I have spent more than half of my life writing and recording original music. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. The first thing I had to do was completely shut out radio, CDs, and all other media for over a year before I came up with something that sounded strictly like me. The first year was rough because you simply can’t get away from it, everywhere you go and everything you do, watching TV, a movie, working with people etc all bring some form of cover music with them but it was gratifying and rewarding to record the ideas and watch them grow into something that was like nothing I or anyone else had ever heard. There was a music business and record industry then too so it gave me something to shoot for except it was disheartening to find out THEY wanted something that sounded like something else too. It was a flaw on their end or I misperceived the concept of “original” music, I thought it meant something uniquely different than anything they’d heard before but the truth of the matter was that they needed to know which bin to throw it in and how to categorize it. I was out east in Baltimore, DC back then but in 1990 I was lured back here on the promise that Jim Irsay was willing to finance an original music album by a guy who didn’t write music. Jimmy bailed out when it didn’t sound like Johnny Cougar, Tom Petty or whoever his heroes were at the time. “It Might Take Years” was an excellent record but it was released in the wrong place under the auspices of being funded by a multi-millionaire that didn’t happen. People make conscious decisions. I made mine based upon my calling and my personality. Others made the decision to continue to play cover music their entire life but now people wanna come in and change my music that’s etched into stone and finished. It has been carefully composed and recorded over the years. I wanted to have co-writers but everyone played cover music and wanted my music to sound like that and still do to an extent. “Lo, I love that song but let’s add this to it so it’ll sound like something everyone’s familiar with.” I’m at least 2 3rds of the way trough this life and am wondering where it will end up. Guitar players and song writers who make their way into guitar magazines world wide and are praised throughout the world are local heroes in their hometowns and reap the benefits thereof but that doesn’t happen here and I’ll always wonder why. I naively am in a quandary about it but won’t drive myself nuts with it; I stopped doing that a long time ago. Once again I’m trying to put a band together and once again I’m optimistic about it because I will not give up. All I need is a rock to heavy rock band who can expand their minds and delve into some fusion once in a while. I’ve lived in places that would welcome that and what the hell do you have to loose? I welcome the “chin rubbers” and intellectuals who don’t need to get a belly full of whiskey and beer and fall all over themselves to have an enlightening but fun time and at this point I don’t care. The ones who don’t go out anymore and stay at home and listen to their stereos to be satisfied might just come back out again if they can hear and see something enjoyable to them.