00:00:07 Archita: There's a moment in every creative life when we are asked to choose. Do we chase the outcome or do we listen to the process that's already moving through us? In music, that question isn't just philosophical. It shapes how songs are written, how careers unfold, and how artists stay connected to their inner signal over decades.

00:00:29 Archita: Welcome to All Our Room, a space where we explore creativity as energy, intuition and lived experience. I'm margita and today we are joined by Marnie Fraser, author of tracks in the Sands of Time, Volume one. A songwriter whose work stretches from nineteen sixties garage rock classics to a lifetime immersed in music, including time as a music marketing executive, working alongside Quincy Jones. Manny continues to write and record today, carrying decades of creative wisdom. In this conversation, we will explore songwriting, the tension between process and outcome, and what it means to stay creatively alive over time. So, Manny, it's a pleasure to have you in our room. Welcome.

00:01:16 Manny Freiser: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.

00:01:21 Archita: Uh, I'm really glad that you're here. The pleasure is all mine. Because, you know, you are truly an icon. And that that intro was. I think it was really impressive. So I can't wait to learn more about music from you.

00:01:35 Manny Freiser: Well, thank you very much. I, uh, it's odd. I'm. I started in the sixties, even though I'm only twenty five years old. Uh, okay. That was funny. Um, and anyway, I started in the sixties, I started writing songs, and I wanted to be a recording artist, and, well, I was I was in my teens and twenties. I wanted to be a rock star. And at that time in my life, you don't think about the choices you make. You make them instinctively with your parents screaming behind you, don't do it, don't do it. Um, I was supposed to go to law school, and I told my parents I'm quitting college and going to become a rock star in Los Angeles. Um, but not before I spent three years in a band called the Grodes in Tucson. Um, I, as I said, I just wanted to be a recording artist. But the person who was recording me, a friend from the college, wanted me to get live performing experience. And so I joined up with these guys and we became the Grodes, and we made records in Tucson and released them in Tucson and became successful in Tucson. Um, I eventually quit to come to Los Angeles because, well, there were several reasons for that, too. The other lead singer, who had just joined the band, uh, she and I were falling in love. So we decided we were going to go chase our dream in Los Angeles. And we did in nineteen sixty eight. In the fall of nineteen sixty eight, we left and came over the mountains to Los Angeles, uh, to be in the to be in the big time. And the first book, volume one, which is out now, which is the book you're referring to, tracks in the Sands, volume one. Um, that's about my life from the time I was born, through the grodes to the up to the time when Patty and I left and came to Los Angeles. Um, at that time, our dreams were alive. Everything felt so optimistic and, you know, untroubled. And, uh, book two, which I'm editing now, will be out soon, is about what happened to us in the meat grinder of the music business in LA.

00:03:54 Archita: That's so interesting. I mean, your journey is truly tremendous. And we will be, you know, learning more about it as this conversation flows. But before we talk about songs or careers, I'm curious to know many when you think about your relationship with music now, what does it feel like in your body compared to when you first started?

00:04:19 Manny Freiser: Oh, I was I was pushed from inside to do music. I, I felt what so many songwriters talk about, I felt the, the, the channeling coming down from somewhere to give me the music. I, I, I big chunks of songs would simply appear and I my job was to, to finish the song, which is hard. The hardest part is to actually do the grind work of finishing the song the the, uh, the inspiration for the start of it, wherever it comes from. That's the easy part, because all you have to do is be open to it. Um, today I would say, uh, that, to be very honest with you, uh, I've been through so many of the ups and downs of the record business that it's harder for me to get in touch with that spirit. Uh, that spirit, that spirit has been matured and also has been damaged to some extent by life in the real world. But I still feel it. And I still write and I still record. I have a studio right behind me in my house here in Los Angeles, and, uh, I write and record all the time except for when I'm writing my memoir.

00:05:47 Archita: That's amazing. Truly. I mean, uh, that contrast between urgency and presence already tells us so much about how creativity matures rather than disappears. And I've only, you know, heard about, uh, things or read about things like this in the books where, like you just said, um, you are channeling the music to flow through you and, uh, hearing it for the first time from someone like you. I think it's truly enlightening. Well, thank you for sharing that.

00:06:19 Manny Freiser: Oh. Thank you. I, I, I will tell you just to give you an example, um, this is just an example. I've written maybe five hundred or six hundred songs. Um, some of them are even good. But, you know, very small percentage is really good. But I've written a lot of songs, but this is an example of, of, of the inspiration that comes from where. That's when you feel like you channeled it. I was swimming in my pool one day in the apartment pool, and all of a sudden the song was in my head. I wrote the words and the music in fifteen minutes while I was swimming. No pencil and paper. Went back in the house and picked up my guitar and played it. And it's one of my better songs.

00:07:14 Archita: That is true art. I mean, it really is amazing, you know? And but hearing about it, it's just such a privilege. And yeah, all thanks to that channeling that, um, you know, you're here with us today with all those amazing songs that you have written, the music that you've produced. So. Yeah. And, um, you know, there's there's this idea that a music career is defined by making it a hit song. recognition or some final arrival. But but I'm curious how how that belief has shown up around you over the years.

00:07:53 Manny Freiser: You know, I think that the most important thing that happens to at least a songwriter, maybe to everyone, I think the most important thing is failure. Let me explain that. When you make it, that means you've made a right choice and you've gotten lucky. There's there's a couple things that go into it talent, timing, luck. It all is a part. I mean, for example, let's say you're a fantastic talent, but if you weren't in that spot to meet that famous producer who can help you, if you weren't there at that moment, you didn't make it. I mean, so, in other words, making it takes a few things, but it it's the result of a choice or two. Failure is what's learned over time from many, many, many attempts to make it. And failure is what teaches us. If you're listening to it, it's almost like channeling a song. If you're listening to what is included in that so-called failure, then you're succeeding. You're you're hearing the signals that will help you and guide you in your in your voyage. It may help you make it. It may help you make it in another area. It may take you someplace you never thought you were going when you started out. For example, when I started out as a nineteen year old kid, I was going to be a rock star. Time taught me that I didn't want to be a rock star. Oh. Oh, sure, I would have loved it. It would have been great. And now twenty. Not now, but twenty years after that, I was told by someone that I met at one of my songs was a success. Was I any different? No, I, I I wasn't, but there it was. Failure had suddenly turned into success. But I learned more from the supposed failure than I did from the success. I learned who I was. I didn't want to be a rock star. I wanted to be a songwriter. And I've gone through several iterations in the industry. Rock executive. Um, I went back and got a marketing degree. I don't know if you're ready for this, but at the age of fifty, I went back and became a lawyer. So I'm a lawyer. Um, a business manager, uh, an MBA, a songwriter. And, uh, I've loved doing all of it. And I've learned much more from the process than from any particular, um, achievement at any point you've got. If you choose a career, that's another thing. If you choose a career in a creative area, you know you have to first of all, you have to know. And kids, of course, don't know this. They have unlimited positivity. But you have to know that your chances of making it are very, very, very small. So you have to you have to be open to enjoying the process. And luckily, I loved the process. I've had the most incredible life of anybody I know. Um, I played rock and roll in the sixties when the Beatles and The Doors and, uh, and the stones and they were all. And Hendrix, they were all new. They were new. I remember going to see Jimi Hendrix at a little local place in Tucson and saying, yeah, he's a great guitar player, but I gotta, I gotta go, you know? You know, it's like it's it all changes in its perspective when you look back at it from a distance. So I would say enjoy the process of anything you do. I think that's the key.

00:11:58 Archita: And I think that's the most important part of it all. And that's the most important part of life itself. You know, I'm enjoying the process. No matter. Yeah. No matter what the outcome is. And I think it's also a lot about luck, about making it. It doesn't matter if you have a lot of talent in you. I think luck is also very important. But also it's not the only thing that matters. Uh, like for you, you have, you know, you realized so much about yourself that you didn't know about yourself before. The things that happened did happen. So I think, yeah, the process is what's really important.

00:12:38 Manny Freiser: Yeah. It is a process. And here's another, uh, another example of my great luck in life, and that is that I decided to go back and write a book about it. Now, it's interesting because I said, I'm not. I'll never write a book. I can barely write a two and a half minute song. I could never write a book. And then someone said to me, well, just write down your stories one at a time. And that's what this book is. It's a collection of episodes from my life. Uh, and, and, you know, I, I gained this amazing perspective, looking back on it and writing the book gave me a chance to actually relive it and to really appreciate it and understand it. I had a chance to go back and look at Manny from a distance. Wow. It was pretty emotionally powerful. I found myself laughing hysterically and and crying. I mean, it's it's happy and it's sad and all of it is wonderful.

00:13:52 Archita: It is, it is. I think it's it's pretty amazing that you are able to do so many great things. And I think it's also, um, pretty commendable. I mean, it really is. And. Yeah, let's, let's. Yeah. So let's, let's stay with that for a moment. I mean, from your experience, where do you think this obsession with the ultimate outcome comes from, especially in creative industries?

00:14:23 Manny Freiser: Well, it comes from. Well, for me. For me, it came from as a kid. First of all, you're more, as I mentioned, you're more prone to it if you're young. Um, you, you know, as you're older, you go, yeah, right. It's just that easy. No, um, but as a kid, I listened to the radio and I had my little red plastic portable radio. And back in the sixties, rock and roll wasn't as visual as it is now. You heard these magical records coming out of nowhere, and and they were so wonderful. And you didn't your, your view of your feelings from the record were not limited by seeing a particular person or a particular group. You got to dream along with the music and that media influence as limited as media was then, that was a that was an inspiration and a literally a fuse that detonated my desire to do it. I just wanted to live those records. I think I still do. I think I'm, I think I'm really just nineteen years old, but I look older. But but, you know, uh, I think it was it was a combination of hearing that magic and wanting to recreate it and wanting to be it, wanting to feel, you know, what was it like? What would it be like to to have a record that somebody in India or somebody in, uh, in, uh, Europe woke up in the morning and heard and and it affected them, like music affected you. And they go, they hear your song and they go, wow, that gives me goosebumps. That's what I live for. I don't care about the money. I mean, money's nice. I'm not, I'm not. I wouldn't complain, but that's not what it's about. What it's about is acceptance and understanding that someone out there, uh, far away from me, hears it and it moves them. That's what detonated me my desire. Plus, playing against that was the difficulty and drudge drudgery. I don't know what the word is of school. You know, in school you had to actually work. You actually you couldn't just say, Bing, I did that. Do I get my money now? Do I get my fame in school? You had to work for four years before you get your degree, and then you have to go look for a job, and then you have to do. No, I wasn't about to do that. I just wanted I wanted to to do something that would make me successful fast. And then there was the biggest inspiration of all girls. That's what it was all about. In fact, you know, when rock and roll started, we have to admit that it was a bunch of us crazy boys chasing around after girls and writing songs to them. Please be mine, you know? And, um. Uh. And I was and always have been just taken with, uh, the female personality and, uh, visually, emotionally, everything. So that's what made music. Uh, that's what inspired me to write that, you know, I was I wanted to have that career for those reasons I gave you. But where did the content come from? That's where it came from. In fact, my classic they say classic. They call it a garage classic because it was never a big hit, but it was a big hit with certain people. And. That record, that song is called Let's Talk About Girls. That's when I was nineteen. But unfortunately, I have to admit to you that probably that sums up my entire philosophy of life.

00:18:44 Archita: No, I think that's that's adorable and amazing at the same time because, you know, you took inspiration from your own life. Yeah, I think that's pretty cool. And it also sounds like you're constantly navigating two energies creation and commodification, without letting one fully silence the other. And I think one thing that, you know, differentiates you from so many other young artists today is that they always, um, seek, uh, to know. I mean, they always seek what their art can give them. But you are all about what you can give the world through your art. And I think that's that's the most important thing. Oh thank you. Yeah, it's it's it's pretty amazing. And and like you just said, it's all about the process and not always about the outcomes.

00:19:37 Manny Freiser: No.

00:19:37 Archita: Yes.

00:19:38 Manny Freiser: No. The process. Yeah. The process is wonderful. I have to tell you that although I haven't played in a rock band since the sixties, that decade, and I guess this is true for most people, I don't know, that decade had out, out, uh, outsized influence on my entire life, I guess, because I was growing, growing up. And I have to say that playing in the band, when things went well, we fought. And that's why we broke up. And that's why all rock bands break up. Because. Or most of them, because they're young guys or young girls, whatever. And they fight with each other and their ego gets in the way. We were good friends until we started to sound good, and then everybody started thinking they should be in charge, you know? But when we were when we were working and it was good, we'd be on stage and you just you. And we were a cover band. You'd go into, you know, light my fire or, or, um, or, uh, satisfaction when that, when that crash of, of thunder kicked in and you could feel the, the sound lifting off like a rocket ship. There's no feeling like that. That's a that's a that's a, that's a drug of some sort and one that I don't know what its harmful effects are, but I can tell you about its good effect. It's, it's like no other. It's it's, um, you're in the zone And the zone is amazing. And those those few moments are what performing musicians live for. I was lucky enough to experience them. Yeah.

00:21:30 Archita: Yes. That all sounds truly so amazing. So mystical. I mean, I have never really experienced it, but listening to you, it feels like. We mean, all of us are listening. It feels like we are also going through that. It's it's amazing. You know, how your art can make you feel like. So, um, many for for someone listening who feels disconnected from their creative voice right now, what would you invite them to notice or release, uh, before trying to create again?

00:22:02 Manny Freiser: Wow. That's a complicated question. That's very complicated. And and that's that's the, uh, that's the secret. I'm not sure I know the secret. Um. What do I do when I am not feeling creative? Um. Well, I try to fill my other senses. I listen to music. Um, I like to travel. I like to see different places. Um, all of those things fill up your your your creative, um, bank as it is. Um, and I try to find harmony in my life. And, you know, as you know, we all know harmony is a hard thing to find. Um, you know, whether it's an argument with your kids or your wife or your friends, um, or a or a financial problem or all the problems that that get to us, they make it more difficult to keep in touch with your spiritual and your creative side. And so I seek harmony in those areas. I'm not always successful, but I see harmony in those areas. And, um, there was something else I was going to tell you about that. I'm trying to remember what it was, um. Mm. Uh, I'll remember it. But the most important thing is to is to keep trying. Keep trying. Don't be thrown by the lack of ability to do it, because it's a natural part of the process. It is a natural part of the process. It's absolutely, um, required, you know, so to speak. It's going to happen to everyone. And, and just, uh, you know, oh, I know what I was going to tell you. I told you, I, I seek harmony in my life to help me. But it's it's very interesting that I write from a certain place. I don't know how it is for others, but I write from a certain. It's a wavelength, and I've heard it described as the beta or the alpha. I don't know. I've heard it described as both. Uh, it's a it's a very slim area of the emotions where you're not particularly happy or sad, but somewhere in between. I heard it described as the happy sad. It's it's a quiet place and it's quiet. It's peaceful. You can hear your inside spirit talking, and that's what I seek. But it's not that easy to just. You can't plug it in and turn it on. It's a it's, uh, hard to find sometimes. And sometimes. There it is. But I can't write. I can't write if I'm too unhappy and I can't write if I'm totally happy. Oddly enough, it has to be that certain place in that sliver of emotion in between. Now, I don't know how it is for other people, but I'm sure that they, as they go along in their process, that they start to find that place. I think you work to identify it, and I think that is a key.

00:25:36 Archita: Absolutely, absolutely. That's some great advice, Manny. Julie, I think what really matters is, you know, keeping hold of your art, not letting it go even when things are hard. Because I think with time, like you just said, they are going to navigate through all of those feelings and they are going to eventually return to their art. So I think that's what's really important, because creativity isn't something we arrive at. It's something we return to again and again by choosing presence over pressure. So yeah, Manny, this has been an amazing conversation, right?

00:26:12 Manny Freiser: I've really enjoyed it. I just I just wanted to say that I just wanted to add that all of the things that I've told you, for whatever value they've got, were learned through failure. If you succeed right away, you don't even bother to think about those things. You just think it's there all the time, or you try to replicate the exact same thing every time. But through failure, we gain depth.

00:26:43 Archita: Exactly. And that's all that matters. So, uh, many of our listeners who want to explore your music or your memoir, where can they find you and your work?

00:26:55 Manny Freiser: Well, I have a lot of songs on YouTube and a lot of songs on Spotify. Um, under my name. Manny Freiser. Under the grounds. Under, uh, me and my ex-wife in in the seventies were called Fire and Rain. Uh, it's a little difficult to find stuff under fire and rain because of James Taylor's fire and rain. But then again, I took that name from his song, so I guess I have to pay the price. Um, and and also under freiser. But, uh. And, oh, also under tongues of truth. Do you have have time for me to tell you that one quickly. There's a story behind that.

00:27:35 Archita: Yeah, sure.

00:27:36 Manny Freiser: Okay. Um, the song that we're known for, let's talk about girls, um, was a failure in, in Tucson, and, uh, I gave away the publishing, and another band recorded it. I didn't find out till fifteen or twenty years later that the song had gained, uh. status as a as a garage hit and, um, and, uh. And so that would that that was a very interesting, um, uh, situation.

00:28:20 Archita: Thank you for sharing that with all of us today here, Manny. And yeah, thank you for this amazing conversation. I'll make sure all the details are available on our show listing so that our listeners can feel free to reach out to you, listen to your songs, or, you know, read your memoir. And yeah, thank you for spending this time with us in the room. If something in today's conversation resonated, let it settle. No need to rush it into meaning. Creativity unfolds in its own rhythm. Until next time, stay open. Stay listening and trust the process that's already moving through you.