Theophany Records was founded by August Mark Thomas Smith-Arcarese sometime around March 2001, for reasons that still remain
a mystery.
"Mark" (as he prefers to be called) has been involved
in music in one form or another all his life. His mother said his
first words were "John", "Paul", "George" and "Ringo" and then he
said "Mama", "Dada" like normal children (this might be apocryphal, but he is a Beatle fan, as far back as he can
remember, which is pretty far having been born in 1965!)
In the early 1980's mark,
a gifted teenage mathemetician, dropped out of school to program home computer
and arcade games for Atari, Strategic Simulations and others. After
videogames, years of software quality assurance for Apple (midi and music
software, dvd playback and authoring and color printing).
Somewhere in the midst of all this: multimedia. (Quicktime samples coming... someday!)
I, Mark,
programmed one of the first prototypes of Wall Street
Journal online (called "Dow Jones Interactive")
in 1994. A few years
earlier, in 1992, I had created a piece of artwork that was used in the movie
"Lawnmower Man", (don't ask
me how I did all this! I guess I was in the right place at the right
time).
I've
always been interested in Religion and Philosophy, and since 2001 have been
studying sincerely, taking courses at Creation Spirituality Institute, UC
Berkeley and GTU. I am very interested in my Perennial
Catholicism and Interreligious
dialogue, I am particularly associated with
groups of Hindus, Buddhists, Sufis and Jews, but I promote understanding
between all religions as being the true deepest teaching of them all. I
have also had a particular interest in Medieval Grimoires, or Books
of Magic, one in particular I am most interested
in is called "The Sacred
Magic of Abramelin"
from a 14th c. European Jewish origin.
For two years I sang for Saints
Cosmas and Damian Byzantine Liturgical
Choir (2002-2004, and on
rare occasions still do...). Occasionally I can be found reading
holy scripture at Incarnation Camaldolese Benedictine Monastery. I was involved in the Catholic-Buddhist
"Contemplation in the City" interreligious dialogue at
Graduate Theological Union in 2003.
The design wing of Theophany,
Annunciation Studios,
was somehow born out of all of this study of Religion,
I Think...
I'm
presently interested in pursuing a combined degree in Music Composition
and Arrangement, and Religion.
Currently in production
at Theophany:
Theophany Radio
Mike Margolin
Vial Magazine "Apocalyptic Divinations"
The Yoga of Patanjali
CD-ROM
Other projects:
Theophany for Imbeciles
"Understanding God, volume one 'The Silence of God'"
Sangre Amado
More multimedia, sound and tech / design demonstration coming soon...