When I was in 3rd. grade my class had show and tell day, bashful as I was I brought a set of bongos and a Santana record and played along to a song. My parents put me in a Catholic private school where we lived in Southgate California. They had a school band, I was in that class only for a year, marching drum was not what I wanted but I enjoyed it very much. At age 10 my dad saw my persistent interest in drums and agreed to buy me a 5 piece Maxwin by Pearl drumset for $350.

I was a KISS fan at the time and the first record I ever bought was KISS Alive, I taught myself to play “100,000 years”. I remember being the talk of the town for knowing that solo. Some guy I knew during that time asked me if I knew the drum solo in the song “Moby Dick”. I was very aware of Led Zeppelin but exposing myself to the record Led Zeppelin II showed me a side of music that I wasn’t too familiar with, The Blues. An amazing amount of feeling was what this band had, and not only as a whole but the drummer John Bonham played with so much emotion that I felt I learned that element and took it with me through my career.