ABOUT ME
Hi! My name is Anthony Arrigali. I am a 25 year old NYC native. I was born and raised on Staten Island. I am a musician, writer, audio engineer, foley artist, producer, boom operator, photographer, videographer and lighting designer.

SMALL DISCLAIMER
One thing people should know about me before meeting me is I was born with a speech disability which causes me not to talk normally. If you've watched Rat Race, I sound like the guy who pierced his own tongue, lol. It may take time for someone to get used to understanding me but I'm typically understandable on a daily basis. Please do not be afraid to make me repeat myself! I hope this does not make you uncomfortable as I am a great guy to be around.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I am on Couchsurfing to experience the world as I have never traveled for leisure before other than when I was a child. I'm mostly on Couchsurfing to meet locals in Los Angeles, California. As I am no stranger to LA due to work, I grew a stronger love for California. I feel it'd be nice to experience LA with local residents this time around. I hope to move to LA in 2018.

Interests

I have many interests but if I were to categorize them, they would be: food, music, photo, video and audio.

I love many types of food. I've yet to come around foods I don't like other than hard boiled eggs! I particularly love Chinese food, being the typical American I am. I'd like to explore my food horizons upon my travels as my intake is very repetitive.

As a kid, I always had a love for music. I would mess around with my boom box and record radio tunes and sometimes Beatles and Beach Boys CDs onto cassette tapes. Upon recording, I noticed some parts of the right speaker were not on the left speaker. I would always wonder why that was. This sparked my interest in audio engineering but unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to explore audio engineering until years later in high school while in my first band. I now play many instruments. I graduated from college with a certificate in audio engineering and post production.

My uncle, who is now deceased, was a photographer. I always loved watching him take photos. My parents bought a film point and shoot for our vacations which I would steal out of their hands to take photos with. Other than that, I haven't touched a camera until high school where I discovered my love for film in a film class taught by my favorite teacher. He taught me English, Creative Writing and Film. I have made several films with a point and shoot in film class. At this time, I thought of it as a hobby.

After college, I worked at Kmart to support my camera and audio funds. I started learning photography. The local artist that I traveled to Sweden with asked me to film his first film. This led to me expanding my film career 'til this very day.

Photo/Videography, Music, Recording, Audio Engineering, Guitar, Piano, Percussion, Lighting, Beaches, Food, Exotic Foods, Spicy Foods, Thrift Shops, Music Stores, Vintage Equipment, Vintage Movies, Vintage Photographs, Historic Photographs of Cities, Abandoned Buildings, Paranormal, Urban Exploring, Traveling, Exploring.

• writing
• singing
• performing arts
• design
• photography
• causes
• dining
• chinese food
• thrifting
• movies
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• piano
• drums
• boxing
• teaching
• engineering
• history
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite kind of music has to be Classic Rock. Lately, due to my wanderlust and love of LA, I've been listening to a lot of surf rock; mainly the Beach Boys. Other than that, I listen to anything between the 1920s-1980s. I do like some rap and hip pop, whatever. Music is music but it depends on my mood.

I am a HUGE Beatles fan. I love my 1950's-1960's music like no other. I've seen many artists perform; some being Brian Setzer, Ringo Starr, Crosby Stills & Nash, Phil Keaggy, Ozzy Osbourne with Zakk Wylde, and Peter Noone with Herman's Hermits.

I'm not much of a reader, unfortunately, but being that I am a filmmaker, I have a strong love for movies. My favorite directors have to be Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarrantino, and Vincenzo Natali. I love independent films and horror films. I love the scare and thrill!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I feel I am still searching for that amazing thing but if I had to pick, it would be the fact that I recorded my first song in 2013 after many years of finding musicians to perform with me.

Originally, the song was meant to be a folk song with a twist of doowop. After working with a local hip pop and rap artist, I asked him the favor of singing on the song. Since he agreed, it sparked the idea of recording the song as a doowop tune instead of as a folk tune as planned. This was because I knew he was capable of hitting the notes I wanted and I wanted the challenge. This challenge grew into something bigger which I wish not to mention.

We recorded the song in a single day complete with lead vocals, background vocals, piano, cajon, brushes and tambourine. I received a phone call from my best friend's father during the session saying she has passed away. Being this, this has inspired me to further complete the song in her memory as it resembled her greatly. While I sought help from the singer to find me a drummer, I recorded a saxophone player in which I didn't end up keeping. When it was time to record drums, we asked the drummer if he knew any saxophone players. It so happened that his brother was a saxophone player and would be home any minute. As time went on that day, a well known local pianist and keyboardist called to say he was coming over. I suggested to have him record organ. The rest is history.

Teach, Learn, Share

Depending on my travels, I will be able to teach you guitar, piano, photography, videography, lighting or whatever it is we choose. We'll learn together!

Countries I’ve Visited

Bahamas, Canada, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States