I am a drummer by trade, and a writer by invitation.
I've been playing music all of my life; writing has come about more recently.
A few words of explanation...
Writing
This site includes a fairly extensive sampling of my writing taken from the last decade or so. Everything here has been previously published, but in every case, I am the owner of the work. If you like something and wish to share it, that's fine, but please remember to give me proper writing credit.
I pretty much fell into this part of my career. In the early nineties, I called a magazine to complain about its coverage of the arts, and by the end of our conversation, the editor had hired me as a writer. I'd already written for a few publications (Goldmine, The Georgia Straight, etc.) and had lectured at a few colleges and schools, but the monthly deadlines got me writing on a regular basis.
The majority of my writing deals with music-related themes, but I try to look beyond the obvious. Rather than document instruments and release dates, I like to explore the individual's motivations, world views and beliefs.
In addition to my regular ongoing projects, I'm currently writing a book with Mark Volman about his adventures in the music business, from the Turtles to Frank Zappa and Flo & Eddie and beyond. That came about after I had written a short feature on him a couple of years ago.
Music
This is a decidedly incomplete list of acts I've worked with. It wasn't until 1990 that I began keeping details on individual gigs, so before that, I'm relying on memory. There are more than a few names missing, so if we worked together, and you're not on the list, drop me a line and help me fill in the blanks.
My tastes are extremely varied; I love big band-era swing, folk, rock, punk, country, and pretty much everything in between, and I want to play it all. That's one reason I enjoy working freelance, and goes a long way to explaining the lengthy list of acts included here.
My goal is to include individual write-ups along with audio, photos and in some cases video samples where possible. It's a fairly daunting – and ongoing – task. Hopefully every month will bring more content.
