Not playing music much anymore other than bones and badhran at Irish sessions at Dick O'Dow's and occasionally elsewhere around town with the Session Night Players (http://www.sessionite.com/). We're a loose group of musicians from around the Detroit Metro area of widely varying talent levels getting together to play Irish music in a traditional pub session format. Sometimes we sound really good. Other times, the mix of musicians is a little short and we don't sound so good. Needless to say, we are paid in alcohol so it's definitely a hobby.

I started in music in elementary school band banging on a snare drum. Being one of the few serious about learning music, I moved to the top band in Jr. High halfway through my first year and have stayed in the top bands through High School. I was lucky enough to learn percussion from a professional who was student teaching in my Jr. High. He taught me all about how to maintain percussion instruments and how to learn to play new instruments by applying a few basic principles. My director hated me because he thought I wasn't dedicated enough to band and wouldn't listen too him. Truth was, I had a lot more things going both in and outside school and he was an idiot who understood only the most rudimental concepts of percussion. He always lost when we went head to head over anything. He still thought I was just some heading for prison punk. My revenge for him was to be in the honors row at graduation. His jaw dropped to the floor when he turned around from conducting Pomp and Circumstance and saw me in the front with an honors sash on. Proof that he was a moron. Somewhat fell out of music for a while after High School while I tried to get a degree (which didn't work out as planned, but that's another story).

I got back into music playing hand percussion. Initially I picked up the bones so I could play along with friends at an open mic that had a heavy Irish bend to it. Eventually partnering up with a friend, John Hyaduck, to do some Irish gigs and adding badhran to my skill set. Along the way I started going to music festivals and hanging out in the jam sessions that break out in the campsites. It was these jam session that prompted me to start Music In The Yard as an open jam music party which eventually became an online music promotion company. Also born from MITY was my first formal band, Big Green X, which formed upon request of a coffee house owner (Xhedos, now AJ's in Ferndale) after hearing us jam at the coffee house across the street (Gotham City). Big Green X, named after the neon sign at Xhedos, consisted of 4 singer songwriters and myself on percussion. A power vocal group doing a mix of light rock and folk covers and originals. We broke up a few times, but the last time was over recording and being too popular with our audiences to not have a group CD at the gig (we had some very angry patrons at the CD table). Between the open mics and the Irish sessions I have developed a presence in the Detroit area in the music scene.

This past decade has not been so kind to me and my music has suffered as a result. Having lost the corporate job and the economy making replacing it impossible I've moved on to independent web design under the Music In The Yard business name. From time to time I hook some promotion or live sound work, but there's not a lot of it to go around these days. My photography is doing better, but I haven't figured the making it pay well part of the business yet. I'm hoping to put a band together eventually and get back on the drum kit. Anyone want an old school fusion drummer?