Chicago is a world of music, media giants, outsized personalities and rich bumpy histories of the people from around the globe who found Chicago to be the place to set their stakes in. I was formed in the stories of my Uncles who worked in the steel mills of Gary, how they went to war and came back to build lives for their families. I unfortunately did not have such stability. Mother fought her bottle battles but did the best she could to instill a sense of wonder and awe at the grandeur of possibilities.    

I started my broadcasting career in Chicago in 1984 while still a Junior in High School. I launched as an on-air personality at the powerhouse WAUR the 50,000 watt rock station. The format of the station allowed me to discover a wide variety of genres that would be the discs slipped in between the AOR mainstays. I got to bounce up and down the dial including stints at B-96, WFYR, and the legendary station that set my ears ablaze as a kid listening to his radio under his pillow; WLS. One early highlight was anchoring from Champaign, Illinois for the live WESTWOOD 1 simulcast of FARM AID. I can proudly say that John Cougar Mellencamp sent me a Christmas card every year for nearly a decade. One quick sidetrack, I was nervous about meeting the King of the Blues, Mr. B.B. King live on the air. I blurted out my first question without really saying hi. “If you pick up another guitar you’ve never played before, are you cheating on Lucille or does she become Lucille?” Without missing a beat, the King said, “Depends on how she feels.” 

From radio, I was drafted into the record business as an A & R rep for a  leading independent label, Frontline Music Group. While at Frontline, I got to sign acts that ran the gamut from Bluegrass to Hard-Core Rap. I just signed what felt real to me.

In 1993, I began to visually interpret and express through graphic arts, photography and film.