| If you have actually ventured this far, you must be somewhat interested or have really nothing else better to do, so here goes another few minutes of your life. I was born on September 20, 1969 in Springfield, MA. I currently live in Connecticut with my wife and son, and pass my restless time in many different creative ways, such as the one you are now reading. I grew up in Worcester, MA, so all condolences and sympathy cards are accepted. After many years of unvoluntary experience and careful research, I came to the conclusion that Worcester sucks. Those of my friends and family that are still stuck there, well, let's wish them luck and happiness, they need it. I spent my childhood summers here in Southeastern Connecticut, where I have many fond memories and have always wanted to live. I grew up in lousy public schools and I give them no credit for my education. I graduated from North High School in 1987 and went to Worcester State College where I was an English major and a music minor. I found college to be an expensive and disappointing experience. Hey, if you could throw a football good, you were in like flynt, even if you were only as smart as a cherrystone clam. The rest of us had to pay out the ying-yang for 'education fees', where in other countries the goverment was smart enough to realize the importance of and the advantage to teaching it's population not to be a nation full of idiots. Stupidity breeds stupidity. Our nation often supplies living proof. Education is important, but it should be a right, not a damn financial burden. I had a blast hanging out with my friends and playing music, In the early 80's, we formed a metal band and named it Ultrafil (after a dental product that my Dad was selling at the time) and had a great time playing music and shows for about 6 years. Nothing came close to playing thrashing speed metal at decibles loud enough to kill small rodents. I made some great friends along the way, some of which I still today consider brothers. I also got to jam with some of the most kick-ass musicians in the whole damn state. Shit, I was always the one trying to keep up. Even today I have trouble believing we pulled off some of the stuff we used to do. After my guitar (a nice Gibson) was stolen from our practice studio one evening, I decided to quit playing in a band. I had had enough and I wasn't really cut out for it anyway. I sold the rest of my major equipment, bought a cheap acoustic guitar, and have been strumming soothing melodies ever since. My interest in film making began as early as I can remember. I was about 8 when I fooled around with an 8mm camera, making a stack of cups disappear one by one using stop motion photography. At the time Ray Harryhausen, the stop motion artist who brought us the Sinbad movies, Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island and others was my idol. Then I saw Star Wars and I was so blown away that I had sank permanantly into a film fantasyland. I loved horror and sci-fi movies and spent my Saturdays ritualistically watching the Creature Double Feature with my good friend and neighbor, Tim Tully. My cinematic education began with every B-movie ever created. Stalkers, slashers, undead psychos, killer dwarfs, slimy aliens, zombies, vampires, werewolves, witches, giant insects, rabid grannies, radioactive mutant amphibians, and cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers was all I consumed on the tube all the way into my early teens (along with an unhealthy dose of the Three Stooges, of course). I eventually grew out of the horror and fantasy stuff a bit and began to appreciate all types of films and read up and learned what I could on film making (I was always one of the nerdy kid at the library). When I was about 15, we started making home movies with my Dad's VHS camera. Usually by brother Dave, along with my good friends Tim, Mike, Glenn, Steve, Dave, Paul, and Sean (and whoever else was around) would gather on a boring Saturday and make funny movies, most of the time where we beat the living crap out of each other; Smegma County Massacre, A Yuletide Suicide, Stayin Alive, USMC SPY!, Holden Hardware Horror,The Blob Kills Legoland (filmed in miniature even), and hundreds of hours of other stuff so lacking in good taste and decent humor that I couldn’t bear to even begin to mention them here. But we learned our skills rather good. In the meantime, we made a little money filming weddings, live music, reunions and other odd jobs. It was a lot of fun. After 15 years of making home movies, I still don’t have something decent enough to show my mother. For shame. We’re working on that though… I sold all my film equipment (a great set-up at the time) to have some extra money to go to Europe for a while. My girlfriend at the time had moved back home to Berlin, Germany, and I was going there to visit her for a while. Well, romanced ensued, and we were married in Berlin and I wound up staying there almost 4 years. I worked at a cool magic store in Berlin, Freer's Zauberladen, and taught English for Berlitz Language Schools. I made some great friends, had some great times, got fat drinking German beer, saw a lot of Europe, and learned a lot about myself and the world. I also learned a lot of magic, a hobby I had started in my early 20’s. Through two of my German magician friends, Dennis and Ronnie, I was lucky enough to have been a "permanent guest" at The Berlin Magic Circle, and met a lot of magicians who taught me more stuff then I will ever be able to remember. Working at a magic store was also great fun; doing magic and puzzles all day, selling costumes and makeup and gag gifts. My boss Frank and his wife Dagmar were really cool to me, although they spoke little English. I would get to go to all the shows and conventions for free, and I got to read and learn thousands of dollars of magic secrets for nothing. I performed shows for kids and birthdays and at conventions, but speaking crappy German made it all difficult for me. After an unsettling incident at a lesbian witch costume party that I was hired for, I quit performing all together for a while. But I got to meet a lot of the top names in magic, and after seeing what freaks some of them are, I was glad that I was still just ‘strange’, and hadn’t yet graduated to total freakhood. Not a bad deal. Of course my German was lousy through it all, but I eventually learned to read and write it good enough to fudge a conversation. I consider the hours I spent traveling on buses and trams back and forth to work everyday a blessing, as I was able to read two or three books a week. I read a lot of history, psychology, philosophy, science and filmmaking (and of course a ton of garbage) and tried to give myself the education that the cruddy Worcester school never gave me. My good friend Frank Pfitzner, showed and taught me many things about Berlin and German life in general (and we had some good jams). It was a well spent four years. My wife and I returned to America in 1999 and got a starter job as a poker dealer an Evil Indian Casino and my wife as a teacher in a preschool. I then moved into human services, where I believe I am most productive. Adjusting to being back in America was not as easy as I had thought it would be, but naturally, it all fell together. So in the meanwhile, I spend time with my family, hang out with friends, watch movies, write stories, study film, practice a magic trick or two or strum an old medley while I watch the sky. I’ve been working on a script for a film project that I've had an idea for for a long time. Along with my bro and my loyal pals, we hope to get it done and enter it in some competitions later this year. I continue to read and write and better myself as best I can and come to terms with my imperfections and understanding who I am and who we all are. I look forward to raising a family and having time to follow my dreams and ambitions. There's a lot to do in a short life. Speaking of time, haven’t you wasted enough of yours on me? If you really made it his far, I thank you for listening. Now, go find something better to do… HOME |
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