About Me
Free Myspace Layouts by MyspaceLayoutSpy.com
Music Notes Myspace Layouts in Music Myspace Layouts
Myspace Comments | Myspace Graphics | Myspace SurveysIt's really no wonder I became a musician.I must have it in my genes. I found out only a couple of years ago, that my sainted maternal grandmother, who died when I was 7, used to sing in bars as a child. They also kept from me for a long while the fact that her husband was a piano player in the Speakeasies in Cincinnati during Prohibition. He also taught piano (the more proper occupation I WAS told about!) His son, my uncle Charles, became a professsional jazz musician. Charlie's half sister started teaching piano right out of high school, married a jazz musician, and raised 3 professional musicians, one of whom runs a Jazz School now.My mother never really learned the piano, like her father wished. My father tried violin and quit, but collected jazz 78s from his teen years until I became enough of a toddler to start breaking them! That collection goes back to 1924 (Jelly Roll Morton)and I have it now.My parents started me on piano at age 7. I was in Band in Jr Hi and High School,and picked up fingerstyle folk guitar in college (instead of doing my Physics and Math!)
I played jazz piano in my 30s in a weekly workshop, and eventually a group called "Resolution".Then came Fatherhood,Career, and a drought.....About 7 years ago, I stumbled into a Celtic Music "Sessiun" at a local coffee house, and within a couple of weeks also started playing rhythm guitar with Old Time musicians who performed for Contra Dances.I am now in three bands (not counting the Albuquerque Megaband, the community of musicians that plays monthly for Contra Dances here) My original band was ANYTHING GOES, which changed its name to CHEAP SHOTS, has come and gone and re-formed again. We play a variety of string band music, Old Time, Celtic, Blues C & W, Swing, Originals, with quite a few songs. My newest band, HANDS FIVE, was formed specifically to do Contra Dances, but does more concerts, weddings, etc these days. We play Old Time, "Newtime", Celtic, Quebecois, and some Hispanic tunes, only a few songs.My third band is a Celtic band, SAOIRSE (Pr: "Seer-she"....Irish Gaelic for "Freedom"). We do tunes and songs from Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and the Asturian/Gallician region of Spain. We have a flute section, Concertina, and drums in addition to the strings. We have just released (5/12/07) our first CD, "Celtic Eclectic", which is available on CD Baby and on our website, www.celticeclectic.com.In addition to the bands, I have been a Stage Manager for the Albuquerque Folk Festival for 5 years, and am on the Board of New Mexico Folk Music And Dance Society (FolkMADS), which puts on the Contra Dances and dance camps in the northern part of New Mexico. I also participate in the Arts-In-Medicine program, a joint School of Medicine/Art Department project at the University of New Mexico Hospital where I work. Enjoy this late night jam at the FolkMADNESS Dance Camp in Socorro, New Mexico, Memorial Day Weekend 2006: Here's those CRAZY musicians from CARP CAMP at the annual "Wristband Parade", Wednesday, 9/12/07 at Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield KS (AKA: WINFIELD!) I'm the one in the Black "Carp Camp" T Shirt, Green Tam-O-Shanter, and Khaki UtiliKilt, playing guitar: KUAN YIN Namo Kuan Shih Yin P'u Sah
