I heard these stories [about musicians from my mother] and somehow music, it was my understanding what my father had done. I didn't know it was misinformation. It sort of inwardly in my psyche laid the template for music being affiliated with my father and my family.

I got to talk to Mel Lewis a lot as a teenager. I think that's what really impacted me the most around that time.

Bob [Gordon] died young tragically.

I left school December of 1988. I was 21 at the time. And I hadn't quite finished my degree because I had done eight semesters, not understanding that I was going to have to finish the degree without the TAPP and Pell grant money that I had been using towards paying for much of my college tuition. And I didn't have any money. So I said, "Alright." And circumstances there were such that I thought it was maybe time to move on anyway.

I went in [Sweet Basil band] and played with them, maybe half the gig for almost eight years or more.

Your optimism today will determine your level of success tomorrow.

Thoughts are magnetic. What we think about we attract.