NewOrleans.com Launch Party at Tip's 9/26/08 - CAN I THROW A F*CKING PARTY, OR WHAT?!
I was born in Buffalo, NY, into a family that traveled (and moved) a great deal and valued it as education. My father's work took the family to Kingston, Jamaica in the mid-70's, a short time after I started studying drums. The 'inside-out' drum grooves in reggae fascinated me immediately. My Dad had an an apartment opposite a club with live reggae, and the music of Marley and others was exploding all over Jamaican radio.
Music took a backseat to college and my early NYC advertising career, but a marketing job with Pearce Amplifiers brought me back to Buffalo after 20 years (and closer to music as I handled artist relations and demo'd amps a lot), and to a lifestyle where playing music while holding a day job was a lot more feasible.
By then I'd taught myself some bass and then guitar (drums too loud for apartment settings) and one day I walked in on a reggae open mic with my Tele. Despite never really having gigged much even on drums I was suddenly hired to play guitar in a very busy reggae showband where much of the music was over my head. I learned fast.
So eventually I wound up gigging a lot of reggae 'n' such all over Western New York, playing drums and later guitar for the Dreadbeats ("reggae, ska and mardi gras" - my first intro to 2nd Line grooves and Nola funk), and co-founding (with Neville Francis) and drumming in the regionally successful Strictly Riddim for almost a decade.
A first visit to New Orleans (aside from coming here for Mardi Gras at 8) got me fascinated. The next led to a very sudden move down here, not long before Katrina. I was back the first day they'd let me return and I could not be happier to be here!
These days I'm still playing a lot of reggae, but enjoy the funky gigs as well. I'm playing drums or guitar with the Revealers (happy to have lost my "Jazzfest virginity" on stage), playing drums with John Lisi & Delta Funk and Higher Heights, and pinch-hitting on drums or guitar with Rueben Williams' Uppressors, Margie Perez, Big Chiefs Doucette & Monk Boudreaux, and just sittin' in with Soul Project and anyone on Frenchmen St. who'll let me crash their party...
There's nothing like being a musician in New Orleans, and no way to describe it.And now, the picture is complete as my day job is all about New Orleans as well, in the role of General Manager of the NEW NewOrleans.com!
"We dance when there is no music. We drink at funerals. We talk too much, and live too large and, frankly, we’re suspicious of others who don’t…" - Chris Rose
