Biography:
In doing this I'm discovering how little I know about myself. I was born in 1976 around the Washington D.C. area - on the Maryland side. My parents were both rock musicians (piano and voice respectively). They split when I was quite young, and I was raised primarily by my father. In 1983 we (my father, great grandmother, and myself) relocated to Ormond Beach, FL.
I experienced a rather typical suburban upbringing, if you don't count being raised by a rock musician as atypical. Looking back I feel the most significant events of my young life were my introduction to Yoshukai Karate in 1990, and my introduction the guitar in 1992.
In 1994 I graduated from Seabreeze High School. I then moved out on my own and began attending Daytona Beach Community College. By this time I had fallen in love with jazz music, and was focusing my academic attention toward majoring in Jazz Studies. For financial reasons it took me nearly five years to complete my Junior College studies. During this time I primarily supported myself with restaurant jobs - fast food, washing dishes, delivering pizzas, etc.
In 1999 I transferred to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. There I completed my undergraduate studies with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies. I also began supporting myself professionally through teaching and performing music.
In 2002 I completed my studies and moved back to Daytona Beach. After a year of being able to achieve very little in that location, I moved to Syracuse, NY for the summer of 2003. Afterward I moved back to Ormond Beach with my girlfriend Susan. We very much enjoyed the quaintness of the area, but better opportunities compelled us to move west.
In 2005 we moved to Los Angeles, CA in search of opportunities for musical career growth. Currently we reside together in a small apartment on the west side with our German Shepherd Berta, and our cat Skinny. I'm working with a blues band by the name Indian Nickel, and I have a day job in online marketing. The latter is a bit of a deviation from my real goals in life, but it has afforded me the opportunity to learn a great deal about the power of the internet (this website being part of the fruits of that education), and has of course helped to put a roof over our heads!