Long Bio
This is my bio as a blog. It's okay if you skim.
Songwriting
The first band I was in during high school in Farmington, CT, was Da' Plain Truth. We were a bad, suburban rap group. The songs were bad. The one show we did was probably bad. Me thinking I should be a rapper was also bad. But I do trace a lot of my lyric writing and vocal delivery back to this. I think that I often have a rhythmic delivery not common in acoustic music.
While attending the University of South Dakota I really started writing songs. I counted about 180 once but that includes a lot of bad things that I've long since forgotten. Right now I have around 50 that I think are good or will be with some work.
Which brings me to my theory of writing. If you want 50 songs you feel good about, you have to write 130 songs that are embarrassing.
Music
When I ask people who they think I sound like, I often get alt. 90's acoustic groups like Barenaked Ladies, The Lemonheads, They Might Be Giants, and Paul Westerberg of The Replacements. I get why people hear them, but I'm not sure any of them are quite right. Which is fine.
"What kind of music do you play?" is a common question. I usually say Alt-acoustic. It's almost all acoustic, but it's not what people think of when they think of folk. Folk has a more delicate quality to it. Even my slower songs are not delicate.
I read an article in Spin long ago where some guy coined the term "acoustica". He applied it to Ani DiFranco and Duncan Sheik amongst others. Now, I don't think I sound like either of them unless you think we're all in the same genera then BOOM! I totally sound like them. But maybe there is a similar aesthetic. Not sonically, but in energy?
Health
In 2001 I was diagnosed with arthritis. I was at a point where I couldn't predict when I would get knee, wrist, or back pain. I was on Viox for a while and got nothing except heart palpitations.
Turns out I was misdiagnosed.
What I actually have is a wheat allergy. In my case, when I over dose on wheat I get arthritis-like symptoms. So if I have a low low wheat diet I'm pain free.
Theatre Stuff
After being diagnosed with arthritis I gave up music and started to write plays with some success.
I won a grant from the MD arts council, a play commission from the city of Frederick, admission into the Kennedy Center's emerging playwrights training program, and a fair number of productions. I also spent from 2004-2007 as the artistic director for The New Play House, a theatre company focused on developing new plays.
I also produced Theatrically Speaking. The first playwriting podcast in the history of recorded time. The show faded long ago, but it's still on iTunes if you search.
When The New Play House closed at the end of 2007, I spent a while rethinking what I wanted to do. I knew about the wheat allergy thing so after dabbling with video game writing and indi film making I went back to music. My good plays are under the Theatre Plays tab, available for free download. Let me know what you think.
Family
My lovely wife, Lisa, and I had a baby in 2007. Milo Fox is crazy and possibly smarter than you.
