I started playing guitar when I was nine after seeing the Monkees on T.V. "What a cool way to make a living", I thought. I wanted to be Davey but I dug the Mike guitar thing. I borrowed my cousin's green sunburst Tiesco del Ray guitar (I wish I had that now!) and took a few lessons off of a priest at a neighborhood church. A year or so later, probably in the summer of 69 or 70 our drummers cousin Kevin Angeline came to visit from Boston. Apparently Kevin was the cousin of Jimmy McCarty of Cactus fame at the time. Well, Kevin had this long shag haircut, a leather jacket and an old Gibson Les Paul Special and turned me on to the world of Lead guitar.
That was it - my life changing moment. From that point on I bought and learned all the Cactus records, Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, Humble Pie, the Who, the Stones, Hendrix. I learned it all. I was famous after the eighth grade talent show for borrowing an imitation Strat from a friend and smashing it to pieces during my rendition of Jimi's Star Spangled Banner. In ‘74 my dad came home from a business trip with my first '57 Les Paul Special reissue (I wish I had THAT guitar, too!) I took my guitar to the Jr. Prom in '74.
Actually I never went anywhere without my guitar. My grade school band Blue Smoke stayed together through grade school and into High School when I joined my first real "working" band.
Occasional Reign was the house band at the 3D Lounge in McKees Rocks. They had been around all through the '60's and were older than I was. Hell, I was a 17 year old kid still in High School. We played every Wed, Fri and Sat. I owe A LOT to that band because they opened me up to more than rock music. We covered everything from Yes and Kansas to the Beatles, the Bee Gees, George Benson, Steely Dan, oldies and Motown. They made me work because they wanted every song and solo note for note. I joined Hausen, a popular Pittsburgh band in the late '70's. That's when I first met Art and Joe although briefly. I really got interested in jazz around this time and studied for 2 years off of Joe Negri. Applied to G.I.T. in L.A., got accepted and never went.
From there I was in and out of bands here and in Cleveland. I played briefly with Trent Reznor in the Urge. Actually Trent was leaving to go solo and I was taking his place doubling on guitar and keys. We were courted by Warner Brothers, opened up for quite a few major acts, partied with Poison, and basically...partied.
'90's brought Seventh House, Stir Fry (a jazz fusion band) and Danny & the G-Spots. Yep, I fronted my own band (with the help of Mark Deluca on vocals) covering Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Santana, and old blues songs.
From there my circle widened. I toured with Ten Point Ten, a Christian rock band and started playing with the wonderful Shari Richards who had Hermie Granati on keys. Hermie Granati and I played a lot together (Hermie also played with B.E. Taylor, G-Force and sometimes Joe Grushecky). I landed a steady gig at Orchard Hill Church in Wexford where I got to play with B.E. a lot and Hermie and I did a steady Monday night gig at Carhop's in the South Hills where Joe would show up now and then. I told Joe one night back in around 1999 or 2000 that he should hire me. He thought I was too much of a "shredder". I gave him my number. Six years later Joe is quoted as saying "I shoulda listened"

I'm humbled and very blessed.