John D. profile picture

John D.

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

..A native of lovely Jersey City, New Jersey (before I was 18 years old I'd been to 90% of the locations shown in the opening titles of "The Sopranos" ), I come from a family of musicians: my late father was a classical/jazz guitarist, Uncles Bill & Mike are recorded guitarists/keyboardists, and dear old mom was a first soprano in choir in her youth. I am a classically trained singer and self-taught guitarist, having studied with world-class vocalists including the late lyric tenor Martin Dillon, soprano Kay Standifer and Decca/ Deutsche Gramophone recording artist Julianne Baird. I have also been trained in piano and music theory and I received a Bachelor's Degree in Music/Theatre from the Fine Arts department at Rutgers University-Camden. In NYC I have studied with actress Carol Fox Prescott ("The Rothschilds" - Broadway) and musical director Eddie Strauss ("Urinetown" - Broadway) and have performed on numerous stages in various theatrical productions. Some favorite past stage roles have included Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar," Marley's Ghost in "A Christmas Carol" (9 annual productions), and John Proctor in "The Crucible." I have received numerous scholarships, awards, and general kudos for both music and theater and I also employ my linguistic skills as a songwriter. I've been known to scratch out the occasional short story or poem. I also know a heck of a lot about the insurance industry. Other interests include the outdoors, fishing (salt & sweet), B horror movies, the NY Yankees (yeah, nice job THIS year, you bastards), politics, finding new ways to screw up my computer, hitting the weights at the gym, and pizza & wings. The rest of the relevant stuff is listed over under "Interests."

Oh yeah, I've also recorded a lot of stuff, both as a session guy and with bands. Below is a (mercifully) brief sampling of my recording history with three original rock bands. Feel free to check it out, and give some of the tunes a listen on the player at the bottom.NOTE: Some of the sound files are OLD...so I apologize in advance for the quality. If I were you, I'd listen to the Rainmaker stuff first...because it's the best of the bunch...
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THRASH HOLD
EYES OF THE OWL (EP)
Back in the late 1980's Thrash Hold (not to be confused with the current European band by the same name) was a four piece thrash/heavy metal band which performed on the local circuit in central New Jersey. Heavily influenced by bands like Anthrax and Overkill, the band recorded this three-song ep in late 1987. Featuring Noel Herman's histrionic vocals and drummer Tony Anderson's frantic double-bass, the EP also features John D. on guitar and keyboards. This was the first time John and Tony would work/record together in a band.. Not bad considering the average age of the members at the time was 18.


JON BALLEK'S "NIGHTMARE"
In the mid 1990's "Nightmare" was a vanity recording project featuring numerous musicians including John "Elroy" Saraceni of Zyris (who replaced Zakk Wylde after Zakk joined Ozzy Osbourne) as well as John O (this time on vocals and guitar, as well as contributing to the songwriting) ) and Tony Anderson on drums. Also joining the project was bassist Jerry Waz, who had previously been performing in another group with Tony. The track "Kaleidoscope" is notable in that (barring the 80's-esque keyboards by Ballek) the recording consists of John O.on vocals and guitar, Jerry Waz on bass, Elroy on lead guitar, and Tony Anderson on drums - the lineup which would eventually become Rainmaker.


RAINMAKER
The Wreck of the Powhatan and Other Tales
Towards the end of the 1990's John O., Jerry W. and Tony A. began writing together for a new band. The completed 12 song album consisted of John on vocals, guitars and keyboards, Jerry on bass and Tony on drums. Halfway through the sessions Elroy was brought on board as second guitarist. Songs like "Drive all Night", "Steel and Diamonds," and "On this Road" featured more variety of style than previous work. Following a hiatus of several years, Tony and John reunited with Jason Read on bass.

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My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Nobody.

My Blog

The Return of "WTF???"

Ok it's been a LONG time since I posted a "WTF" but this one called for it.This is the video game "TETRIS" being played using actual human beings photographed sittting in an auditorium.The video is th...
Posted by on Sun, 24 May 2009 15:49:00 GMT

Thrash Hold Memorabilia on E-Bay!!!

Somebody sent me a heads-up about this shirt - I can't imagine how it got all the way to Los Angeles from the East Coast! I bet it would have some stories to tell...Check it out - click the link and s...
Posted by on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:03:00 GMT

WATCHMEN - my review of the movie

Ok...so...Last night I attended a late showing of director Zack Snyders superhero epic Watchmen, and found it to be an engrossing - if imperfect - bit of pop culture entertainment. As this movie ha...
Posted by on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:39:00 GMT

What I have learned.

So here's my last blog for 2008, for everyone's perusal.   Knock yourselves out.     WHAT I LEARNED IN 2008   I learned that you never really know who you are until the only pers...
Posted by on Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:59:00 GMT

First Syd Barrett, now Rick Wright :(

PINK FLOYD KEYBOARDIST RICK WRIGHT DIES AT 65 Richard Wright, the self-taught pianist and founding member of Pink Floyd whose keyboard playing and compositions were at the heart of the band's classic ...
Posted by on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:09:00 GMT

One lucky person - who will it be?

Ok, so anybody who's a fan of horror movies has probably heard of the movie "Trick R' Treat." You haven't?Ok well here's the short version...Trick R' Treat is a movie directed by Mike Dougherty and pr...
Posted by on Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:16:00 GMT

Friends.

So I've got something lik 141 people on my MySpace friends list, and guess what? It's time to clean house. 90 percent of you people don't even visit the page anymore (I know when you visit - yes, Virg...
Posted by on Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:38:00 GMT

Unhappy? Lonely? Empty? Unfulfilled? Then read this.

Ok somebody forwarded this to me in an e-mail and I read it, and it was completely worth posting here. It's a short read but I assure you, it's worth it. The title says it all: Have we become t...
Posted by on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:15:00 GMT

My review of the movie CLOVERFIELD

Ok, it's been a while since I posted a movie review (actually, it's been a while since i posted anything worth reading, so here we go). ____________________________________________________________ ___ ...
Posted by on Sun, 20 Jan 2008 03:47:00 GMT

WTF VI

Ok so it's been a LONG time since I posted a "WTF?" but here's one that I just HAD to put up.   I don't really know what to say about this. I really don't.  I can make refrences to Michael J...
Posted by on Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:44:00 GMT