Artist description My attitudes about music are influenced by the thesis of Jaques Attali's book, Noise: A Political Economy of Music. I agree with David Bowie's idea that music should be cerebral and pelvic, though I don't think these should always occur at the same time. You don't want to be too balanced. I like Rock and Roll. I like electronic music. I like jazz. Whatever... I like having options. I also like not having to worry about making sales or fitting into industry genres (which have more to do with marketing that with music).

Music Style Anything I can muster.... which isn't much.

Musical Influences Lou Reed, Velvet Underground, The Clash, Bob Dylan, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Thomas Dolby, Niel Young, Television, Tom Waits, Ricky Lee Jones, Kate Bush, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Rolling Stones, Soundgarden, Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, A.R. Rahman, Prince, Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Throwing Muses, etc.

Artist History I found my first guitar in a trash can on my newspaper route in Fresno, CA. My older brother taught me to play a few things. I picked up stuff from records: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Hank Williams... whatever. I started playing in band, The Boxcars, during senior year in high school. I loved it! Music. People interested in music. Hip social scenes. We eventually called ourselves Western Chapter. Every kid likes to think he is cool. These scenes let us do that a lot. At first I was heavily inspired by British Punk: The Clash, Sex Pistols, Gang of Four, Stiff Little Fingers, etc. In college, the '80's college radio boom had a major impact on me. Lots of great music on non-commercial radio. The hip scene got a lot more hip. Lots of these bands came to town: REM, Replacements, Dream Syndicate, Bangles, Concrete Blonde, We eventually changed our name to Western Chapter. We met with some success. Playing Radio station sponsored shows, sometimes opening for bands we loved. After a while my first band, a four piece, broke up. Mostly because we were such jerks that no one could stand us, and we weren't all that good... you have to have one or the other, and we had neither. Three of us reformed, as Ruth and the Hypocrites. The music in Ruth was a lot more experimental. Breaking the mold was the goal. Unfortunately, we were still jerks. Although the music was interestingj to some people, we still were not all that good... at least not consistently. After a hiatus, another singer/songwriter and a guitarist joined us as front man. That became Kindergarten, although we changed the name with almost every show. That was a lot of fun. The new singer and new guitarist and I moved to Santa Cruz, California to form Zuzu's petals. This was a few years after the Loma Prieta quake of 1989. We had some good times, recorded a nice set of tunes at the Music Annex in Palo Alto, for a pretty sum with a guy who'd won a Grammy for his work with Los Tigres del Norte, a popular band that performs Northern Ranchera music. Also, during this time, I was taking some music classes at city colleges. Theory, ear training, recording studio techniques. Zuzu's Petals fell apart due to financial mismangament on the part of the singer, who was funding the whole recording from his inheritence. The cd never got made. All I have left is a DAT of the session. I moved back to Fresno, got a degree in Biology/Ecology, traveled around the U.S. doing field work. Eventually I ended up at Utah State University, in Logan, where am now. I had not done much musically for several years when I discovered how easy cheap it is to set up a home studio with current technology. That is how Johnny Pavement came about. The cd is far from perfect as I was working out technical problems as I went. Artistically, it is quite different from anything I've done in the past. I really have been testing the equipment. Otherwise, I am trying to work up an acoustic set for playing at small events and coffee houses. I have played some dumbek for the local belly dance troupe, Mountain Veils. Lately, I have been playing bass with a couple of great musicians in this area.

Instruments Guitar, vocals, harmonica, and various MIDI stuff

Albums The Adventures of Johnny Pavement

Location Logan, Utah - USA

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