A Dream Deferred

My name is Walasia nee’ Miranda Jane, and music is in my DNA. I was born at home in the Hollywood Hills in a cloud of Marijuana smoke and the sound of music in the background.

My Mother had a promising career as a drummer, but my birth stunted that path for her, followed two years later by the birth of my baby Brother Mike (nee’ Cecil, named for Cecil Taylor, my Father’s bandmate/collaborator). Still wanting to play, my Mother used to put my bassinet next to her drum kit during rehearsals.

I don’t remember much of those early days in Laurel Canyon, but my Father told me the story of how he used to Jam with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and I’d play on the floor with Jerry’s infant daughter Trixie while they rehearsed.

My parents couldn’t get along to save their lives (or ours) so our Father moved out and got an apartment in the Valley. Someone decided weekends would be spent with my Father, who had started working more as a session musician. He quickly rose in that field becoming a principal Bass player on shows like the X-Files & nearly every Disney show imaginable. Sometimes he would take me or my Brother & I to rehearsals, concerts or sessions. From a young youth, the recording studio was…