Here are a few random notes that will help you understand the music and me. You can fill in the blanks. Instrument Sequence: plastic toys, cardboard drum set, accordion, piano, bugle, viola (high school orchestra), guitar (senior year, much too late), 12-string guitar (favorite form of acoustic), electric guitar, recorder, harmonica, synths, trumpet, violin, bass and banjo. Musical Obsessions: I try to get a tune out of any instrument I encounter. It is difficult to pass an instrument without playing it. Right Brain Encounters: Ogden Nash, Edmund Lear, Mad magazine, The Justice League of America, Aristophanes, Homer, Ovid, English Romantic poets, American Transcendental poets, Impressionists, Existentialism and the accrued legacy of 6,000 years of civilization. Left Brain Encounters: Euclid, Archimedes, Galileo, DaVinci, Copernicus, Darwin, Newton, Einstein, Sagen, Hawking, business management, project management, marketing and the accrued legacy of 6,000 years of civilization. Musical Persona: To quote “Wind Up” as performed by Jethro Tull, “…I\'d rather look around, compose a better song, cause that’s a honest measure of my worth…” I label myself a composer because I get great enjoyment from discovering a musical idea and building on it until it has enough elements to be called a song. It is also satisfying being a producer of a song, that is, making all the decisions on instrumentation, timing, structure and effects that take a song from a melody and accompaniment into a mature, robust work. On the larger scale, being the producer for an entire CD is rewarding considering all of the decisions to be made and all the people with whom you must work. Finishing the music is about 1/3rd of the effort required to produce a CD. All of the production decisions, whether it is packaging design, manufacturing, budgeting, scheduling or marketing, are based on the music. Although I write mostly instrumentals in many styles, I occasionally put on the singer/songwriter hat because that\'s the easiest way to get my songs recorded and out to listeners. SOONER THAN LATER AGAIN really deserves a comma to make it Sooner Than Later, Again because it is a re-issue of Sooner Than Later that I produced in 2006. STL is a proof of concept project to answer the questions: can I write, record, mix, and master songs, have them replicated, design the packaging and market it successfully? The answers are mostly “Yes”. (If you had bought multiple copies of STA, then the last answer would be “yes” too!) Fortunately, digital distribution and ala carte downloading encouraged me to do STLA. STA stands by itself because it contains the original versions of the songs. The arrangements and instrument voices changed a little on STLA. It also contains two more songs than STLA that I saved for a more appropriate release. The song “Where Are You?” is original here but partially re-written for STLA. You might consider STL the officially produced “basement tape” of STLA. STLA benefits from having been born in the studio. Recording, mixing, and mastering were done by an experienced engineer. Live drums and bass were used instead of their synthesized counterparts to add authenticity and vibrancy to the songs. Timing, song list and song sequence were changed to make the CD more cohesive. Since the songs are here on CD Baby for you to listen to, I’ll let you decide who I sound like. I’ll just say that STLA is a Pop-Rock CD that is influenced by classic, top-40 rock and has elements from contemporary artists. Each song has a strong melodic hook in it that will have you wondering what it is you are humming! (SOAP BOX ISSUE: Please buy entire CDs. Not just mine; but, all artists. Here’s why. Most artists believe in the songs they put on a CD and don’t add songs just for filler. They’re there for a reason, maybe even a concept. Think of all the good songs that you would NOT have heard if you had not bought the CD. The radio rarely or never plays deep cuts. You discovered those songs because they appeared before or after your fave cuts on the CD. They took time to grow on you; something you don’t get when you audition an ala carte list. So if you like several songs on a CD, take the leap, buy the CD and discover the other song’s merit. (The diff in cost is minimal!) Artists, reward your listeners for buying the CD by including a poster in your packaging. Put a banner on the CD cover telling them there is a freebie inside. A poster could be a full-page photo of the band or a collage of photos and info. Be creative, and rewarding, with your packaging. I now relinquish the floor to the Honorable....)