About | Drumming
I was born in Sacramento, California and raised in Roseville,
California. I first learned how to play drums at the age of four, as it was
mandatory to play an instrument if you wanted to remain a member of the family.
At first everyone was forcing the guitar on me and I wanted nothing to do with
it. My Cousin Ray was the only one to recognize the fact that I love to hit
things with sticks and introduced me to the drums. I was hooked!!! I would play
for hours on my new found, but borrowed instrument. Then at the age of twelve
around tax time, my mother had a sizeable tax return and asked me if I would
like to actually own a drum, which I responded with a resounding
"YES!" We went down to the local music store and picked out what would
be my sisters nightmare, a used 5x14 Ludwig Supra Phonic. Hours would go by, sun
would set, and I would still be in my room playing that snare drum, emulating my
hero's Neil Peart, John Bonham, and Alex Van Halen. Eventually, I would gather
an entire set of drums. From the age of fourteen through eighteen I did a lot of
recording and rehearsing with my cousin Ray, who is still one of the greatest
guitar players I've ever heard, and or played for. He showed me how to be a
member of a band. We played for hours. During that same time period I met my
good friend Stuart. Stuart was a guitar prodigy. No joke. From day one, at the
age of seventeen, he could play everything off of the album "Moving
Pictures" by Rush. We've been friends ever since. More about Stuart later.
The day after I graduated high school I moved out on my own into an apartment. Apartments are not really known for being "drummer friendly" so that didn't last long. The next couple of years I moved around the country a lot and ended up in Winter Park, Florida. I moved in with my cousin James. I joined his band "Christian Heart" and did a number of shows and recordings around the Orlando area, including a concert in Daytona Beach during Spring Break. Shortly thereafter I moved back to California. Within a month or so I joined another band called "FeverSide". We rehearsed, played out and recorded more than any humans should be allowed. Truly, one of the best experiences of my life in terms of building a strong work ethic. Around the year 2001, I joined another band called "SoundLab" with yet another cousin, Mark. That band was one of my favorites. Very much a rock band. We recorded constantly. I learned a lot from that experience.
Today, I spend most of my time either studying, teaching or recording the drums. Recently I was asked by my friend Stuart to record the drums for a new film "Bustin' Down The Door". It's a documentary on how a group of young surfers from Australia and South Africa put it all on the line to create the sport, culture and industry of surfing, which today is worth billions. I'm thrilled to be a part of it. Other than that, I'm excited to be recording a series of drum tracks for "thesamplelibrary.com with my good friend Michael Curtis Jr.
About | The Musician Times & Relativity
Clothing
This has it's roots in another passion of mine, creating weird stuff that people will laugh at. For example, back in 1993 I created E=Fb the Musicians Theory of Relativity. I put it on a shirt and it went international. How does this have anything to do with The Musician Times you ask? I'm getting there. I created a website to sell the t-shirts now known as Relativity Clothing. The website was called Drum Clinic News, which I thought was perfect because it gave me an excuse to go to every drum clinic in the state. Actually, that website opened a lot of doors for me. I created a cool job out of it. My girlfriend at the time was my photographer, and we got ourselves into a lot of great places. We met, interviewed, photographed and hung out with some of the biggest names in music. All for Drum Clinic News, the website I created to sell my goofy little t-shirts. Anyway, after a while I liked hanging out and talking with musicians more than selling t-shirts, so that became another passion. From there I had another idea for a t-shirt that read, "Drummer Wanted - Must have experience sitting on a throne and making sure everyone is on time". While I was designing the logo for that shirt I wondered what type of newspaper would an ad like that go into. By chance or fate I looked over and saw a copy of The New York Times so I just changed New York to Musician and wound up with The Musician Times. The fake newspaper advertisement ended up looking so real, I made it real. I changed Drum Clinic News to The Musician Times. It's that simple.
About | The Relativity Show
The Relativity Show was created to show the world just how bad ass musicians can
get. There are thousands of musicians out there that are so unbelievably
talented and no one has ever heard of them. I'm just giving them a place to show
off. Again, it's that simple. Well, maybe it's not that simple. The show has
also sponsored one of the homes being built by Brad Pitt's Make It Right
Foundation. In December 2006, Brad Pitt convened a group of experts in New
Orleans to brainstorm about building green affordable housing on a large scale
to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Having spent time with community leaders
and displaced residents determined to return home, Pitt realized that an
opportunity existed to build houses that were not only stronger and healthier,
but that had less impact on the environment.
Previously, Pitt sponsored an architecture competition organized by Global
Green with the goal of generating ideas about how to rebuild sustainably.
Several of those designs are currently under construction in the Lower 9th Ward
and the project inspired him to expand his efforts.
After discussing the hurdles associated with rebuilding in a devastated area,
the group determined that a large-scale redevelopment project focused on green
affordable housing and incorporating innovative design was indeed possible.
The group settled on the goal of constructing 150 homes (one of the larger rebuilding projects in the city), with an emphasis on developing an affordable system that could be replicated.
To demonstrate replicability, Pitt determined to locate the project in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the most devastated areas of New Orleans, proving that safe homes could and should be rebuilt. Pitt hopes that this project would be a catalyst for recovery and redevelopment throughout the Lower 9th Ward and across the city of New Orleans.
Having listened to one former resident's plea to help "make this right," Pitt was inspired to name the project "Make It Right" (MIR).
We are still in the planning stage of The Relativity Show. Our goal is to have the house fully funded within a year. If you would like to get involved, send me an email.