A heartfelt thank you for visiting my blog, Life Beyond the Cymbals, and to visitors willing and able to to support the work with a donation.

Started in April 2014, Life Beyond the Cymbals is mostly about drumming and drummers. It’s about passing along music/life lessons I’ve learned from some of the world’s greatest drummers . I hope some of these stories are helpful to you.

My professional work is in public relations, writing, marketing, and communications across all media, with a 25-plus year track record in high profile positions.

After a start as freelance writer for Modern Drummer magazine in 1977, founder/publisher Ron Spagnardi hired me as MD‘s managing editor (1980-1983). I was the contact with MD‘s freelance writers and photographers, making sure we had by deadline, all the features and columns, with photos, needed for each issue.

In addition to my managing editor duties, I wrote almost 50-percent of the MD’s feature stories by the time I left in 1983.

My MD interviews included Max Roach, Mel Lewis, Neil Peart, Charlie Watts, Bill Bruford, Gary Chester, Joe Morello, Freddie Gruber, Roy Haynes, Paul T. Riddle, Butch Trucks & Jaimo, Artimus Pyle, Jim Gordon, Fred Below, Shiela E, Paul Motian, Jim Keltner, Alan Dawson, Carmine Appice, Dave Weckl, Max Weinberg, Jason Bonham, Teri Lyn Carrington, Barry Keane, Roy McCurdy, M’Boom, and Ed Blackwell.

I also wrote the first published History of Rock Drumming as a five-part MD feature series,

My writings have been cited in several books including, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz; Max Weinberg’s The Big Beat, and Robin D.G. Kelley’s Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original.

Once again, thank you for supporting my work on this blog.

My complete resume is available here. Feel free to contact me anytime. I am always open to your good ideas for making this a better place.