Arie Dixon warns, “Don’t ever call me crazy.” Dixon and Olivia Cipolla make up the musical group O.C.A.D., an unexpected pairing that creates an explosive, untapped, raw energy that makes the city shake when they step on and off a stage.
Music is important to me. So much so, I rarely write about it. I don’t have a word to do justice to a beat or a sentence to share the visceral experience of excellent phrasing. I ask myself, how can I carve out paragraphs to share that “this song, at this time” has been added to the soundtrack of my life?
Right now, I’m going to make an attempt and share my passion for O.C.A.D.: Dixon and Cipolla. In short, in my opinion, they are on the verge of going “boom, shaka-boom!” However, you can test my theory once in November and again in December. I might be wrong, but I sincerely doubt it.
Dixon is handsome. He stands over 6-foot-3 and reminds me of a young Jay-Z. Business and music doing a dance from left to right brain and back again.
Cipolla is a mixed beauty with a five-octave range. Plus she can dance. Man, can she move, and Lady Gaga and Beyoncé agree.
When first introduced to Dixon, I was struck by his polite manners, his dreamy looks and his personality—strange, but in a friendly kind of way. Plus, he listens. He is all “active listening,” and despite his height, always locked eyes in our conversation.
So walking the streets of Broadway, here is what I learned about Dixon and Cipolla-
myNewYorkeye: Your new song “Heart of the City” is rocking, brother. I’m falling in love all over again. What do you and Olivia like about the Apple?
Dixon: We love everything about NYC — the culture, the vibe, the undeniable feeling that anything you are looking to accomplish is possible. This city can and will eat you alive if you can’t handle its reality. But there is no place like NYC, our home.
myNewYorkeye: You warned me to never call you crazy in your song. I won’t. Your music feels organic. Did you have an issue with that “crazy” label?
Dixon: Most artists have been challenged on their viewpoints at one time or another. Crazy is one word. There are others. Our influences, in the music, are absorbed from life. The basic human psyche, the environment that we live in. The emotions of the human experience. Our musical influences stem from classical to hip-hop, from Back to Michael Jackson to Eminem, to just the sounds that we hear throughout our surroundings. Whether it’s a symphony or a dog barking, to a baby crying!
myNewYorkeye: Olivia has tremendous pipes. A five-octave range, clearly, puts her in the league with the top urban divas. So … intimidated much, Dixon?
Dixon: Oh, you have jokes! To answer you, no, Olivia is opera-trained and I love the discipline she brings to everything she does. Eeeeeeverything. She told me that I could dance, so I did and I do.
myNewYorkeye: Brother, she’s the one that let the 6-foot-3 go crazy on the stage. Umm, well, Hurricane Sandy jacked your Halloween date, so when are you and Olivia going to shake up the city?
Dixon: We are back, by popular demand, at the Bitter End on Nov. 20 and again on Dec. 21. There’s new songs, including “The Heart of the City,” which is our love song to Gotham.
myNewYorkeye: I’m there, RSVP me for six. So where can we download your music and start feeling O.C.A.D.?
Dixon: You can download and view our new stuff at OCADmusic.com and on iTunes. You can follow us, and we love friends. Twitter @OCADmusic and Facebook.com/OCADmusic.