Wc Guilty By Affiliation CD

Binga & Gogo are siblings; soul mates on a remarkable musical mission. She is the vocalist, a Euro-pop chanteuse one second, heart-melting soul poetess the next. He is a bandleader and arranger, a keyboard player with iconoclastic piano style illuminating an orchestral archway into a vivid sonic soundscape. Together they craft inventive and memorable modern pop songs.

Binga(nee Tomasina Abate) was a performer virtually from birth. She vocalized in the crib while her father, a rock musician, would rehearse his band. At age four, her mother would dress her up as a floozy, have the family all shine flashlights on her while she'd sing "Hello, Dolly." From these auspicious beginnings it was a short leap to procuring costumes from Goodwill and producing entertainment for the neighborhood kids. Tomasina would appear during intermission at backyard boxing matches to sing selections from Annie, while the bruised and bloody were attended to.

Gogo(nee Joseph Abate), younger brother, was her co-conspirator. Due to the limitations of his original instrument -- the TV Guide, which doubled as his drum kit, he progressed to the actual snare drum in elementary school, then learned guitar and trumpet. When the marching band needed a baritone horn, he mastered and marched; when the school jazz band needed a trombone player, he studied the slide. Based on his musical abilities, he enrolled at the prestigious Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

The two grew up in Lakewood, California, a suburb where vestiges of dairy farms and Dutch Villages were fast dissolving into strip malls and fast food franchises. Binga & Gogo were their childhood nicknames. A convergent musical destiny began as they performed together in show choir and sang and danced for the elderly and infirm at convalescent homes.

After high school, Joseph joined the Navy and trained as a nuclear power engineer, but disillusioned, he went AWOL. When he was sentenced to incarceration in the Navy's grim Miramar Prison, he began writing songs and conceptualizing a band with his sister.

Christina's childhood education included both Art and the Performing Arts. She began playing the piano at the age of three and by ten performed her first piano recital. She loved to sing and play her piano but whenever she was asked to entertain, she always declined. She found performing in front of people difficult. When Christina turned thirty one, she went through a life altering event that left her visually impaired. Everything changed. She became depressed and quit playing the piano.