I grew up in South St. Louis. Born and raised a Catholic, I attended Catholic grade and high school. Despite my education I found in later years that I had a lot to learn about my faith. But the wonderful thing about our faith is that the deeper you look, the more you explore and question, the stronger it becomes. As Scott Hahn says, Catholicism is like a lion - it defends itself.
I've loved music since I was very young. I was influenced by bands like Rush, Boston, Styx, April Wine, Foghat, Journey, The Police, Cheap Trick, Sammy Hagar, and a host of one-hit-wonders from the 70s and 80s. I played in mainstream rock bands in high school and college and played in bars after college. As I look back, I always seemed to like the songs that had something to do with God. They were out there, but they were few and easily lost amid the thousands of songs written about love and relationships.
When my wife and I had our first child, I decided to put my guitar down. And I did - for two full years. Then my wife made the decision to join the Catholic church. Her conversion experience through RCIA led me to a stronger relationship with God and a much stronger faith. I began to play guitar at Saturday evening Mass thanks to a very generous friend, Mary Carty, who allowed me to join her group. As time progressed, Mary moved on, and I "inherited" her position as "fearless leader" of the Come-On-Down Choir. She gave me my first CCM CD: Breath of Salvation by a local artist named Javier Mendoza. I loved it and soon I was listening to lots of CCM artists. My current favs are Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, Mercy Me, Switchfoot, Matt Maher, David Crowder, Matt Redman, Caedmon's Call, Peter Mayer, and FFH (just to name a few, and in no particular order).
I have a wonderful wife, Laura and two fantastic children Alex and Megan. I also have a crazy beagle named "Skittles." I program computers as my "real job." I play an Alvarez Yari six string, a Yamaha 12 string, a Gibson Les Paul custom electric and my latest acquisition is a Fender VG strat. I have 2 crate amps - One on indefinite loan from the aforementioned friend, Mary, for my acoustics and a smaller one for the electrics, though I usually play straight into a sound board through a POD 2.0.
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