Hi. This is my singer/songwriter gig, actually. I have a band - Cats on Smack- which I'll put up here as soon as we can get it together enough to do a bio. The stuff I do out by myself tends to be more acoustic, blues, americana than the straight up rock and blues I do with my band, thus the two entries (well, one for now).

I'd been playing with my band for about a year when I decided to "get serious" about songwriting. Jury's still out on whether getting serious means getting better. Anyway, so I jumped in with both feet, joined NSAI, yada yada. At my first non-band gig (where I'm lead vocals and - some - guitar), I choked. Forgot my own lyrics for a good 5 minutes. It was painful. Since then I've done every open mic and songwriter's night possible...and it's worked in terms of getting better by myself and able to sit in with others. It's helped my appreciate the ease of having four great guys back ya up compared to just being out there with your guitar by yourself. Otoh, there's something to be said for being able to work up something by yourself or with another co-writer and just play it out without all the work that goes into a 5-way collaboration, ya know?

Chicago and surrounding burbs. I'm liking it, but miss Colorado and would consider (maybe) Nashville...Special moments are running into people I know from high school whose lives revolve around golf and being a soccer mom (not that there's anything wrong with that) and having them be like "...And what keeps you busy?" and I can honestly reply "Songwriting and playing out."

Melissa Etheridge, Indigo Girls, Marva Wright, Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin, Harry Chapin, Robert Earl Keen, Jennie De Voe...and the list goes on and on. My musical tastes are all over the map, but it helps when you're looking for something outside the box.

The usual gear...although my main guitar is an old Yamaha (I got it when I was 10)that I've outfitted with a Fishman pickup. Action's a bit high, but the neck's not very wide, so I can deal.

Not for now...Thanks for stopping by, though, eh?