So here is a little background about me and West L.A. Studios.  Back in 1985, not long before opening up this little rehearsal oasis,  my life consisted of playing top 40, in clubs, 5 or 6 nights a week, doing demo sessions, on drums and bass guitar, and running my little 8 track recording studio, R & L Productions, in Culver City, California.  About 10 years earlier, in the mid 70's, I had been lucky enough to record an album with Capricorn Records artist, Bobby Whitlock, (Derek and the Dominos, Delaney and Bonnie, and the list goes on). Subsequently, I did a short stint with T-Bone Burnett's Alpha Band. Like cocky fool, I quit the Alpha Band because I thought I deserved more pay.   A month or two after I left the  band, they ended up backing up Bob Dylan, on his Rolling Thunder tour.  Oops!  My wife, to this day,  still calls me "The Pete Best of West L.A."    Anyway, back to the 80's.   I am so lucky to be working  with guitarist extraordinaire,  Jesse Ed Davis, on a daily basis, when he introduces me to a man who would forever change my life.  John Trudell, a poet, a subversive, a brother, and an important figure, representing Indian people, giving them a voice, in a country that took everything away from them.  We do a few cassette releases with Jesse and me doing music, accompanying John's beautiful and powerful spoken word poetry.  Our first cassette release, Graffiti Man,  is referred to, in a Rolling Stone interview, given by Bob Dylan, as the best album of the year.    I ended up spending the next 30 years touring the world with Trudell, going places that I never dreamed I would go, and doing gigs that I never thought could be possible and playing with artists, who I never dreamed that I would ever have the honor of playing with.  Jackson Brown, Bonnie Raitte, Kris Kristofferson David Lindley and others, just to name a few.  Ok, so back, once more,  to the 80's, and I'm still playing in clubs, doing a session, now and then,  and even bringing home the occasional young lady for late night festivities.  Then my life changed.  It was February, 1986, when  I met this pretty red haired girl.  She was an attorney and she had a credit card!  That was good enough for me.  ( I never had a credit card)   By October, 1986 she was my wife.  She was 100% supportive of my career path, as a musician,  but I decided that  I needed to do more to contribute, financially,  to our soon to be growing family.   So,  I  recruited my, amazing parents, Leo and Frances,  to give me a bit of financial help, so that I might build something very special, in the hood where I grew up.    I set out to make our new rehearsal facility a special place where music and musicians would be celebrated, where courtesy and  respect would be the norm and new friendships would emerge and collaborations would be born.   Since the day we opened, it has been a magical and musical experience, getting to meet and become friends with, so many terrific and talented people.   We are also thrilled to have had the opportunity to provide rehearsal services to some bands and artists, who ended up becoming very  successful, (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Maroon 5, Ben Harper, The Wallflowers, Sara Bareilles  and others.)  It has been a real treat to be a part of the L.A music community and to have hopefully played a small part in helping talented musicians and artists work to achieve their dreams.   I look forward to many more years of this truly satisfying endeavor, that is West L.A. Studios.  I remain married to this job, and also to my fantastic wife......

 My Name is Rick Eckstein and I approved this spiel.