Why not start from my roots? I was brought up in the mostly upper middle class town and suburb of Philadelphia, Marlton, NJ. It was a mostly white anglo-saxon town but some how my friends tended to be quite diverse racially and culturally including those who were afro-american, armenian, greek, hispanic, indian, irish, italian, jewish, and korean. Most are multi-generational american, though some of my closest friends and family members are the first generation here in the states. The occupations of my immediate family varied from being in warehouse management to being a factory worker, educator, university coach (Don Yonker, NSCAA Hall of Fame), carpenter, butcher (Miller's Grocery, Camden, NJ), farmer, engineer and prison guard.

This sense of rooted diversity has always pushed me towards wanting the same sort of openness from every aspect of life. Especially within musical genres and relationships all of those different players. I tend to have an idealistic vision of every sincere act supporting, sharing and respecting what each artist brings to the world of music.

I found Philadelphia to be a proud city made of loyal working class people that demands hardwork and doesn't care what anyone may think of them. The music scene in the early 90's was that of thrash metal, hardcore, hair bands and a few of the early rap rock outfits. Though the scene was very supportive with in it's own genres, the recession of the early 90's forced what was once a scene supporting local artist, into cover band venues and strip clubs.

Hence I moved to Boston, MA; a beautiful historic and clean city that relies on the economy brought in by the 50 universities and colleges within. It was there where I first discover indie rock and it's cliques. There was a lot of integrity within the scene, but i also found the doors closed to anyone who was not willing to help someone else first. It had an every band for themselves sort of attitude. The students were generally enthusiastic, as long as there were girls to get on with, and the press was both supportive and brutal. This is where integrity mattered, but those rock star attitudes grew thin, as did my band and those nor'eastern winters.