P. K. Page, Poet: "I loved it. Such unconventional lyrics!! Utterly original, it seemed to me."
Evanston Roundtable: "The unabashed honesty and straightforward storytelling of each track of Start Over elevate this artist to modern-day folk-hero status. His grasp of several musical genres makes him as accessible at a coffee house as at Bill"s Blues Bar..."
Carol Francis: "Thought-provoking lyrics and brilliant guitar work..."
Summary: Folk, country, blues, jazz, flamenco, classical and and more styles
fuse with lyrical poetry in songs that reflect personal and social themes not usually covered on top 40 radio
Age: upper 50's.
Day Job: Clinical Psychologist.
CDs: My Heart is Open, 2003, Start Over, 2006 (official release 2007)
Musical background: Began playing guitar at age 9, became jazz musician as
teenager and Jazz Director of the Exit Coffeehouse (New Haven) while still in high school, introduced to folk music there. Played in bar bands in high school and college, learned classical guitar, began writing songs. Recorded tracks for first CD, My Heart is Open, with keyboardist John Getman as demo, turned into CD after John's death. Not a professional recording, but good material & some fine moments. Became solo performer, recorded next CD, Start Over, in studio over nearly two years. Now performing to support release of Start Over, and recording next CD.
Song Themes Include: Unusual romance ("Jaime and Donna"), Emily Dickinson ("Market Price"), "Enough to Drink" (self-evident), starting over ("Ain't Dead Yet" and "Start Over"); all are on Start Over. "The Elephant in the Dark" (not yet recorded) is a retelling of the famous story by the Sufi poet and teacher Jallaludin Rumi. Some songs are inspired by patients ("Party On" on Start Over, "Out of the Fire," not yet recorded), some by dreams ("Mr. Fix-It," "Lay My Burden Down," on My Heart is Open), some are anti-Iraq war ("Joys of Liberty" on Start Over, listed on Neil Young's website “Living With War Today,”), or about hypocrisy, both social ("Appearance of Virtue," on Start Over) and personal ("Much of What We Call Love," on My Heart is Open). "Good Morning Dad" (on Start Over) was written after my father died. All my songs, in one way or another, are about our relationships, with one another and with ourselves.
Looking forward to meeting you in person at Lil Fest. For the fearmongers of the world I've got a song called Scairdycat that I'll do for the 9/11 show at Bills. And I just wrote a new song, You Belong. It'll be fun to introduce it to a brand new audience during the weekend. See you soon.
