| Bio Page |
Well.... Where do I begin.................
I have been playing music since age 11 and have been playing in bars and what not for $$$ since age 13.
This year it will be about 29 years. (WHEW!!!) Thru the years I have picked up and played many
instruments, first being the guitar. Since my dad taught me my first few chords, the only ones he knew, I
was hooked and just knew it would be a huge part of my life from that point foreword. (Boy was that an
understatement!) Since starting to play the guitar, I started playing with a school buddy I met in guitar
class in a band and we started writing music. Our first band played exclusively Beatles.... and that didn't
work! We ventured out to the want ads and hooked up with a female duo which was the beginning of
LEGEND. At that point we started swapping bass playing duties and lead guitar. We got into band in
school and thats when things got out of hand. First tuba and then bass in jazz band. And then pep band
came along and so did valve trombone, flugle horn, fluglebone and whatever the instructor would let me
take home!That wasn't enough so I started playing our drummers drums and started digging that. Then
enters my uncle. I jammed with him playing country songs and picked up mandolin, fiddle and banjo.
Then I started writing songs on piano. Since then I've tried trumpet, sax and slide trombone. I also
decided I would take up collecting guitars....
well ..... any instrument I could get my hands on, but mostly guitars.
Generally speaking, I haven't really stopped playing since but about 1 1/2 years, and I turned into jerk
supreme, then I started playing again and things got back to normal! I've played Hard rock, rock, metal,
country (only with my uncle... ), rap, bubble gum top 40 rock, alternative modern rock, jazz, fusion, funk,
punk, blues, R & B and in school I even played classical kind of concert band stuff. I dig it all!
My favorite stuff to listen to is guitar jazz like Frank Gambale & Mike Stern, Tower of Power, Jeff
Lorber Fusion (the old stuff), any kickin' drummers, alternative rock, Robben Ford...... basically.
I have a general value..... FUNK VALUE....... if it doesn't have a funk value to it..... I generally don't like
it! Funk value is best described by that thang in music that makes your leg start jumping and then your
head starts bobbin, non-musicians will usually break into their favorite dance frenzy, musicians generally
don't dance so they just bob the head............
Level 42, Tower of Power, most R & B = high funk value
Chicken dance, Wham, William Shatner, polkas = low funk value.
Now before you go off and say "your close minded bla bla bla" keep in mind that the funk value only
serves as a listening guide for me. The higher the number, the more I desire to listen. I still listen to stuff
with low funk value because it increases the appreciation of higher funk valued stuff, and besides any
music is worth a listen once...... otherwise you cannot assign the funk value..................................
Yeaaaaa..................................
Anyway......
I have been playing with a band called the black dog rhythm and blues for about 15 years now. We play a
wide variety of music basically consisting of rock (old and new), blues, jazz, funk, R & B and whatever
else the band members want to try. We are anywhere from a 4 piece "unplugged show" to a 8 piece band
with horns and, sometimes, just my longtime school-hood friend Scott Debo (our beloved leader) and I. It
seems we are the basic core of the band, and lots of players have been in and out of the band since the
beginning. Before black dog, Scott and I played in a Fusion / jazz band called Raynes Park. That lasted
about 7 years. The other band stuff we did together was in high school, A rock band called Vantage. So
you can see Scott & I have quite a history together!
Other than the band stuff I have a career in the printing field in which I have worked the full gamut from
building presses to running a 3 shift shop as production mgr. I really like printing too........ But NOT as
much as music!
Lots of things have happened to me during the joy we call life, including being in my second marriage with
step children, but the thing that really shows me what it is all about is sharing parenthood with my 2nd
wife. Her and I created a wonderful boy in which life would not be the same without! We are daily
figuring it out for going on 10 years and it's as it should be..... an adventure everyday! I could not do
anything I do without their daily loving support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots of other exciting things have happened to me thruout life but it would take a 5,000 page book to lay it
all out. I've been told I should write a book about it but that would take forever and some of it you
probably don't need to know! This should give you the general idea.........................
I have been playing music since age 11 and have been playing in bars and what not for $$$ since age 13.
This year it will be about 29 years. (WHEW!!!) Thru the years I have picked up and played many
instruments, first being the guitar. Since my dad taught me my first few chords, the only ones he knew, I
was hooked and just knew it would be a huge part of my life from that point foreword. (Boy was that an
understatement!) Since starting to play the guitar, I started playing with a school buddy I met in guitar
class in a band and we started writing music. Our first band played exclusively Beatles.... and that didn't
work! We ventured out to the want ads and hooked up with a female duo which was the beginning of
LEGEND. At that point we started swapping bass playing duties and lead guitar. We got into band in
school and thats when things got out of hand. First tuba and then bass in jazz band. And then pep band
came along and so did valve trombone, flugle horn, fluglebone and whatever the instructor would let me
take home!That wasn't enough so I started playing our drummers drums and started digging that. Then
enters my uncle. I jammed with him playing country songs and picked up mandolin, fiddle and banjo.
Then I started writing songs on piano. Since then I've tried trumpet, sax and slide trombone. I also
decided I would take up collecting guitars....
well ..... any instrument I could get my hands on, but mostly guitars.
Generally speaking, I haven't really stopped playing since but about 1 1/2 years, and I turned into jerk
supreme, then I started playing again and things got back to normal! I've played Hard rock, rock, metal,
country (only with my uncle... ), rap, bubble gum top 40 rock, alternative modern rock, jazz, fusion, funk,
punk, blues, R & B and in school I even played classical kind of concert band stuff. I dig it all!
My favorite stuff to listen to is guitar jazz like Frank Gambale & Mike Stern, Tower of Power, Jeff
Lorber Fusion (the old stuff), any kickin' drummers, alternative rock, Robben Ford...... basically.
I have a general value..... FUNK VALUE....... if it doesn't have a funk value to it..... I generally don't like
it! Funk value is best described by that thang in music that makes your leg start jumping and then your
head starts bobbin, non-musicians will usually break into their favorite dance frenzy, musicians generally
don't dance so they just bob the head............
Level 42, Tower of Power, most R & B = high funk value
Chicken dance, Wham, William Shatner, polkas = low funk value.
Now before you go off and say "your close minded bla bla bla" keep in mind that the funk value only
serves as a listening guide for me. The higher the number, the more I desire to listen. I still listen to stuff
with low funk value because it increases the appreciation of higher funk valued stuff, and besides any
music is worth a listen once...... otherwise you cannot assign the funk value..................................
Yeaaaaa..................................
Anyway......
I have been playing with a band called the black dog rhythm and blues for about 15 years now. We play a
wide variety of music basically consisting of rock (old and new), blues, jazz, funk, R & B and whatever
else the band members want to try. We are anywhere from a 4 piece "unplugged show" to a 8 piece band
with horns and, sometimes, just my longtime school-hood friend Scott Debo (our beloved leader) and I. It
seems we are the basic core of the band, and lots of players have been in and out of the band since the
beginning. Before black dog, Scott and I played in a Fusion / jazz band called Raynes Park. That lasted
about 7 years. The other band stuff we did together was in high school, A rock band called Vantage. So
you can see Scott & I have quite a history together!
Other than the band stuff I have a career in the printing field in which I have worked the full gamut from
building presses to running a 3 shift shop as production mgr. I really like printing too........ But NOT as
much as music!
Lots of things have happened to me during the joy we call life, including being in my second marriage with
step children, but the thing that really shows me what it is all about is sharing parenthood with my 2nd
wife. Her and I created a wonderful boy in which life would not be the same without! We are daily
figuring it out for going on 10 years and it's as it should be..... an adventure everyday! I could not do
anything I do without their daily loving support!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots of other exciting things have happened to me thruout life but it would take a 5,000 page book to lay it
all out. I've been told I should write a book about it but that would take forever and some of it you
probably don't need to know! This should give you the general idea.........................
