DESCRIPTION:
Ted Quinn sings Sky Cathedral from his album Help Wanted (2003)
w/ Fred Drake, keyboards and drums and Tony Mason, guitars
Album artwork by Ted Quinn.

Ted Quinn is a singer, songwriter, artist, and cultural activist in Joshua Tree, California.

Born in the time of the Birth of Cool, in the decidedly unhip Midwest, 'Teddy' became the national commercial spokesperson for a nasty pharmaceutical giant by the age of four, within a year of the Quinn family's move to Hollywood and the expansiveness of the West. "Mother's are like that. Yea they are." As a child actor living in Laurel Canyon, he also appeared on Bonanza, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Bewitched, Dr. Kildare, The Virginian, General Hospital and Accidental Family. His films include Madame X with Lana Turner and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with Don Knotts.

Surrounded by the scents and sounds of the '60s and '70s, young Ted roamed and hitched rides through the hills of Laurel Canyon, with regular lifts from neighbors Frank Zappa, The Byrds, Tina Turner and Mama Cass Elliot.

The many colorful influences found their way into Ted's poetry, which he began at an early age, after deciding that TV was too plastic for his deeper interests in art, music and the politics of the day.

The 1980s saw Ted experimenting with minimalist techno-pop and performances which often included multi-media projections, theatrical staging and costumes. The group, Telekin, had a moderate electronic dance hit in Europe and disbanded after being called the 'pick to click' by the LA Weekly.

Stripping down to acoustic guitars in a pre-unplugged Los Angeles, Ted joined forces with fellow musicians Fred Drake and Robert Floyd to form Ministry of Fools, whose dreamy, acoustic-based music was a predecessor to the psychedelic folk heard today, mixing a bit of social observation with a subtly spiritual inclination.

After joining his friend Fred at his Rancho de la Luna recording studio near Joshua Tree National Park, Ted spent much of the mid to late '90s painting, doing some community activism and -- always -- writing songs. In the desert, Ted found the expansiveness and freedom to create which may have drawn his parents away from La Porte, Indiana, all those years before.

By the early '00s, Ted was established as an important local artist in the burgeoning music scene of Joshua Tree.

'Help Wanted' is Ted's first solo album. Recorded at the Rancho, the production began with Fred and finished in the months after Fred's death.

The album brims with melancholy, optimism and beauty, observations of an innocent heart looking through eyes which were exposed to so much, so young. The opening track, "La Porte, Indiana," tells the story of the family's migration west, into the unknown, in a minimalist meditation. The styles thereafter range from acid-drenched soul and walls of sound to bare bones production.

Quinn resides in Joshua Tree where he writes occasional columns, organizes events, performs and continues keeping an eye out for shooting stars.
Presently aside from performing, Ted hosts two open mics at Pappy and Harriet's and the Joshua Tree Saloon. He also is a high desert radio personality having started Radio Free Joshua Tree in 2013. http://www.rfjt.org/
Ted is also a proud and loving father.

Recorded entirely in analog at Joshua Tree's Rancho de la Luna studio, in which Quinn was a partner, 'Help Wanted' looks at the state of love and war at the turn of the millennium with healthy trepidation and, ultimately, hard-won faith.
From 'La Porte, Indiana,' a minimalist, dream-laced meditation on his home town, to 'Death of Cool,' a rich, Spector-esque wall of sound denouncing the cruelty of modern society, Quinn shares his poet's soul in a voice filled with haunting emotion.

That voice resonates through an array of styles, making each his own. Hamilton Camp's classic anti-war song 'Pride of Man,' the catchy hook and post-techno keyboards of 'Apocalypse No,' the Motown-via-transistor-radio danceability in 'Tar Beach,' the upbeat mantra 'Don't/Shoot,' and the spacy ambient 'Tibetan Bells Bizeau' are sonically different -- diverse yet never disruptive.

The terrain of the heart is explored unflinchingly throughout. 'If U Do' is a riddle of love and impending loss. 'Dave's Song (If That's What You Wanted)' responds to a friend's suicide. Finally, in 'Orange Sunshine,' the glowing light of sunrise pours in through orange colored curtains, evoking loved ones now departed.

Nor is Quinn afraid to dig beneath the surface of current events, serving up slices of the American soul in such songs as '29 Palms,' written for a Marine widow, 'Billions & Billions,' a scathingly honest look at American values (managing to rhyme Oprah and Deepak Chopra in the process), and 'Sky Cathedral,' a title drawn from a piece of art destroyed in the World Trade Center. (from Amazon)

To buy Ted's cd's go to http://tedquinn.blogspot.com/