Born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up as a city kid in the lower middle-class, blue collar neighborhood of Hampden.

My earliest rock and roll memory is sitting on the front porch on hot summer evenings listening to 680 AM's Johnny Dark on a cheap transistor radio. At 11 years old I went to see the Elvis movie "The Way It Is", and that was it - I knew I wanted to play rock and roll.

Years went by, and I was 18 before I picked up my brother's nylon string guitar quickly figuring out how to play "Smoke on the Water". It was only a matter of weeks before I equipped myself with a Kay SG copy and a home-made amp. I developed my chops during my college years by playing in neighborhood garage bands. With offensive names and even more offensive volume we were getting kicked out of one practice space after another.

In the mid 80's I started working as the sound man for an up-and-coming band The Difference, who were doing regular gigs around town. Eventually I wheedled my way onto the stage, regularly performing a song or two with the band. Following the disbanding of the Difference, I did stints as guitar player for several Baltimore bands including the Fugue, Pavlov's Dogs, and Jerkwater before moving to Northern Virginia in the mid 90's. During the late 90's I performed briefly in a surf band with some co-workers, but interest among the members was fleeting and the band only played a couple of gigs.