HOME        MUSIC        PICTURES        INFO        LINKS

Why bother?

Well, when I was in 2nd grade my grandma bought me a drum set. Around that time, my mom also had a guitar that I wasnt allowed to play with, a Silvertone sunburst I remember to this day. I think even then though I eventually got to play with this for a little bit after Mom stopped trying to learn to play. I rememebr always wanting to play guitar... and I eventually beat my drum set to death... and imagine that it never got fixed!!!

Then we moved to Florida, I joined band playing sax clarinet and trumpet. But really what I wanted to do is play guitar. Finally after bugging my mom and dad for a long time I finally got to take lessons. I took lessons from a man called Claude Brownell, who actually is a steel guitarist of some note. Of course he wanted me to play C&W music and I being 12 yrs old thought that BTO was a great bunch of guys and that's what I wanted to play. I took lessons for about 2 years and then pretty much took off on my own.

Theres a whole lot of music that I listened too growing up. I lived in southern Florida... far away from anything, so there wasnt a lot of media or music available       ( continued below )

So as I was sayin... growing up in southern Fla. I was far away from civilization. But still I was able to listen to music such as Ted Nugent, BTO, Edgar Winter, the Beatles and AM radio. Yes we had no FM radio, not until 79-81. Its hard to imagine now that I had 7-10 albums, no FM stations and 2 channels on tv during most of my teenage years.

By age 15-16 I had 2 electric guitars and a Peavey amp, a couple basses and a yamaha acoustic. I was playing through a EH Big Muff, what a terrible sound, but at the time I thought it was cool. This was about the time I discovered Hendrix.

 I had been reading Rolling Stone and some guitar mags and they all mentioned this guitar player named Hendrix.  (continued below)

I had not even heard Hendrix, I had seen a picture here and there and some mentions of him, citing him as a electronic wizard and 'sorcerer' among guitarists. My cousin sent me the album "Smash Hits" from Ohio, and I had never heard anything like it. I found after some searching "Are You Experienced" and "Axis: Bold as Love" and finally the double album "Electric Ladyland"... there it was... in my mind to this day the best album ever made... it has everything, blues, soul, jazz, heavy metal, electronica and things we will never ever hear from another musician. I know all of this is subjective but to this end I listened almost exclusively to Hendrix for 3 or so years. I had 8 tracks, albums, and cassette tapes and eventually CDs of everything he made while he was alive.

I also need to mention here, that I was into electronics as a kid. I had a Radio Shack 100-1 Project kit, and some other stuff and had made things that would make electronic noise. I didnt realize at the time, that I probably am a frustrated synthesizer player. In Florida, I had never seen a synth, other than the ARP ads in Rolling Stone... wish I had one of those.

Synths, VH, HS Genesis, and mind altering substances coming soon...