Personal

A little something about me...

Although I now dedicate much of my time to academics and research, I spent a lot of my time in college pursuing other interests. I initially chose Webster University because I had hopes of becoming a sports broadcaster. They also happened to be one of the schools recruiting me for basketball. As it turned out, the world of broadcasting was a bit too fickle for me. So, as a sophomore I shifted my focus to psychology while dedicating much of my time to the basketball team as co-captain.

Before completing my PhD, I was fairly active in both music and comedy in the St. Louis area. I was a member of The Madding Crowd and Degrees of Sanity improv comedy troupes, which also provided me with an opportunity to write sketches for a new variety show pilot. Unfortunately, the group disbanded and so did our dreams of producing the pilot. Too bad...it would have been HUGE!

Despite spending much of my time in college on the basketball court, in the fall of 1998 I became a member of the Webster University Jazz Singers. This turned out to be a great decision for me. I hadn't been actively involved with any sort of music since my childhood days. For the fall talent show I recruited a piano player and bass player both studying jazz at another university. I sang "On the Street Where You Live" and something happened that hooked me. Cheering, applause, even a few screams (could've have been because somebody was mugged in the middle of my performance...but who cares about the details). The other members of the basketball team didn't believe that I was going to sing. They were convinced I would be doing a stand-up comedy routine. As it turns out, some of them are still convinced that's what I was doing.

In the spring of 1999 I teamed up with some musicians from Washington University in St. Louis and we put together a swing band for a battle of the bands held at Washington U. The other members of the group felt that the perfect name for our band was "Big Red and the Snappy Dressers". So, with our ever-so-catchy name we entered and ended up winning the battle of the bands. The grand prize: the opportunity to be the opening act for They Might Be Giants at the Washington University W.I.L.D. festival. Although I had no idea who They Might Be Giants were, I decided that just winning wasn't too bad for my first time performing with a band in front of a live audience.

After our grand performance at the W.I.L.D. festival, the band quickly fell apart as several members graduated and moved on to bigger and better things. So, with the help of a recent graduate of Webster University who was familiar with my name as a jazz-singer, I assembled and began performing with a jazz quintet. Swing was quite popular at the time, so we frequently filled in for other bands at swing nights. However, our swing was much more laid back than what most of the dancers were craving. Our style was similar to that of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Chet Baker, Joe Williams, Harry Connick Jr., etc. Sometimes we were the focus of the night, other times we were simply the background music.

During this time, the same person who helped book my quintet became the executive producer of a syndicated morning show based out of St. Louis. I helped him out with short bits on the air, such as providing voices and other humorous elements. I also helped him with some musical elements on the show including a tribute to the Rams (called "Warner #13") set to the music of "Mambo #5". For some unknown reason, it was requested and played nearly every morning during that NFL season and it was used by local news stations in commercials for the Rams. The Rams went on to win the Super Bowl that year (I like to think...and I'm sure the Rams players would agree... I had something to do with it).

After traveling with the Webster University Jazz singers to perform at the 2000 International Association of Jazz Educators convention in New Orleans, I began to search for an opportunity to perform another style of music that I have always loved...R&B. So, I put together a dance/cover band called "Fatty BoomBaLatty". We played any kind of music you can dance to: disco, funk, swing, rap, hip-hop, R&B, oldies and rock. We had a great time playing all over the St. Louis area. However, it came time for me to move on myself, so I moved to Stillwater to work on my PhD, and eventually moved on to Lubbock. In December of 2006 I got married in Hawaii and it was an amazing trip. We went zip-lining, 4-wheeling, whale watching, canoeing, golfing, hiking, snorkeling and still found time to get married. And so, the journey continues...