I began my music training when I was about 7 years old, beginning with Piano and Organ Lessons.  I began playing the trumpet when I was in the fourth grade and played until my Freshman year in High School. I was privately taught  from a well respected area Band Leader, Andy Brady, and received superior ratings from the Ohio State Music  Education Board two years straight.   Tired of the bureaucracy of the public school music program, I switched to Guitar in 1982 and shortly after, my parents bought my first Electric Guitar. I took guitar lessons from Brian Rhodes, who now is the Production Director for Q101, WKQX, Chicago, IL.  Brian was a major influence on my musical tastes and talents.  He introduced me to the stylings of talented musicians from Jazz, Classical, to Heavy Metal Guitar Gods such as local legend David T Chastain. He showed me that talent and attitude are what make a great rock musician. I can probably attribute my "snobbish" attitude about music to Brian, thanks Brian ;-)

In 1987, I began performing with local Cincinnati Groups and playing nightclubs around the Tri-State area.   I had the pleasure and honor of playing with some very talented friends and meeting alot of great folks that supported my musical efforts.  I also began my private training at UC's Conservatory of Music for jazz guitar with the well-known player, Phil Willis.  Phil showed me a variety of tasty chords and he tried very diligently to exorcise me of my white-ness. He was somewhat successful and I can hack my way on the axe with some things that sounds like jazz riffs and melodies. I also worked with the Voice Coach legend of Cincinnati, Mary Alexander.  Mary worked very hard with me for almost 8 years so that the utterances coming from my mouth wouldn't curl paint.  I still don't know my limitations, so I can still easily offend, but on occasion I can have some nice moments thanks to her efforts.

Performing, lessons, practicing and rehearsals were a major part of my life and they were some of the best times I had growing up.  I haven't performed for years now and don't have much desire to do it again any time soon.  The local club scene holds no charms for me any longer and the thought of playing a corner bar for three drunks that want to hear some "Skynert" makes me nauseous. Nor is there any prestige in playing the latest Creed song for a bunch of thirty-somethings either.  Somewhere down the line, "Rock" and "Cool" has gotten confused and the world suffers through the air-pollution of corporate rock. (i.e. support independent radio!)

I still enjoy getting together with my friends and playing some of our old favorites and every now and then we get creative and record something somewhat original. Although we usually end-up playing reggae versions of old Judas Priest songs.  Believe me, IT IS UGLY!, but it's always good for a laugh.

Personally, I enjoy a very eclectic array of music as you can tell from my Music Links page.    I appreciate artists and performers that stay true to themselves without growing stale.  Growth, creativity, originality, and artistic integrity should be what every artist and performer strive for, as well as that fuckin' attitude, after all isn't that what rock'n'roll is all about?

As you go through the links below, you'll see that I have experimented with a fair amount of different forms of pop music. Each group definitely had its own style and identity and each band was a unique experience and the people were all great.  This is my way to show my appreciation to all of those folks and document some fun times.

Below are links to different groups that I have played with: