Biography
Currently residing in Atlanta with his wife Claire, whose allure remains undiminished, this writer is completing a dissertation that positions Sun Records as an instructional framework for humanities education at the university level. Leisure hours find him performing alongside the pop/rock group the Miltons while steadily expanding a personal archive of recorded music.
His birth occurred in 1965 within a Montreal household untouched by musical tradition, though the family relocated to Minneapolis in 1967 and remained there until 1992. At age five he taught himself to run his father’s turntable, absorbing the household collection daily; Mozart’s 40th Symphony and the African-chant album Missa Lubba ranked among his earliest favorites.
Piano lessons began the following year, yet practice was refused; when asked to name a preferred instrument he answered “oboe,” having become captivated by Vivaldi’s oboe concertos, but his mother instead supplied a violin. Although violin repertoire delighted him, the gap between his own sound and the recordings he admired proved constant, and only at sixteen did he finally abandon any prospect of a concert career by setting the instrument aside for good.
That same year a friend supplied the Sex Pistols’ album, which struck him at first as inferior heavy metal fronted by a screechy vocalist and was promptly returned; two days later he requested it back. The year 1981 thus marked the start of an intense punk immersion that produced friendships with Minneapolis musicians from the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Loud Fast Rules (later Soul Asylum), and, subsequently, the Cows, Babes in Toyland, the Jayhawks, Boiled in Lead, and numerous others. He issued the underground high-school paper Jailbreak!, whose anarchist outlook and punk visual style aligned with his outlook, then helped establish an anti-draft-registration collective, an anarchist bookstore, and the political-action group RABL (the Revolutionary Anarchist Bowling League). Musicians he knew locally and from out of town were enlisted to perform benefit shows underwriting these initiatives.
Graduate study in English drew him to Gainesville, Florida, in 1992. There he resumed violin playing within a circle of women folk and country performers; the ensemble, which took the name Look Here Sister, also featured his guitar work and lead and harmony vocals. Songwriting followed, and he soon shared leadership duties with Michelle Gould. Although demo recordings were made, none saw release. Five years of teaching in the University of Florida English department allowed him to create courses such as Writing About Literature, Argumentative Writing, Film Analysis, Writing Through Media, and Writing About Pop Music: From Armstrong to Elvis; the last of these was shaped in collaboration with film professor Robert Ray, who also leads the Vulgar Boatmen.
Atlanta became home in 1997 when he joined his then fiancée. The Gainesville band continued under Michelle Gould’s direction and adopted the name the Rails, while he assembled the Miltons in his new city.
Desert Island Picks
Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours
Glenn Gould: Bach Goldberg Variations (1980 recording)
Robert Johnson: Complete Recordings
Elvis Presley: The Complete 50's Masters
Amadeus Quartet: Beethoven Quartets
Hank Williams: Singles Collection
Pablo Casals: Bach Cello Suites
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Mississippi John Hurt: Today!
Howlin' Wolf: Evil
The Beatles: Live at the BBC
Louis Armstrong: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Otis Redding: Love Man
Buddy Holly: Collection
The Replacements: Stink
Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come
Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the Gershwin Song Book
Stan Getz: Getz/Gilberto
Golden Gate Quartet: Travelin' Shoes
James Brown: Star Time
Duke Ellington: Blanton-Webster Band
Richard & Linda Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Wire: Pink Flag
John Lee Hooker: No Friend Around
His birth occurred in 1965 within a Montreal household untouched by musical tradition, though the family relocated to Minneapolis in 1967 and remained there until 1992. At age five he taught himself to run his father’s turntable, absorbing the household collection daily; Mozart’s 40th Symphony and the African-chant album Missa Lubba ranked among his earliest favorites.
Piano lessons began the following year, yet practice was refused; when asked to name a preferred instrument he answered “oboe,” having become captivated by Vivaldi’s oboe concertos, but his mother instead supplied a violin. Although violin repertoire delighted him, the gap between his own sound and the recordings he admired proved constant, and only at sixteen did he finally abandon any prospect of a concert career by setting the instrument aside for good.
That same year a friend supplied the Sex Pistols’ album, which struck him at first as inferior heavy metal fronted by a screechy vocalist and was promptly returned; two days later he requested it back. The year 1981 thus marked the start of an intense punk immersion that produced friendships with Minneapolis musicians from the Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Loud Fast Rules (later Soul Asylum), and, subsequently, the Cows, Babes in Toyland, the Jayhawks, Boiled in Lead, and numerous others. He issued the underground high-school paper Jailbreak!, whose anarchist outlook and punk visual style aligned with his outlook, then helped establish an anti-draft-registration collective, an anarchist bookstore, and the political-action group RABL (the Revolutionary Anarchist Bowling League). Musicians he knew locally and from out of town were enlisted to perform benefit shows underwriting these initiatives.
Graduate study in English drew him to Gainesville, Florida, in 1992. There he resumed violin playing within a circle of women folk and country performers; the ensemble, which took the name Look Here Sister, also featured his guitar work and lead and harmony vocals. Songwriting followed, and he soon shared leadership duties with Michelle Gould. Although demo recordings were made, none saw release. Five years of teaching in the University of Florida English department allowed him to create courses such as Writing About Literature, Argumentative Writing, Film Analysis, Writing Through Media, and Writing About Pop Music: From Armstrong to Elvis; the last of these was shaped in collaboration with film professor Robert Ray, who also leads the Vulgar Boatmen.
Atlanta became home in 1997 when he joined his then fiancée. The Gainesville band continued under Michelle Gould’s direction and adopted the name the Rails, while he assembled the Miltons in his new city.
Desert Island Picks
Frank Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours
Glenn Gould: Bach Goldberg Variations (1980 recording)
Robert Johnson: Complete Recordings
Elvis Presley: The Complete 50's Masters
Amadeus Quartet: Beethoven Quartets
Hank Williams: Singles Collection
Pablo Casals: Bach Cello Suites
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Mississippi John Hurt: Today!
Howlin' Wolf: Evil
The Beatles: Live at the BBC
Louis Armstrong: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Otis Redding: Love Man
Buddy Holly: Collection
The Replacements: Stink
Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come
Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the Gershwin Song Book
Stan Getz: Getz/Gilberto
Golden Gate Quartet: Travelin' Shoes
James Brown: Star Time
Duke Ellington: Blanton-Webster Band
Richard & Linda Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Wire: Pink Flag
John Lee Hooker: No Friend Around
Albums
