This CD has been literally twenty-four years in the making. In 1992 I set out to be a solo singer-songwriter, but I found there was no living wage to be made when one is starting out in the field of singer-songwriting. -and so I played cover songs to make ends meet. I must've played them pretty good, because that cover song show quickly morphed into an incredibly successful career! I got to travel all over the world for well over twenty years, all the while honing my craft as a live performer and musician. During my time on the road, I was still writing songs in the hopes of one day recording and playing them live. I'm thrilled that day has finally arrived here & now in 2015! -and so I present a very curated selection of stories, personal musings and philosophies mostly told from a sarcastic POV (I've come to realize I seem to embrace sarcasm in many of my lyrics in order to make a point). Here’s a little something about each song… just to give some context to songs you probably haven't ever heard before: 1 - OLD MAN RYAN EULOGY (1998) The 'George Bailey Question'  …If certain people were never born, would the world be any different?  -based on my asking this question about certain people I’ve met…. none of them named Ryan… but all of them at bars. 2 - JIMMY DRIVES A JITNEY (2014) Two things you need to know about this song: 1) A jitney is a shuttle bus.  In this case, it’s the Atlantic City Jitney.  2) Habu Saki is a saki from Okinawa that contains an actual snake coiled up in the bottle… much the way we put a worm in tequila.  Not easy to get this stuff shipped back stateside. 3 - THE TERMINAL STOMP (2013) We’re all gonna die… so let’s dance.  Atheism rocks!! 4 - LYIN’ IN BED (1992) I wrote this in 1992 about my wife’s ex.  Based solely on stories that I heard and how it affected that poor young girl I was dating.  I never met the guy so it’s not really fair to him.  I would welcome it if he wrote a rockabilly rebuke to refute all these charges.   5 - TONIGHT’S EPISODE (2012) The funny thing about addiction is… you don’t actually have to be an addict in order to enjoy all the things that addiction brings.  All you need, is to share your life with an addict.   One of the neat things about living with an addict?  No matter how your day might be, every night comes a different adventure… another mystery … and it’s always an episode. 6 - WWJD (1999) Written in the late nineties when WWJD was popular. Please don’t get all offended. It’s not about God or philosophy (I actually thought WWJD was a great philosophy regardless of religion or affiliation) … it’s all about hypocrisy. -and the story in this song is absolutely true! 7 - O-HIO (2001) Pure nonsensical lyrics, I know.  I uh... 'composed' this during the summer of 2001 while I was building a large garden in the yard.  I just kept singing this stupid song over and over again while I moved wheelbarrows full of earth.  -Couldn't get it out of my brain!  As the summer went on, the whole arrangement of sounds formed in my head.  This recording is pretty much exactly as I heard it right down to the steam valves, clanging pipes, “Turkey In The Straw” harmonica and indecipherable radio transmission.... and now it's here for you to enjoy.... -enjoy. 8 - ALL FOR TONIGHT (1994) I used to save up all month just to blow it in one night. We’d live like millionaires and then be sorry that we were broke the rest of the month. Looking back, many years later… those would be the nights we’d remember best. The moral I guess…? Why save money? 9 - LINUS’S CRISISES (2002) True story! Man… how does Bob Dylan sleep at night, knowing that I’m fast taking over as de facto poet laureate for my generation?!