last updated april 18th, 2005: the dead: once again i spent my summer touring with the dead (formerly the grateful dead) as a drum-tech for bill kreutzmann and mickey hart on the "wave that flag" 2004 summer tour. this time around i was lucky enough to get bill and myself endorsements from evans drumheads, which means that i no longer have to pay for heads for a year. the high-light of the tour happened during the last show of the tour in atlanta, georgia. it's a long story, but basically due to the SNL "more cowbell" skit with will farrel - the crew was invited to play cowbells along with bill and mickey during the drum solo, and i was asked to play bill's drum-kit. click here to listen to drum-solo. click here for video of drum-solo. he best part about it is that on that last night of the tour i played in front of about 23,000 people. the next night i played with stereo grande in front of about 12 people. a very humbling experience, to say the least. i also spent another new years with the dead in oakland, california for a couple of shows.

the deftones: one of the managers on the dead tour also happens to be the manager for the deftones, and hired me as a drum-tech for drummer abe cunningham. i first met the deftones at their studio in sacramento, california for rehearsals in september of 2004 where i helped abe set up his new clear tama drum kit to his liking. my first deftones gig was a taping in london for the MTV show called MTV icon: the cure. once back in the states, i toured with them for a little over a month all around the U.S. and ended up at carriage house studios in hartford, connecticut on halloween, where the new deftones record was to be recorded. i worked with producer bob ezrin to get some good drum tones in the studio. ezrin was the producer on pink floyd's the wall, and has also worked with alice cooper, lou reed, peter gabriel, KISS, jane's addiction, and the darkness. shortly after i flew to mexico city, mexico for a deftones show on december 12th, 2004 with korn, ministry, ill nino, sparta, and puya.

phil lesh & friends: through my job as a drum-tech for the dead, i got a chance to meet and work with drummer john molo. molo plays with phil lesh & friends, as well as john fogerty, and used to be the drummer for bruce hornsby and the range. i was molo's drum-tech for a few shows in december 2004 at the warfield in san francisco, california, and a show in february 2005 at the bill graham civic auditorium SF. i have some shows coming up in may with phil lesh & friends, and am looking forward to working with molo again. he's an incredible drummer to watch. i also got a chance to meet and hang out with chris robinson from the black crowes. chris is singing with phil lesh & friends, and is a super nice guy.

stereogrande: in the past year, stereo grande has played about 70 shows all over the bay area, and we play just about every friday and saturday. our singer, ernesto, decided to up and move to new york to pursue his photography career, and we wish him luck. we now have a new singer, and his name is sam. we also have a booking agent, stereo grande merchandise, lights, and a fog-machine, not too mention a pretty big following for a cover band. we have an ever-increasing collection of bras and panties we've had thrown at us when we play. check us out if you're in the bay area.

the rocket queens: we have only played a couple shows in the last year. the rocket queens pride ourselves on our total lack of anything even slightly resembling initiative or commitment to the pursuit of this band. our show at the hard rock cafe in san francisco with teeze was a lot of fun, plus there was a special on buffalo wings. i guess the only real rocket queens news is that muff, slosh, and asshole started a scorpions tribute band called the virgin killers, and i bought a new pair of leather pants. oh yeah... if you like to spend money, you can now buy rocket queens merchandise.