Apparently, this is my whole life.

But like any life, it starts out being a kid. With lots of amazing opportunities...

There are two main instruments that influenced me from the start: a Realistic tape recorder and an upright spinet piano.

These objects were in my life from around the time I was 5 years old, which would be around 1982, so 1982 is when I first started making music.

My influences at the time were:

• MTV, where Duran Duran - Rio, U2 - New Year's Day, Michael Jackson - Billy Jean, Madonna - Material Girl were searred into my brain
• Christopher Cross - Sailing playing from my mom's car stereo

On the tape recorder, I would just make up random songs walking around the house. On the spinet, I somehow knew enough to ask my dad about "Middle C" and then oriented myself towards making up compositions. Learning Heart and Soul at a friend's house was monumental.

Down the greenbelt from my house, in my friend's bonus room, I have very vague memories of Yamaha equipment. I recall a sequencer that was built into a synth, but Yamaha did not make anything like in the early 80s. But it is that hallucination recollection that begins my facination with sequencing, or let's call it MIDI. I also have clear memories of the Casio SK-1, mostly as a fart sampler.

We had an Apple IIc computer just like the ones at my elementary school. Choplifter and Lode Runner were frequently played. Then my first PC, an Epson IBM PC Compatible, with 5 1/4" floppy drive and CGA 4-color graphics. Getting MIDI to work on systems like this would be part of the quest, especially once the Creative Labs Sound Blaster appeared on the scene.