I have had the good fortune to love and be loved by someone, to have a daily partner, for over 30 years.  We spent weekends, summers and holidays with his two kids, Katherine and John, who are now both grown and living near us, with children of their own:  Brian, Brandon, Teagan, Delaney and Everley, our grandchildren.

As for singing, well, it was relegated to a little Christmas caroling at work.

Life in Corporate America

In the meantime, my career in computers was doing well.  When I had first started, there were no computer science experts to give us schedules and methodologies -- we just figured it all out, and it was fun.  I had always enjoyed geometric proofs in high school and writing computer programs from scratch in the old days was very much like reaching QED at the end of the proof. 

Computers then were huge machines in big air-conditioned rooms with raised flooring so we wouldn't trip over all the cables.  And for all the size of the physical machines, we had very little memory to work with.  I remember how excited we were when the company I worked for finally took us from 32K to 64K!

I began to move into management, not so much because I wanted to manage people, but because I was tired of being so poorly managed.  And it was this desire to have a say in the decisions that were made at work that kept me moving upward in the corporate ladder.  And along the way, I finally overcame that shyness.

Here are some highlights from my corporate career:  I managed systems development for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Committee; I was a Principal at Arthur Young when it was one of the Big Eight Accounting & Consulting firms and was still there when we became Ernst & Young; I was the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Authentic Fitness, now Warnaco (you would know us as Speedo); I was a Vice President at Bergen Brunswig in Orange County, and there during the merger into Amerisource Bergen in Pennsylvania; I am now a consultant in the supply chain field, helping companies use software to handle their overseas manufacturing.

And while all that was happening, I returned to music and then moved into spiritual exploration.  The story of these adventures is below.

An Important Choice

One day I thought I might go back to college to get an MBA.  The application arrived in the mail and I set it on the coffee table.  The minute that application was in the house, I started dreaming of being back in college.  You know, the ones where you go into a class and find that there is a test you didn’t know about.  Or find out the day before the final that you are registered for a class you never attended.  Or that great favorite, where you are in class and look down to discover that you are in your pajamas.

Well, obviously, this was not what I was meant to do.  So I tossed out the application and thought, why don’t I spend that time, money and effort doing something I always wanted to do?  Why don’t I study singing?

I was working at the time in the Hollywood area.  I looked in the yellow pages and there it was, an ad for “Al Berkman, Vocal Coach to the Stars.”  Oh, my heart beat fast!  It took all my nerve to call him up.  I actually asked him if it was too late for me to study singing.  After all, I was over thirty!

Well, Al was from the Catskills and had been rattling around the music scene for many years.  I recall an autographed photo of Vic Damone in his lobby.  I was so scared at the audition.  I expected that he would either reject me outright or tell me I was the greatest singer he had ever encountered.  Instead, he said, “OK, let’s get to work.”

And that’s what we did.  It was great.  I practiced diligently every day, singing into a foam-stuffed coffee pot in the closet (Al’s suggestion), so as not to disturb the family.  As one of Al’s students, I helped put on shows for rest home patients, veterans and senior citizens.  We did a lot of music from the forties and fifties to Al’s stride piano, and Hava Nagila was a big hit at the Senior Citizens’ Hall, just before Bingo.

It was great.  Really.

McCabe's

I had always wanted to play the piano and one day in the late eighties I called up McCabe's in Santa Monica and asked if they had any piano teachers.  They told me that there was a showcase of instructors that very evening.  So I went.

Various teachers got up and talked about their offerings, including the piano teachers.  And then Larry Bridges got up to speak.  He talked about his showcase, where we would each sing a couple of solo numbers, accompany each other with backup harmonies and then put on a show, which would be videotaped.  My heart started beating so fast that it was obvious that this was what I truly wanted to do, to sing, to put on a show.  I had to audition, of course, but I was accepted and had the time of my life.

After a couple of years, Larry left for Seattle and Sue Fink took over the McCabe's showcase, something she still does today.  I had a wonderful time working with Sue, both on performance and voice.  Then, for one reason or another (who knows?), I went another direction for a time.  But Sue is back in my life today, 20 years later, as you will learn below.

Let's Make Love

One of the wonderful connections I made through my McCabe's experience was meeting Rich Wenzel, who runs Ardent Audio Productions.  I had started writing songs and Rich helped me with arrangements and demoing my fledgling songwriting efforts.  After a time a style emerged and then an album.  This first album, Let’s Make Love, is sensual and bluesy, full of that hormonal flood that runs through “older women” of around forty or so. 

When I listen to these songs now, I am taken back to that intense yearning, to the fun of just being so electric.  I hope you’ll listen to these songs and just enjoy the thrill of being alive.  You'll find both the music and the lyrics on this site, some intensely passionate, some full of lusty yearning and some just plain fun.

It's Personal

I began to seriously studying songwriting and to put on shows whenever I could.  I worked with Lis Lewis, a wonderful vocal coach, who lifted my performance immeasurably.  (Lis is now the vocal coach for reality TV shows and works with some names you will recognize.)

I also began digging deep into self-discovery and spirituality.  My next album, It’s Personal, is an expression of both of these areas. 

On my first album, Let's Make Love, I wrote both the words and music.  On this second album, I wrote all the lyrics and Porter Hansen wrote much of the music, taking me into a pop style and out of blues.  I met Porter at a songwriting seminar and am deeply grateful for the creative experience we had together, working on these songs. 

I also had the most wonderful experience in recording the album--Lis Lewis came to Rich Wenzel's studio for the recording sessions.  It turned out that they got along famously and we had a great time creating music together. 

I hope you’ll not only listen to the music, but will read the lyrics of these songs.  They speak deeply to me and I hope they will touch a chord with you.

Spiritual Explorer

I was raised in a non-religious family and for the majority of my life, had no particular interest in spiritual exploration.  Yet spirit came to me, unbidden.

One day  I found myself in a bookstore, walking down the Religion & Spirituality aisle I had always avoided.  My hand reached out to a book called You Are Psychic, by Pete Sanders.  I immediately sat down on the floor, right there in the aisle, and started reading.  Finally, I realized I needed to read this book, bought it, took it home and devoured it in one sitting.  And thus began my adventure into spirit, as I tried out the exercises and discovered a latent talent for intuitive hearing, the ability to ask a question and have the answer come in words inside my head.   

I began to sit in the garden every morning, ask questions and get answers from what I called "my angels."  I then began getting messages for my girlfriends, and found that  they contained great advice with a new perspective I had never had.  And one day in 1995, while seeking advice for a friend in trouble, the answer came in a voice with more gravitas.  I asked who was speaking and got the answer:  “I am Quado.”  And now my spiritual journey began in earnest.

I'd like to make a side note about what is commonly called channeling.  The voice I hear is not an external voice; it is just like my thinking, except that it feels different to me and, of course, says things much wiser than my thoughts ever were.  The messages are also relentlessly positive.  I welcome you to accept them in any spirit you care to, anywhere from the voice of God to that subconscious aspect of ourselves.  For after all, the main message is that we are all one, and in the end, there is no separation between Quado and me, or you.

Quado is pronounced KWAH - doe, with a soft 'ah'.  You can read all about my meeting with Quado and our first year or so together in my book, There is a Garden.  I also wrote the songs of my CD, "It's Personal", during the same time period covered in the book. 

 In 1999, I began getting up at 4 AM to receive and post my daily conversations with Quado out on my website before going to work.  I would wrap a blanket around me, grab my journal and go sit on a stone bench surrounded by a white azalea.  I loved listening to the birds wake up the world just as the sky brightened. 

Quado is now so integrated into my own thinking and being, that I no longer request and receive Quado messages.  So I created a website, www.Quado.com, for those who would like to use their intuition to receive a loving and transformational message for the day, along with a rose from my garden.  The messages on this site are from my archive of the thousands of messages I received and posted over the years.

Spiritual Healing and Running Wolf

I have Quado readers who have been traveling on this path with me for these many years and I am grateful for their company and loving support.  In 2001, one of the Quado readers wrote and asked me to do a spiritual healing.  I was about to say that I did not do this, when a powerful Native American shaman named Running Wolf appeared in my mind and began to heal her.  I then found I was able to access Quado at the same time, enabling me to share a transcript of the healing session with her.

I might mention that I had no knowledge of shamans before one appeared in my mind, just as I had never heard of channeling before I started doing it.  What an adventure it has been!

Since that time, I have performed hundreds of spiritual healings, first as an apprentice to Running Wolf, and then as a full shaman.  The healing sessions began with the shaman techniques of power animal and soul retrievals and then expanded to include other healing modalities, such as past life regressions and whatever else spirit brought to us at the time. 

More recently another shaman, Great Eagle, came to me and we offered our services through remote sessions.  Great Eagle’s energy was very focused around healing the earth, and he wished to assist in awakening people to their potential to do so.

I created a website, www.PowerAnimalsUnleashed.com to allow you to find your own power animals.  (You may also use the shorter www.pow33.com to reach this website.) 

You will find there the energies of Running Wolf, Great Eagle and the wondrous Power Animals.  The Power Animals are archetypes you may invite into your life, for particular occasions, for relationships, a challenging period in your life or for a lifetime.  You enter the enchanted forest and then use your intuition to select just the right power animal.  Then feel the concentrated energy the Power Animal brings to empower and energize your life.

Buddha, Jesus and Reiki

In June, 2002, I went to England to complete my studies in Reiki, which is a healing modality.  I knelt on the grass in the center of Stonehenge, one of twenty, kneeling in a circle within the stone circle, there to receive my initiation as a Reiki Master.  I closed my eyes, and the ceremony began.

I saw a golden ball floating in the air above us, in the very center of the circle.  within it was a young and beautiful Buddha, sitting in the lotus position, one hand raised in blessing, glowing golden and showering his radiant energy down upon us all.  (I have since learned that this position is the Amoghasiddhi Buddha, symbolizing freedom from fear.)  

I then saw Jesus moving among us, in a robe of blue and white, weaving through the kneeling initiates, touching us and blessing us, one by one.  When he touched me, I felt the most pure and intense love I have ever experienced. 

The peace and love I felt in that moment has never completely left me.  For years after, I sensed Jesus standing beside me, his right hand on my left shoulder. 

I found this first experience with Jesus to be very surprising.  I was not raised in a religious household and I had never formed a Christian connection with Jesus.  As with the other aspects of my spiritual journey, I had not gone seeking, but had in fact been found.  A Hindu friend subsequently told me that this experience of grace, of receiving unconditional love through the touch of a master, would be called Shaktipat in that religious view.

When I went to Maui for my attunement as a Karuna Reiki Master, I experienced a series of encounters with Jesus.  My description of these visions are in the Maui Papers, included in my book, A Call to Greatness, The Exciting, Joyous Journey Your Soul Wants You to Take. 

Meditations

Many of the Quado messages I received and posted took the form of brief meditations, which my readers urged me to record.  When I approached Quado with this idea, I received a series of full-length meditations, which I have recorded and made available to you on www.Quado.com free of charge.  These meditations have proven to be another wonderful way to share this gift I have been given and I have received excellent feedback on the results of using them. 

One of my favorite meditations is the Animal Friends meditation I created for children.  It not only introduces them to powerful friends to help them through life, but begins to teach them the power of peaceful meditation.  Those who have used this meditation tells me it has an extremely soothing effect on their children and grandchildren.  It is available for download on the power animal site.  Click here to learn more.

I am currently doing a live guided meditation each morning via telephone conference call.  I would love to have you join me.  I strongly urge you to take up the practice of daily meditation, in whatever form works best for you.  Meditation will transform your life in miraculous ways. 

What I Believe

I have worked with the great shamans, Running Wolf and Great Eagle, to open to the healing and guidance of the Power Animals; communed daily with my spiritual guide Quado and shared his wisdom widely;  felt the deeply loving touch of Jesus during my Reiki Master attunement at Stonehenge;  and opened to the vastness of the universal consciousness through meditation.

And now I believe this to be true:  all of these pathways lead to the same place, which is the deep discovery of your own self, the shining light of your soul self, which is your source and your support.  And your purpose in this lifetime is to shine out as brightly as you can with all of the wonder that you are, becoming the fullest possible expression of your soul’s intention for your life, all while recognizing your deep oneness with all that is.

Courage of the Creative Spirit

Several years ago, I read the biographies of the greats of the golden age of musicals, men like Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter and Lerner & Lowe.  I was amazed not only by their talent and creativity, but by their courage, how they kept on going and never gave up.  I felt they had so much to teach us about never losing heart.  So I put together a show in which I told their inspiring stories of overcoming hardship and going on to greatness, all while singing their fabulous songs.   

I performed the show as a dinner show for my local yacht club.  At the end of the show, the audience gave me a standing ovation, and I thought, hmmm, I may have something here.  And my old vocal coach, Al, must have been smiling down from heaven, so proud to see me singing songs from the Great American Songbook.

I have since developed and refined this show and call it The Courage of the Creative Spirit.  I can’t begin to tell you how much joy it brings me to perform some of the greatest music ever written--and I am overwhelmed and delighted at how well the show is received.  I hope you will come to one of my performances very soon and see for yourself what Al and Lis taught me over the years.

More recently, I put together another show featuring one of the great composing teams, Rodgers & Hart.  I worked with Leslie Sharp, who created fresh arrangements for the old classics, like Lady is a Tramp and My Funny Valentine.  We performed it at Vitellos in the San Fernando valley and were gratified to have a wonderful review in Broadway World.

Angel City Chorale

A few years ago, I read a book, Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck.  One of the things it does is lead you through a process to discover your true purpose. For a month, you follow her technique and see a vision of what you are meant to do.  Well, there I was, every day for a month, looking at a variation of this:  I am walking down a long hallway.  I open a door at the end.  Then I step out onto a lighted stage where thousands of people await me.

This was actually a familiar vision.  Several years before I had been  at a week-long meditation retreat with Deepak Chopra.  He also led us in an exercise to see what we are meant to do.  And what came to me then was exactly the same thing--a vision of myself on a stage in front of thousands.

And one day, I thought:  I need to join a choir.  I think that this vision, still in the back of my mind, was one of the reasons.

I remembered that Sue Fink had started a choir some years back, the Angel City Chorale.  I looked it up on the internet and saw that her little choir had grown quite large (over 150 people) and that she was doing exciting things.  I am now in my second season with the Angel City Chorale and loving every minute of it.

Recently I auditioned to be part of the 60 people from Angel City Chorale that gets to sing in Mahler's 8th Symphony along with the LA Philharmonic in February, 2012.  I am thrilled to say that I was accepted and am now working hard, learning this very challenging material and rehearsing with this terrific group of singers.

So why do I have a picture of the Hollywood Bowl here on my website?  Because I have a dream to sing there one of these days.  Perhaps it will be soon, who knows?

Shine on!

Thank you so much for visiting my website.  I wish for you that you may shine out with all of your uniqueness and wonder in everything that you do.

  2/15/10

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