Though I've made my living as a professional musician (watch for some music products in the future) , I've loved and been interested in magic since age 12. I know the fascination came earlier, but that's when it really took hold. When I was very young, maybe 4 or 5, I remember seeing magicians on TV. I'm sure back then it was probably on the Ed Sullivan Show. I saw these things that I knew couldn't happen, and yet there they were. I looked at my parents, and they gave me reassurance that it was just for fun and entertainment. But still, how did that stuff happen! Living in a small town in Iowa, how could anyone hope to learn about these things, let alone do them? By 12, though, I was trying to piece it all together, with no magic shops, clubs, internet, books, DVD's, and only a few similarly inclined friends who were also up for the quest. I'm sure that other magicians and hobbyists in my age group have similar memories. The ubiquity of magical information now seems unbelievable to that "12 year old kid" in me, and as much as I would have sopped up every bit of the "gravy" that's out there now, had it been available, I still think I wouldn't want to trade it for that slow path of gleeful milestones and hurdles I was forced to travel.      

    The discovery of a few magic books at the local library was a revelation. The magic issue of Science and Mechanics was an epiphany which lead to a few homemade projects. But the "Holy Grail" came when one of my friends discovered an ad for Vic Lawston's "House of a Thousand Mysteries." Not only were secrets available, real "professional" equipment could be bought! But the price for entering into that strange world was also one of secrecy and respect, much easier to uphold since the journey to the secret portal had been so hard.

    After that came shows at church and for local clubs, the discovery of catalogs from Abbott's and Kanter's and a long time association with a local professional, Walter Slazor, with whom I'd meet every Sunday afternoon. He was "The" local magician whom we'd seen at parties and marvelled at, and he'd blow me away with something each week, only to make me think about it for another week before teaching it or revealing the secret, if he did at all!

    Magic took a back seat to music in college, and when it came time to pick a profession, I was torn between the two. I decided, though I loved them both, that maybe in some ways I loved magic more. So why become a musician? I wanted something in my life that never lost the element of play, something only done because I wanted to be doing it at the time, and I wanted that to be magic. Being an amateur has allowed me to delve into all facets of magic without having to specialize. It's let me explore the commercial and the esoteric, to buy tricks I know won't be performed, and to experiment without boundaries or deadlines. Along the way I did make it part time work in that I marketed many products, but again, only when and how I wanted. I've been free to invent and explore, and I'm still as enthused by those "gleeful milestones and hurdles" as I was as a 12 year old kid.   

My previously marketed products include Warp II, Slate of Mind Revisited, Self Vanish Silk, and Creative Finance.

   Now that I'm making marketing my products a much more full time endeavor, it will be interesting to see how all this plays out. But I'm looking forward to the change and the challenges and the chance to reconnect with old customers and meet new ones. There's some old and some new here, though I suspect for many of you it will all be new. I plan to keep releasing things in the future and hope you'll all come along for the ride.

    I started playing piano at age 6 and drums at age 11. I started my professional playing career at age 14.

    After graduating with a degree in music from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa in 1971, I moved to Denver in1973 for a job at the newly formed Great American Music Machine (GRAM), a commercial production facility. There my job consisted of composing, arranging, producing and playing on a wide variety of musical commercials for clients from coast to coast in 40 states.

    During my years at GRAM, I gained valuable experience in a wide range of musical styles; everything from Rock to Jazz to Polkas to Country to Latin to MOR to Bagpipes...yes, Bagpipes! This was the type of experience that only years of daily full time production could provide.

    In 1976, when Time Magazine did a 13 city tour with a multi-media show to kick off their special Bicentennial issue, I did the musical score.  A few months later, I did another score for Time Life for a documentary on the Constitution. Portions of both scores were then used on a network primetime Bicentennial program which starred Howard D'Silva, reprising his famous Ben Franklin role from the movie "1776."

    I did the Coors music during the final years of their "soft sell" campaigns that featured waterfalls and mountain streams. During the years at GRAM I also did work for John Deere, Samsonite, The US Army and literally hundreds of other companies and small businesses.

    After GRAM, I did a lot of playing in clubs and freelance production, including work for IBM, AT&T and many projects for Ford. I also delved into a lot of the expanding technology of synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, samplers, etc.

    In 1983, EMU Systems held a national drum programming contest for their "then new" Drumulator. I won first place, and my program became the factory demo for the machine. Later, when they brought out their SP-12 drum machine, I programmed the factory demo for that as well.

    From 1988 to 2005, I played in the pit at a dinner theater, doing 8 shows a week. Now that I'm no longer there, I'm enjoying having my weekends and evenings back, and time to devote to magic, songwriting, recording and family.