People often ask me what I do, and I'm always reluctant to answer. Which section of my life to I take time to explain? Which one most suits the moment? Do they want to know how I earn an income, or what my hobbies are? After all the questions run through my head, I typically answer, "Everything"… or, "Nothing." They laugh, but it's true. I have bouts of insane busyness… and terms of hibernation. My name is Sarah Gianetto. I'm a Pisces. I am an artist, and I don't settle for living a normal life. That has lead me to quite a lot of interesting endeavors.
It started in high school. I decided to publish an underground paper— XPDn't— to give myself a voice at a place where I hardly felt accepted. It allowed many other students who felt similarly to anonymously be heard, whether they were sharing poetry, ranting about other students, or reaching out after being raped. And it was through XPDn't that I began to spread my love of the dance/rave scene, of which I had fervently become a part. When I graduated, my class voted me "Most Unique"; I finally felt accomplished
Throughout high school and into college, I was involved in Dance Performance troupes, did modeling for Vidal Sassoon, helped friends promote their events, and dabbled in photography, thinking that would be my major. Unsure, however, whether I wanted to focus on one type of creative outlet, I extended my college career for several years. This not only allowed me to try many different directions in school, but to gain a lot of experience that I had never imagined.
My next extra-curricular project was the creation and sale of PLUR shirts in honor of the few rave-related listservs that built the online community in the early 90s. I was an active member of Mtn-Raves— known as "GalXyGrl"— but when that got too big as more people got online, it was time to build AZ-Raves. I taught myself HTML, and the rest is history.
I had become friends with most of the DJs in Arizona (and the Southwest) at that time, and I wanted to help them with more than placing their bios on the web. In the summer of '97, I decided to start a DJ booking/management company and record label with DJ Inertia. I handled everything from writing press releases, to accounting, to distribution— If it was outside of the studio, it was my job. Our first release, "Time" by The Dream Traveler, was an international hit, chosen as opening track for Paul Oakenfold's Tranceport (Kinetic/Warner) compilation, and even illegally used for the production of Britney Spears: Live in Hawai. We were blessed with remix work by Deepsky and Markus Schulz. Tracks following our debut gained quite a run of license deals over the years, including Guardians of the Earth's "Starchildren" (featuring Jes) for Paul van Dyk's Politics of Dancing (Ministry of Sound), Sylvane's "Get 2 U" for Taylor's Trance Nation America (Ultra/Ministry of Sound) and Inertia's "LowJack" for Logic Trance 3 Presented by ThousandWords Magazine (Logic), among others.
After several years, bigger endeavors took over my life, and AZ-Raves was retired. I will always be grateful to that site— and everyone who supported it— for it gained me work for other publications like Java, The Phoenix New Times, Link AZ, Lotus Magazine, etc, and ultimately AZcentral.com, where I wrote the long-running, popular nightlife column Woman of the Night for over 6 years. AZ-Raves also connected me so that I became the Phoenix street rep for Fragrant Music, wrote an album insert for Capital Records, had photos published in various outlets like URB Massv and The Skinny, and more. I also managed the Plastik Records store and label, and the Desert West Record Pool, and hosted many big name artists that were brought to town by promoters Groovetribe. I co-promoted club nights like "Glitz." And on and on.
Dream Music went on hiatus after our 9th release. On a personal note, I began experiencing many health problems, including a pituitary tumor (located within the brain, behind the eyeballs). It was then that I decided to slow down and dedicate my time to simpler things: Health and education. Still not able to decide which area of creativity I should concentrate in at school, I worked on a General Studies Associates Degree, and graduated with honors. I continued to nurture my creative side by writing poetry more than ever, explored visual arts more than ever, and returned to dance through Nia. After a long overdue epiphany, I meshed my music experience with my writing abilities, and began working on songs of my own.
It took another year to find the right Bachelors program for me, and I was lucky to finally find one that was perfect: Interdisciplinary Arts & Performance, which comprises Theatre/Performance, Digital Media, Visual Art, Music, and Verbal Art. I did my internship at Masterfonics in Nashville, and graduated summa cum laude in December of 2006. And, thanks to my degree, I was able to conceptualize, produce, edit, etc the video for "Hot Pink Champagne Cotton Candy Makeover," which you see here. I've also done readings for Y York, participated in sound performances by William Duckworth, collaborated on and performed in avant-garde productions for Modified, and have even been paid as a performance artist by the Phoenix Art Museum.
"Hot Pink Champagne Cotton Candy Makeover" (produced by Inertia) won a great contest on American Idol Underground, naming me one of their Top Emerging Artists of 2006. I've really only dabbled in vocals. I'll collaborate with others, but I'm very shy and prefer to record alone in my kitchen, and pretty much never want to perform live (but love karaoke!). I've gotten to work with the wonderfully talented Lenny B in Nashville, as well as other "kids" from my school.
I currently work as Director of Operations for Ten In One Talent, as well as tour manage Sandra Collins.
I appreciate the encouragement and support from all of you. It keeps me moving. Literally. Without the support of each other, we would be nowhere.
Thanks for listening. =)
