JG circa '82 with gold-top Les Paul that was the exclusive guitar of choice for many years

A Lifetime of Making Music

I believe it was in the blood.   Inherited.   I was always exposed to music.   Always instruments in the house.   My older brother began formal piano lessons first and I soon followed suit with the same teacher. But instead of learning to read, I let my memory of hearing my brother practice serve as my main guide.   For two years I pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, including the teacher, until one day she threw something very elementary in front of me. I couldn't even begin to sight read it.   Exposed and cornered, I was given the ultimatum to do it right or quit lessons.   I wasn't rebellious, but strict rules and protocols never really prevailed with me either and the heart was always stronger than the mind.   Guess which way I went.

Around the same time I'd found an old acoustic guitar under the bed in the family guest room.   It had been given to my mother when she was young.   This was it.   The real start of it all.   I taught myself some chords and really just strummed around on the same chords for a few years.   Then came the summer of '74, just before my Freshman year in high school.   The Renaissance.  I locked myself in my room with guitars and records. Rush, Zepplin, other heavy rock... and lots of progressive bands like Yes and ELP.   I still got into the piano, teaching myself by ear much like I did on guitar, and was always as enthusiastic about playing keyboards as I am about guitar.

I got into so many different types of music and was captivated.   Todd Rundgren was another big influence for the fact that he was a great pop song writing artist, but yet had the ability to go off on so many tangents.  That summer of '74 I made leaps and bounds with my playing style and techniques.

Music was all I was interested in.   Although I had a brief stint of involvement with a few sports in my younger schooldays, music soon prevailed as my sole source of comfort, release, and inspiration.   Over the years, music has always been a part of my life, but through the highs and lows, my passion and dedication weaned.   Now, more recently, I seem to have rekindled the kind of fever I had when I was younger.   It feels great.

The Bands

My first real band was in high school with classmates Rich "Chook" Alberini on drums and Carl Infante on bass.   The name of the band was Tower, taken from the name of a song by the band Angel. We were a three piece power chord band doing a lot of Rush (our most favorite commonly appreciated band amongst us), and other popular hard rock of the day.

The first experience in the club scene didn't come until 1979 when I got into the band Sideshow.   Foxy's on the strip (422) in Warren was happening.   Bill Scudier (lead singer, saxophonist, and front man) asked me to sit in one night and the face of the band changed sort of dramatically overnight.   The band basically became a unique three piece power trio, with the addition of keyboards, plus the accent of Bill's saxophone.  We turned out some good unique arrangements and think we turned a few heads.

Albeit the success that Sideshow was experiencing, I was a young gun and had my own concept of the type of music I wanted to do.   My next move in 1980, although maybe hasty, was to put together the band that to this day remains my favorite experience in making music.   The band was Triad, and as you may guess from the name, this continued my quest for the power trio format, only now with an emphasis on the artists I was really into at the time.   The band featured my old schoolmate bassist Carl Infante and a multitalented guy named Steve Koleszar who played drums while also filling the role of lead singer. Golden voice on that boy.   Steve could sing things like Pat Benitar and Rush's Geddy Lee without breaking a sweat.   We were all having a great time playing music that we commonly appreciated, plus again, a unique band format, solid talent, and great music resulted in a solid following and a lot of gigs.

Here I'm going to skip a few chapters in this autobiographical look at what I've done over the years.   Other band and musical experiences that I'll get to in the future include the bands Sojourn out of New Castle, PA, and Love Affair, a Cleveland based regional act that was very popular in the late 70's to mid 80's.   That band exposed me to a good number of large venues, plus professional studio recording and touring experience.   Road stories...oh yeah!

The Most recent band venture that I was involved with was known as Mellocrash.   I basically pulled the band together with some good friends who, like myself, just wanted to get out and play.   Mellocrash came to be in the Summer of 2000 and was active up until the Fall of 2004.   The band was a trio for most of its existence (surprise, surprise) doing lots of Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, and other classic rock, plus a decent chunk of more current rock as well.   My long time high school friend Dave Augustine was the bassist and the only other member besides myself who was in all of the different incarnations of the band.   Drummers who passed through the ranks included Scott Verner,   Nick Koleszar,   and Jimmy Taylor.   For a brief time the band had guitarist/singer Neil Hogue as a fourth member on stage.  Neil's vocal ability and fine guitar playing added some really great ingredients to the band's sound and repertoire'.   Alas, as most good things do come to an end, and everyone's personal life steers them into different directions, Mellocrash played its last notes together at the Breakroom in Warren in 2004.   But never say never...I certainly love playing in a band enviromnment and would love to get the band back together at some point.   As this site develops, I'll be presenting more about all the great people who I've performed with and who have helped me grow as a musician and performer.

TO BE CONTINUED...