Philip Gilley, Executive Director/Founder
Philip grew up in Woodstock-not THE Woodstock but Woodstock, VT. Always interested in music, particularly film scoring, he found even at a young age that learning music via traditional methods would be a hurdle. It wasn’t until the age of 17 when he got his hands on a guitar, taught himself how to play and finally fulfilled his dreams of creating music. He moved to Santa Barbara in 2004 in pursuit of a career in Screenwriting-which he still finds time to pursue, however it was his desire to immerse himself in the community that led to the formation of Notes for Notes. While participating in the Big Brothers program he found that his “little brother” was interested in learning drums, however they were forced to make trips to Instrumental Music so Philip could teach him drums on the demo kits at the store. It soon became apparent that this was not a sustainable model and from this experience came the idea to form Notes for Notes. Philip’s dream is to expand the organization nationally with MusicBox studios in as many cities as he can put them in.
Jeff Theimer, Regional Director Santa Barbara
Jeff is Director of the New Noise Music Foundation. New Noise produces local concerts, events and cultural activities in the Santa Barbara region including the ‘New Noise Santa Barbara Music Conference & Festival’ which occurs annually in the Fall. Prior to co-founding New Noise, Jeff was the Marketing Director of 92.9 KJEE in Santa Barbara and worked as Publicity Manager at Alternative Rock radio station 106.7 KROQ in Los Angeles. A Santa Barbara native, Jeff is familiar with the needs of Notes For Notes, it’s importance as a community resource and advocates for collaboration with businesses and non profits who can strengthen its message and reach.
Kris Ehrman, Program Director MusicBox East
Kris grew up in Seattle, WA. He began playing guitar, bass and drums with the neighborhood kids at the age of 6. Growing up, his influences were 60s,70s,80s,90s American Rock, Pop and Folk music and he practically lived off of bios and pics from every major artist within these four decades. These interests eventually led him attend the University of Washington to complete the Sound Engineering program. When Kris turned 24, he moved to San Diego, CA to engineer at Memphis Brothers recording studio in Solana Beach. Thru this experience of recording many different generes of music, he found himself becoming drawn to the depth of World Music, which gave him a new perspective on the artform. This pulled him to places like the Galoka Jazz Scene where he performed weekly with Forward Funk and Bahkti Griots, groups that brought African & Asian Indian rhythms and dance to the stage. Performing conscious Afro beat, Bhangra, Funk and Freestyle poetry.
Kris also has 4 years of experience as the musical director for the Toussaint Academy of Arts. Here he taught 14-18 year olds the fundementals of song writing and music production while producing a nine song CD with the students. When he began to incorporate his past musical experiences into his lesson plans, he soon soon realized that by maintain a global approach to music education, moments would often invite lessons in history, culture and geography as well.
Now, living in Santa Barbara, CA. Kris has completed the bulk of his music major at SBCC and continues a private study of ethnomusicology. For the past 3 years, Kris has performed weekly with Wayeri, a band with a unique style and sound due to their influence of South American folk music.
As Program Director of Musicbox East, Kris hopes to facilitate the development of young musicians in the community by sharing his musical influences and experiences.
Taylor Hurtado, Program Director MusicBox West
To say that Taylor was exposed to the music scene early is a bit of an understatement. Though he started on alto saxophone, Taylor began banging on the drums seriously at the age of eight, spending all of his free time playing along the songs that he liked at the time and learning the parts by ear. By 6th grade, Taylor had an endorsement deals with Pork Pie Percussion and Zildjian and was playing in a punk-type band with his older brother, who’d been working diligently to hone his craft as a bassist. His younger siblings, now in the 4th and 6th grade, also followed in the family footsteps and play in a band around town. The musical inspiration comes largely from Taylor’s father, who’s played in various bands over a number of years and worked as a road manager for several rock acts in the music industry. Taylor spent some time traveling the road with his father, doing his schoolwork from a laptop and somehow managing to be the band’s merch salesman by age 10.
Always with an eclectic and extensive amount of instruments at his disposal, it was only a matter of time before Taylor started in on the guitar and bass, and by 14, he was playing in three bands: guitar for the new school heavy metal band, drums for the experimental funk/rock/jazz group, and the third featured his father on lead guitar, brother on bass, Taylor on drums, and a close friend on vocals.
Today, Taylor plays bass in Naked Walrus, a locally founded band that is in the midst of cutting their first album, due to drop in summer 2011. He also helps to run a grassroots booking company called Black Mamba Booking, and works with New Noise Santa Barbara as well.“I feel honored to have been given an established position with Notes for Notes and the opportunity to be a part of something so wonderful and genuine,” says Taylor, who is currently program director for the MusicBox at the Santa Barbara West Boys & Girls Club. “I’m a huge fan of giving back to the community and realize how crucial it is as an individual to ‘pay it forward,’ so to speak. When you find yourself following your passion, giving something back to the community, and getting to inspire children of all ages to hopefully learn the universal language of music, it’s not hard to see how one might be loving life.”
Dakota Gartner, Booking and Promotion
Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona by way of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Dakota has always been surrounded by the arts. His family is filled with people in all realms of the artistic industries, influencing his creative energy from an early age.
He started playing the guitar at the age of six taking private lessons for about eight years from different teachers of all genres. At the age of 12, Dakota started his first band, in which he not only played but also was in charge of all booking, promotions, and other managerial tasks. As he continued to have this role for his bands, he became more and more involved in concert promotion, setting up his first AIDS benefit concert with 10 bands and live art at the age of 15. Starting in his junior year in high school, Dakota began working in after school programs at different elementary schools throughout Phoenix.
Dakota moved to Santa Barbara in 2008 to attend SBCC as a music industry major, and he has continued working at different after school programs including the Waldorf school, YMCA, and Santa Barbara Rock Academy. Along with this, Dakota is co-founder of Black Mamba Booking, a company that specializes in booking local and regional talent. Along with this he is the assistant booking agent for New Noise Santa Barbara.Dakota is currently in his last semester at City College and is transferring to CSU Northridge in the fall to attend their music industry program.
Caesar Valenzuela, Executive Producer MusicBox 1235
Caesar grew up in Riverside, CA and moved to Santa Barbara in 2006 to escape what were becoming dead-end situations. His move to Santa Barbara was the result of a choice to explore more positive opportunities in his life. Shortly after moving he heard about the MusicBox studio in the 1235 TeenCenter. He had always had a passion and gift for music ever since he discovered a computer with Fruity Loops which set him on his path to creating some of the most original and inspiring hip-hop beats. If it wasn’t enough that he was a gifted producer he also had the ability to write and rap the most profound and poetic lyrics making him an incredible artist and asset to Notes for Notes. As one of the first participants of the MusicBox, Caesar clearly had “skills” however it was only once he became staff at Notes for Notes just a year and a half later, that he demonstrated an amazing ability to teach and inspire the next generation of young musicians. Caesar now runs the MusicBox 1235, the studio where he got his start.
