About Me
Hi everybody! Thank you for visiting my site!
I am a trombonist, a writer, a father of two beautiful pips, and a husband to one beautiful redhead. I was born and raised in Rochester, NY, and while I always liked Rochester well-enough back then, my affection for the city has grown exponentially since leaving in mid-twenties. Not to say that I’ve been unhappy elsewhere. I had two productive years in Tallahassee where I attended Florida State University and received a master’s in trombone performance. I followed my wife to Virginia and we spent nearly five years though, where again I made some great memories. For instance, both of my children were born in Virginia! We now live in Evansville, IN. I had never heard of Evansville before my wife took this audition and interview, and even then I didn’t bother to look it up on a map until after she was offered the gig. We have been in Evansville since August of 2015, and have grown to love the city, as well as our many creative and professional outlets.
While I’ve had an interest in writing ever since I was a small boy, I didn’t begin a deep dive into the craft until the summer after I completed my master’s in music – I must’ve thought that making a living through one art form wasn’t enough of a struggle – when I began reading fiction more analytical, reading well-regarded books on writing and the industry, asking LOTS of questions, and of course spending a lot of time on the actual writing itself.
My first published writing, “Igor Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan Thomas:” a Brief History and Analysis” appeared in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of the International Trombone Association. Stravinsky’s short vocal work is considered his first purely serial composition. It is a song for tenor voice and string quartet, bookended by two “dirge canons” for trombone quartet and string quartet. While it was tremendously exciting to see my name in print for the first time, this essay is of interest only to trombonists and music theorists, and even then…
My first published short story was “Tadpoles”, in vol. 17 of Steam Ticket, published by the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in the spring of 2014. My first draft of “Tadpoles” dated back to 2004, and subsequently collected dust for many years before I began delving into the writing scene.
In total I have published eleven short stories in journals to some degree of legitimacy or other. While I read primary pretentious literary fiction, I am a fan of cross-genre fiction such as Michael Chabon and Jonathan Lethem. My own output thus far includes zombie lit (“Drop Down”) and crime fiction (“Sweet Gum Tree” and “Unearthing”), as well as two musicians stories (“I’m Too Good For This” and its sequel “Seven Garden”)
As for non-fiction, there is the aforementioned Stravinsky essay; some creative non-fiction called “The Auditioner” (Cobalt Review, #15 Fall 2015); and The Sound Of The Spaghetti West” in the Tarantino Chronicles, about Ennio Morricone’s film music for spaghetti westerns, and the way Quentin Tarantino reuses the same music in his own films. I also self-published a piece on my baseball fandom called “Twenty Years Of Futility”.
Forthcoming, I have several short stories either in the works or looking for homes. I am hoping to publish a short story collection soon, and I am also nearly finished with a collection of musician stories, a novel-in-stories, if you will (think Olive Kitteridge, Kissing in Manhattan, and A Visit From The Goon Squad), called The Auditioner. I also have in mind a collection of children-themed short stories, which would include “Tadpoles”, “Sweet Gum Tree”, and several other of my published stories.
I hope you will head over to the “writing” section where all of my published works are listed, with brief descriptions, and links to read them if available. I love feedback, so please don’t hesitate to drop me a line! Happy reading!