My Dad once said the perfect age for a guy is 39 so who am I to argue? Simply stated, no nips, no tucks, the love of Linda, married now for half my life, and a bunch of luck.
This post is not realy about my music, just about trying to live fully in what is both a magical and challenging world.
I will keep it short. First thirteen years in Central New York ending the ride as an Eagle Scout, with summers with my Dad at the Jersey Shore, three years in a stern boys school in the middle of a forest, college at Rutgers, just like my Dad, then the Air Force, where I earned the Commendation Medal for non-combat service, then commercial TV and radio split about 50-50 for nearly a decade, most always live being a "one-take Charlie," ending up on radio at KBLA-AM in L.A.
Before I put my nose to the grindstone with songwriting, spent many years in corporate communications, both on the agency and large company side. Got lots of practice writing and that has put me in good stead on the lyrics part of what I do now.
With the melody part, never took interest in lessons. Chuck Berry and this three-chord rock and roll got my engines revving! I am a melody first guy, save for "Emma-Jean" and I expect to keep that style in stride.
So thank you to my mother, Thirza, and my late father, Rudy, for giving me great genes and much gidance and parental love. And to the lovely, Linda, married to me for 30 years now, you are and always will be, my world.
Three of my sisters, Linda, Carolyn and Mary are dear to my heart, along with hundreds of friends who have been there for me every step of the way.
One of particular note, is Chuck Yeager, my first commander in the Air Force and the pilot who first broke the speed of sound. Boy, did he have the "right stuff!" The second Sam Brown, who was Michael Jackson's songwriting coach before he put me through his no-mercy "boot camp and set me straight in a hurry!"
Leave you with this: "Winning does not guarantee an enduring, uplifting legacy; being an honorable person does."
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