Michael D'Orazio is an ARTIST who lives in a SUBURB, on the outskirts of PHILADELPHIA. "His life is a MONSTER driven INSANE"*(a quote by the band THE BIRTHDAY PARTY), he has been DRIVEN to MADNESS by those in his COMMUNITY. He may be one of the most proficient and prolific ARTISTS in the area, always churning out projects, always publishing something. DRAWING came easy to him, and MUSIC also runs through his blood. TRY TO STOP HIM, if you can...

Michael believes that if you are an ARTIST or a MUSICIAN, and your in it for the FAME, and GLORY, you are in it for all the wrong reasons. Being a ARTIST isn't for everybody. It's a process of having EXPERIENCES, sometimes PAINFUL, processing the information, HEALING, and sometimes moving on to other SITUATIONS, sometimes changing your Life to get different RESULTS. It is a PAINFUL process that most people who don't adhere to healthy PRINCIPLES can't DEAL with. Being an ARTIST isn't for EVERYBODY. ARTISTS are SPECIAL, emotionally STRONG, and most often INTELLECTUAL. Its a wonder that some ARTISTS, can't handle the PROCESS, and end up committing a DESPARATE ACT.

If you see Michael in Public, and he gives you some ART CARDS, or perhaps a CD of his MUSIC, Its because he LIKES you, and he TRUSTS you. If you tell him that you lost the CD, or that you didn't LISTEN to it, It really is painful for him to understand that, by him GIVING you a CD is his WAY of REACHING OUT to you. After all most of his songs are about PAIN, ALIENATION, and LOSS of LOVE... So Michael was HURT when he wrote this STUFF, only to be HURT again, when he tries to reach the people he TRUSTS...

Michael was the SPARK of LIGHT, that was BORE into a world of DARKNESS, and CORRUPTION. As the light grew, and grew, and Michael at an early age was plunged into a world of SIN, and TURBULENCE. From then on the light grew in INTENSITY, and was the guiding FORCE in his life. Michael, even though was the TARGET for DARK forces, continues to FIGHT, and shed some LIGHT, on this world of CORRUPTION, and DESPAIR.

Michael's works; which are "DARK", or otherwise, is his SWEET LEMONADE, that is after all the LEMONS he got from life. You can't blame him for the content of his work, he is not RESPONSIBLE for the GARBAGE that people fed him throughout the YEARS. Michael was manipulated and influenced by EVIL people who did nothing to help him be a GOOD chap, but when Michael listened to the works of NICK CAVE, and his band THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, he realized that he was not alone. There he put 2 and 2 together, and realized that there were other ARTISTS like him. NICK CAVE paints a picture of lonliness, DESPAIR, TEMULT, AND ALIENATION, and SELF DEPRECIATION. All the elements of Michael's work. Thank's NICK CAVE for saving my life all those YEARS and building the groundwork for my own musical VENTURE

Also Michael does not subscribe to today's AMERICAN POP trends. He hates RAP with the exception of a few ARTISTS. The closest he gets to GHETTO is a black artist named TRICKY, and he is from the UK. Michael avoids a lot of POSITIVE COMMERCIAL singer/songwriter stuff, and CRINGES when he hears it LIVE, or on the RADIO, just like a VAMPIRE that see's a CRUCIFIX, for many reasons. Most commercial music does not reveal(What Robert Crumb would say about music today) any form of "CALAMITOUS LOSS", which isn't of any VALUE to anyone who needs something CONNECT with, and RELATE too. The world is a HARD place, with many HARSH realities. Your not SAVING anyone's LIFE by telling people how GREAT your own life is...

Also Michael even though he is mostly ITALIAN, his lineage goes back to GREECE, which ultimately means that Michael see's himself as a real SPARTAN. He is STRONG. He is up against a wave of ADVERSITY, and SURVIVES, even though everyday is a STRUGGLE, and he deals with tremendous amounts of physical, and emotional PAIN. Michael does not back down from a CHALLENGE, and always comes out on TOP. AMEN.

If you think Michael is a PIG for some of the work he has done you are MISTAKEN. Michael's work is a reflection of the LIFE he recieved, but never wanted. He lived through his own personal NIGHTMARE, to rise up out of DISORDER to try to reach up to a HIGHER GOOD, but to no avail. Michael isn't totally PROUD of the work he has done, and wished he could have done something that was more of an INSPIRATION to other people, instead of his own personal GRATIFICATION.

But in true HONESTY, most of Michael's ARTWORK was inspired from 80's JAPANESE ANIMATIONS and MANGAS. The JAPANESE always had a SLEEZY side to ART that captured Michael's attention. Michael realizes that AMERICA is truly PURITANICAL(so DAVID BOWIE said in reference to being GAY), and is so FAR REMOVED from the 1980's period of ART and MUSIC. The 1980's was a DECADENT time, that MICHAEL will never truly FORGET. AMEN to that!!!!

ROBERT CRUMB, known for his late 60's COMIC work, also had some IMPACT on the way MICHAEL drew WOMEN... ROBERT CRUMB had a lasting impact on his work... ROBERT CRUMB drew WOMEN big and veluptuous, usually with a vulture's head, or it totally cut off... Some might say ROBERT WAS SORT OF A MYSONGENIST, similar to NICK CAVE'S SONG "DEEP IN THE WOODS"...

Michael believes that he knows more about GOD, the story of CHRIST, and it's MEANING then the so-called CHRISTIANS that FROWN upon his work. To him these so-called CHRISTIANS have no LOVE in their HEARTS, and use the name of CHRIST to undermine the efforts of HARDWORKING people. They wear CHRIST on their SLEEVES, only to keep people where they are at, and only use it for their own PERSONAL GAIN... So if Michael shows you his work, don't bother using CHRIST to discredit Michael's attempt at trying to achieve or STRIVE at a HEALTHY PERSUIT that keeps him from getting into any sort of TROUBLE...

Also Michael believes that doing ART and MUSIC isn't VAIN but great therapy for exercising DEMONS, and regurgitating ideas that may be considered MALIGN, or IDIGNANT. Although some of Michael's ideas my be considered SINFUL, or perhaps DECADENT, getting them out of his system through ART is a way to PURIFY his mind, body, and SPIRIT, from eating away at the fabric of his SPIRITUAL BEING... Being exposed to these many CORRUPT tendencies of people to INFLUENCE his life, was probably one of the REASONS Michael had to adhere to these principles of THERAPY...

At one point Michael was exposed to the ART of MIKE DIANA(who was the first JAILED CARTOONIST, CHARGED with 3 counts of OBSECENITY in LARGO, FLORIDA during the late 80's). Although Michael was SHOCKED, he had his own line of ETHICS to work by, somehow, somewhere MIKE DIANA'S art got somewhere in his own WORK. Michael does do some RACEY, JUVENILE stuff, but also there is some NICE stuff, that PEOPLE choose to IGNORE... They say Michael's WORK is DARK, but not all of it is.. People say Michael is NEGATIVE, but that is the side of Michael they CHOOSE to SEE... Most of the POSITIVE WORK, Michael has done has been TOTALLY IGNORED by the PUBLIC, and Michael was DISCARDED as a PUBLIC NUISANCE, all though it was HANDLED QUIETLY....

In HIGH SCHOOL, Michael was exposed to PUNK MUSIC, METAL, AND THRASH which was an acceptable form of MUSIC in the 80's, and early 90's. Artists like DANZIG, and his bands "THE MISFITS", and "SAMHAIN", were on his list of favorites. These bands were DARK, and BROODING, and like I said were WIDELY ACCEPTED in MAINSTREAM CULTURE, even though they started out in UNDERGROUND scenes. Michael said to himself, If DANZIG can do it, why can't I, so Michael began his ARTISTIC JOURNEY during that time period. It was during this period that Michael frequented UNDERGROUND clubs, which were popular at this time. These CLUBS made a LASTING IMPRESSION on Michael, even though over time, the music that he heard VANISHED into thin air, and disappated into a DRY, UNATMOSPHERIC, LULL, of COMMERCIAL CRAP, that had no DEPTH, or PERSONAL MEANING to anyone except for the PEOPLE who wrote it... Michael after absorbing WONDERFUL works of DARKNESS, and SOCIAL COMMENTARY, was once again PLUNGED into a WORLD that's only PURPOSE is to make MONEY, and FALSE, COMMERCIAL SUCCESS'S....

Michael got his start in the late 80's joining a high school punk band called "FEEDBACK" as a vocalist. They practiced OFTEN, and played one show at the Norristown Area High School TALENT SHOW in 1989. After the demise of the band Michael moved on to his second project which was a GOTH/PUNK band called "THE BURNING". At this point he was a VOCALIST/CO-WRITER of the music and songs they played. In the early 90's, they played shows at PHILADELPHIA clubs such as: REVIVAL, VOODOO LOUNGE, ETC., and high school BENEFITS, such as AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, and played a CONTEST at KIMBERTON FAIR in PA, along with numerous parties, and SOCIAL GATHERINGS. "THE BURNING" was recorded by now GRAMMY WINNING PRODUCER, IAN CROSS(for Janet Jackson production), who later trained Michael to sing DAVID BOWIE songs and perform them LIVE at a Bar called "SECRETS" in Norristown. From that point Michael did several recordings with IAN, and then later with SINGER/SONGWRITER STEVEN VINCENT CLUTHE. It was at this point Michael REALIZED his talents, as a VOCALIST, and a RECORDING ARTIST, and decided to pick up GUITAR, and attend the UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, for ILLUSTRATION, and from that time on Michael ROSE UP, out of MEDIOCRITY, and started on his MUSICAL, and ARTISTIC journey.

Michael chose to go to ART SCHOOL so he could have a more ACADEMIC approach to ART, but did not go to MUSIC SCHOOL, because he wanted a more UNCONVENTIONAL approach to MUSIC, that and he didn't believe in his abilities as a INSTRUMENTALIST, that and he didn't want to WASTE his money on a CAREER, that may or may not have taken off. Although later after years of recording, learning songs, writing songs, he managed to squeeze out a long string of albums that were SALEABLE, and COMMERCIAL enough that proved that Michael could do it on his own...

The POINT of the MATTER is SIMPLE. Michael's work is him giving back to SOCIETY. He's giving back what SOCIETY gave him from the very BEGINING. Don't BLAME him for the CONTENT of his WORK, It says everything that should be SAID to a VERY SICK SOCIETY....

If you want to see MICHAEL play keep posted for new details concerning shows, or Open mics in your area. Until then MICHAEL will be productive at HOME, recording and writing SONGS. SO SEE YOU LATER... GOODBYE!!!...