Art Casado
Art is an accomplished composer and musician and a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
For 30 years, Art performed, recorded, and toured with some of the finest musicians in the world. -- Recorded music for Kama Sutra, Bell, Elektra, ABC/Dunhill, TK Records, and chosen as the first band ever to be signed to Rolling Stones Records. Enjoyed sponsorship by top musical manufacturers like Ludwig and Zildjian.
Appeared in dozens of music trade publications, including the pinup centerfold for After Dark, a San Francisco magazine, after returning from a three-month tour of Europe as the opening act for the Rolling Stones. -- Art still writes and records music in his home studio.
Art has also been around the publishing environment since childhood. His father was a syndicated journalist and his uncle a cartoonist for Mad Magazine.
At the age of 15, Art began to draw cartoons in local periodicals. As his artwork matured, he began to attract the attention of publicists and agencies, ultimately rendering illustrations for books and many other publications.
Growing up in New York City, Art worked closely with his uncle and mentor, the late Antonio Prohias, on every aspect of drawing; from the things publishers want, to the cleverness of Spy vs Spy. -- His life-time exposure to the art of Mad Magazine's illustrators and the masterful guidance of Prohias gave Art a priceless and unique insight to the publishing world.
In Chicago, at the age of 22, Art took time from his music to help develop a successful US National Parks billboard campaign and an Art Deco poster for the Wisconsin Hollering Contest. He also spent time collaborating with Playboy photographer, Paul Gremmler, on magazine ads and other pictorials.
As a volunteer for a program to clean up graffiti in Chicago, Art used local teens to produce inspirational building-size murals. Art also helped elementary school students raise funds and art awareness by helping the children create fun modern art paintings that were sold at local libraries.
While living in South Florida and touring with musical artists, Art turned to multimedia and began composing scores for radio commercials, drawing story boards for videos and publishing elaborate marketing packages for the entertainment industry. Art also helped the American Veterans Administration raise thousands of Dollars by gathering rock star friends and performing fund-raising concerts on Memorial day and during spring breaks in Fort Lauderdale Beach.
This period led to Ray Dream computer 3D modeling and developing digital kiosks for commercial and educational markets. Since the 1996 Olympiad in Atlanta, Art has worked with IBM Learning Services (LS) and IBM Application Management Services (AMS) as a design architect and a developer and subject matter expert for IBM Learning Services Classroom Authoring Systems (LSCAS).
Studied art and design at the New York Institute of Commercial Arts, but Art claims he's been more fortunate to have received priceless opportunities and relentless support from devoted friends, courageous artists and talented musicians whose names we would not recognize.
Randy
My son Randy, a civil engineer and project manager for the California department of transportation (CALTRANS), was killed on his motorcycle on September 21, 2004, when a teacher late for work ran a red light at a busy San Diego intersection. -- In 2014, the City of San Diego honored my son by naming the 905 overpass he built after him.