About Me
You're listening to today's Project-43 pick, "Turning Circles"
I've been dying to be a rock star for nearly 30 years now. I started playing guitar back in early high school, sometime around 1976. I had a friend who lived on the other side of town that got me hooked on the wonders of the guitar. He had a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top (man, I hope he kept that) and a Marshall half stack. He and some other guys from the neighborhood would jam in his garage and I would soak it all in. Eventually, he started teaching me a few things on the guitar and one thing led to another.
It was later in high school that I entered my first band. We thought we were pretty good, but in all likelihood, we probably peeled some paint off the gymnasium when we played our first 'gig' there. It was some dance, don't really remember for what, but we had a blast. The kids in attendance seem to like it too, so that's all that mattered.
It was in the mid-eighties when I got my first taste of what it was going to be like to "pay my dues" on the way to stardom. My buddy Kevin and I auditioned for a band called Hot Cargo. Kevin was a drummer and it just so happened that this band was looking for both a drummer and a rhythm guitarist. Well, it must have been our lucky day as we both made the cut. To make a long story short, I ended playing in the band for over 7 years and making a living at it to boot! Those days were a blast and we partied HARD. It was great sleeping till 2:00 in the afternoon and the playing all night at some club or bar. However, It was sometimes rough, living on mayonnaise sandwiches, not having much money and driving beat up cars. But looking back, I wouldn't have missed those years for anything. As with most things, those days eventually came to an end. For some silly reason, I ended up getting the feeling I needed to have a 'real job' and left the band to travel the country working for a CATV construction company. That was a wild life of it's own, but that's another story for another day.
So, after basically putting the guitar away for around ten years, I've recently picked it up again. It was my wife's encouragement that led me to pursue it again. I bet she's second guessing all of that encouragement now, as I'm never far from my computer and guitar! I was fortunate to run into Charlie in the alt.guitar Usenet forums and that is what initiated Project-43. He proposed the idea of us 'collaborating' on some stuff and it turned into what you see today. It's been a great way to increase my skills again and work with some wonderfully talented people. This probably the most original music I've ever been a part of making and it's a great process. I'm really happy with the stuff we're putting out there. We're not in this to become famous or make tons of money. Those days have likely passed by. We're doing it for the fun and enjoyment. And if some movie producer wants to give us money to use one of our songs in one of his productions? I think we could all handle that.
