CEDAR CITY - Early in his life, Arthur Kaufman made a decision to earn his living as a musician. He dreamed of one day writing a musical. It wasn't until the age of 35 that his resolve to work in the music industry began to pay off. His dream didn't come about until just recently.

"People said, Arthur, give it up' and I said, No, I'm not,'" Kaufman said.

In the meantime, he had to work many different jobs to pay the rent. He worked at a health club, parked cars and sold Fuller Brush door to door. He says his least favorite jobs were wallpaper removal and parking cars.

"I finally was making enough that I could quit all my part time jobs," said Kaufman. Parking cars did serve as inspiration for one of his songs: "Parking Cars for the Hollywood Stars."

His musical endeavors are many and diverse.

"Art, or King Arthur as we call him, was either destined to, or determined to make a living in music and either way it's great to see that he is living the dream," said Roger Olcott, fellow musician who performs with Kaufman in the local band Muddy Boots.

At this point in his life, Kaufman spends his days creating, composing, performing and producing music. He runs his own song poem business, operates his 24-track music studio where he writes jingles for radio and television and has just finished producing a 12-song folk album for a client.

He calls his business "Magic Key Productions," and is a self-professed "multi-instrumentalist," often playing all instruments as well as singing vocals on his studio recordings. He also performs with various local bands. The list of projects doesn't end with his studio work.

One of his newest projects is his involvement with music therapy. He turned his attention to this type of work when the economy started to wane and he was concerned about the effect it would have on his studio business. Kaufman believed his diverse musical training made him a qualified applicant for this type of work. He began to study and volunteer at senior centers.

Then, through the connection of a friend, he was able to find a part-time job working for Zion's Way Hospice of St. George. He explained that it is a fairly new hospice with a focus on alternative therapy, like music therapy and massage. He is proud to work for Zion's Way explaining that they employ a staff of musicians and massage therapists, services for which Medicaid does not pay.

"The hospice takes on the expense because they believe in it," said Kaufman.

Aside from music therapy, Kaufman's steady source of musical income has been his song poem business. This enterprise has been around since the early part of the 20th century where people send in their poems or lyrics and they are set to music and recorded, with some promotion.

"Some dream of hitting it big, but most seem happy to just have their words put to music and recorded," said Kaufman. Kaufman got a job in 1977 with a song poem business owned by MSR Records, which he later turned into Magic Key Productions. His first assignment wasn't easy.

"I was given 10 songs on Tuesday that were due on Thursday. I was paid $5 a song to compose a song from lyrics they gave me. They had to be written out," said Kaufman.

The song poem business has gathered a cult following over the years. In 2003, PBS produced a documentary about the song poem business, entitled "Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story," which featured Kaufman and some of his clients.

Compilations of song poems from various studios have become collectibles over the years.

"Gillette Penn, of Penn and Teller is a big collector of song poem compilations" said Kaufman.

After the success of the documentary, Kaufman went to Los Angeles with the idea of doing a song poem show. One of his musical contacts was Brian Baker who had moved to LA after attending Southern Utah University and serving as musical director for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Baker made a suggestion that would be the catalyst of a long-time dream coming to fruition.

Kaufman said Baker told him his work would make a good musical. He agreed. His dream had always been to write a musical. "I started thinking about it and said oh my gosh, you are right. This would make a good musical, with tunes like Alien's Stole My Dog' and Non-Violent Tae Kwon Do Trooper,'" said Kaufman. "It was right under my feet and I didn't realize it until then," he said.

Kaufman's dream is coming true with the Chicago-based writing and staging of a musical about the song poem business. The musical, "Song-Poems Wanted! The Musical" has been three years in the making. After two readings and many revisions, "Song-Poems Wanted" was performed in a workshop format for its first paying audience. Kaufman describes the audience response as "tremendous."

Some of the songs used in the show were written by Kaufman's clients and others were newly written for the characters in the show.

"As we speak, we are in the submission process. We have our package," said Kaufman. "It's about people's dreams; people who want to express themselves. It has so much heart."

Kaufman plans to remain in Cedar City no matter what happens with his musical.

"I love living in Cedar City. I can always take a flight from Vegas," he said.

His fellow musicians are enthused that Kaufman is seeing a long-time goal realized.

"He is the total package and has spent the time and perfected his talents to the point that he is deserving of all successes that come his way," Olcott said. "I expect his musical will be a huge success and perhaps a stepping stone to even bigger and better things to come."

Kaufman and his wife, Helen, moved to Cedar City 20 years ago. They now have two daughters, Sarah and Hannah. Helen has helped Arthur with his song writing over the years, and this includes co-writing the lyrics for the musical. Although Arthur has achieved what he set out to do when he was a young man, he will tell you that his main focus is his family.

"I want to be the best father and husband I can be. I want to be there for my kids," he said.

(This article was originally published in the Cedar City Neighborhoods on January 13, 2010. The author is Sally Hunter Jensen.)