I
founded my first band -- Journey's End -- with a
classmate and friend named Dave Slivka, when the two of us
were attending high school in a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
It was at this time that I also became a fledgling song writer.
Back then, I wasn't the type to think much about what I might
do in my future, so I never anticipated that I'd be writing
songs and song lyrics on and off for much of the rest of my
life.
Following
high school, I went off for a year's worth of studies at
St. Vincent College, in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania.
Then I joined the U.S. Navy for a four-year stint, working
as a Jet
Electrician. When
my tour of duty ended, I decided to move to Sacramento,
California, to complete my last three years of college.
For the first year of the three, I attended American River
Junior College, then transferred to California State College
at Sacramento for my last two years. So, including my time
in the Navy, I graduated from college roughly eight years
after starting, and earned myself a Bachelor's Degree in
English Literature for my efforts.
During
my year at American River JC, I founded another band --
Friend Schubert -- along with a classmate (and
now, long-time friend) Steve Nicolaisen (you can hear him
singing harmony vocals on It Don't Come For Free
and Different Dreams, and playing some additional
instrumentation on Different Dreams). Steve and
I had each written more than a few
songs by the time we met. He and I worked as a duo for a
while, playing initially in the streets of San Francisco
(mainly in and around the Embarcadero area), then as the
first wandering minstels in the newly-opened Old
Town section of Sacramento, and finally --
after expanding Friend Schubert into a five-person
band -- in a variety of Sacramento-area restaurants, bars,
and nightclubs.
After graduating from college,
I took up residence near Magic Sands
Beach, on the Big Island of Hawaii. I lived on the Big Island for seven years, then headed off to a Houston, Texas, school to study computer programming. After completing my course, I moved back to Hawaii -- this time to Honolulu, on the island of Oahu.
For
most of the next thirty years, other than writing a song or
two, I didn't have much time for music, and, in fact, rarely
touched a musical instrument of any type. During this time,
I kept myself more than busy earning a living in the computer-based
information systems industry -- as an information systems
consultant, software programmer and designer, and in various
middle and senior level management positions at the companies
I worked at and/or owned. Then I decided it was time for me
to get back into creating music and writing songs, so I retired
from the software industry.
I
began experimenting with digital recording and song mixing,
which led to setting up a
small studio in my home in Honolulu. It took me a while to
re-learn to play the guitar, and to explore the many functions
of the keyboard I bought, but I managed to write and produce
ten songs there, before moving to San Diego, where I wrote
and produced the remainder of the songs on this website. It
takes me between five and eight weeks per song, to: compose
it; write the lyrics; sing the vocals; play and record all
the instrument parts (yes, I'm a one-man-band); and then complete
the arrangement and sound mixing work. When all of those steps
are done, song mastering and testing (in multiple environments)
must be completed on the song, before it's loaded onto my
website as a song for sale to music lovers of all ages and
tastes.
I
hope you'll enjoy my songs, that you'll tell your friends
about my site (...go ahead and Click
Here to send them the address to my Home Page...),
and that you'll come back periodically to check-out the
new songs I offer-up for sale and/or licensing.
Jet
Electrician. When
my tour of duty ended, I decided to move to Sacramento,
California, to complete my last three years of college.
For the first year of the three, I attended American River
Junior College, then transferred to California State College
at Sacramento for my last two years. So, including my time
in the Navy, I graduated from college roughly eight years
after starting, and earned myself a Bachelor's Degree in
English Literature for my efforts.
w
songs by the time we met. He and I worked as a duo for a
while, playing initially in the streets of San Francisco
(mainly in and around the Embarcadero area), then as the
first wandering minstels in the newly-opened Old
Town section of Sacramento, and finally --
after expanding Friend Schubert into a five-person
band -- in a variety of Sacramento-area restaurants, bars,
and nightclubs.
For
most of the next thirty years, other than writing a song or
two, I didn't have much time for music, and, in fact, rarely
touched a musical instrument of any type. During this time,
I kept myself more than busy earning a living in the computer-based
information systems industry -- as an information systems
consultant, software programmer and designer, and in various
middle and senior level management positions at the companies
I worked at and/or owned. Then I decided it was time for me
to get back into creating music and writing songs, so I retired
from the software industry.
a
small studio in my home in Honolulu. It took me a while to
re-learn to play the guitar, and to explore the many functions
of the keyboard I bought, but I managed to write and produce
ten songs there, before moving to San Diego, where I wrote
and produced the remainder of the songs on this website. It
takes me between five and eight weeks per song, to: com
pose
it; write the lyrics; sing the vocals; play and record all
the instrument parts (yes, I'm a one-man-band); and then complete
the arrangement and sound mixing work. When all of those steps
are done, song mastering and testing (in multiple environments)
must be completed on the song, before it's loaded onto my
website as a song for sale to music lovers of all ages and
tastes.