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A brief music bio

   For those who know me, you may be surprised to know my musical roots do not begin with The Beatles, although they do comprise the bulk of the trunk of my musical tree, my first influence was my Mom. Mom passed away on Good Friday, March 25th, 2005 just shy of 84. She played the organ & loved to dance & taught me what she could on the keyboard. I don't play the keyboard but I remember her teaching me the structure of a chord - Root, 3rd & 5th - the basics of a 3-part harmony. I always sang harmony to the radio as long as I can remember.

   The 2nd influence is my sister Sue. She played in a band called "The Sober Truth". Sue played the organ on songs like "Midnight Confessions", "You Showed Me" "Get Ready" "Keep Me Hanging On" & "As Tears Go By". They'd practice in our basement & leave the equipment set up & occasionally I would play with the stuff when no one was around.

  When the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in Feb. 1964, I was 5 & Sue was 11, so of course she was a Beatle-maniac & I came along for the ride. I remember her & her friends pretending to be the Beatles while listening to the records.

   My earliest recollections of their sound was the cool sounding guitar, cowbell & thick harmonies on "You Can't Do That" & the echo/reverb on the voices in "Do You Want To Know A Secret". In America, those 2 songs were on what was titled "The Beatles Second Album" That same cool guitar was all through the "Hard Days Night" album. Rickenbacker made a good choice giving George his Ric 360/12. That sound is stuck in my head.

  To make a long story short (which is my intention) my sister eventually moved out & left behind her cheap Harmony 6-string & a pile of Beatle 45s - and albums - need I say more!

  Bob Dylan, Neil Young & CSN/Y are among other influences in my early days learning to play the guitar. I'm self-taught & play mostly by ear. I can read music since I played the trumpet for a number of years in grade school through high school.

  Until the late 80s, all of my musical performances took place in my living room or outside on the porch or deck. Eventually I began playing at church & spent some years as a worship leader. I have been playing solo at open mics, coffee shops, restaurants, outdoor events & malls since 2001. I've performed at Abbey Road on the River each year since it began in 2002. In addition to solo sets, In 1998 I was a founding member of a trio that became a quartet called Crosswinds - www.CrosswindsMusic.com - I left them in October 2001 & rejoined in June 2004. I am also half of a duo with Gale Franko - we call ourselves 2 Much Fun.

   I've been a freelance artist most of my life - mostly illustration, painting & web design. I've had a few "real jobs" - I spent 10 years at Channel 43, 5 as the Art Director - also worked in downtown Cleveland for a web company & an online job board. I freelanced when both of those companies went under. Now I am a web designer at AmeriMark.com.

  As a closing thought - all 5 of my kids have come to know The Beatles music quite well - I remember once as we were traveling in the car, I put in a tape & "Strawberry Fields Forever" came on. Of course there was so much chatter in the car I couldn't hear it so I kept rewinding it to start it over. Eventually I asked them all if they'd just be quiet for about 4 minutes so I could hear it in peace & quiet. They wondered what the big deal was - so I told them that I thought "this is what music will sound like in Heaven"... thanks for a little bit of Heaven "hear" on Earth (pun intended).