I fell in love with percussion in 1969, when I heard "Evil Ways" by Santana on my mom's car radio. For a gift, she bought me a cheap conga drum made in Mexico. When a couple of friends of mine asked me to play with them in their band, I brought my conga. They told me I needed a drum set, not a conga to play rock n roll. So my Mom bought me a bass drum, snare drum, high-hat cymbals, one small cymbal, and a tom-tom for $75 at a pawn shop.

I played with my friend's rock band as well as playing at church every Sunday with my conga drum. When I got into high school, the school had a rock band instead of a marching band. We'd play John Philip Sousa tunes as well as Rolling Stones and Beatles tunes at football games and other school activities! During high school an older brother of a friend turned us on to music by Pink Floyd, Johnny Winter, Weather Report, Return to Forever, King Crimson, The Allman Brothers Band, Trapeze, Chicago, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, John Coltrane, Earth Wind & Fire, Oregon, the Paul Winter Consort, and all the great music of the 70's! To this day, my favorite types of music are those that mix different styles.

I went to college for a year after high school, and then went on the road with a Funk/Dance band up to Canada for a couple of months. After that, I came home and continued to form different bands with friends. About this time I was touched in a powerful way by the love of Jesus Christ, and have been a committed Catholic Christian ever since. This new relationship with God only increased my love of music, and gave me a greater respect for the amazing spirituality found in great music!

Also in the early 80's I became friends with the local percussionist Eric Robnett, who showed me Brazilian rhythms and instruments, most notably the berimbau. After seeing the great Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos perform with Pat Metheny, the berimbau became one of my favorite instruments! Around this time I became aquatinted with Jamie Haddad, and his invention the Hadgini drum, which was a hybrid of the traditional Udu drum from Nigeria. The Udu became one of my favorites also! Another major influence on my playing is the late Colin Walcott, percussionist and sitarist for the great band Oregon, as well as the playing of Nana Vasconcelos. I believe these two great musicians really taught me sensitivity and subtly when playing percussion. I've also taken lessons and workshops with Glenn Velez, master frame drummer, Alex Acuna, master percussionist from Peru, the great drummer Billy Cobham, Jesus Diaz, Michael Spiro, David Garibaldi, and Dan Egger-Belandria, Afro-Cuban percussionist.

Who have I played with? Wow, if I can only remember... One of the first pro bands I was in was with my dear friend Eric Madis. The band was called Ukiah, and we played blues, jazz and country-rock, touring all around Colorado. After a couple of years, Eric moved to Seattle, where he continues to record and perform. I was a member of Heartsong, an awesome Christian rock band, back around 1983. We released a record, did some gigs, and fell apart. Influenced by U2 and the Police, Dan Medoff, Dave Hash and I formed Eyes of Fire, a Christian rock trio, which recorded a 4 song cassette in 1985. About this time I also began working with David Mporampora, a music minister from Uganda, Africa.

In 1989 I met a mandolin/guitar player from Boulder named Steve Mullins through a mutual guitar playing friend. He invited me to Boulder to jam with his band Original Face. A year later he called and asked if I'd be interested in joining another band of his called Laughing Hands. It was a perfect band for me, playing challenging, world music mixed with rock and folk, and utilized my talents on drum kit and percussion. The band is still together, and we are getting ready to celebrate our ten year anniversary with a special concert. We've recorded two CDs and one Cassette, the latest being Achmed the Angel.

As a result of playing with Laughing Hands, other local musicians began to hire me for gigs. The best known of these at the time was Chris and Maggie, a local singer/songwriter duo. Together we went on small tours in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, and recorded a CD, "Bottomless Cup". Chris and Maggie have since broken up, and I continue to perform with Maggie, playing on her solo CD, OK Cafe.

Other artists I've worked with as a sideman include Marcy Baruch, Julie Hoest, Devotion, Runaway Express, Steve Angrisano, Linda Maich, Lynn Skinner, Dakota Blonde, Lance Garrett, Dick Weissman, Sal Smith, Katherine Dines, A Stone's Throw, Supernatural (a tribute to Carlos Santana), Echo Bay, Mary Stribling and Combo Amazo, and many others.

In 1998 I played on my first nationally released CD, "Chocolate Soup" by the singing duo Lyric. I did some touring with them, one of the highlights being playing with their producer and drummer (and one of my heroes), original Chicago member Danny Seraphine!

For the past three years I have been working for Swallow Hill Music Association, the second largest folk and acoustic music school in the USA. During the school year I tour with The Swallow Hill Traveling Folk Troupe, playing folk music from all around the world, as well as gigging and releasing a CD under the title Safe Harbor. I also teach classes and private lessons at Swallow Hill. My good friend drummer/percussionist Chad Johnson and I also do a drumming around the world performance at festivals and schools. I also play with Marcy Baruch and the Star Edwards Trio.

For over twenty years I have been playing drums and percussion at St. Thomas More Center, my home parish. I set the groove for my wife's high school youth choir there, as well as Joyful Noise, the youth choir at Queen of Peace parish in Aurora, Colorado. I also have played in the praise band for the Stubenville of the Rockies youth conference, the praise band at St. Thomas More, and in 1993 I led a group of world drummers for the welcoming ceremony for Pope John Paul II at Mile High Stadium, where I was blessed to meet the Holy Father!

It is a privilege to play such great music with so many excellent artists over the years, and I thank God he has allowed me to make a living doing something so wonderful as to beat on and shake things!