Roger Levine Author of The Secret of the Century
I was born, appropriately enough, on April Fools’ Day, 1950, and brought up in Baldwin, Long Island, graduating from high school in 1968. I started at SUNY Binghamton (Harpur College) that year and ultimately graduated in 1974 (after a two year hiatus in Canada) with a degree in Philosophy.
From early on I discovered I had the ability to make people laugh as well as certain musical proclivities. During college, I worked as a musician/comedian, and despite my degree in Philosophy (or perhaps because of it), after graduating I moved to Boston and continued working at folk and comedy clubs around the Northeast.
In 1975, I got married and needing to make more than the substance living my artistic ventures were providing, got into sales (office equipment) because that’s what my father did. As it turned out I was pretty good at it and prospered in the booming Massachusetts economy of the time. Unfortunately, my marriage did not prosper as well, and I got divorced and began the quest that is the central focus of In Search of the Golden Shiksa.
When the Massachusetts economy died in the early 1990’s, I moved to Florida with my new wife, and unable to make a living down there, decided to go to law school (Northeastern University) from which I graduated in 1996.
Unemployable (both because of age and temperament), I was forced to go into practice by myself and discovered an entrepreneur hidden within, evolving a fairly successful Elder Law practice over the last fifteen years (attorneyrogerlevine.com). I presently live in Canton, Massachusetts (south of Boston) with my wife, Donna, two sons, Jake and Ben, as well as the three and a half cats.
Although primarily concerned with career and family pursuits, the music, comedy and writing have never left me. Two unexpected bursts of creative flow (in my twenties for the music and my early forties for the books) where songs and stories seemed to channel through me (I’m not kidding), left me with a body of work I am trying to advance on a commercial level.
In the spare time that I’ve had over the last ten years, I’ve worked on polishing the manuscripts to make them attractive enough for an agent and publisher to pursue. Despite this lack of industry connection, the books are still flowing off the shelves of Amazon at a rate of almost 200 a month.
Also, although my music has been played on Boston radio stations for years (WCAS & WUMB among others), the internet in general and Jango in particular (where I have over 2,000 fans), has given new life to my songs. I have also recently joined the Pandora lineup.
At this point in my musical career, I am approaching the market mostly from the song writer’s perspective, looking for artists and others in the music industry to use my songs. These undiscovered gems, however, can still stand on their own two feet and are available here in both individual song and album format. Enjoy.