"I was born In England. My Parents escaped from Europe in 1939 while many of their immediate family perished and started a new life in that foreign country….England. They learned about the Royal Family, cricket, fish and chips and how to speak English… 'Ooh. It looks like rain, doesn’t it dearie, but mustn’t grumble.' Stiff upper lip and all that! In my Wellington boots ('Got me Wellies') I enjoyed the rain. I went to ‘Thomas Gray School’ in Slough and learned to play ‘marbles’ and ‘conkers’ in the playground, If anyone had a tennis ball we would scuff up our shoes and clothing playing the greatest game in the world, soccer. I was the eldest of three with a brother and sister.
I grew up. Discovered guitars, skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, girls, driving, Hank Marvin, Buddy Holly and Gus Goodwin. Had to have a 'Futurama' and a 'Vox' Amplifier (see the Gallery). First band: 'The Grasshoppers,' with Michel Sable, Geoff Pagett and Brian Belcher…..School halls, dance halls, clubs….. Call me guys!
Came the sixties and we reclaimed The British Empire for The Beatles and Carnaby Street. Jolly good, chaps! Everything seemed set, but wanderlust was creeping in.
With two good friends, I left England in 1970 and ended up in Australia for about 4 years. It was there on the Phillips label I recorded such gems as 'Don’t Drop That Bomb On Australia' in response to the French blowing up the Pacific island of Muraroa with nuclear weapons. No worries mate!
It was also in Sydney where I met Ellen from Wichita and was saved from my ragamuffin ways.
I have traveled through many countries, including some that are now verboten. I have seen the Taj Mahal, The Pyramids, Petra, Babylon, Baghdad, Kabul, Bam, Mt. Ararat, Mt. Everest and Batu Feringi Beach. I have witnessed The Ketjak Dance on Bali, been thru' the Khyber Pass, sailed from Jakarta to Singapore on the 'Tampomas' (which later sank) living on fish heads, stayed on a houseboat in Srinigar and been stranded in Kathmandu. I have played chess in Damascus, left Beirut in a hurry, Been to ‘Yad Vashem’, the Wailing Wall, crossed the Allenby Bridge, crossed the infamous salt bed lake in Iran (failed Jimmy Carter hostage rescue attempt) on top of a beat up school bus like Lawrence of Arabia, with only a compass. I have seen Bhorobodur, snorkeled The Great Barrier Reef, played guitar and sang in the Sydney Opera House and played a week at Folk City in New York. I have a guitar made for me by Travis Holley, Buddy Holly's brother.........Filed past Winston Churchill lying in State in Westminster Abbey, been to Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam,....Saw Jimi Hendrix and Manitas De Plata at the Royal Albert Hall..... Bob Dylan at the Isle of Wight…….
I have three children with the lovely Ellen and we all live in a cottage by the sea in Los Angeles. A fairy tale ending.
Did you say 'Say something about the music?' Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It’s Folk/Rock
That's enough for now! More soon……"