My Story
Dateline 1999:
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Paypal condemned as one of the worst ideas of the year.
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"Who wants to be a millionaire" game show debuted on TV".
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DVD players ushered in the demise of VHS videotape.
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Napster ran amok.
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The euro was introduced.
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Spongebob Squarepants debuted.
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Panic ensued about computer networks crashing at midnight on December 31st.
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Not as many notable music things may have happened in my birth year, compared to my dad, but technology is now on hyperdrive. Just think of all of the musical technologies since his birth - 8 tracks, reel to reels, cassettes, CD's and now streaming services. Not to mention VHS tapes, Beta, LaserDiscs and DVD's on the video side. So much has happened that some of those formats have come and gone, only to be making a comeback again.
Like my dad, music and art are essential parts of my everyday life. You can just ask my Kindergarten teacher and she would tell you about the time that I told her “that you’re not the boss of me - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S THE BOSS!” While it didn’t get me very far with her, or my parents, my dad did give me a wink of pride.
Some of my first musical memories (thanks to my dad and Uncle Bruce) were of groups nobody my age had any clue about - the Rolling Stones, Cream, Talking Heads, The Cars, Elvis Costello and Neil Young to name a few. I was in their world and their world was non-stop music.
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At the age of 12, I bought my first record on a father-son road trip to Nashville that included a concert at The Mother Church (Ryman). That moment really sealed the deal. I had fallen deep into the rabbit hole. Hard earned allowance as a kid turned into righteous sounds. Ever since that first record store, I have been rabid about crate flipping, and in some stores actually excavating vinyl. Not only did I find a hobby that I enjoy, but I found a way to discover new music. I’m still in the process of discovering. I truly want to hear it all. It’s an endless pursuit that takes me all over the worldview map. And with my poor man's art collection (my vinyl album art collection), my visual sensibilities are growing as well. I think of all of the times when the deciding factor in purchasing an album was the fantastic artwork. It moved me to pick up the camera and learn the visual arts from my dad and to now work in those mediums as well. The combination of aural and visual stimulation makes my record collection my heartbeat. As my record collection has grown, so has my understanding of things. You could say I'm on my way to not dying dumb!
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Listening is just the beginning of it for me. My musical and artistic experience is participative. My first guitar (a Fender Squire) predated my first album by about a decade. It was as big as me and while I wouldn’t learn to play it properly for a few years it was there to bang around on and to help me feel the music more deeply with a tactile musical experience.
I have spent hours of my life:
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Figuring out guitar parts to my favorite songs;
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Writing songs;
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Amping up talent shows;
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Performing gigs;
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Producing for myself and friends;
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Managing some bands; and,
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Currently creating music with my fuzz heavy two-piece band Truck.
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I wouldn't take a minute of any of this back. In fact, I wish I had spent even more time immersed in the thing that always brought me the most happiness. But my life is really fulfilling now as I dwell in a mostly creative world of the visual arts by day and can explore the musical far reaches most nights.
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I'm most alive when I am surrounded by the intellectual, creative, cultural, and spiritual depth that music and art provide.
I look forward to helping to connect YOU with artifacts that will take YOU to a higher plane and insure that YOU don't die dumb!