More Treasures of Sierra Madre: William Converse Richter

I still haven't caught up with all the baristas in Sierra Madre at and and still plan too. I have received so many great comments on the street and the baristas have enjoyed the attention. It's good to get to know the people we see every day.

I have also had the pleasure of knowing/working/being related to many incredibly talented people in Sierra Madre. I want to highlight some of these living treasures and hopefully learn about more of them in the process.

We can all benefit from taking time to appreciate some of the incredible talent that resides here, alive and kicking.

, another blogger here on Sierra Madre Patch read a Facebook post of mine about my son and encouraged me to blog about him and other local treasures. So here goes.

I'm not going to start with a list but go one by one, in no particular order. I truly hope that you will look around you and feel free to add your own comments and your own recommendations. Let's celebrate our awesome residents!  

Converse Richter was born in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan in 1979 and spent the first five years of his life living there with his parents and brothers. The artistic and historical environment of the hotel heavily influenced the Art, Music, and Underground scene that defined Manhattan during this time period. 

In order to explore the lifestyle of some of these Artists a young New York Magazine writer collected and sifted through the the trash of people he thought significant and created articles based on his findings. Converse found this idea intriguing. Hence the name of his album, "Chelsea Trash".  

Having been in the Chelsea at such an impressionable age, these songs reflect a randomness and eclecticism characteristic of a hotel filled with incredible diveristy.  

I am particularly fond of the song, "Plastic Cup of Coffee," a lovestruck ballad about disalusionment and loss. Also, a the humourous ballad "The Package" is a great shaggy dog story based upon a story Converse's father Daniel told him about John Lennon. A couple of other tracks I like are, "JackAss Travels" and "Microchip Ties."

This album showcases the work of two outstanding Sierra Madre-bred musicians, Tom Sanford and Joshua Schwartz (Josh was also the engineer on the album) as well as several drop-in musicians.

Converse did not have the opportunity to distribute this album when it came out due to personal conflicts. It is well worth revisiting this artist as he clearly has much talent to offer and we can only hope he will continue to produce music as well as pursue his other dreams, such as returning to school.  

There is a rumor about that he might be teaming up with his muscially talented sister, playright Joanclair Richter, to do some songwriting and performing.

, get ready!

Take some time to listen to a few tracks of "Chelsea Trash." It's homegrown and is available on cdbaby.com as well as iTunes and MySpace.

Matt Moran, another great talent, created a beautiful website for the album. Maybe we'll get it back up and running soon.