The musings of MacNeil Billy MacNeil’s mind is a veritable cabinet of curiosities, where the quaintly familiar suddenly takes a bizarre turn. Story by Austin Widger Billy MacNeil lived the Los Angeles life for years as a graphic artist for The “Tonight Show,” but always knew he wanted to move to a place like Ojai to allow his art and music creativity to flourish. “Since I was a kid, I’ve been doing both artwork and music,” MacNeil said. “I performed music a lot more when I was younger, including working as a singing waiter for several years before settling in to my position at NBC/ Universal, which lasted 24 years.” MacNeil grew up in the Boston area. As a kid, he was always singing, doing impressions and drawing. MacNeil’s father often asked him to show off his singing and drawing talents for his friends. “I think getting that kind of attention, and at an early age, can sometimes lead you to believe that you’re more talented than most, and then as you get older you discover that you’re not that special, and there is a world full of people who are supertalented,” MacNeil said. “The best idea is just to embrace whatever you’re passionate about and apply the dedication and discipline that it takes to develop it to its full potential.” 62
VOLUME 37 NUMBER 1 | SPRING 2019
Once MacNeil moved to Los Angeles, he began working odd jobs in restaurants to pay rent. He was focused on his musical career and songwriting at that time, spending all his money in the studio in hopes of getting a record deal. While working as a singing waiter, MacNeil had one song recorded by one of his dad’s favorite singers, Andy Williams. For many years, Williams had annual Christmas specials and MacNeil wound up writing a Christmas song for one of them. After he wrote the music, MacNeil and a co-worker completed the lyrics together and they performed the song at the restaurant with some of the other waiters. One night, there was a bunch of 8-year-olds, MacNeil said. “I look up and like five or six of them were around the front of the baby grand piano and they were just singing the song. It was the first time we ever played it. The song was so catchy that by the time the waiters got to the third verse, the kids were already singing along.” After tasting a few fleeting moments of success in the music industry, MacNeil turned to his other passion: art. He got