XCUltraMike profile picture

XCUltraMike

About Me

I'm a happily married musician. I am a record producer, recording engineer and session musician. I did that for a living full time from Sept '97 until July '08. Now I work in the Pro Audio department at Guitar Center in Tacoma. I truly enjoy it. I run cross-country ultra-marathons in my "spare" time. That's 31 mile, 50 mile and 100 mile foot races in the mountains around the Pacific Northwest.I used to be in some reasonably cool bands (Wytch Hazel, Akasha and Lady Jane) that went downhill for various reasons. Oh well. I still work in the music industry for a living so it's all good. I own Gray Rain Recording Studio in lovely Bonney Lake, WA. I have recorded dozens of musicians and hundreds of songs in all genres. Some good, some not so good. Over the years I've made some serious technical and personal mistakes, but I've learned from them all and it's been reasonably smooth sailing so far this century. My primary instrument is the guitar, but I play bass, piano, keyboards and drums also. On the guitar I prefer to play fast, super-technical, neo-classical, ripping guitar solos, but in reality I usually have to do many different styles. At my core though, I'm a shredder with a vast knowledge of music theory and composition. Some day I would love to play guitar in a Dream Theater tribute band. I play classical guitar as well, but I'm no Christopher Parkening.

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Dream Theater and fellow ultra runners. Perhaps old friends if the water is under the bridge. My past is past and I'm a different person now.

My Blog

It’s been a while!

I have been super busy these last few months, so I haven't been visiting or updating lately. I was promoted to Assisstant Manager at Guitar Center a couple months ago, so that was good. We made it thr...
Posted by on Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:26:00 GMT

The end has arrived

The end of the running season is here a few weeks early. I'm not sad, I actually resigned myself to this possibility a month ago. I guess I'll bring you up to speed. I ran the White River 50 mile race...
Posted by on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:16:00 GMT

The winds of change

Sometimes in life things happen that are out of our control. So be it. I've learned over the years that you can either fight and most likely do even more damage, or bend like a reed in the wind. I cho...
Posted by on Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:03:00 GMT

The most insane thing I have ever done

Jeez, where to begin? How about the end - I made it out without any major injuries. My friend and I (who is also an ultra-runner) where scheduled to run 25 miles from Mineral Creek, over Thorp M...
Posted by on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:11:00 GMT

Well into the season

The F1 season is well under way with loads of fun surprises so far. We have seen the first Polish man on Pole in F1, and a few races later, he won one becoming the first Polish man to win a Formula 1 ...
Posted by on Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:42:00 GMT

Dream Theater, Opeth, 3 and....The Abadox?

That was the bill it should have been! Mike Portnoy really likes the band Between the Buried and Me, so they were also on the bill, but to my ears they are a poor man's The Abadox. Nathan not only sin...
Posted by on Sat, 10 May 2008 15:34:00 GMT

Why Dream Theater is the greatest band ever and other ramblings from an old man

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I have posted anything. I have been super busy as usual with work, home and play. I ran my last 'short' race today. The Mt. Si Ultra. I only did the 30 mile versi...
Posted by on Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:51:00 GMT

It Begins...

If you are a fan of the Simpsons, you may recall the episode in which Homer competes (and wins) against Barney to become an astronaut. When Barney drinks the non-alcholic congratulatory champagne, he ...
Posted by on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:14:00 GMT

The best race so far

While the Cle Elum Ridge 50k wasn't a perfect race personally, it was by far the funnest (and therefore best) ultra I've had yet. I had planned on listening to my iPod during the r...
Posted by on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 16:42:00 GMT

My favorite metal records

One of the things I do when I start pre-production on a record I am producing is require that the band provide me with their all-time top 5 most influencial songs. It's fun for me not only because I g...
Posted by on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 12:03:00 GMT