Midlife Crisis
Current

Ok, it's kind of the solo guitarist's dream: show up at a bar, they say,"Hey, do you play guitar because we're missing our lead guitarist tonight!" So, I met up these gents, sat in, and now, we jam once a week with a standin' gig at the British pub here in our part of Shanghai: The Thirsty Monk. It's straight-up pub rockn'blues and a good, good time!

Dos Hombres de Jazz
Fall 2006

This jazzy guitar duo was formed with my good friend Robert “One-Man” Johnson, and we focus on a jazzy blues and standards, as well as a few of “One-Man’s” originals. We play at dinners and banquets in Shanghai. This picture is from the early, casual days of "Dos Hombres." Now, it's all suits and ties and syncopation!

Jazz, Money & Murder
Spring 2006

Faced with the daunting task of choosing a middle school level musical for over 70 students, our school’s music teacher approached me with a concept for a musical set in a jazz club in the Thirties here in Shanghai. A chaotic and creative weekend later, Jazz, Money and Murder was born! We then put a jazz ensemble together and with Belle Santos’ choreography, we closed to wonderful smiles and rave reviews. A video clip of the finale is available at samscast.blogspot.com.

El Puente (“The Bridge”)
Fall 2005 – Summer 2006

A dance, rock ‘n roll band for parties and banquets in Shanghai. Although the band went through several personnel changes, it was fundamental always the same: good, ol’ fashion party and dance music!

Mama HuHu
Spring 2005 – Fall 2005

This small acoustic trio became the “yin” to all the rock ‘n roll “yang” going on over the first few years here in Shanghai. A cross between the acoustic style of the late sixties and the funky acoustic groove of the nineties, Mama Huhu played in local pubs in Shanghai for a year before disbanding.

On a fun note, “Mama HuHu” is Chinese for “so-so” or “just okay,”but it literally means “Horse, Horse, Tiger Tiger!” We had a fun time going to managers of Chinese pubs to get gigs and when asked what our name was, we’d reply, “We’re ‘just okay!’”

Grease
Spring 2004

My second “official” stage work, our high school’s production of Grease was backed by a teacher band. It was a fun exploration of Chuck Berry riffs and Fifties rock ‘n roll.

Old School
Spring 2004 – Summer 2005

Our first band in Shanghai. Originally thrown together to help out Shanghai’s Rock for Charity at the Ark in Xin Tan Di, the band was so much fun that we started playing parties and banquets in town. The band then morphed into El Puente (above) and kept rocking Shanghai!

This photo is me and the "cornerstone" of the band, my wife, Tara.

The Dependents – Yaounde, Cameroon
Fall 2002 – Summer 2003

We had a small expat community in Yaounde and soon found a few musicians to jam with on Sunday afternoons: another guitarist/vocalist, a great traveling drummer, and a jazz keyboardist out of New York City, who ran the bass lines with his left hand and melody lines with his right. We named ourselves “The Dependents” because we were all either dependent on our wives, girlfriends, or the government for being in Cameroon. We played rock ‘n roll at parties and charity events.

Godspell
Spring 2002

This rock musical needed a rock band behind it, so from heavily distorted guitar to sweet, melodic acoustic guitar, I sat upstage with good friends who were my fellow musicians, supporting an amazing cast of student-performers. This was my first ‘official’ musical theatre job, and it hooked me for life!

Whitney
Spring 2001 - Summer 2002

“The Dude,” a jazz trumpeter so nicknamed for the coolness he oozed needed a back-up band; thus, ‘Whitney’ was born. Thursday nights from 8 onwards in a cabin in the Andes outside of Santiago, we got together and jammed Grateful Dead, U2, and originals. Whitney was so named because the only other “person” besides the band that stayed up with us was the cabin owner’s dog, Whitney. We were an interesting collection of trumpet, Spanish guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and percussion … and the vibe was fantastic at the parties we played.