i was born on february 13th, 1977 and was raised in the chicagoland area (that's in illa-noize for you non-midwesterners). after graduating high school and hanging out for a couple of years, i went to new york university where i studied english and education. i lived in manhattan for two years and brooklyn for two years. after graduating with a bachelor of science degree, i moved back to chicago, took a year off of school, and worked at the huntington learning center. as of august 2002, i will be back in new york studying english at columbia university.
i have always been passionate about music. i played the oboe in elementary school. in junior high school, i picked up the guitar and have yet to put it down. i studied classical for three years with shinobu sato and bought an electric my freshman year of high school. i currently use a fender ultra strat, fender jaguar, vox ac-15, fender hot rod deluxe, boss tu-2, boss blues driver, proco rat, digitech whammy, teese wah, mxr phase 100, modified boss dd-5, boss loopstation. i took up piano and keyboards my first year of college, and the turntables my junior year.
i have played in a number of bands including: blueline, you and me, and north america. blueline consisted of alan tarkowski, aidan oliver, zach, jon spaeth, and myself. We played one amazing show in ryan gellert's backyard (which was broken up by the fuzz) and brokeup during recording. the recording session was with one of chicago's finest: elliot dix (casey rice did the computer work). you and me lasted two years, recorded numerous four-track bedroom demos and played a half-dozen street corner gigs in new york. north america came next and consisted of jon spaeth, mark reback, daphne carr, and myself. we played shows (with various lineups) at black betty's in brooklyn, the school of visual arts, new york university, and acme underground in manhattan. we recorded three tracks with joe ferguson in chicago which turned out horribly and broke up during recording (sounds familiar).
currently, i play noisy guitar, keyboards, and programming in nyc's alpha kilo. we're the best rock and roll band nyc has to offer and i hope that your expectations are as high as mine are. check out our homepage for the latest info: www.alphakilo.com
as a dj i have performed at various events. i spun at the infamous "white room" art exhibitions in brooklyn. i also played records at new york university's senior art exhibition. i took up a residency at blu lounge in brooklyn where i hosted a rock and soul night every week. Also, I hosted the "beautiful losers" multimedia event at brooklyn's green lounge. at "beautiful losers" i spun with jmh, dj laylo, and gabriel boylan. i also spun occasional sets at dj laylo's weekly at art bar in brooklyn. in chicago, i had a year-long residency at underground lounge and have been currently spinning occasional parties at brooklyn's laila lounge.
i have spun under various monikers over the last few years including burn hollywood, dj dedalus, dj relocating, and dj swayed. i have released two mix cd's. first, the world trade mix (shortly after the disaster), which is no longer avaliable. and in january 2002, the nacheinander mix, which is still avaliable (feel free to email me). both were released by the independent "joonbug musik." a new release is coming up soon.
i am currently writing, performing, recording, and producing as "a brilliant career." it is an electronic project that aims to utilize large doses of "real" instruments (lots of guitars, keys, etc.). a six song ep was released in december of 2001 and is still avaliable. the ep used electric/acoustic guitars, turntables, keyboards, and a computer. i plan to continue to write and record music as "a brilliant career" and have intentions of performing the songs live in the near future. i have finished a remix for vers on the dsygenic label which will be released in february 2003. check out their homepage: www.dysgenicrecords.com
my writing career started in college and has slowly grown ever since. i have written a couple of short stories and a dozen poems. i am currently working on a full length novel which should be finished in 2005.
