Born and raised in Dunkirk, NY.

 

Got my first electric guitar when I was 14, a Montgomery Ward "Airline" brand solid body. I still have it!

 

I joined the musician's union when I was 17 and started gigging on the local wedding reception circuit, playing guitar and bass.

 

Worked my way through college playing guitar in rock cover bands between 1973-78.  I left western New York in 1978 to attend graduate school in Tennessee.

 

My performing days started again in 1991 when I lived in Houston. My friend Dan Carson and I started performing as a duo, The Sphinx Brothers, playing original sarcastic acoustic ("sarcoustic") songs.  In 1995 we recorded an album, I Annoy You (And Other Love Songs), that got airplay on some local radio stations. We later met Dale Trusheim, a drummer with a similarly twisted sense of humor, and the duo became a trio. This led to a second album in 2003, Not Your Regular Cowboys.

 

In 2005, I moved to Richland, WA and pursued something that I had considered for quite a while: playing jazz and other instrumental styles.  I played solo jazz guitar gigs in restaurants and wine bars, and also performed in small combos with local musicians.

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My wife, Charlotte, and I moved to East Amherst, NY in April 2012.

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In 2018, I retired after a 35-year career as a biomedical researcher and science educator. Two years later, I fulfilled a longtime dream of publishing a mystery novel (Arrangement for Revenge). Two more novels in the series, Bad Breath and Chased by the Past, followed.