STILL PINCH MYSELF

Twenty-two years ago, and with only two guitars in my arsenal at the time, I became an artist endorser for Ibanez guitars.

I still pinch myself.

I won’t rehash the whole story, as you can find it on here under the title “20 Years”. Everything you need to know is there. But I will say that I purposely left out some of the negative aspects of being signed with Ibanez. And I don’t plan on airing those stories any time soon. Maybe privately to someone but in print, no. Safe to say that there were a lot of green-eyed monsters when I thought I would have had more support.

Oh well.

Also on this date, in 2003, my first cd was released entitled TWISTED METAL. Again, I’ve relayed the story of how quickly I assembled the songs and how fast it was recorded. But here’s some trivia you will find amusing…

I asked someone to burn copies for me and he did. Kinda. Upon hearing what was going to be my cd, it was someone else’s music?! And what made it worse, it was music that I felt like planting a tree to! The other guy got my music on his cd, and am sure he wasn’t thrilled hearing “screaming rat sounds” (as the drummer Darren Patrick put it). Needless to say, I had ONE DAY to burn a burn of cd’s quickly.

Raced to my parents, as they had a cd burner. I knocked out 10 copies in an hour or so, signed each one, and checked to see if I still had a pulse. Talk about stress! Even though these cd’s didn’t look professional, people still bought copies at the clinic the next day. I even mentioned how they almost heard John Denver-type stuff if I didn’t catch the mistake that afternoon.

Always double-check things, kids!!!

The guy who made the mistake burned me 10 more copies for free, so he made good on his word to fix things. And to think people would have assumed I was this gentle singer-songwriter. Nowhere close!!!

So yes, my career as a solo instrumental artist/Ibanez endorser started off with a Twilight Zone vibe. Seemed to carry onward in all aspects, right? I wouldn’t change a thing though.

Except the dude who slashed my tires.

Oh wait…I wasn’t supposed to mention that.