We live on 160 acres near Wellston, OK in the heart of red dirt country...me and my loving and beautiful bride of nearly 36 years, Barbara. (We were married somewhere around age 7). Of course there's the 4 dogs, couple of cats, some cows, geese and ducks and all things wild. Family and friends make our world go round, and we're blessed with lots of both. We have 2 sons and daughters-in-law, Dustin and Ashley, and Ryan and Laura, and 5 grandkids, Dylan, Owen, Ayden, Presley, and Lizzie. We're fortunate...they live nearby, so we get to spend good time together. Barb and I own a custom plastics fab and sign shop in OKC, Eaton-Quade Co....It takes a lot of our time, but we've got a great crew and love what we do...never a dull moment.
Like most, I've loved music since I was a kid, listening to everything I could get my hands on. It influences and shapes the way we think, feel and react, and at what ever level, is one of the things that bind us all together. Guitars and drums just do it for me...any kind, any style, fast, slow, loud, quiet, hard, soft, they take me where I need to go. And although I listen to and respect all forms of music, I,m not a huge fan of techno, electronica, dance, rap, etc...(it's like the drone of a casino, not my style). I like classical music, but opera doesn't do much for me. Growing up, I was exposed to a wide variety of music, classical, pop, jazz, folk, R&B, soul, heavy doses of rock, but it was the blues and its raw emotion and groove that have anchored my style as my playing developed over the years. When I was a kid, my dad actually had a hi-fi component stereo, with a Philco tube amp, a turntable, and two 10" speaker cabinets. I wore out his record collection (stuff like New Christy Minstrels, Herb Alpert, Leonard Bernstein, Chet Atkins, Ricky Nelson, Boots Randolph, Elvis, Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Crosby and Sinatra, Johnny Rivers, Henry Mancini, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams), and begged for guitars and drums early on, and Mom, bless her heart, came through. After the folks split up, she found a way to get drums and a guitar in my hands. I passed lots of time learning to play along with my favorites and friends, then on to garage bands, jam bands, duos and bar bands, and all the while, harboring this nagging need to do my own thing...and when it speaks, you listen. This is my first original CD, and things are in the works for another. A wise old man once told me, whatever your passion, keep listening, and feed the soul. I'm a Bartlesville OK native, now residing in Wellston, just outside OKC. Actually, I'm just another workaholic control freak wannabe, who enjoys his proper share of well brewed beers and fine maduros, hanging out in the home studio in eskimo joes plaid flannel pants and an old HD t-shirt, writing, playing and recording songs, stealing from all those bits and pieces flying around in my head. I've always played in some kind of band and nothing is more fun than playing good music with good people, but eventually I just burned out on the scene, retiring to the studio to take on this kind of schizoid persona, where I'm a different member of the band everytime I power up my little hideaway. I have to say however, that still, some of the most fun I have, is jamming with my son and nephew, Dustin and Adam....They both also write, play guitar, bass and drums, so our sessions consist of swapping instruments and letting it fly. In my mind it's a beautiful thing....
Some Thank You's are in order, and first and foremost is my beautiful and loving wife of 34 years, Barb. She's been a trooper and tolerated years of late night noise making, fed everyone and cleaned up the mess...and let us know when we sucked, which was a lot, and when we didn't. But she's always encouraged me. Next would be my Mom, (do you see a pattern here?) whose creative nature inspired me to do the same. She was always cooking and sewing, painting, re-uphostering and refinishing furniture, making drapes, decorating, making nick nacks from all sorts of stuff. At my begging she made sure Santa brought me a snare drum for Christmas when I was about 8 years old.......I marched around the front yard in 4 inches of snow, beating that thing until my hands were purple. I still love the drum section of a marching band...all that percussion gets the blood flowing. Later, a real set of drums, a 5-piece set of orange sparkle ludwigs, and a 65 Fender Mustang, which was a nice guitar in that it had good tone and played well, but the tremelo bridge was a piece of crap...couldn't keep it in tune. So I proceeded to annoy everyone in the house and the neighborhood. I passed alot of time playing along with my favorites. I made so much noise that the neighbors complained, so I was confined to 1 hour a night, at least on the drums...the guitar could go through the headphones. After my sophmore year we moved to Borger TX for my last years of high school where I met a group of guys who shared my passion for "playing in a band", so thanks to Steve Botkin, Jeff Watson and Gary Rogers, to name a few. I think we played virtually every night for 2 years, whether it was drinking wine and plucking acoustic guitars out at the old plemmons graveyard, or taking over Steve's parents living room for practices and jams, or upstairs in Gary's garage apt, flying high, and hammering out tunes until the wee hours of the morning. Oh the follies of youth.... One night at a party there, I remember someone drank half a bottle of Old English or Scotts Liquid Gold, something like that, we used it to polish guitars. Next stop, OKC. I met and threw down with a lot of different players through the years, but these guys and I kind of stuck together, and have done some different things in various bands, primarily FutureShock and ElephantsGerald. I aquired equipment over the years and have had a home studio for almost 20 years. We had a lot of fun, and indulged each other in a quest for our own music. Mike Burris, Olin Smith, Ronnie Hampton (where the hell are you anyway), my son Dustin, and nephew Adam.....thanks guys. Man, if the old studio walls could talk...we created a lot of good music over the years, and it's too bad the tape wasn't rolling for some of those jams. We should do it again for old times sake.
I know by now you must be thinking...what else is this guy passionate about. Well it's certainly not any form of activism....just not my style. I'll leave that for folks who aren't content with just being passionate about something, but feel compelled to get you on board and drag you along. And discussions of politics or religion under the guise of a good debate don't do much for me either. So with that being said.... I really like to drink GOOD beer, and I drink my fair share of it. My favorites are Pale ales,IPA's, ESB's both American and English sytle, and nice hoppy lagers, Octoberfest style and winter lagers as well. Me loves the hops! I like to brew beer too and my old HS bud and long time friend, bro Steve at the 305 club, partnered up on a 20 gal brew rig and been having "big beer" fun. Enjoying your own beer is quite satisfying. Bro Steve is the brewmaster of our little operation, but I'm learning. I also enjoy fine cigars, and smoke my fair share of them as well. A good maduro suits me just fine...The Rocky Patel Edge is my current smoke. I have 2 Harley's and love to ride the open road every chance I get. Theres just nothing like 5 gallons of gas and some horsepower between your legs. When I need an attitude adjustment, that sound and the wind in your face at 70 mph does the trick...two lanes, no traffic, sunshine and miles and miles of big blue sky. My good friends Axel and Del, and another old HS bud and long time friend, bro Chuck share my passion for the big v-twin, and we like to hit the road together whenever possible. I have a thing for old muscle cars too - my favorite, a 71 hemi challenger - ever see Vanishing Point? Not a great movie otherwise but watching that car haul ass for an hour and a half is just beautiful. I like designing and building mixed media pcs, functional art pcs, especially with acrylic, neon, and LED's, which is part of what I do for a living, everything from furniture to custom displays and lighting to signage to stage and studio props, the list goes on...If you're still reading this I'm impressed. I like working in the city, but living in the sticks. Good bar-b-q (I love the pig) and a rare filet are hard to beat, of course followed by a big beer and a fine cigar. Relaxation is setting around a campfire next to a rushing stream in the mountains or sitting on a quiet sandy beach under an umbrella in a reclining position listening to the waves crash. It quiets the voices. Whatever your passion...listen to it....it feeds the soul.