Favorite Author: Michael Crichton Favorite Movies: Vanishing Point & Blues Brothers Favorite Band: Tower Of Power Favorite Song: What Is Hip Favorite Car: 68 'Vette Favorite Food: Sushi Favorite Quote: "Some people are like "slinkys"; they are totally useless and serve no purpose whatsoever, but I still get a good laugh whenever I push one of them down some stairs." I was born February 18, 1958 at 7:32 AM. Quite odd since I've always been more of a night person. Adopted soon after birth by Catherine and David Cushman of Tarzana, California. I was named after my dad, thus I am a junior. The house at 5945 Wilbur Ave was the family house, my mother lived in it 55+ years up until her death at age 86. The ranch style single story house was set back on the property, only about five feet between the back of the house and the property line. A couple tall eucalyptus trees I always thought would fall down in the Santa Ana winds were just on the other side of the fence. Besides having an in-ground swimming pool, the garage was set up for partying, complete with a fire pit between the garage and the pool. Before adopting my sister and I, my parents were known for their parties. After adopting us, my sister and I were children of alcoholics. If you know me, you know I talk funny, I have a speech impediment. Although no one can really tell, it sounds like I have an accent. I sound like a New Yawker. It's interfered with my life, as a kid since I didn't live in New York I was teased. Growing up I knew better than to speak in front of groups. In 2007 I took speech therapy in Glendale. It kinda helped, it definitely help on words that started with "R", like rabbit, etc. The middle "r's" are iffy and if at the end of the word, caR, not much of a change. Before online purchases and one still had to use that old fashioned method, the telephone, it wasn't uncommon for me to hang up in frustration because my address contained fouR and WilbuR. My parents adopted a daughter, Carla Cay in 1960, the adoption didn't go through and she was returned to her birth parents. Two years later my parents adopted my sister, Cathy Cay at her birth, April 16, 19XX. Cathy eventually changed her name to Misty. Misty has two children, Shane & Finnessa. Misty is married to Don and lives in Washington. My dad owned C&C Auto Painting in Encino (White Oak/Ventura). Next to C&C Auto Painting was a hamburger shack called "Babes," I used to love getting the Taquitos with guacamole. It got knocked down and one of the old small McDonalds stand took it's place. I can remember buying the hamburgers & cheeseburgers, I didn't get many BigMacs. McDonalds wanted to expand, that's when my dad went to work for the city. When ever I rode to school I usually stopped in on the way home. My mom was a teacher at Encino Elementary, she took a sabbatical when my sister and I were adopted. When my sister was school age she went back to teaching at Hesby Elementary. And yes, I went to the school my mom taught at (Encino), all the teachers knew me. Some in fact had been to the house and changed my diapers. TMI? Never met my grandparents on my dad's side, have quite a few memories of my grandmother on my mom's side. She lived on 35th place and Vermont in Los Angeles where I spent many nights. I remember my mother worried when the Watts riots were only a few houses away and went to go pick her up. As a kid I would play games with all the neighbor kids. War was always popular, and then some kind of game that we usually played in the street. My mom was an only child, her father left when she was a young girl. My dad had an older adopted brother, Jerry. Jerry married Hannah and had three kids, daughters Debbie and Sarah and son Keith, Keith was already out of the house when they moved to Canoga Park. Hannah passed away, Jerry found another great woman Midge who had a son from a previous marriage, Evan. Midge passed from cancer and now Jerry is with Rita. On the same side of the family I have an Aunt Sandy (technically my Dad's first cousin), I'm still in touch with her. Ann & I recently visited with As a youngster, we would go to Uncle Jerry's house in Canoga Park for Thanksgiving and Hanukah. Many times my mom would be drunk and wouldn't want to go at the last minute, and then after my dad, sister and I would be there she would call all pissy about being left behind. Such was the childhood of living with alcoholics. Uncle Jerry was a librarian, he always had interesting books to read not to mention his collection of jazz records. His house had the neatest nick-nacks from his world-wide travels. Jerry is somewhat religious. His daughter Sarah is a rabbinical student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia. My family wasn't religious, the first time we collectively were at a church is when my sister baptized her son. My Godmother was Helen Lyngar, her boyfriend Woody was my Godfather. They were longtime friends of my parents. My memory of her is that she was glamorous, always well made up and accessorized. When I went away to "Up With People" she threw a going away party for me, complete with some of the too young girls in her neighborhood. My best friend lived two houses down, Steven Meyer and his sisters Robin, Keri and ?. His family moved to San Diego, I visited once in the mid 60's and we have lost contact. Next door was Greg & Chris Baker, both a few years older than I was, probably still older to this day. The other side had 2 kids, Jim and Carolyn. With a pool just feet from our front door I started swimming at an early age, quite appropriate for an Aquarius. Even though we had a pool, I liked to go next door and swim in their doughboy. We tried to swim in circles to create a whirlpool. Years later while I was attending Reseda High school, Carolyn would often pass me on her way to CSUN and pick me up, saving me the 7 mile walk uphill in the snow to school. Their mother still lives in the same house so of course we have stayed in touch. Wemt to Miss Tulus nursery school on Van Owen east of Wilbur. I believe it is still there. I remember climbing the swing set when a fire truck was passing and fell, knocking out one of my teeth. Across the street was a boat being built which was in the process of being built for a couple decades following. We didn't go out to eat very often when I was a kid. I wasn't exposed to many different types of food growing up. When we did go out to eat it was commonly a buffet. The Scandinavean Smorgasbord at Wilbur & Ventura, then the St. George Buffet on Reseda & Burbank. Then another Scandinavian Buffet in Woodland Hills on Ventura. Even as my mom was older (late 90's) she liked going to Hometown Buffet. Encino Elementary school 1964-1969 My mom wanted me to go to the school she taught at, Encino Elementary, a school outside of the area. A more affluent neighborhood. After school I would look for bottles in Encino park and go across the street to cash them in and get those 5 cent Hershey candy bars, with almonds. All schoolyard fights were ceremoniously held at the park. My mom would pull up along the north side of the playground and honk 3 times. 3 times, the Cushman code. If we were calling home, let the phone ring 3 times, hang up and call back. My mom would honk and I would come running. 2nd Grade - 3rd Grade - 4th Grade - 5th Grade - 6th Grade My parents signed me up for piano lessons (Edith Woodall), took lessons all through elementary school, performing in many recitals. I didn't watch much TV, wasn't allowed to watch much TV. Had chores to do, a big yard that required a lot of work. Used to sneak into the garage at night and watch the roller derby, the Los Angeles Thunderbirds with Ralphie Valladares. I also liked to watch Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford, 10-4. The street I grew up on, Wilbur Ave, used to be narrow, one lane each direction with a gutter in the middle with high curbs. During the summer the gutter would become slick with algae, accidents were commonplace. Our mailbox was knocked down quite a few times as were all the other mailboxes on the block. The stretch of Wilbur from Ventura to Victory would become a raging river during big storms, preventing the residents from pulling out. It never snowed in Southern Cal but when it rained heavy enough I wouldn't have to go to school. In 1975 the street was widened, sewers and storm drains installed. My Mom was instrumental in not having sidewalks installed on our block and across the street, she felt eminent domain already took enough land. My mom was the person in the family that spoke out. When there was a problem, she was the one to deal with it. My mom bought a piece of property in Castaic. Something happened to the 5 highway, landslide/earthquake or something so they had to rebuild part of it. For any of you that have driven the 5 in the area, it's where the 5 separates into individual directions. My mom never stopped complaining about the state taking all the flat part of the property and leaving only a steep useless hillside. The teachers expected a lot out of me during elementary school. Luckily my mother pre-taught me. With my mother an elementary school teacher she knew what I was to be learning and taught me before so I would appear smarter. It worked. I was skipped ahead one grade, it didn't mean anything until I turned 15, and all my friends were turning 16 and getting their license. Ouch. Had a crush on Lynne Wallack throughout elementary school, gave her 27 valentines one year. One of my teachers died, I think 3rd grade. All I remember is so many of the girls in the class crying. One of my teachers was french and gave french lessons after school, attended for a while. Little did I know that was to be the extent of my learning of a language. 6th grade I for a couple months I was bused with a couple other students to Birmingham high school for Algebra class. Again, little did I know that was to be the extent of my learning of advanced math. My best friend was Val Levey, went through Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts with him. He lived in Encino, around the corner from school. We drifted apart when we went to junior high school. He had a neat two story tree-house, I had a single story tree-house. He had a go kart, I had a mini bike. I did the mile swim at Emerald Bay boy scout camp at Catalina Island. Went to a couple summer camps, a YMCA camp in the hollywood hills and River Way Ranch camp. Most of my friends were from school, I didn't know many kids in my neighborhood except my immediate neighbors. The disadvantage of going to schools outside of the area. Did the usual odd jobs in the neighborhood. Mowing lawns, general yard work. One of my neighbors had me clean their pool for about a year. I was taking care of the pool at home so it wasn't a big deal. Placed fliers under windshields at the Gelsons/Builders Emporium (Reseda Blvd between Burbank and Ventura) parking lot for a heating/air conditioning business. Had a paper route delivering the Green Sheet. It's now called the Daily News and the front page is no longer printed on green paper. My route was the area between Topham, 101, Tampa & Cahill. Much to my surprise, I got fired because of excessive complaints. Years later I found out the person doing all the complaining was the victim of a drunk driver, the driver was my dad coming home from work on Thanksgiving. Yes, one thanksgiving evening my dad was driving home from his shop and hit a guy crossing the street. Of course we didn't celebrate Thanksgiving that year. We all loaded into a 1966 Lincoln Continental for a road trip to Trinidad Colorado for our only family vacation. Stopping at all the prerequisite vacation spots, Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas (Circus Circus). One of my memories from the trip included when we we did our laundry at a laundromat in Colorado next door to an indoor pool with a high dive. My first experience diving into water from heights. Also eating roasted pine nuts. Part of my piano lessons included theory homework. My mother made sure I brought it so I could do it where we stayed along with some practicing. Even with having a pool outside our front door, it was always fun to swim someplace else. I used to ride my bike to Reseda Park to fish for catfish/bluegill in the lake and also to swim in the pool. Took a couple classes there, snorkeling one summer which culminated in testing at the beach. Another summer life-guarding. By the end of summer, my hair would be green. Reseda Park had a little lake they stocked with Catfish and Bluegill. In the middle of the lake was an island. Yes, I swam to the island. It's a small lake, it just was fun doing something you probably weren't supposed to do. In 1968 (or 69) Grandma (Mom's Mom) passed away, life changed at home. Mom started drinking more. As I grew older, my parents would send me to "Jakes Jug," the liquor store on the corner of Wilbur/Ventura to get alcohol for them. I was also sent to get cigarettes. Things were way different back then. Grandmother's stuff ended up in the den and the garage for a short while. At this time I was still sharing a bedroom with my sister. One day when my Mom and Dad went shopping I took it upon myself to empty the den and move my stuff in. Yes, I got in trouble for that move. In 1969 my dad closed his business and went to work for the DWP until he retired. He worked in both Van Nuys and downtown Los Angeles painting city vehicles. He liked working for someone else, he got days off and vacations. Portola Junior High school 1970-1972 We lived on the school boundary line between Portola jr high and Sequoia jr high, I picked Portola since there were some students from my elementary school in it's district. At Sequoia I would not have known anyone. Jr High was very different, none of the teachers knew me, didn't have the same high expectations for me. I slipped through all the cracks. I was ahead in elementary school, in jr high everyone quickly started closing the distance with me. My best friend was Randy Ralke, a Minnesota transplant. I made a recent trip to Minnesota and hoped to look him up, unfortunately I was kept busy and never got the chance. He had a sister, his parents were divorced. They lived on Yarmouth just north of Ventura. Randy had a Herald Examiner paper route, sometimes I would tag along. We went to the L.A. County Fair. One of my favorite days of the week was Sunday when I would go to the Valley Ice Skating Center (Lindley/Ventura) with Alan Marks and meet Heidi McReynolds and her neighbor Trisha Spencer for a few hours of fun on the ice. I had a bit of a crush on Heidi. Still in contact with Heidi, she's doing great, recently gave birth to her second child. Formed a band with Randy Ralke (vocal & drums), Alan Marks (drums), Randy Saltzman (bass) and Bob Yallen (guitar) called Loadstone. During junior high school I also took guitar lessons and experimented with drums. One of my neighbors, Charles Mallory, was a professional bass player and had a 4-track recording studio in his house. He was nice enough to allow Randy and me to come in and record a couple of my original tunes with his help on bass. He moved to Detroit. If anyone knows him pass along that I would like to get in touch. Big Jimi Hendrix fan during my junior high school days. Listened to a lot of Grand Funk, Cream and Black Sabbath. Loved the Woodstock albums. Reseda High school 1973-1975 Once again on the school boundary line, Taft or Reseda. Except for music, high school was a failure. As far ahead I was in elementary school, I was now that far behind my peers. I averaged "C's" in basic classes, never even taking any advanced math classes or language classes. Where were the school councilors, probably helping the good kids. I had done nothing in my life to earn the right to have people care about me and want to help me even if that's their job. With both parents drinking full-time there was no one at home to care what I was taking in school or to guide me. My mom graduated UCLA, she never pushed me to go to college. As long as I wasn't inconveniencing my parents, I was free to do as I wish. I came and went as I pleased, none of my friends enjoyed anywhere near the freedom I did. Looking back, the freedom was fun, but I would have been served better with parents setting boundaries. It's not as if I really abused the privilege. I didn't even taste anything alcoholic until the age of 45. Started playing trumpet in 10th grade. Reseda High School had one of the best music programs in Los Angeles, the Jazz Band often competed at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Leonard Gagliardi was the man with the bullhorn. Spent most of my time in the band room practicing in the practice rooms, we used the back room (storage for marching band uniforms) as our private lounge, complete with couch. Some of my new high school friends included Greg Hollands, Dan Cedano, Rick Austinson, John Wolfe, Richard Sproul. Thanks to fellow trumpeter John Sousa, I started listening to Tower of Power. Haven't stopped. Been to a couple Tower of Power concerts. In high school, we did the usual kid stuff. Kidnap breakfasts, where your friends grab you out of bed and you get taken to breakfast (iHop, etc.) in your pajamas. We had too long of a driveway, dogs and I kept my bedroom door locked. Of course we t-p'ed the houses of our friends and enemies. One of the fun ones we did is after we finished we knocked on the door and ran. The family came out and saw the mess. After they went back in we cleaned it up. My first trumpet teacher was very influential in my trumpet playing, Dolph Brust. Taught the Claude Gordon system. Practiced my ass off starting in 12th grade. Over the summer did a brief stint with "Up With People," in Tucson Arizona, didn't like it and returned home to resume practicing on my own. Spent most of my time with Greg Hollands, Dan Cedano, Rick Austinson and John Wolfe. Graduated in 1975, not sure if my parents knew about it, as usual they had been drinking and unable to make it to my graduation. Looking back on it, excluding the piano concerts which they drove me to, they only saw me play trumpet a couple times outside of the house. Reseda used to have a drive-in theatre at Reseda & Van Owen. Went there quite a few times in my life. It's now a business industrial park. At Reseda & Van Owen was n A&W Rootbeer, there was also one on the corner of Fredrick & Burbank, down the block from my Aunt Helen lived. Still like A&W Rootbeer today, it got replaced by a skateboard park. Across the street was Taco Bell, it had the lava briquettes in the fire pit in the front. My family used to get tacos there, my dad liked the Taco Burgers. I have memories of the hot sauce tasting better than it does now. At Reseda & Victory is the Firehouse, a two story hamburger stand. Probably the first place I tasted falafel. They also had deep fried tacos. My first ride was a light blue Ford Van. And yes, it had a bed in the back with the prerequisite 8-track player. Played in a band with Teena Marie when she signed at Mowtown. Most of the players were from the Canoga School of Music youth band, Chris Boehme, Bob Rees, Don Hart and a couple background singers I can't remember. Los Angeles Valley College Marching Band (P.E.), Jazz Band, Orchestra, Basic english, basic math and music theory/ear-training. That's how it started, only lasted one semester. My fav teachers were Richard Carlson and Don Nelligan. Jazz band directors, go figure. After the first year of college I already needed to take a break from trumpet. Thanks to Rick, that's when I started working at Pup 'N' Taco in Tarzana, Otis (Reseda) and Ventura. Royal Hassik was the manager. Rick quit soon after I was hired. Pup N Taco was bought out by Taco Bell, there's still a Taco Bell in the same spot. The most memorable fellow employees areMark Forrest, John Rowbothom(sp) and Rose. Great job, at least when I was T-hunting. What's T-Hunting? One of the fun things I did as a teenager was T-hunting, hide and go seek with CB radios. It was Mark "Burrito Roller" that got me into t-hunting while working at Pup 'N' Taco in his little brown Toyota Celica. He let me tag a long a few times as I tried to learn the game. It wasn't long until I bought a CB radio, or two. One for the car, and soon after one for the home. Sorry to the folks in Sunland/Tujunga on channel 10. T-Hunting, Transmitter hunting. Think electronic nerds with a pension for driving like maniacs. The "T" goes out and hides, when he's ready he gets on the CB and makes sure everyone is ready. Then he turns on the car stereo on and place the CB mic with a rubberband around it to keep it on, "locked down" next to the speaker. The hunters do donuts in parking lots or street intersections to determine which direction the "T" is hiding. As the hunters get closer the signal strength goes up on the meter built in the CB. Of course, that wasn't good enough for me. Wayne "Desert Iguana" Berg, did all my radio "modifications. Adding the "extra" channels to upping the power. Speaking of power, of course I did. Usually a couple hundred watts in the car. At home, I had a Pride Linear. Three hundred plus watts, clean watts. No one knew I had power. Back to T-hunting... It started at Albertson (Corbin/Van Owen) on Saturday nights.. We would meet and decide who was going to hide first unless it had already been determined. As the nights grew into mornings, the hides got closer, within 15 minutes driving time. A year later we moved from Albertsons to White Front (Canoga/Roscoe). One of my hides was on the 101 freeway above Corbin. I had a great hiding spot a little further south in Corbin canyon, hid there a couple nights in a row. Ideally, you hide on top of a mountain where you can see all the seekers doing donuts to figure out your location and makes fun of them. I liked the hides on pavement, unfortunately many of the hides were off-road. The car I was in would swing by Pup 'n' Taco and load up on food as we would go out and hide. I met someone I've stayed friends with for decades, Craig "Moose" and/or "Cessna" Morgan, more about Craig on my friends page. For any CBers and t-hunters out there, my handle was Gabriel. During this time I was driving an olive green 1968 Cougar, 390 high performance. During this time, I acquired an amazingly high number of speeding tickets. I am embarrassed to admit it, I didn't fully understand the laws and street signs. I thought the speed limit signs were the minimum speed. One of the flaws of the '68 Cougar was a low oil pan and hard to get to oil pan. Maybe because of my driving, but only while t-hunting I went through a few oil pans. I got so good at changing oil pans all I had to do was put one wheel on the curb. Get under, a few twists of the wrench, dump in some new oil and be off. Eventually my dad took them to his work and had steel plates welded to them. Back to T-Hunting... Jerry "White Rat" from Simi valley, drove a little honda was one of my favs there. Visual memories of a bunch of people, just can't remember the names. One that I do vividly remember, Suzi "Wildflower" Quinn, light blue Challenger. We became friends outside of T-hunting. About twice my age, she had a family she was distancing herself from. She was dying of cancer, died within the first year we met. Introduced me to her sister :), first girl I dated that had her own place, on Van Owen east of DeSoto. Went with her to Christmas Eve dinner with the family at their house in Malibu. I ended up being the best man at the sister's wedding. Suzi introduced me to a couple of other young women :):). Suzi was the first person I knew that died non-old. For that short time she was like a big sister. This was a great time of my life, except for Suzi. A while back I played with a real good jazz trumpet player, Dan Bagasoul. He called and said he was playing at Santa Monica College Jazz Band and they needed a lead player. I dragged the horn out and quickly got back into it. I then started playing with the Ed Buller Big Band at the Blue Lagoon Salon in Marina Del Rey every Sunday. One of the perks of playing here was stopping at Washington & Sepulveda for Tito's Tacos. That simple, I was back into trumpet. Back to Valley college. In college I was smitten with the daughter of the head of the music department, Cindy Carlson. Things didn't work out as I would have liked despite the help of her dad and mom. Met my best friend for life, Pat Logan, of course also a trumpet player. Best man at his wedding, should I ever get married I hope he returns the favor. Been through thick & thin with him. We played in rehearsal bands all over the LA area and Riverside. A couple years later Frank Villafranca headed west at the suggestion of Bob Ryan from Buffalo and joined the team. The three of us have hiked Whitney & Half-dome, mountain biked and played in the Quinn Harris band. CSUN Played in all four Jazz Bands, in descending order. The A band, next semester the B band under Ladd Macintosh, the jazz chair in the D Band at which time I dated fellow Reseda Regent and trumpet player Amy Lambert and then filling in for the lead player Norm Cowen in the C band. Amy's parents treated me very well, I hated losing them. Amy came with when I played with Johnny Chingus as the opening act for Tower of Power. She also played in the marching band at Valley College. Good times. I'm glad she is still playing. My dad passed in his sleep on December 28, 1983 at the age of 66. Two years after he retired. Never played sports in school, made up for it later in life. Started with Handball & racquetball. Played tennis for many years (Reseda Park). Next was physical fitness. Running, swimming, weights, etc. My runs through Tarzana Park prompted my playing of basketball which I enjoyed for many years. Back to running and biking, with some hiking thrown in. Made many good friends, like Jabari. (more about my physical activities on the sports page) I'm back into exercising to get into shape as of 06/28/08. I was walking, now I added hiking up Fish Canyon Trail. Got my first computer, of course a Macintosh, in 1990. A Mac IIci. 7 megs of Ram and a 40 Meg hard drive with a 20 inch black & white monitor. Along with that a midi keyboard, Proteus 1 sound module and the music notation program Finale 2.6. Next came a Quadra 800 with a color monitor. A powermac soon followed and currently a MacBook Pro with a 19 inch LCD monitor. Peripherals have littered my desktop for years. My first external was a 40 meg hard drive, then a Syquest. One of the programs I bought soon after buying the computer was Filemaker Pro, a database program I was going to use for contacts, song lists and billing. Since I was newbie I hired someone to come over and show me a few things on the computer and help set-up a couple databases. As time went I learned the ins and outs of the program. The local Mac store, MacUniverse started referring me when customers needed help with databases. I started working on a very extensive database for BringBackSwing/Eventertainment. I kept calling tech support with questions how to do what I wanted, they kept telling me it couldn't do what I wanted. In my black & white way of thinking, why couldn't the computer do it? Long story short, I got it to work the way I wanted and called tech support to share my accomplishment and send them the file so they could learn a little something. Claris, the software company offered me a job. Thinking I was still going to make it in the music business I turned the job down. Damn, are computers great or what? It wasn't long until I stated designing all my own flyers, Christmas cards, tearoffs, Post It Notes, postcard advertising and all stationary for Bring Back Swing. Because of the design of my folding Dave Cushman Music business card, I was soon being asked to design cards for other people. In 1991, the neighbor across the street, Richard, owner of Aqua Concepts sent over a friend of his, Bud to see if my mom would let him temporarily store a few things at her place. Turns out the "few" things were all of his life's belongings in boxes, bags and anything he could find to put stuff in. My mom fell and broke her neck in the house, so of course I called 911. The fire department turned my mother in because of all the "trash" in the yard. My mom was in a nursing home wearing a big metal halo screwed into her skull and she was forced to appear in court. I cleaned the whole yard of ivy, got rid of the cars and cleaned up around Bud's crap. I encouraged Bud to leave. He left and moved to Texas but he continued to call my mom and ask for money. My mom bought a bar in Sandpoint Idaho, Murphy's. She met some crooks who ran the bar for a while, trying the whole time to steal it from her. When my mom was in the hospital drugged up with a broken neck and a halo screwed into her skull, Tom, a big fat dumb guy with a bad back drove down in a VW to get my mom to sign a Partnership Agreement. Did he think I was going to blindly stand there as he attempted to steal the bar? Besides for liberating a copy from his briefcase, I told him my mom was in no condition to sign anything and please leave. I reminded him that as long as she was in the hospital, the Power of Attorney my mom signed meant her signature wouldn't stand up in court. The fat waste of skin got back in his car and drove back up to Sandpoint. In the partnership agreement, upon my mom's death they would get the bar, their death and it would go to their heirs. In case someone is googling them for some other scam they might be attempting, their names are Marie E. Roy, Mary L. Gunn and Tom ?. Dated Debbie for about four years, met her on a local BBS (chat rooms pre-internet). At the time I had a black/white monitor, she had a PC with a color monitor. I soon regretted my decision buying a black/white one instead of color. Lots of good memories. Went to Mammoth for one of her friends wedding. Then, now and in between, I'm not a fan of heights. Still in touch, married and one cute little daughter, Ella. I have had a drinking problem for a while, like the last 30 plus years. At least it's been diet for the last 8 years. In 1997, Deborah Wagner bought some charts from me for her gig in Japan. Since then we've become best of friends. Like most people I know, she's a trumpet player. She is married to Wayne Bergeron, one of the top trumpet players in the Los Angeles studio scene. In June 2004 she gave birth to a daughter. Ella is very talented, taking dancing and piano lessons, what about trumpet? Joking!! As a rule of thumb, it's best I don't buy clothes for Ella, this one time was acceptable. May of 2001 I made a trip to Big Sur to support a long time friend, Marden in the running of the Big Sur Marathon. She made the trip from Minnesota with some fellow runners. We met 20 years earlier while her ex and I were teaching at the Aspen Music festival and lost touch. Thanks to google I found her and renewed our friendship. After she returned home from the marathon I continued on to visit Pat. Like we've done so many times, we went on a bike ride. We also did some indoor rock climbing. For about a year and a half, I suffered with an anal fistula. Sounds like fun doesn't it? No, it isn't. In August of 2005 I finally scrounged enough money to get it taken care of.The $10,000 cost was reduced to $2,270 for cash. Hhmm, how much do those insurance companies make? Got dropped off and was in pre-op for a couple hours. I noticed all the other people waiting for surgeries had someone waiting with them, I didn't. First surgery since getting my tonsils taken out when I was a kid for the price of $250. Being put under and waking up later someplace different without a clue is very interesting. Supposedly, this is one of the easiest and shortest operations (12 minutes) with the worse recovery time. Since the surgery is a result of an infection it has to heal from the inside out, ie: no stitches. I was off the bike for a while and couldn't run for a couple months. Needless to say, I gained weight. On September 17, 2005 I met the love of my life, Ann Hollcraft. A great lady, caring, passionate, intelligent, sexy, plus a couple dozen more adjectives from A to Z. Ann responded online to my personal ad regarding the alphabet, a few emails, a few calls and we met. Took her a six-pack of Diet Pepsi and allowed her to hug me first (this fact is in dispute). We've done some traveling, some soul searchin', some rainbow looking. Ann is a Elementary School Teacher, grew up the South Pasadena area and has extended family in the area. So far we have lived together starting in Tarzana, moved to Sunland/Tujunga and currently in Azusa. I was fortunate that I had such great support from Ann when my mom died. Also loads of support when I met my biological family. My mom unexpectedly passed 1/14/2006. She had pneumonia, she was recovering when Kaiser transferred her to a nursing home to continue her recovery. She was basically ready to come home when she passed. As sad of a time this was, it was also a good time. My sister and I are Going through my mom's stuff after she passed I found a medical release form from my birth with my birth mother's name. Googled my fingers raw looking for her. I got the idea to look in birth & death records for my birth mother in Los Angeles County. I got lucky and found a death certificate that was age appropriate. I sent away to the county for a copy of her death certificate. Upon receiving it I tried to contact the next of kin listed with no luck. I then called the mortuary listed, explained the situation and asked if they could pass my information along which they did. A few days later I got a call from my cousin Lisa. We talked for a while. It turns out she was in Ocean Beach (San Diego) visiting friends so Ann and I made the drive down and met her, her niece and a relative from the other side of the family. There was NO DOUBT Lisa and I were related, she could have been my sister. November 26, 2006 my search for birth family put me at the XXXXXX in La Jolla. A couple days later I spoke to my aunt Liz (Lisa's mom). Lisa and I kept in touch, emailing, phone calls and Lisa generously mailed me some pictures. My birth uncle was having a birthday party on August 18, 2007 so off I went to Minnesota to meet the family. I was very warmly welcomed. Met many people that looked like me, had similar habits, had similar traits. More on the family page. Besides traveling with music, the last few years I've started traveling for my pleasure. Kauai Hawaii, Belize (where my sister and I purchased some property), Washington, Colorado and Minnesota. Went to Kauai Hawaii in February of 2006. At the time, my niece & nephew were living on the island, my sister went so Ann and I followed. My sister and niece picked us up at the airport. On the way to where we were staying we stopped to get out and stretch our legs. A few months later this area was washed away when the dam broke. My sister found us a great place to stay. Just happened that my cousin Sarah and her husband Zavie (legally Zephron) were in town so we all got together at a local joint called Zelos. My sister and her kids, and Ann and I. We were taken on a tour of the island. Our first stop was to visit Puff the Magic Dragon at Hannelai Bay. If you look at the land on the other side of the bay you can see the shape of the dragon's head. The landslide is the eye. We did some swimming, not everywhere on the island is safe for swimming. I believe this is the area that the female surfer was bitten by the shark. Went to a John Mayall concert. Visited my niece Finnessa where she worked. Something I wasn't used to were the one way bridges. Speaking of driving, people drive so slow. What's a trip to Hawaii without a helicopter ride. A few pics-1, 2, 3. If you know me, you know I'm never far from the buffet table. Of course we did have some lazy time. Misty & I before leaving. A great time was had by all, but it was good to be going home. Ensenada April 2006 my first cruise. Ann and I snuck away for a weekend. April 2006 it was off to Belize. My sister Misty and her husband Don were already down there and wanted us to come down. Long story short, we bought some land in Pine Ridge area of Belize. Land down to the well known 5 Sisters Falls. Across the river is protected nature preserve. About a mile before our property is the Blancaneaux Resort owned by Francis Ford Coppola. Sandpoint, Idaho July 2006 - This road trip had multiple purposes. My mom wanted the ashes of her and my dad to be placed into the lake in Sandpoint Idaho. My mom & sister used to own a bar, "Murphy's" on the shore of the lake. Along the way we took a few side trips on the way up. First we checked out the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz. Swung by and spend a night with my best friend Pat and his wife Annette in San Ramon. Picked up my niece from where she was living. Drove on up to Ione Washington to see Misty & Don. Stayed in a local motel. Cabo San Lucas August 2006 - Took this trip with Ella, Deb, and her cousin Dana. Dana works for Alaska airlines and was able to get us a good deal so we flew down. In typical Deb fashion, she got us a great place to stay. On of our side excursions was down to the tip of Baja. September 2006 - Brighton Colorado for a wedding for one of Ann's cousins, John. Flew in & rented a car, I was looking forward to seeing Aunt Mary (ann's aunt). I never met John or his conservative old dad Uncle Ed, although I met Aunt Mary already. Ed doesn't like to come to California because it's California. Whatever that means, so he hasn't made any of the family functions since I moved in. Had a good time with Aunt Mary. I think Halliburton was spying on me because I, um, well, I better not say anything more. Ensenada January 2007 - Another cruise to Ensenada, my friends Frank and Connie joined us along with a bunch/gaggle/flock of Ann's teacher friends. In January and February of 2007 I attended Sushi Chef Institute. After a couple Sushi parties with the help of Sivaman Udomdej, I got the idea to start a Sushi Party/Catering business, Phat Susui. Mammoth April 2007 - Not my first time in Mammoth. And definitely not Ann's first time, she grew up up here every Summer. Up up Up. We drove up for the weekend. Of course, we stopped at Mahogany Smoked Meats on the way up. Checked out the location for our wedding, went to a food testing. With Ann growing up in the area we drove all around. Went to the Hot Creek Fish Hatchery. Ann's sister Sarah used to have a place up there. Our last day there it started snowing as we were eating breakfast at The Stove. Finished up and hit the road, snow and all. Soon after moving to Azusa, I tried hustling up some trumpet students, printed up some flyers and business cards and took off for all the local music stores and music academies. May 17 of 2008 I started the first half of a round trip up to Spokane Washington on a small jet (about 20 rows, each row was 2 seats on one side of the isle, 1 on the other) to visit my sister Misty & her hubby Don. They pulled up just as I walked out the door of the Spokane airport. We had planned on eating sushi at Bluefish Sushi except they didn't open for a couple hours. They showed me where they used to live in Spokane. We drove around to a couple stores. Don bought a used bike for parts to fix his other bikes. And a saw. We stopped next to a bridge in Spokane. At this moment I can't remember the name of the bridge or the river. Thanks to the passer-by for taking our picture. Off to Sushi. Most mornings the dogs put in requests to be driven to the river for a swim. Later in the day we visited one of Misty's friends. To be honest, she has dreams of him being her son in law. Since I have gotten back, Finnessa got the opportunity to meet him. We made a stop at my sister's property to get some river water and so I could see it. The river was higher than I had see it when I was last here. Further down the road is a Lake. We also visited this lake last here. We all swam in it, used the rope swing. We didn't swim in it this time, the lake is so low there's not a chance to use the rope swing. Wednesday night was the 3 Ball tournament at one of the local bars. I won a round, paid for my gamblin' and my drinkin'. Not many places in Ione are worth eating at so Misty did over 99% of the cooking. She is a great cook. Back in our childhood Misty always made the dressings for salads. I helped Don put up some of the fence framing in the back yard and shovel dirt around in their backyard for their garden. We made a trip up the river to a spot before the dam to take a little kayak trip to a waterfall. It was beautiful. In case we tipped over, I didn't bring my camera. Back on the road we traveled north to the Boundary Dam where Don worked last summer. This is the kind of garage I always wanted. We went on for a quick tour, and then back on the road traveling north. My sister and ex-husband Steve lived out here 25 years ago. Back then I made a trip up here with him with a trailer full of their stuff. Was hoping to recognize something. One day while working in the garden with both the front and back doors of the future restaurant a burst of wind slammed the back door shut with the cat's tail not getting out in time. An emergency trip to the Vets, the cat stayed overnight. Before I left the cat was already back to normal, sans half a tail. Don and Misty, mostly Don but Misty was informed of her position bought a used truck while I was there. Big old school solid truck. Great choice for getting back and forth from their property. Now since they had a truck, they wanted to buy some fruit trees for their backyard garden and stopped on the way home at the nursery. Misty and Don use water from the river to drink, a couple times a week they make the trip. We stopped at one of the "restaurants" in Ione, the Cabin Grill to buy some sandwiches to take out to the river. This place is new from my first visit, otherwise I would have already dropped a few dollars here. The sandwiches are great! All healthy, all big full sandwiches. If you are ever passing through Ione, I suggest you stop there. Of course when my sister opens her restaurant I'll delete all this. Back to the river, it's dropped a bit. We ate at the same green table you say in the first pic. A quick visit to Metaline Falls in case a bakery was open. No loss, my sister made desert. She's a great cook! Staying with her is like visiting a gourmet chef. I had a great visit with Misty & Don, they made me feel very comfortable in their home. I would have put up pics of the garden, the future restaurant, their home, etc. If you know my sister you know she likes her privacy. I've already told you too much about her, now I'll have to kill you. Just kidding. I'm currently looking for work. Submitting online applications and sending my resume. If you hear of any jobs feel free to send info over. I recently replied to an ad on Craigslist for a Realtor, the company directed me to an online aptitude test. I received a call back from the company the next day to discuss my test score. As you can tell, there were a few areas I sucked. The person brought it to my attention some of my scores were lower than average. I decided not to waste my time and study for the realtors test. This BIO is a work in progress, check back as I keep adding, fixing grammar, fixing spelling and removing names as people request their names being removed to protect their reputations.