Life & Work with David Page of Grandview

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Page.

Hi David, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Well, around 1980 I was an aspiring young musician with a partial college education – and zero life plan – when I ventured from my hometown Phoenix, AZ to LA because I knew the music industry was waiting to make me a star. It took a while realize this was not the case, even with a brother already established in the industry.

An invitation at age 21 drew me to reaffirm my Christian faith, and I gravitated to music related to faith expressions while trying to find a life career fit, mostly stumbling and restarting. But playing and singing in church was my outlet for decades.

We left LA early in 1994 (after the Northridge earthquake) and my wife, Toni, soon began to have serious health issues that ultimately led to a successful heart transplant in Oct 1997. At the same time, with music activities on hold, I finally settled into a career path in commercial aviation, a field I am in today, and which brought us to Kansas City.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think so. My main obstacle has been myself – jumping into life unprepared is enormously more difficult than otherwise, I suspect. We have struggled with finances, health issues, and consistency, having called seven states “home.” But I can see how our needs have been provided for at every turn. 

Before the heart transplant, bringing our daughter Rebecca into this world was challenging because of Toni’s heart concerns. In fact, it was largely responsible for needing the transplant. But these types of life experiences, if lived well and with support from family and friends, will often become the richest source of satisfaction. We are who we are because of these, having had to learn: Trust. Faith. Hope. Persistence. And to not give in to despair. Other challenges are hardly worth mentioning. We have a saying, “Hey, it ain’t a heart transplant.”

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. What can you tell our readers who might need to be more familiar with what you do?
My aviation career has included work for several airlines where I got my feet wet in customer service and flight operations. After Toni’s transplant was behind us, I enrolled in a vocational school to learn the job of the Aircraft Dispatcher, which includes flight planning, navigation, meteorology, FAA regulations, aircraft systems, performance and so forth. It was a whirlwind six weeks of full-time work and school, but it paid off.

We moved to KC from Phoenix in the summer of 2013 to accept a job offer from locally based private aircraft operator Airshare. It’s a growing “fractional” operator with business owners, executives, etc. who actually “buy in” to a fraction of a high-performance private jet which becomes their main way of getting around for business or pleasure. My current position is Mission Planner – we preview upcoming trips looking for potential issues in aircraft performance, weather concerns, vetting airports and stuff like that. 

But I maintain my love for the music I grew up with – The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Queen, etc. So one lonely, cold morning at the Downtown Wheeler airport office in January 2015 I took a chance with an Internet search for “KC — musician — referral –” something like that. And BOOM – before my eyes was a notice placed the evening prior looking for vocalists to audition.

Something I don’t really talk about much is the older brother I mentioned earlier, who had been in the LA music business. In the mid ’80s Mr. Mister had become popular with hits Broken Wings and Kyrie. Well, I figured that thiry years or so had passed since my brother Richard had that success – what was the harm now in dropping his name? The band formed and is now known as Way Too Famous, and we have developed a solid following over the past seven years or so. If your readers are interested, we are on Facebook and we anticipate a pretty busy spring/summer season of music around the KC Metro.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check?
Oh sure! In April 2021 I became a YouTube creator, with a series of videos exploring the music from the original TV series Star Trek. It’s called Scoring Star Trek, and my approach is to break down the melodies, or “motifs,” used by the composers and show how they are developed and modified for a particular scene. I also include some history on the business of the day, the composers, and how they happened to become involved in the show. I’m not trying to be a big-time Internet sensation. I just love this music and have found a small online audience who does too! Right now I have over thiry videos posted and over 400 subscribers.

For my music arranging/composing I utilize MuseScore, an open-source community. For recording, I’m using another open-source platform called Audacity. (Back in 2012, we recorded a full CD album of music for praise/worship primarily using Audacity!) And for my video productions I’m using an open-source platform called Open Shot Video Editor. Call me cheap, but these are wonderful and reliable tools for my needs. And I’m having the time of my life!

 

Image Credits
Don James/Magnetic Fish