The First Frakenjuice Man/Woman of the Week is...

ESTEBAN: The Little Zoro That Could

Indeed... ESTEBAN! I have selected him as my first Frakenjuice Man/Woman of the Week. Why? Because, through his hardships and passion to convert his deepest emotions into song, this frakenjuiced infused idol, that looks like a Zoro on pedophile pills, has touched the world with his soothing sounds, many many HSN infomercials, and unstoppable perseverance.  I now invite you to read on about the incredible, ESTEBAN.

Born in 1948, as Stephan Paul of Pittsburgh, PA (No, this is not Spidermonkey crap), Esteban (stage name) began teaching himself guitar at the early age of 8. By age 12, Esteban began taking formal lessons and was even teaching guitar to other kids by reportedly charging $3 for every half-hour. Esteban wanted to take his guitar skills to the next level by studying with the renowned classical guitarist, Andres Segovia.  Yet, because he was only self-taught, and not classically trained as Segovia required of all his students, Esteban gave up serious guitar playing for a while.  He then enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University where he majored in English and Music (However, his guitar classes were taught by an unaccomplished guitarist who actually played cello with the Pittsburgh Symphony).  

Even though Esteban still had not received the level of guitar lessons that he dreamed of, by the time he graduated from college in 1972, he claims that he had nightly gigs and was teaching guitar to about 150 people every week. 

Esteban's drive to study with Segovia never diminished.  In an interview with the Phoenix New Times, Esteban says that, "I had an insatiable drive to study with Segovia" (pg.3). 

So, when Esteban graduated from college, he moved to L.A. and stalked....I mean pursued Segovia, in hopes of persuading Segovia to take him as a student. Esteban's passion was so intense that he spent the last 2 years of college sending anonymous notes to every hotel Segovia was staying at that said, "My life is meaningless unless I can study under you" (Phoenix New Times pg. 3).

Above: Segovia (Left), Esteban (Right)

When he graduated in 1972, Esteban finally decided he was going to meet Segovia in person. It is crucial to note that there are many different accounts of how the next series of events unraveled.  Yet, the most common story that Esteban has told over and again, is that he impersonated a messenger, went to Segovia's hotel room, and when Segovia finally came to the door Esteban repeated the sentence from his many notes . Segovia recognized the sentence and invited Esteban in his room to play guitar for him. 

After hearing Esteban play, Segovia gave him some music to study and a year later they met up again in L.A. Once again, Esteban played what he had learned and Segovia was so impressed with his talents that Esteban was invited to Spain to take part in Segovia's master classes and receive occasional private lessons personally taught by the master.  For the next five(ish) years, Esteban studied on and off with Segovia, dividing his time between Spain and California. End of success story!....or was it (ooooh)?

From 1978-80, Esteban performed as a classical guitarist in many different venues until a fateful day in 1980 that changed his life forever. Traveling at 60mph, a drunk driver crashed into the driver's side of Esteban's car.  Esteban received extensive nerve damage to his left hand and arm, some broken ribs, many smashed teeth, and left his good eye resistant to bright lights. With a wife and 2 kids, Esteban was now incapable of playing the guitar for the next 10 years.

From 1980-90, Esteban had to take ordinary jobs to support his family.  Due to his long stringy hair and "hippish" persona (aka basically looking like my friend Venshu who wears patchwork shoes to Moe. concerts) Esteban claims it was very difficult, at first, to get a job.  In those 10 years, Esteban worked as a energy management salesman for Reynolds Aluminum and ended up running a franchise dealership for the company (New Times, pg.5). Although he achieved above average success as a dealer he claims he was "so unhappy that he wanted to explode."  

In 1988, Esteban decided that he couldn't live the rest of his life without playing guitar.  He received acupuncture and Chinese herbs, which he claims brought feeling back into his playing arm and hands and started to play shows again.  Esteban also decided to shift away from playing strictly classical music and played whatever he felt like playing; anything from classical to jazz to world music.

By playing many different gigs and venues all over the world, Esteban quickly gained notoriety for his beautiful tunes and exquisite talent.  Since then, he has been on the cover of The Wall Street Journal, topped the Billboard Charts, sold hundreds of thousands of CD's, and is a regular guest on HSN and QVC.

(Side Note) Many musicians have criticized Esteban for selling out Segovia's name (Segovia hated popular acclaim and never decided to enter the mainstream).  They have also accused Esteban for falsely proclaiming that he was one of Segovia's most prized students.  The information on both sides of the argument is rather shady and the true facts seem hard to nail down. So, it is difficult to come up with a solid opinion on this specific matter. Nonetheless, everything I have told of his story is undisputed and his will and passion for the guitar is as vast as the legend of Zelda. He plays from the heart and loves performing in front of big audiences. He is a living frakenjuice idol and his will to live a full life and pursue his passion blows the monkeys off the tree, into the water, where they get eaten by the gators.

All facts and biographical information can be found at: 1) The Phoenix New Times: The Tao of Esteban: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-09-21/news/the-tao-of-esteban/1

2) Esteban's Official Website: http://www.estebanmusic.com/bio.html

To close, I give you........EssteeeBan.