Hobbies and Interests: Drumming, drawing, painting, photography, music: Rock and Roll, Jazz, funk, concerts, videos, internet surfing, bike riding, 420. Outdoor hiking, swimming, jogging, Jones Beach.
Creative Artists, Designers, Musicians, Dead-PHISH-heads, cool people, Down-to-Earth people, Interesting and Inspiring people, those who want to collaborate, people with fresh ideas, smart people, open-minded people, people of all walks and races, NON-evil people.
My older Brother had a great Record Collection and he caught the tail end of the 60's and saw Led Zeppelin, The Who at their peak. He influenced my musical taste and I really dig 70's Classic Rock. Bands like Yes, Bad Company, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, The Who, Queen and also the San Francisco bands: The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and theDoors.I also was exposed to a lot of Jazz Fusion music: Return to Forever, Tony Williams, Spyro Gyra, Weather Report, Lenny White, Brand-X. That type of Fusion Jazz influences my drum playing now. I have been playing drums since High School. (I was self-taught) During my college years, I began to take drum lessons and I studied with Chris Sealy, drummer in Providence, RI who taught me Rudiments on the snare drum. He gave me an introduction to FUNK drum beats on the Hi-Hat. After travelling to Europe as a tourist, I managed to save some money from my trip, and I bought my first decent Drumset.While attending Graduate School in Wisconsin the following year, I studied with 2 students who were students at the Music school out at Madison.These 2 teachers got me goin on the drumset. Mark Luhring was a Rock drummer who was studying VIBES. He started me out reading the "Jim Payne- Funk Drummer" book. After studying a while with Mark, I took some lessons with this serious HEADY drummer "Ray Kascinski." Ray, was a bit over my head with the Jazz know-how, but, heck I like a challenge.After College, I studied with a Terrific drummer on Long Island, Jeff Indyke. He is still giving drum lessons and he offers tape courses and free live tutorials. Jeff exposed me to a lot of great stuff.Most recently I began to study drums again with another real good drummer, Chris Harfenist. Chris studied with Gary Chester a well-known studio drummer who played for a numerous amount of well known musicians.Right now, Music is my hobby; I would love to make it more of a career; But, I guess one step at a time.
I recently saw IRON MAN. Cool movie, but the plot was thin. I dont go out to see a lot of Movies these days, But, when i do, I usually catch flicks like STAR WARS, James Bond, The Lord of the Rings or those type of high budget cool effects movies.
Having splurged and gotten a LCD flat panel. I am digging the High Definition channels on Time Warner. I like the NATURE stuff and the Concerts that are sometimes on. I also dig watching the METS in high definition as well.
Well, despite the fact that I have a Master's degree, I have become slightly illiterate. I dont read a lot of books. I do read Computer (techy) books once in a while. And, my writer friend McG lent me a book by a contemporary writer Michael Nesariam. I read a book call "Chinese Takeout" which is a story about an artist living in the lower east side of New York City. I really liked the story line.
JERRY GARCIA... while not the greatest Role model due to his Heroin Addiction. He nonetheless was a XTRA COOL DUDE.