Welcome to my personal web site about my life with Cerebral Palsy and as a musician.
Hi!
Thank You so much for visiting my website today. Allow me
to introduce you to the world of Cerebral Palsy through the eyes of one man who spent his life with it.
It is my hope this site will show you what it is really like to be
a person with C.P. Unfortunately, someone with C.P. is often viewed as having less intelligence than anyone without a disability.
I'd like people to know this is usually not true because MOST of those I've known with C.P. were
and still are very intelligent, bright and extremely smart mentally and emotionally as well. Most folks only see our
OUTWARDLY appearance and judge us right off the bat as being mentally impaired too badly to associate with.
I will also share with you my experiences as a musician. I'm proud to
be a member of the Country Dreamers Band that my Dad formed together not too long ago. I play Acoustic Guitar in the position
of Back-Up Rhythm guitar for them. I've been in and out of other bands before joining up with Dad's band November of '99.
As a kid, growing up with C.P. had its ups and downs. This was mostly due to corrective surgeries and lots of therapy, which
is in itself quite painful to go through after an operation. I went through 3 of them myself, and the road to recovery was
quite a thunderstorm for a small boy who couldn't walk till he was 3 years old.
After that, the growing pains were
many, and I've sure had my fill of them and still have them today.
The last leg operation I went through left me
in body cast for 4 long months which is almost like being held captive in a prison. I was 14 at the time, and it took me
another year to learn to walk all over again.
During my time in that body cast, a friend of mine would bring two
guitars to my house with him to teach me the basics of the guitar. While he was in school during the day, I had no choice
but to stay home since I was in that body cast, so for something to do I'd pick up the guitar he left for me to practice on
and practiced till my fingers practically turned blue.
Through the years of practicing on the guitar, my Dad gave me a Bass Guitar to try out. I didn't get an amp with it, so I'd
plug it into my ole stereo and jam along with my favorite tunes on either the radio, tape player (which back then was an 8-track
tape player) or the phonograph or record player as it was often called in those days.
After doing that for about
8 or 9 months, I got an offer to try out for a Rock&Roll band, so I gave it a try. A month later, I was asked to join
that Rock&Roll outfit with my Bass Guitar. I didn't hesitate for a second in accepting their offer, and the following
night we began our first band practice session.
In a month's time, word got around of our progress, and we got a
band manager to help us get some shows to do on the weekends.
Band after band I would join -- then we'd go our separate ways, and it began to get to me. I began to wonder if playing in
bands was something I wanted to keep doing.
It reached a point where I was ready to retire the ole guitars and move
on to something else, and then it dawned on me that I really had no skills at anything else.
Besides, there wasn't
anything else out there that I had any interest in doing. I just felt out of place doing anything else, so that became my
strength to get back into guitar playing again, and within a few months, I joined up with another band.
They liked
the Heavy Metal style of Rock&Roll, and we kept at it for 4 months till that band decided they didn't want to do that
anymore. So, once again I was off to find another band to get into.
Switching from Rock&Roll to Country Music wasn't easy for a guy with C.P.
The style of playing was altogether
different. At least in my opinion it is.
For many years, I've been a Bass-Player for many Rock&Roll bands, and
now it was time for a change in my life. My Dad knew I loved entertaining people on stage with music, so he decided to give
me a chance in his Country Music band called "The Country Dreamers Band."
My Web Rings I Belong To
Accoustic guitar with animated notes graphic from:
This photo was taken on Oct. 2, 2004 while I was onstage with the Country Dreamers.
