Author: Cherry Blossom Festival

I was born and have lived all of my life in the environs of Hollywood.   Just before my 8^th birthday I auditioned for a role on the Jack Benny Radio Show as the older daughter, “Baby Alice” of Phil Harris. This began my professional acting career which was mainly on the radio. “It’s A Wonderful Life” was the only movie that I was in and it has been an amazing lifetime experience to have been in such a collectively meaningful picture. My life was busy with school, singing, dancing, piano and other lessons and performing on a variety of radio shows.   From age 8 to 17 I was under contract to NBC to perform on the Phil Harris – Alice Faye Show as “Baby Alice”.

My acting career ended when I entered UCLA and made the decision to not pursue performing arts as a major. Instead I wanted to pursue a career in a helping profession.   The first form of this was Nursing, but for some reason it did not fully satisfy my wish to help others. Eventually it became clear that my desire was specifically to help others who were struggling with finding meaning in their life – not unlike Clarence in the movie who helps George see the meaning of his life. This led to my becoming a Psychologist and finally a Jungian Analyst. I have the great privilege of working with many individuals who are engaged in what I know as the “individuation” process of fulfilling their lives in a meaningful, personal way.

My greatest delight is my family. I have a son, Joe and four stepdaughters from my second marriage: Nancy, Janet, Linda and Naomi. I am the very proud grandmother of six grandchildren and one great grandchild ranging in age from 6 to 26. Joe, and his wife, Melissa, have given me two delightful grandsons, Cameron and Austin. Naomi and her wife Janna have given me twins, Kate and Gavin. Janet and Ken, the parents of Rebecca, and Linda, the mother of Nikki and her grandson, Aiden, are also part of my beloved family. They all have taught me to play, which was something that was missing in my childhood and that I treasure.

All in all I have had, and continue to have, “A Wonderful Life”.

   Darren King was born on June 25th, 1982 to Vivian and Bill King of Marshfield, Missouri. 

He was raised on West Bedford street near Massey Park where he lived along with his two older siblings Kristi and Clint.

    While in 5th grade at Marshfield Elementary, Darren joined Lori Herring’s “Academic Resource Classroom” for gifted students. Her attentive and encouraging teaching style combined with a newfound friendship in Jonathon Altman (another of Mrs. Herring’s students) helped him feel valued and confident at a time when he struggled to fit in. In jr. high and through high school Darren’s “resource room” education was continued by Richard Ingalls whose lessons, like Mrs. Herring’s, inspired and challenged Darren.

    Around the age of 12 Darren’s interests began to shift from visual art to music. He joined the elementary school band percussion section along with Jonathon (whose father was the band director at the time) and spent countless evenings drumming on everything in his home; pillows, basketballs, the box spring of his bed,  even the walls. No surface was safe from the incessant tapping of his only pair of drum sticks. His mother was very patient, reminding herself that the constant noise was proof that Darren was not getting in trouble. It was also around this time that Darren discovered his dad’s wonderful cassette collection and a whole world of music from the past opened up to him. Artists like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, the Beach Boys, The Ventures, and especially Benny Goodman (with Gene Krupa on drums) found in his father’s collection sparked his permanent obsession with music and record collecting. 

    Around age 14 Darren was invited to play percussion (congas. tambourine, etc.) in the Cornerstone Church (Springfield, MO) worship band where he began to develop his exuberant, frenetic style of performance, playing as hard and loud as possible to compensate for the fact that he did not have a microphone. Eventually Darren was allowed to play the drum kit in the church band. It was around this time that Darren met Paul Meany a musician from New Orleans who performed at Cornerstone church.

   In June of 2000, upon graduation, Darren joined Paul’s band “Earthsuit” as an auxiliary percussionist in time for the release of their first full length record. He toured with them for two months but was very disappointed when they decided to send him home after only 2 months of touring. He moved to Nashville and worked for Reba Rambo and Donny McGuire’s church “The River at Music City”. During this time he worked at restaurants, practiced drums often in very lengthy sessions, and began creating his own instrumental songs with whatever melodic instruments and recording tools he could borrow from friends. He sent some of his recordings to Paul who was impressed with them and they began to collaborate by sending CDs of song ideas in the mail.

    A year later Darren moved to New Orleans to rejoin Paul’s group this time as drummer. Shortly thereafter Earthsuit disbanded though Paul and Darren remained together and formed a new group which they called “Math”. Initially only a two member outfit, they were joined by Greg Hill on guitar and Roy Mitchell-Cardenas on bass and changed their name to Mutemath. 

    Mutemath signed to Warner Brothers records and released their first full length record in 2006. Moving from New Orleans to Nashville after hurricane Katrina, the band toured almost constantly for nearly two years in support of that record.

   In the fall of 2007 MUTEMATH was joined by a band of siblings from Texas named Eisley for a 2 month tour. Darren fell in love Stacy Dupree, Eisley’s lead singer and songwriter, though they did not begin dating until nearly a year after that tour (and after much persistence on Darren’s part). Darren moved to Tyler, Texas in hopes that their love would grow. They married in July of 2010 and Stacy gave birth to their first baby girl, Scarlett, on October 24th 2012, by far the best moment of Darren’s life. Four years later, on October 15th 2016 their 2nd daughter Solenne was born, doubling their joy. 

     Over the last decade, Darren has co-produced 5 full length albums with Mutemath, directed many of their music videos, toured the world, appeared on late night and daytime television many times, and produced and written songs with some of the most successful artists of all time, though none of those things compare to the joy and love he has found in Stacy, Scarlett and Solenne. 

Steven Ford has enjoyed a successful acting career for over 25 years appearing in over 800 hours of film and television productions. He has worked on over 30 films and many guest leads in television. Most recently you would have seen Steve appearing in the hit movie TRANSFORMERS and BLACK HAWK DOWN. Steve’s other film credits would include films such as CONTACT with Jodie Foster, ARMAGEDDON with Bruce Willis, STARSHIP TROOPERS, ERASER with Schwarzenegger, HEAT with Al Pacino, CARRIE II and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY as Meg Ryan’s boyfriend. He has also done numerous guest leads in television shows such as SUDDENLY SUSAN, J.A.G., FLIPPER, WALKER TEXAS RANGER, DR. QUINN, BAYWATCH, THE CAPE, COLUMBO, MURDER SHE WROTE and HAPPY DAYS. Steve also hosted a full season, 22 episodes of the prime time series SECRET SERVICE for NBC. Early in Steve’s career he spent six years playing the character Andy Richards on the Emmy Award winning daytime show THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. 

Before becoming an actor in 1980, Steve worked on the professional rodeo circuit as a team roper and still ropes today in his spare time. He owns a ranch in California. Steve served three years on the Board of Directors of THE NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME in Oklahoma City and currently serves on THE GERALD R. FORD PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION.

He is also highly sought after nationally as a motivational speaker for corporate events relating his inspiring experiences during his family’s stay in the WHITE HOUSE and his years in Hollywood. Steve also speaks about his own successful battle overcoming alcoholism over twenty years ago. He shares with audiences inspiring stories of character and leadership that lead to the Ford family’s success which will help audiences rethink their own lives. He is the third son of President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford.