Dave was born in Racine, Wisconsin, to a human mother and a half man/ half mule father. He was born 3/4 man–1/4 mule, inheriting his father's long flowing tail, hooved feet and stubborn nature, and his mother's nose. Many years of expensive and painful surgery followed. His physical therapist started him on the drums as part of his rehabilitation and young Dave took to them readily. Although the hoof and tail have long since been removed, Dave credits his kicking instinct and mule-like quadriceps for his strong bass drum work.
Since moving to NYC, Dave has played/recorded with Gloria Gaynor, Special EFX, George Jinda, The Fantasy Band, Melba Moore, Screaming Headless Torsos, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Ike Turner, and the late Johnnie Johnson. Dave has done some teaching, but he is very impatient. Among clinics he has done, two are notable -- he once gave a clinic in Treviso, Italy, to a room full of non-English speaking Italians and a translator who had it in for him, and then again in Aspen, Colorado, for a class of mostly-bored Aspen high school students, including one young drummer who had previously been kicked out of band class, but not suspended, for throwing fruit at the teacher. I wish he would have thrown fruit at me. That would have been fun.
Dave has also ocassionally done a bit of recording. Session work has included jingles for the NBA, Nickelodean, 7-UP and Dial, ABC and Fox television, and he also appeared on a sample CD, NYC Drumworks (Sampleheads), back in the day when sampling CDs were all the rage.
Dave has schlepped his drums to play music of varying quality in places of varying respectability, near and far, upstairs and downstairs, over hill and dale, through secret tunnels, into the belly of salvaged ships, through kitchens, basements, back rooms and into backwoods casinos, through blizzards, rainstorms, deserts and fairways, for $10 with 104 degree fever, drunk, high on coke and crank, hungover, unshaven, unshowered, unkempt, wearing dirty underwear, wearing woman's underwear, wearing no underwear and a bowtie made out of black duct tape, in drag, out of gas, time, luck, money and breath, on the lam, with a body in the trunk, over highways and byways, through grassless, dirty fields, sweating, panting, through freight elevators and into hospitals, corporate office suites, country clubs, barber shops, nail salons, plastic tents and empty swimming pools, for nobody but himself, for everybody but himself, to get laid and to get paid. And sometimes just for the fun of it.go here for some music, etc.... http://www.theoriginaldj.com
