Since I was a young boy I've soaked up music with a voracious appetite.

I started by performing for relatives on holidays, standing on the low, long coffee table in my grandparents apartment in the Bronx, singing show tunes and mimicking Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

I began studying classical piano around the age of seven, continuing into my teens, while also learning to play by ear and improvise, which my teacher despised. Boogie Woogie and blues piano players like Fats Waller and Professor Longhair were high on my favorites list at the time. When I was about 13 I began to figure out some of the popular rock, pop and show tunes of the time, often performing in talent shows and at school events.

A guy in summer camp (Camp Glenwood, in Sussex, NJ) who was a couple of years older than me was a pretty fine rock'n'roll piano player. He taught me how to improvise. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis as well as the Beach Boys, the Beatles and Elton John songs. I was riveted!

By the time I reached 14, I discovered the guitar. It traveled much easier than the piano and you could meet girls! I rarely was seen without my 1967 Epiphone acoustic guitar for the next 20 years. I picked up a 1972 Fender Telecaster and learned how to play mandolin too, playing these instruments as well as a Fender Rhodes electric piano and various other keyboards in bands with strange names like Devil's Chamber, Lost Highway Ramblers, Mark Twang, The Feds and Stonedeaf. All primarily cover bands. I was never much of a songwriter. I figure if you can't write like Lennon or Hunter or Dylan, why bother? I still get out and jam from time to time, but haven't really played a "gig" in years.

In the mid-70's I started going to concerts regularly. Living a short train ride from the Big Apple made it so easy. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Yes and ELP at Madison Sq. Garden. Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Tour. David Bromberg, Loudon Wainwright III and many others at the Bottom Line and other cool clubs in Greenwich Village in NYC. All-nighters with Hot Tuna at the Academy of Music on 14th St. Jazz at the Vanguard and Sweet Basil. Tony Williams Lifetime, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter... Chick Corea and Return to Forever! Frank Zappa & The Mothers at the Capitol in Portchester, NY and on many a Halloween at the Felt Forum. Dire Straits, Little Feat and so many others way to numerous to list. I never saw Bob Marley, which I wish I had, but I've seen Bob Dylan more times than I can count.

Then came the Grateful Dead. Through out the late-70's, the 80's and into the 90's I attended hundreds of Dead shows, Jerry Garcia Band shows and related bands, all over the map. My current collection contains several hundred shows, many of which I attended and some of which I recorded myself on a tiny SONY D-5M stereo cassette recorder. It was state of the art in its day. You couldn't find a smaller, more reliable machine. Perfect for sneaking in to shows, especially during the early 80's, (the Arista years) which was the only time security made an issue of it. I spent hundreds on Maxell cassettes, adorning them individually with my own psychedelic artwork and cherishing them. I guess I got a bit obsessive about it.

In about 1990 I heard about this silly little band from Vermont called Phish. I went to see them play in a bar in NYC. I was not impressed. About a year later they kicked-off a concert series at the Arrowhead Ranch in Parksville, NY where I was working as promotional director. Those two days with Phish and The Giant Country Horns are now the stuff of legend in Phish Phan circles. I attended many, many Phish shows after that, eventually getting to know the guys in the band and enjoying somewhat privileged access on occasion. If you check out the inside photo in the cardboard CD sleeve that comes with "A Live One" you can see me, the only face in focus in the middle of the photo, arm's folded, watching the band intensely. That's from Madison Square Garden 12/30/1994.

But The Dead and their music still bring me joy in a way like nothing else on the planet. God, I miss Jerry. If you're into the Grateful Dead and their music, or if your not but your curious, you can listen to or download a motherload of high-quality recordings on Archive.org I recently read Phil Lesh's memoir "Searchin for the Sound" and I highly recommend that to anyone interested in the band and the culture surrounding them.

Over my lifetime I've built a substantial collection of music on vinyl, cassette and cd but now most of my ear candy comes from a 2Tb hard drive full of mp3s. I have 100's of live concerts as well as albums way too numerous to mention here. Friends all over the world are constantly adding to my mountain of music. I truly believe I have more music than you can listen to in the average lifetime. I think I may have enough Miles Davis alone to last a month.

I still get out to see live concerts on a regular basis, but now I prefer the intimacy of smaller venues with usually lesser known bands. I hate the way the concert industry has corporatized and I hate being treated like cattle. So the stadium shows, the basketball arenas and even some of the "shed" type amphitheaters, are just too big for my tastes now. Some of the festivals I still enjoy include Mountain Jam, JamCruise, Gathering of the Vibes and High Sierra. These are small events compared to those huge festivals like Bonnaroo.

I don't want to sound too much like an old curmudgeon. There are several newer young bands on the horizon that I think are destined for greatness. Check out San Francisco's Tea Leaf Green and ALO.

And, it makes me proud to say, I've passed my love of music on to my children, who all have diverse tastes, mostly good ;), and are constantly listening to music.

If any of this peaks your curiousity, just give me a shout and I will be happy to talk music with you for hours on end.