Doug McKechnie has been an active participant in the Bay Area's creative community for over four decades. In the late 60's and early 70's McKechnie traveled the Western U.S. performing with a Moog synthesizer as a lecturer and soloist. He performed with symphonies, planetarium shows and multimedia groups with such institutions as the Oakland Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, and the Morrison, Hanson and McMillian planetariums in S.F., Salt Lake City and Vancouver, respectively. He began his film career in 1965, helping to create the award winning documentary, "This Time the World," about the American Nazi Party. He was a pioneer in live performance with the Moog synthesizer and, beginning in the early '70s, he began creating scores for film, television and theater. In 1976 he started a business called Soundtracks, which put music to scores of films and videos, many of which have won awards, including Emmys and Golden Eagles and two scores of Oscar-nominated films, one of which won the Oscar in 1987. With Soundtracks he worked with composers John Lewis and Joshua Raoul Brody. During this time McKechnie also served as Program Director of Intersection Theater in San Francisco and went on to be the first publicist for San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, a renowned arts center which formerly served as a military base. In the late '70's and into the '80's McKechnie also began producing entertainment for events, specializing in outdoor and large indoor venues such as: the first four years of Oakland's Festival at the Lake; two of San Francisco's Beaux Arts Balls for the A.I.A.; two NFL Super Bowl parties and many others. He also created the San Francisco Synthesizer Ensemble in 1983 with Jim Purcell, John Lewis and Paul de Benedictis. Since the birth of his daughter, Micah in 1991, McKechnie has retired from the composing business, scaled back his producing and expanded his PR, writing, photography and live performance interests. From 1990 to 1995 he was public relations spokesman for San Francisco's Fleet Week. He was public relations consultant for the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Foundation in 1996, publicist for artist Richard Kamler's Table of Voices project in 1997, and, from 1988 to the present, he has been publicist and producer for Laguna Honda Hospital Volunteers, Inc., a non-profit foundation in San Francisco. In 1999 he helped create the performance experience, "Around A California Piano," with Hokum W. Jeebs, which happened for many years bi-annually in San Francisco and Seattle. In 2001 McKechnie help found the California Dog Owners Group, CalDOG, a state-wide advocacy organization, supporting dog owner groups, promoting responsible dog ownership and access to off-leash areas throughout the state. From 2005 to 2007 McKechnie has worked with the Grove Consultants International, developing his photo-documentation and storytelling techniques for group facilitation and organizational development. Speaking about his current life choices, McKechnie has this to say. "I have reached a point in my life where I am able to focus on what is truly important to me: raising my daughter and helping people who are doing worthwhile things. How lucky can you get?" McKechnie studied Theater, Film and Communication Arts at San Francisco State University, and currently resides in Oakland with his daughter.
