music

I have been playing musical instruments since I was 9. I started with a recorder in grade four, moved up to a trumpet in grades five and six but I didn’t like trumpet much and took a break from music until high school. In grade 9 I started with alto sax and then throughout high school got into tenor sax, oboe, a bit of saprano sax and finally guitar. I have been playing guitar since december 1991 and have also been playing bass since about 1994. I still pick up my tenor sax and play it now and then but the guitar is my true love. i find that i really like my guitar for writing and also for playing along with my favorite cds, but i lean more to being a bassist all the time. I’m also pretty good at Rock Band drums and recently upgraded to a proper electronic kit.

my guitar gear presently includes a black gibson epiphone with an sg body, a chameleon effects processor, and a yorkville sound 100W amp. my bass gear is a nice purple 4 string sound gear (by ibanez) which i play through a yorkville sound 200W bass amp. i also have an epiphone acoustic that is damaged beyond repair and was recently replaced with a shiny new Simon and Patrick acoustic. I am still interested in getting a 12 string acoustic as well as a better bass, possibly 5 or 6 string. i’d also like to start getting some other musical gear such as a decent keyboard, drum machine, sampler, …the list goes on…always more things than money can buy.

What do I do with all this musical knowledge? Funny you should ask, I’ve been in several bands over the years. The first was Luminox and was in another for about 9 months, The Tender Perverts, until we broke up. For more info you can check out those links.

a few months after the demise of the Perverts, four of the former members of the band got together to do a summer project with Jay Walker from Luminox. this band was a tribute to a band that we all greatly enjoy, The Cure, and as such was called Pornograpy. the “summer project” ended up staying together until january 1998 when we played our final show since drummer Rob LeGood had moved to Waterloo. we also played our first reunion show in waterloo on oct. 24/98. the show went well, we had fun. i’m hoping to put a pornography page in here one of these days.

after those bands i worked with Jay Walker on yet another project, this time doing originals and working with Rob Harris. we were a three piece, with me further refining my bass playing skills, jay playing his acoustic and singing, and rob on bongos. you can find current info on this band, called Elusive Dream, here. my move to minnesota for grad school put things to a halt on that project, but I still find time to jam with Jay when I’m in the windsor area.

i love introducing people to bands that i enjoy so if you’d like to trade, just drop me a line. I love the convenience of having my ever-growing cd collection available to me anywhere in MP3 format via the excellent edna streaming server and mp3 player.

I also was a dj at CJAM 91.5 FM, the University of Minnesota’s radio station from approximately 1995 to august 1999. I was the host Mind Over Acid ever Saturday afternoon from 4-6pm. After i left, Pete Kopchek took over as host and kept the show alive until 2011 when he had to retire. At the 1999 CJAM Jammie awards, Mind Over Acid won the award for “Favorite Industrial/Electronic Music Show”. After many years on CJAM it was great to finally see the show recieve an award. thanks to everyone who cast their vote!

My favorite band is The Cure and my favorite cd is Disintegration by The Cure. Here are some of my Top Ten lists.