I was born a poor black child...

Ha! Just kidding! Actually, there's not much to know about me. I grew up in Melrose, Massachusetts the youngest of four kids. I lived a pretty normal existence until one event shaped my life forever. That one day...that one moment of time sent me on a downward spiral. It was a fall from such heights that it would rival the fall of Icarus. That day was May 21, 1980. That was the day I learned the horrible truth...

Darth Vader is Luke's father!!!

Ha! I know I had some of you hooked for a moment!

But seriously. There's not much to say about me. I walked the same long and winding road that most folks tend to take, took a couple of detours along the way, found my way back and finally ended up here. I may be late, but at least I didn't miss the party completely!

A few years ago, my old band "The Jakes" and I decided to take a "road trip" to an "open mic night" instead of practicing one night. We ended up at The Boston Street Cafe where Brian Maes was running "open mic night". I remembered Brian from the RTZ days. We stayed and left a while later. A couple weeks later, I decided to take some time off from my "Jakes" duties and revisit writing and recording my own stuff. Since I do most of my writing on piano, I wanted to get Brian involved. I can play piano--but just enough to write my own stuff. Man has got to know his limitations, you know? I marched down to another Boston Street "open mic" with a songwriting demo CD to give to Brian. If I remember correctly (and that's an unusual occurence), I had to get a buzz on just to gather up the strength to approach him. I gave him the CD and said something to the effect of, "Dude, I've been out of the game for a while. I want to get back in and I need a keyboard dude." I remember he had a look on his face that said, "Oh no! Not ANOTHER one!" He said he'd "listen to it," but he's "awful busy", and stuff. That was cool, though. In my previous, more naive, incarnation from years before, I heard a ton of "Wow! I can't wait to listen to it" and stuff like that. Then the next day, they can "do this" and "do that." Instead of walking on a street of dreams, I found myself in the gutter of broken promises. So if this dude gives me a less than enthusiastic, but honest, response to my plight, than I'll take that.

Fast forward a month or so. I go to "open mic" at Boston Street once again and run into Brian. He'd been looking for me. Apparently, I forgot to put my telephone number and/or address on my demo CD (figures, huh!?!?). He says he'd like to talk to me about my CD. And the rest, as they say, is "history"--or "mystory"!

Well, if you've gotten this far--I thank you. If you want to know more, visit your local library. Remember--"Knowledge is power"!

Or you could just pick up a copy of the CD!