Present Day

I have now successfully circumnavigated our celestial life source, enough times to fall within the golden years category. That being said, I still find myself with not enough time to fully explore all my interests. Never the less, here is a list, which is not necessarily a hierarchical list. I say this, as at any given time, any one of my interests may supersede any other item on the list. So, for this brief biography, we will start from now and work backwards.

Music

I have always found it a little strange, that, for a person who enjoys writing and sequencing music, I don’t really listen to that much of it. I much prefer to watch a movie, which to me is a much more immersive medium. And, as far as walking around in the outside world with headphones on, I don’t get it. There is so much out there to see, hear, smell, touch and feel. Why would you want to hide away in a same old song, over and over again? Whatever.

Words

I predominantly pen lyrics, the odd poem, and sometimes a little prose. Mostly, however, I have a fondness for playing with words. My method of putting thought to tangible media, may take quite a bit of time to plan, but is usually fairly brief in its execution. Usually I can say what I intend within a few sentences. So, for me, even filling up a song lyric can require much deliberation. It amazes me that people can actually fill up books with so much prose.

Design

Not exactly sure how intelligent my designs are, but I do enjoy creating visual patterns and building websites. I hope you are having a pleasant experience with this one. I had been using a program called Xara for many years, but have recently been focusing on WordPress. Twenty-five percent of the web can’t be wrong.

A Brief History

My first public appearance was in a London pub, standing on a table at three years old. My dad was playing there and decided to let the patrons hear my version of “Longing For You”.

At age 11, I appeared on a television show on Channel 11, in Hamilton Ontario. After a brief introduction, during which I correctly predicted when the Americans would land on the moon, and what they would bring back, I sang a song called “Pretty Kitty Kelly”, an original composition by my father.

The Teen Years

When the British invasion hit our shores, I like many others, took an interest in playing the guitar and writing songs. An agent out of Toronto arranged for me to record a couple of songs at the Norman Petty Studio, in Clovis, New Mexico, backed by the Fireballs, of Jimmy Gilmer fame. The A side was a song I wrote called, “Happy Man”, and the B side, also one of my own called, “Every Plan, Every Man”.

A few years later there was another invasion of sorts, an Eastern Invasion. This was more of an inner assault on our western perception, which was also made even more popular by the various Beatles sojourns to India. I found myself reading such authors as Rudolph Steiner and Krishnamurti, and practicing yoga and meditation. Needless to say, there were many other influences, both spiritual and physical. It was a magical, mystical time.

Twenty Something

I eventually met and ended up joining a band called “Christmas”. The name was actually short for, “The Society For The Year Round Preservation Of The Spirit Of Christmas”. While with them, we recorded an album titled “Lies To Live By”, which I am told has become somewhat of a cult collectors item. My contribution to this project was, lead vocals, keyboards, and some writing of words and music.

When Christmas disbanded, I decided to focus on my own writing, and for many years I went back into working in retail off and on, and playing the odd solo gig. I also ended up in Vancouver for a while and collaborated with my brother on some songs, for which he wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music. We jokingly called ourselves Fich And Ramous, probably because we knew we never would be. The west coast really wasn’t my cup of tea, so I inevitably ended up back in Ontario, and the off and on retail and solo gig routine.

Flirty Thirties

For some reason when I hit the 30 year old mark, I decided that it was time to take one last crack at playing in a group, and for about 5 years, I toured with a show band out of Mississauga called “Mama Coco”. We were probably most well known for our show set, which featured a 25 minute medley of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, in which I played Frankenfurter, fishnets and all (or should I say less).

Mid Life Crises

The time between then and now, I have mostly spent back in the “normal” workaday world, experiencing a steady job and pay check. This afforded me with the spare time to gather all my many cassettes of musical ideas and convert them over to a computer oriented platform. I also composed more music, of which some have lyrics. Like I inferred previously, words are hard work for me, whereas music is not. Ergo, most of my material is instrumental. I compose across many genres and styles, probably because my influences have been many and diverse. If I were to try to categorize my musical creations with one word, which I don’t really like to do, I would go with my favorite generic designation, Eclectic.

Eclectic

Eclectic, would be the best individual word to describe my compositions. It would probably also best describe my earthly experience as a whole. I hope you enjoy my music and words and videos. A very sincere thank you for visiting my website and for taking time to read this little bio. Cheers.