So, this is the "room" where I keep some of my musical "doodles." I began recording in the bedroom of my childhood home when I was about 14 years old using a 1963 Sony TC-200 open reel recorder. (This was that era's equivalent of the "boom box" - complete with detachable speakers. Regrettably it weighed 17 pounds and was about the size of a small valet - which made bootlegging a concert a little conspicuous.) I have graduated through every recording medium, many of which no longer exist or (at the very least) are now highly disregarded - two-track open reel, two-track cassette, four-track cassette, the Digital Compact Cassette (DCC), the MiniDisc (MD), and, now, the PC.

Without any musical partners, I have made all of these sounds in solitude using the technique pioneered by one of my heroes - guitarist, inventor, and fellow New Jerseyan Les Paul. He invented the technology which allowed "multitrack recording" - today simply referred to as "tracking" or "overdubbing" - which entails recording one layer of a song at a time. And so I became a virtual "one-man band." At times, the process was very, very lonely, but it also allowed me complete artistic control. (This also means I had nobody to blame but myself when the result was not as I had expected.) Recording a single three-minute song using this process - one track, one instrument at a time - can take up to five hours. At the end of this effort, you are either delighted with the process or sick to death of the song. I have experienced both feelings and so often I would record songs piecemeal - jumping from one song to another to keep myself engaged and amused.

I estimate that over the last 20 years or so I have recorded more than 300 songs in my home studio - pop, rock, R&B, jazz, standards, and, of course, Hawaiian. So from time to time I change the selections on this page depending on my mood...

...or the season. This season's selections are songs of winter and Christmas - my favorite time of year (if I must be stuck in chilly New Jersey instead of my preferred Hawaii). I recorded these over six days in December 2006. I was not aiming for perfection. I was aiming for an inexpensive, last-minute gift for family and friends. Because I love the songs of the holiday season so much, however, these have become some of my favorites. Despite that in my haste the results were far from perfect, they turned out to be the perfect gift - a gift from my own hands and heart. The arrangements vary from the simplicity of a man and his guitar ("I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day," "Silent Night") to multi-guitar, multi-percussion orchestrations ("Winter Wonderland," "Sleigh Ride"). With the understanding that all of the faults, flaws, and clinkers along the way have been preserved in the interest of time, I want to share these songs with you anyway with my warmest wishes for a holiday filled with peace, love and joy.

Wishing Everyone A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year...