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I've been a huge fan of belly dancing since 1964, when I discovered it through the invitation of Josef Kouyoumjian, owner of the Bagdad nightclub in San Francisco. When I began to study photography 2 years later, I began photographing belly dancers at classes, clubs, and public events. In '70, I began observing Bert Balladine's belly dancing lessons in San Francisco.I studied acoustic guitar construction with master luthier Denis Grace in Berkeley from '64 through '68. Later, in '74, I began building and repairing ouds, guitars, violins, and bouzoukis. In '77, I toured Greece, Turkey and Egypt visiting master instrument makers, then continued visiting Greece again in '79, 92, & 00. I made it to Turkey again in '00. Beginning in '74, I studied dumbek under Salah Takesh, and oud playing under Andy Nalbandian, Ishmael, and Farid Shuayto. I formed a band, The All American Mid-East Ensemble with Dave Adams on guitar, Tom Maley as drummer, and myself as oud player. I have since played the oud for hundreds of dancers in the San Francisco Bay area. Also in '74, I helped Bob Zalot launch Habibi Publications, which published the original Habibi belly dance magazine. I was the initial photo editor, made numerous photo contributions, and wrote an article about oud construction which appeared in Volume 4, Number 6, 1978. I became interested in finite element modeling of heat, shock, and vibration, which were needed to understand the mechanical stress on ouds for making instrument repair decisions. This skill landed many interesting consulting positions in the military electronics field, from which I am now retired.