Bio – Barb aka Spyce
During my lifetime I did my part to
achieve equal rights for women.
In the 60’s, I wanted a guitar and was told girls don’t play the guitar,
I was an awesome basketball player, but the WNBA did not exist, I was a pro
bowler, but there was no national tour for women, only the PBA.
Since pro sports was
not an option, in the 70’s, I helped to pave the way for women in the blue
collar world by working at a gas station, I was one of the first women to be
hired as a mechanic at a bowling center, had another job loading 50’ truck
trailers with milk products and worked in a paper factory as a machine stacker.
In 1983, I got tired of
manual labor jobs and decided to go back to college. In the begining I was a starving student getting
financial aid and student loans. In 1985, I taught myself how to
bartend, got a job at a high volume dance bar, had the best time of my life,
and graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Psychology in 1990.
In 1991, I decided I'd
regret it if I didn’t pursue my life-long passion for music so I took
music theory classes, drum lessons, piano lessons and honed my skills on lead
guitar.
In 1992, I bought a
dance bar with a friend of mine, but things didn’t go well so I sold the bar in
1993. One thing learned from that
experience is the key to making a lot of money is mass marketing.
To make ends meet, in 1993, I got a job selling
keyboards and computer software in San Diego, CA. Some things hadn't changed. There
were 25 employees at the store and 24 were men. In 1994, I put together
a musical CD and came up with a clever gimmick to sell it. The CD sold extremely well on a small scale
in stores without advertising (Mainly due to the front cover - my idea).
In 1995, I taught
myself HTML to market the CD on the internet and in 1997, decided to produce a
product line of gift items with the CD cover. The Patent Trademark Office said
there was a problem with the application because the Spice Girls had applied
for TM rights a few weeks earlier. I
used the name Spyce and the problem was Spice sounds
like Spyce. I contacted Gloria Allred, she referred
me to a trademark attorney who said I had “first usage rights” so I filed an
opposition and we signed an agreement to co-exist a couple years later.
In 2001, my mom was
diagnosed with Stage Four Ovarian cancer.
I put my life on hold to help her through two major surgeries and
chemotherapy. She passed away on her
birthday in 2002 and I discovered while she was sick my brother (A math teacher
at a Jr. College and born again Christian) was embezzling thousands of dollars
from my parent’s bank accounts. He also signed their names on a will and a Trust.
On the day of my mom’s
funeral my brother served my dad and I a summons to be in Superior Court
because he filed to be my dad’s Conservator.
To support his case he took my dad to doctors who prescribed drugs that made
him sick. My dad needed my help. He was 86 and his only problem was a poor
memory so I hired an attorney who sold me out (The Boy’s Club) and ended up pro
per in an eight-year court battle. To
make a long story short, after my father passed away, we settled out of court.
While taking care of my
mom and dad, in 2001, at the age of 46, I got back into bowling after quitting
for 20 years. There was a professional
bowling organization for women called the PWBA, but there still wasn’t much
money.
In 2002, I won the PWBA Regional Players Championship at
the Gold Coast Hotel in Las Vegas, made $5,000, bowled my first 300 game, and had
plans to join the national tour. In
2003, the PWBA folded.
In 2001, I had an idea to make bowling more
of a spectator sport to create better prize funds for bowlers. When the PWBA folded, I pursued it. In 2006, I put together a tournament in Vegas
where you pick your favorite player to win prizes and recruited 19 sponsors who
contributed $8,000 in bowling gear. In
2008, I put together a local tournament and recruited 12 sponsors who contributed
$8,000 in cash and prizes.
As things progressed, I connected the dots
(Knowledge of the Internet and bowling) to create an interactive game show. A friend of mine who is a Talent Executive
knew an agent with the top five agencies who liked the project and set up four
meetings late in 2006. The second
meeting resulted in getting a producer interested, but things fell apart when
my former friend and partner (a man) kept attempting to change the terms of our
oral agreement by screaming and yelling to get his way (Duress & Undue
Influence). The final straw was when we
disagreed about the host. My friend said it was his way or the
highway and if he left, the agent and producer would leave with
him. I took the highway.
After that fell through I had to focus on the
court battle against my evil Christian brother for another two years doing the
job of an accountant, paralegal and attorney.
What began as a fight for my dad ended up a fight for my own survival. In 2006, I
filed a motion alleging Elder Financial Abuse and the motion was granted, plus,
the Judge, ruled a
$50,000 surcharge in 2006 (That was never enforced). We settled out of court in 2009.
In 2010, I got a talent agent to represent me
to sell the game show, but we were unable to get a meeting with any of the
large production companies, i.e., CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. because they will only
meet with the top five talent agencies, i.e., William Morris, UTA, APA, etc. I called the top agencies to see if they
would represent me and they said I had to have a referral. That’s a catch 22.
Last summer, I was diagnosed with RA
(Rheumatoid Arthritis) which might be Polymyalgia Rhumatica. Doctors don’t know what causes it. My theory is a life of oppression and the
eight years of constant stress fighting a vicious court battle, always concerned that
my brother would get into the house to steal my evidence (he was successful on
at least one occasion) resulted in making me really sick. I’ve
been taking Prednisone since December of 2010.
Links:
Entered a lead guitar contest in 2003, placed 15th in 403 entries. There were three entries from women. The top ten advanced to the finals: www.freewebsitemusic.net/guitar
Created a website
that allows webmasters to use my music on their websites: www.freewebsitemusic.net My CD is here: www.spyce.com