okay so one day right before graduating high school i was riding my bike through tahoe and i saw a little flyer blowing from a nail on a tree that said "wood sculpture apprenticeship" and i thought "wow, i would much rather do that than college!" (the brilliance of a 17 year old) and so i dropped the idea of college and moved to carson city, nevada to learn to use a chainsaw and make things like leopards and sailors and benches and pretty signs then one late night in the studio i was talking with the head sculptor there and he was telling me one of the most significant things he ever learned in life was the importance of following your number one passion and not your second or third, because you will only be truly great if you're doing what you really love most. so i put down my chainsaw, quit, and told him i was going to learn to play guitar and be a musician. that was three years ago. soon after (a couple weeks after i learned c, d and g on the guitar and a few days after writing my first 3 songs) i walked into a little coffee shop by the river in reno with two of my friends and a guitar ~ after missing sign ups for an open mic. we didn't want to go home yet, so we walked down the street to another coffeeshop and set up in a corner and started singing; we were kind of dorky and this was how we made ourselves feel like cool hipster rebels. the next day we got a call from the manager asking how much we needed to come back every week and so we demanded high dollars (20 bones) and secured our first residency, which consisted of walking in with our radio shack mic and little wannabe guitar amp and setting up in the corner, one of us "being" the mic stand until his/her arm got tired at which point we would switch. uh, yeah... preeetttttty cool. since then i've been doing pretty much the same but now i have my own mic stand made of plastic and i'm writing more songs, learning a little more about the guitar and writing on piano too. i spend my time in my head and my honda with no cd player which i drive ridiculous hours in all over the country. and i can't imagine anything making me happier. i'm starting to discover new music too... i grew up listening to my dad's rotating collection of mariah carey, michael bolton, gloria estefan "1, 2, 3, 4, come on baby say you love me" and kenny g. oh yeah and the bodyguard soundtrack. and i thought maybe i don't like music... but now i'm discovering so many great artists (many who are listed <<<---- over there) and it's blowing my mind. wowzeroonies. thanks for lending your gorgeous ears... stay tuned. * * * * RECENT HAPPENINGS * * * * ** NPR "All Songs Considered" features You Will Love This Song! ** 1st Place Winner of INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING CONTEST (judged by Tom Waits, Brian Wilson, Robert Plant and more!) ** "Washing Day" Music Video chosen as 1 of 20 for SXSW screening (alongside Thom Yorke, Weird Al Yankovic and more!) ** "Rough Cut" heard at Traverse City Film Festival in debut screening of award-winning documentary "The Youngest Candidate" ** Winner in Great American Songwriting Contest ** 4th European Tour announced for Sept / Oct '08!