A Short History

A Short[1] History[2]

Reportedly, my first gig (unpaid) was when I was young enough to be set on a picnic table. According to witnesses, I sang “Finkle, finkle witul star” to the delight of those gathered. I have no memory of the performance and suspect it was an imposter.

When I was in elementary school, mother was justifiably concerned about my brain’s wiring as I was baffled about the difference between left and right, and literacy in general. She got a stand up piano and a teacher[3] for me. I remember practicing, but there were two problems; I was baffled by written notation and learned songs better when the teacher played them for me and I was terrified to be in the basement.[4] I sang with great vigor since I was very interested in not hearing any thing from the dangerous beings that kept me company down there.

I played trumpet in 5^th grade until there was a disagreement with the band teacher. I thought that my instrument[5] was faulty. He thought that I did not practice enough. I was personally affronted[6] and soon retired from band entirely.

From an early age, I sang the songs in church. I looked at the words and found the melody without reading the notes; I thought I was clever. One Sunday, a woman turned around and told me that I had a good singing voice.[7] Some compliments make a lasting impression, her words might have given me the courage to sing Christmas carols with the cool neighborhood girls who also said I had a good voice.[8] I probably[9] developed a scheme in my feverish, prepubescent brain for getting compliments from cool girls.

I got a ukelele when I was twelve or so. Getting an actual guitar seemed like a stretch. My goal was to learn how to play Fleetwood Mac’s “Sunnyside of Heaven” on the instrument. I was not successful and blamed the poor little uke.

I got a guitar, a Martin copy, for twenty-five dollars, when I was freshman or so. I took lessons for several months[10]. I bought a music book, Big ’76, a collection of songs from the early 1970’s. I remember learning all the Neil Young, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne songs the book had as well as “Mr. Bojangles.” My parents complimented my singing so I sang loud in my bedroom, in the living room, in the basement[11] while my parents were trying to sleep.

At a friend’s[12] house parties,I played songs and sang loud. I got two Hohner harmonicas and a harmonica rack and learned most of Harvest, John Prine’s Prime Prine and James Taylor’s Greatest Hits. I bought and borrowed[13] a hoard of song books. At parties, a bunch of us would find a bedroom or basement where we sang and stuff. Music was one of the highlights of my young life[14]. I went off to college, practiced in the music building’s practice rooms and preformed in a coffee shop.[15] When I was twenty, I got a job playing in a bar, five nights a week, thirty dollars a night.[16] After treatment, I changed colleges, I played in coffee shops and bars[17]. I got complimented and a girlfriend. I got married, had kids and got a job[18]

Over the next several years[19], I played in churches and in fundraisers and at elementary schools until I outed myself at the high school where I was teaching when I performed a song[20] for the staff and students as part of a talent show. I got complimented[21] and started gigging around and eventually[22] I started writing songs and performing them.[23]

As my son[24] was finishing up his Recording Engineer internship with Glenn Brown’s[25] recording studio in East Lansing, I booked some studio time to help my boy finish the required hours[26]. Initially, I was recording folksy arrangements of my songs with an solo accompanist[27] at manic tempos, but when we added drums[28], harmonizers[29], bass[30], and a stellar work from some of the best local talent[31], something surprising and exciting happened. I am very grateful to Ryan for his production efforts, to those who contributed in the layout on the songs[32] and those who were powerfully supportive throughout the recording and publication process[33]. I was delighted to find out how unbelievably awesomely creative the process[34] can be when talented people participate in sincere, sometimes spontaneous and heart felt musical collaborations[35]. Thanks.[36]