FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOMETOWN: Voorheesville, New York – pop. 2,705 (a small town in upstate New York in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains – yep I is a country boy).

BIRTHDAY: June 12 (presents are always welcome).

MUSICAL TRAINING: I was banging on a guitar since I was five, started piano lesson when I was around eight. Began singing in choirs when I was nine, I played the trumpet from ten through high school – I still bust it out every now and then. Got my first electric guitar at thirteen. Started learning about music theory when I was 16. Attended Berklee College of Music where I studied vocal performance and graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Production and Engineering.

INSTRUMENTS: I mainly stick to playing the guitar, piano and singing but I can play a myriad of instruments to some extent. I also play a little bass, flute, tin whistle, harmonica, Native American flute, trumpet, washboard, drums, congas, mandolin, fiddle and varrious percussion. All in all it keeps me pretty busy.

MUSICAL INFLUENCESES: (in fairly chronological order as I can remember hearing it...) The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, School House Rock, Men at Work, Chicago, The Police, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Rush, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen, The Beastie Boys, Michael Hedges, Bryan Adams, Dire Straits, Aerosmith, Joe Satriani, Frank Zappa, Charlie Daniels, Meat Loaf, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jeff Beck, Chris Whitley, Preston Reed, 3, Joey Eppard, Bhangra... okay, just about everything I hear.

You play guitar right-handed, but when you signed an autograph for me you used your left hand, are you ambidexterous? Damn, someone's been paying attention... I can also paint Picasso's with my toes... seriously though, I am left handed for the most part. When I got my first guitar (a cool white "Series 10" electric back in 1987) the guy at the guitar shop asked me if I wanted to get a left or right handed guitar. His selling points went something like "...if you get a right handed guitar you'll be able to pickup any guitar and play, but if you get a left handed one you'll be able to play really fast." Since shredding was not my main focus at the time, nor has it ever really been, I decided to go with the right handed one. Since then I've found some famous musicians are also left handed and play right handed including Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and Michael Hedges.

FAVORITE BANDS: Okay, this is a hard one, there are so many and what I listen to changes daily. If I had to pick I'd have to throw in Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, The Arc Angels, Chris Whitley, The Allman Brothers, 3 (Joey Eppard) and Michael Hedges.

WHAT ARE THE LYRICS TO ... : I try not to mumble, but it's not always easy to decipher what I'm saying so I try to post most of my lyrics on my SOUNDS page. If you don't see what you're looking for, by all means, EMAIL ME with what you think you heard and I'll try to hook you up. I'm trying to post a bit about each song there too (on the lyric page for each song at the top).

PETS: I have one black cat named "Jesse James" who is affraid of everything and to whom I am extremely allergic. But I'm stubborn so the cat stays and I take 20 pills a day to deal.

FAVORITE FOOD: I LOVE to eat! I'm the kind of guy that saves the best piece of food for last so I can savor the taste for as long as possilbe. My last meal would be a thick-cut Rib Eye Steak rubbed with my trademark "Waterhole Seasoning" and grilled to a medium-well perfection over charcoal. I also love Buffalo Wings! But they MUST be made with TRUE BUFFALO STYLE and served with carrots and celery sticks and BLUE CHEESE DRESSING, NEVER NEVER NEVER with ranch dressing. Runner Up: White Broccoli Pizza - That's NO red sauce. garlic white sauce, broccoli and LOTS of garlic. Some places make it with up to ELEVEN types of cheese. In the words of Homer Simpson "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

FAVORITE DRINKS: My favorite bar drink is a double Jack Daniels on the rocks. I tend to rate bars on their pricing of this drink (I usually bring a hip flask of whiskey incase the bar tends to over charge - not always Jack, I often enjoy Evan Williams too). For soda, I'm a Coca-Cola man. No Pepsi! My favorite soda at the moment is Peach Nehi. PINKS in LA has this and one of my favorite LA relaxation things is to bike to Pinks and grab a dog and a Peach Nehi and enjoy on the back patio in the sun.

FAVORITE MOVIES: The Unforgiven, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Young Guns (YES, I said Young Guns), The Sting, The Big Lebowski and Heathers.

FAVORITE TV: It's usually background noise. I actually like to practice with the TV on to simulate a noisy bar and try to keep focused, I've found it helps for live performing. Some shows I do enjoy include The Simpsons, Deadwood, The Dukes of Hazzard, South Park, 24, Lost and Stargate SG-1.