ABOUT
short version – welcome:
Welcome to my website. This is a place to showcase my artistic and musical endeavors.
ART: There are several different directions that I follow with my art. Some themes I like to utilize are the nature of the universe, self-exploration, creating personal systems of form/composition, and multiple layers of meaning. These days I mostly work in pen and ink.
MUSIC: With my music I’m mostly trying to create sounds that I want to hear, and that often means loud guitars hehe.
PHOTOGRAPHY: My photography is mostly centered along the themes of urban decay, signage, travel, nature and landscapes, and interesting stuff that catches my eye. I tend to avoid including people/portraits in my photos. I do not have much photography on this website anymore but you can view a few of the tens of thousands of photos I have taken on my flickr page.
I’ve performed in numerous musical groups, bands, and ensembles over the years, and have occasionally shown my art in various venues.
Thanks for visiting.
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long version – BIO:
I grew up in Torrance, CA, a city located about 15 miles SW of downtown Los Angeles. My musical training began at age five with a decades worth of piano lessons from my father, a music educator and former student of renowned composer Darius Milhaud. When I was eight I took up the trombone and had weekly lessons on that instrument for the next ten years from a variety of teachers. When I was twelve, I decided to pick up the old acoustic guitar that was lying around the house and see what I could learn to do with it. Teaching myself guitar soon became an obsession, and after buying my first electric from a friend of the family, I devoured the lessons and articles in every guitar magazine I could get my hands on during my teenage years.
As a child my parents encouraged me to draw, supplying me with stacks and stacks of paper and pencils, but I never had any formal artistic training as a kid. I mostly drew cars (I was crazy about cars–especially hot rods and race cars) but unfortunately only a few of those drawings have survived until today.
In 1988 I began my studies in art at California State University, Long Beach. I followed a general program which included classes in several types of sculpture, 2D and 3D design, and fine woodworking, but mostly concentrated on drawing and painting. I particularly enjoyed classes with artists Tom Krumpak and Pierre Picot, both very inspiring professors. I received my B.A. in Art in December, 1993.
In 1992 I co-founded the Hollywood, CA rock band Loungefly as its lead guitarist and contributing songwriter. Over the next three years we played dozens of packed or sold-out shows and received recording contract offers from EMI/Chrysalis, Warner Bros., RCA, and Priority — each of which fell through during negotiations due to its own unique set of circumstances (talk about frustrating!) During that time we recorded more than an albums worth of high quality demos at major recording studios, and were featured on the “Keep on the Grass” compilation album and the third Strobe Magazine compilation album. Being a member of this band was an incredible experience.
In 1997 I moved to the city of New Orleans, LA. I began to study music composition at the University of New Orleans in 1998, and completed that bachelor’s degree program in May 2003 with a 4.0 GPA. I studied composition and theory with Wee Kee Brody, counterpoint, orchestration, and as much music history as I could get (a lot) with Jerry Sieg, and informally, piano with Robin Williams, all of whom were excellent and inspiring teachers. I was also a trombonist in the University Jazz Orchestra (big band) for several semesters, and was fortunate enough to be a part of that group when it was led by jazz great Ellis Marsalis.
In 2005 I evacuated for hurricane Katrina and after traveling around the country for several weeks I found myself spending the next two years in Oxnard, Camarillo, and Ventura CA. During that time I managed to create a lot of art, and had a very interesting job working one-on-one with developmentally disabled adults.
After moving back to New Orleans in 2008 I joined the post-punk band Socrates Johnson as their bass player. We recorded one album and broke up in 2009. Soon after that I was asked to play second guitar in the rebirth of the hard rock band Testaverde. As it was one of my favorite groups, I jumped at the chance. We recorded two albums before breaking up at the end of 2012.
Currently my main musical enterprise is The Red Book, a (for lack of a better term) psych-prog-space rock studio project which released its debut double-album in 2021. Additionally I have two side projects: Spshl Snwflk, which released an aggresive punk-influenced EP in 2023, and the somewhat experimental “guitar and effects only” Elk and Their Ilk, which released albums in 2023 and 2024.