I am many things to many people but this website is principally concerned with the fact that I play the 5-string bass guitar - fretted and fretless, though my time served on the fretless is considerably less than on the fretted. I've been playing bass guitar since about 1994. My first bass was a 4-string Fender Jazz Bass which I played until I bought my first 5-string bass (the Ibanez BTB-1005E) in 2002, and the switch was much easier than I thought it would be. It was like everything suddenly made so much more sense and I could visualize modal patterns on the fretboard so much more easily. Jon Maghini built my Fretless 5-string in 2005 and learning to play it is proving to be quite a fun challenge, but I love the tonal variety that can be achieved with it.

So tell us about the bands you've been in.

I have had the fortunate experience to play lots and lots of gigs with a handful of really good bands in the DC area.
- Most recently, I was the bass player for Cerulean Groove, a three-piece, eclectic, singer-songwriter-meets-funky-jam-band concoction. Loved it!
- Prior to that I played with Sould, which was a lot of fun. Back in 2003, when I was in the band, it was a 4-piece band that sounded like modern rock meets reggae groove. Nowadays, I think Ricky Bongos plays with them so that makes them a 5-piece, with what, I understand, is a much more acoustic feel.
- Prior to that, I played for a band called Tandem - hard rock and blues rock.
- And then we have the first band I joined when I started playing in earnest: Elkwallow. Probably the corniest name for a band I've ever come across but we really had some good times and some good chemistry making our special brew of funk rock meets roots rock music. I miss those days.

Favorite Place to Play a Show

Having played a good few shows in the DC area, I definitely have some favorites. My most favorite? Jammin' Java. This is, in my opinion, Vienna's own version of the Birchmere. Great out of town acts, great stage, good coffee, good food, and no smoking!

What Future Musical Projects May Come

I am, for the first time in a long time, without an active musical project. This is okay because I really needed a break and I am spending a lot of time getting better at lindy-hop (swing dance) and doing the nature hike thing. Eventually I know I will get the bug to get back out there and strut my stuff musically so I hope that those of you with a musically collaborative inclinations have a decent idea of what I'm all about from reading this.

My musical goals are the same now as they were back in 2002: find a musical partner, or set of partners, that will help me to create really vibrant and interesting music that I'm so excited about, I can't wait for everyone in the world to hear it: Music that allows everyone involved in performing to flex, shine, and sometimes, just groove.

If I'm the Bass Player in Your Band...

Hmmm.... Well, if I'm the bass player in your band, don't expect me to be in the background ALL of the time. I hang back when the music calls for it, I stand out when I get a chance to. I don't think that choosing the bass guitar relegates you to a certain role in the band. It comes with certain responsibilities and challenges, but I don't think that means you only hang back and be the bottom. As the bass player, you get to be the lead melody once in a while, and sometimes you even get to play a completely ad-lib solo. Whatever I do, taste and fit are always a an important factor.

Bear in mind though, I'm in it to create first, and to perform second. In my experience, a lot of bands get so wrapped up in the performance part that they forget that performance is just a part of the creative process. You write some really cool jazzy shit and then you play it for people and see what they think. If I'm in your band, you can expect me to demand a fair amount of free-form creative practice and lots of time spent on developing new material.

I think of it as a mission statement for a bass player - essentially to make everything I play have a certain funky edge. Of course, "Funk" is symbolic in this case, of all of the different styles of music that are out there to be incorporated. A person striving for good musicianship will want as many different styles and techniques in his/her toolbag as possible. Or, to quote my bass teacher, Anthony Wellington, "no one sets out to build houses and says I'm only gonna build ramblers... you gotta be able to build everything."

That image stays with me as I learn and grow as a musician and as a human being. You have to want to be as well-rounded and complete as possible in what you learn and what you do. There's a section in the most recent book written by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., entitled A Man Without A Country where Vonnegut is asking some questions of this artist, Saul Steinberg, who is a person that Vonnegut considers to be the wisest person he ever met. All of these questions are about art and his last question listed is this:

I said, "Saul, are you gifted?"
Six seconds passed, and then he growled, "No, but what you respond to in any work of art is the artist's struggle against his or her own limitations"

I like that answer. I think it really caputes the way I've always felt about art even though I never had the words for it. I qualified my statement above with "as a human being and as a musician" because I think all of life's experiences feed into your art. Spending time outside or dancing or reading all becomes a part of it. Really, I would have named the website "defineart.com" if I didn't think that was taken. But "definefunk.com" does help to give this site the musical focus that I want it to have.

Victor Wooten - The most astounding bass-player in the world, in my opinion.  Plays with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

Jaco Pastorius - A visionary jazz/fusion bass-player from the 70's that showed us that you can play busy-busy bass parts if you have expert timing.

• Smashing Pumpkins 
• Elvis Costello
• Jaco Pastorius
• Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
• Lots of Disco (Donna Summer, the Commodores, Patrice Rushen, Chic, Earth Wind and Fire)
• Dave Matthews Band
• Antonio Carlos Jobim
• The Pixies

• Alembic F1-X Preamp
• QSC PLX 1602 Power Amp
• Ampeg PB-250 Amp
• 2 x Ampeg Portabass 2x10 w/ Horn Cabinets
• BOSS TU-2 Tuner
• Korg DT-7 Tuner
• Boss OC-3 SUPER Octave Pedal
• MXR M-188 Bass Auto Q Auto Wah Pedal

• Ibanez BTB-1005E - 2002 Prestige
• MBasses M3 Custom Fretless
• Fender Jazz Bass - 1996 American Standard
• Fender Zone Bass - 2001 Deluxe

• Swing Dance (Lindy Hop, Shag, Balboa)
• Personal Computing / Online Gaming
• Cooking
• The Politics of Equality and Compassion
• Introspective Writing

This is essentially an echo of a philsophy that basically says that we can only make it through life with the help of our extended families.  Our extended families, which can include friends and other members of the community-at-large, can help to save us from life's hardships and from ourselves. And that we should try to be saints for other people where a saint is defined as someone who "behaves decently in an indecent society".