-BIO-
1963 - 1973
(Actually starts in 1955)
1963 - 1973
(Actually starts in 1955)
Boring Bio - 1963 to 1973
Stuff You Probably Don't Need To Know
Stuff You Probably Don't Need To Know
I was born in 1955, yada, yada, yada, not a whole bunch happened until...
I started learning how to play a little piano before kindergarten, guitar at 8 years old. Man was I hot, with those 4 chords! My first 'gig' playing before a 'live audience' came in 5th grade at a May Day party at our school. The 3 of us learned 2 songs, 'Little Black Egg' by the Nightcrawlers, and a song I wrote, "Phantom," my performance debut was as a singer-songwriter. I don't remember any girls mobbing the stage...
My first paid gig was when I was 14, in a bar called the Razorback, performing at a race party (the 12 Hours of Sebring, , at the time one of the international Grand Prix circuit) and the biggest annual event for our town. The Smothers Brothers were among the guests, but, I'm fairly sure they were not impressed.
I left home against parental advice at the age of 15 (translate, ran away from home, a practice I now no longer recomend,) hitch-hiked around the country, ended up in Miami. After scrounging equipment, I started played with several garage bands of the time, and ended up in a rock band (Medusa, I'm sure one of many bands named Medusa across the country,) as well as a couple of working lounge bands. The lounge bands worked some local bars, and luckily, the rock and roll scene was such that the rock band managed to open for several concerts throughout the area, as well as several outdoor festivals. Unfortunately, my involvement in music paralleled my involvement with several kinds of drugs, and not only did my music suffer, but my memories are, shall we say, sporadic, from that era. I do remember hitch-hiking to Canada, for reasons which seemed good at the time.
I fell in with a group of Texas expatriate musicians who were headed back to Texas to play something called 'Progressive Country."(keep in mind, this was well before 'Waylon and Willie' were househould names.) I had been a closet country freak for several years, driving to late night truckstops just to play Buck Owens and Merle Haggard on the jukeboxes, and the idea of progressive country intrigued me. The new band headed to Austin,Texas. I was feeling a little sick before we left, and I awoke up in a Pensacola hospital intensive care unit, where I was told I'd been dropped off with only the clothes on my back. I had a severe infection, and almost died, but after 2 weeks, I was released, and moved back in with my parents in Sebring to recover, minus clothing, guitars, money and equipment.
I worked one of the few "straight jobs" in my life, saving money to pay the hospital bill (this was back when a kid making slightly better than minimum wage could still pay off a 2 week hospital stay completely in 6 months, and still had enough money left to buy a Fender Telecaster and Fender Twin reverb (guitar and amp.) I met a drummer from Canada who was in Florida for a few weeks, and on the spur of the moment decided to head up there to Quebec to join his band, which had work lined up. We ended up forming "Cowhouse Road," a country rock band that worked some, and achieved a moderate amount of notoriety around the rural Quebec area. During this time, one of my songs "Strange Cities" was recorded commercially by another Canadian band whose name unfortunately I can't remember, (if anybody from the area remembers this, PLEASE give drop me a line.) After Cowhouse broke up I headed back to Florida with a guitar, an amp, and a beat up Chevy Acadian with the back seat removed. After arriving in Florida, I married a wonderful girl with lousy taste in men...
I started playing with a country band, the Mike Miller band. Mike decided to move to Jacksonville, record an album in Nashville, and try for the gold. Rosie, (my new wife) and I followed...
(by the way Rosie - Great to hear from you after all these years. God I LOVE the Internet!)
1973 -1983 the Jacksonville years
I started learning how to play a little piano before kindergarten, guitar at 8 years old. Man was I hot, with those 4 chords! My first 'gig' playing before a 'live audience' came in 5th grade at a May Day party at our school. The 3 of us learned 2 songs, 'Little Black Egg' by the Nightcrawlers, and a song I wrote, "Phantom," my performance debut was as a singer-songwriter. I don't remember any girls mobbing the stage...
My first paid gig was when I was 14, in a bar called the Razorback, performing at a race party (the 12 Hours of Sebring, , at the time one of the international Grand Prix circuit) and the biggest annual event for our town. The Smothers Brothers were among the guests, but, I'm fairly sure they were not impressed.
I left home against parental advice at the age of 15 (translate, ran away from home, a practice I now no longer recomend,) hitch-hiked around the country, ended up in Miami. After scrounging equipment, I started played with several garage bands of the time, and ended up in a rock band (Medusa, I'm sure one of many bands named Medusa across the country,) as well as a couple of working lounge bands. The lounge bands worked some local bars, and luckily, the rock and roll scene was such that the rock band managed to open for several concerts throughout the area, as well as several outdoor festivals. Unfortunately, my involvement in music paralleled my involvement with several kinds of drugs, and not only did my music suffer, but my memories are, shall we say, sporadic, from that era. I do remember hitch-hiking to Canada, for reasons which seemed good at the time.
I fell in with a group of Texas expatriate musicians who were headed back to Texas to play something called 'Progressive Country."(keep in mind, this was well before 'Waylon and Willie' were househould names.) I had been a closet country freak for several years, driving to late night truckstops just to play Buck Owens and Merle Haggard on the jukeboxes, and the idea of progressive country intrigued me. The new band headed to Austin,Texas. I was feeling a little sick before we left, and I awoke up in a Pensacola hospital intensive care unit, where I was told I'd been dropped off with only the clothes on my back. I had a severe infection, and almost died, but after 2 weeks, I was released, and moved back in with my parents in Sebring to recover, minus clothing, guitars, money and equipment.
I worked one of the few "straight jobs" in my life, saving money to pay the hospital bill (this was back when a kid making slightly better than minimum wage could still pay off a 2 week hospital stay completely in 6 months, and still had enough money left to buy a Fender Telecaster and Fender Twin reverb (guitar and amp.) I met a drummer from Canada who was in Florida for a few weeks, and on the spur of the moment decided to head up there to Quebec to join his band, which had work lined up. We ended up forming "Cowhouse Road," a country rock band that worked some, and achieved a moderate amount of notoriety around the rural Quebec area. During this time, one of my songs "Strange Cities" was recorded commercially by another Canadian band whose name unfortunately I can't remember, (if anybody from the area remembers this, PLEASE give drop me a line.) After Cowhouse broke up I headed back to Florida with a guitar, an amp, and a beat up Chevy Acadian with the back seat removed. After arriving in Florida, I married a wonderful girl with lousy taste in men...
I started playing with a country band, the Mike Miller band. Mike decided to move to Jacksonville, record an album in Nashville, and try for the gold. Rosie, (my new wife) and I followed...
(by the way Rosie - Great to hear from you after all these years. God I LOVE the Internet!)
1973 -1983 the Jacksonville years
BIG DISCLAIMER
Hokay, you might want to quit reading now!
You can go back to my home page, I won't hold it against you. Or, you can skip ahead to the 1970s This page is just boring biographical information that will probably not interest you, unless you are either a newspaper or other press writer doing a feature on me and looking for background, a really, really really close friend, or have run out of sleep medication and are desperately trying to combat insomnia. Hokay, that said, don't say I didn't warn you...
Hokay, you might want to quit reading now!
You can go back to my home page, I won't hold it against you. Or, you can skip ahead to the 1970s This page is just boring biographical information that will probably not interest you, unless you are either a newspaper or other press writer doing a feature on me and looking for background, a really, really really close friend, or have run out of sleep medication and are desperately trying to combat insomnia. Hokay, that said, don't say I didn't warn you...
