I read my birth certificate.

The only time I ever played live was a new year's eve party at my home to usher in 1994.

Luckily, no one was really paying much attention.

I love the Internet for so many reasons.

The way it's leveling the playing field for musicians with services like soundclick is one of those reasons.

Back in "the day" when I was doing more consistent composing, I had the dream of being picked up by a label, but I really HATED that whole game of sending of tapes, etc. just to have them stuck in a drawer somewhere.

At least online, the music is out there, and I'm able to get feedback from the people that matter the most - the listener.

It would be highly unlikely. It would have to be an amazing deal to give up so much freedom.

I got serious about really developing my music-writing about midway through college when I purchased a 4-track cassette recorder and a (get this) Yamaha DX-100. I can't believe I actually produced anything with that machine, but I did.

That kept me going until I got a Korg M1 (I don't even remember the year), and that changed everything. Pianos actually sounded almost like pianos! Saxophones sounded pretty darned good, and well...you get the picture.

I started sequencing with an Atari computer runing a program called "Sonus", and then eventually moved to Cubase 1.0, and I've been with Cubase ever since.

The bulk of my music was writing in the very early 90's with the M1, then later the Korg X3, Ensoniq SQ-R, and eventually the Kurzweil K2000 (though not much of that shows up on anything I ever finished.)

As mentioned, life got different and eventually, music got shelved. The only time I'd write and complete anything was as background music for "career-related" projects.

Somewhere in 2007 something started calling to me, and while I still didn't find time to write, I somehow found time to spend money on new sounds, software, and hardware.

In May of 2008 (actually as I type this), I took something of a sabbatical in Austin, Texas to get back into the habit of writing.

I loaded up 2 guitars, a microphone, my Korg X3, a brand new computer loaded with sampler software and Cubase 4 Studio with the intention of experimenting and producing. And thats's what I did.

While in Austin, I replaced the Korg X3 with an M-Audio MIDI controller because I needed weighted keys, as I'd gotten used to that through playing a "real" piano at home.

This brings us to the present where I continue to commit to writing a little every day. Don't know exactly where it's taking me, but it sure feels good to be back in the game.

I was originally inspired to start composing after hearing Jean-Michel Jarre's "Equinox" album. From that point, I discovered Vangelis and other electronic artists.

I'm also very influenced in my writing by Danny Elfman. His quirky style is something that has always had a tremendous impact on me.

Rachel Portman's soundtrack for Benny and Joon also influenced me greatly, as you'll hear in several of the tracks on my music page.

I'm a huge fan of ambient music in general, and spend my working day playing it in the background almost exclusively.

I'm leaning heavily toward Austin, Texas.

Currently working with an amazing computer built by ADK running Cubase Studio 4, and loaded with Native-Instruments Kontact 2, Garriton Personal orchestra, and the amazing Synthogy Ivory. All this controlled by the M-Audio Keystation 61 es running through the Saffire LE audio interface.

And although I haven't recorded a lot of guitar so far, I'm also carrying a Washburn 6-string acoustic-electric, and an Ovation 12-string (recently purchased, and the guitar I always wanted as a kid. Dream come true. :) )