Born upstate NY- before I was five and in OHIO, was in Texas and
New Mexico with mother and grandparents, I think. So caught up in where I’m
going, it’s not hard to remember where I’ve been. So please bear with me.
The Liberty Bell is in my hands in an elementary school picture,and while I’m no spring chicken, I’d like to think I’m a young playful forty.
High school in Chillicothe was nothin short of a blast! wrestling, football, girls,cars,( congrats CHS basketball 08 CHAMPS! ) Humpty was my neighbor before we moved to Tn. After graduation a billboard caught my eye. HELLO Marine Corps! Between boot camp and home (1986 to 92) was a fate like so many others... panama, japan , philipines, saudi, kuwait. nuff said.
After my stint with uncle sams elite, HELLO WORLD! I thought ,,,just because I fought in combat the rest of my life would be cake, of course I was wrong. The battle had just begun. I got a typical "heroes welcome" home from the gov( dept. veterans affairs) Take Two of these. lost my job, car, respect... the list is endless. All in one summer. Only with the love of family and faith did I get off the pills and on with life.
My brothers were in separate bands when I was in the service . When they split , we got together with cousin Mac and formed the band DALLAS, named after our younger brother. That lasted about as long as three single guys could physically handle. After we went our ways , I kept pluggin away with other members, and they too.
In 1999 I finally got a song on the radio! actually some fellas I was working with sent the song , then told me to listen to the radio. Great! I thought. The song won the country challenge on ABC radio! the first unsigned artist to go all five nights! Great! I thought. A block party later , and weeks of pats on the back from everyone I realized that was all that was going to happen, the block party ect... the cd was sent with a paper label sticker, virtually no copies, and it wasn’t finished. oh well they tried. I was not ready anyway.
My wife and I had a daughter in 98 and I was learning how to be a father.
My grandmother got me a job delivering flowers, got along great with the boss after I figured out how to work at his speed. His name is Eugene Frank Tomastik, and forever he will have a special place in my heart. See, Gene is the reason my girls and I are in Tennessee runnin this dream down. He was an entertainer as well as a florist . Always asked me how "last night" went. I learned the business and took over for him when he became too ill to continue. Gene had cancer before I met him ,but kept it to himself. He loved my wife and daughter. He was my best friend. After he died I tried to run the flower shop like we planned, but even with the help of Amy jo (my wife) family and friends ,It proved to be more difficult than I ever thought. I had dedicated seven years to what I thought was going to be a career, and loved to design. People who buy flowers are the most compassionate,loving people . Still, I just couldn’t do it without Gene. So we figured we better finish what was started back in 1984. A career in music had been a dream of mine since that summer my mom became ill with lupus. The band mom,dad,dad and uncle were in was our main source of income, so I filled in along with my aunt and whoever else we could get to help fill her shoes. She wears the biggest size sevens I’ve ever seen! oh and the "dad, dad" thing? one was ,and one became. I’ll save the explanation for a novel.
So, here we are in Tennessee.
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