My first musical memories are my father playing ragtime on the piano while I danced around the living room (I loved the B-section of “The Entertainer” more than life itself). After years of piano lessons and band practice (oboe, baritone horn), I eventually picked up the guitar and discovered that “playing music” and “cool” could actually go together in certain 8th grade circumstances.

At first, I thought I would be a heavy metal lead guitarist a la Kirk Hammett from Metallica (or at least Ritchie Sambora from Bon Jovi). I even got a hot pink B.C. Rich Warlock guitar, but when the super-fast “shredding” style didn’t come to me right away, I became bored and moved on to the much simpler acoustic guitar. There I found people actually requesting that I play music – a fact which was not lost on an insecure 14-year-old.

I’ve always wanted to be in a band. I’ve always wanted to sing and make up music and be a goofball in front of other people. I think things have worked out quite nicely.

Things I Like

Cooking, eating, dogs, cats, central air conditioning, bath tubs I can fit in, hot sopressata from Faico’s in Greenwich Village, fresh bread, falafel from Baharat Falafel in Berlin, Pride of the Village Sake, Six Feet Under, movies directed by John Sayles or Hayao Miyazaki, writing new songs, and spending time on the road with Doris & Ty.

Things I Don’t Like

Cleaning, repetitive tasks, brine-cured ham, American microbrew beer, bathtubs that start draining as soon as I get in them, and lists of things I don’t like.