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About The Writer

I was born in 1972 in Caracas, Venezuela, to an American mother and father who was also born in Caracas, but whose parents immigrated to Venezuela from Austria prior to WW II. From my paternal grandparents I inherited an appreciation for classical music. I remember, as a little boy, watching my grandmother give private lessons to students on the piano in her Caracas living room. I also remember hearing the amazing notes and songs she would play for herself and others. Although I never got to see him play because he was too ill, my grandfather was a very good player in his own right. What I REALLY remember listening to at their house as a kid, though, was the record Hooked on Classics. While there was often classical music playing on their record player, and even some opera (which I quickly learned I did not like), I always wanted to hear Hooked on Classics. I fell in love with it the first time it played. Years later, during the opening credits of what would become one of my all-time favorite moves — Trading Places — I thought to myself, “Hey! I’ve heard this song before!”

From my mother I inherited a love for a wide variety of types of music. Having grown up in the States in the 50’s and 60’s, my mom listened to and liked most popular music. When she moved to Venezuela, she came to also like salsa and merengue. She taught herself to play piano by ear, and I grew up hearing her play on our piano every night. Her favorite tune was Fur Elise. Years later, to my delight, the same tune would show up in a fantastic song by the band headlining the first concert I ever attended — Accept. The song is Metal Heart, and I’ll never forget the feeling I had the first time I heard the solo of the song. “Hey! I know that song!”

While I was growing up, my parents often hosted parties at our house. It seemed like every six to eight weeks, my sister and I would go to bed, while the sound of our loud wall unit A/C would drown out all but the loudest thumps of the bass beats coming from our back patio. My parents had a vast collection of LP’s, and a decent system to play them on — loudly! A friend had built for us a pair of sturdy, wooden cabinet speakers — the kind that, after a few drinks, you could stand and boogie on. We had a Technics amp (aka “tuner” today), tape deck, and record player (“turntable” today). The amp had two analog meters (L and R) with needles that bounced from left to right with each beat. I can’t remember ever not having a record player in the house. It was a big day for me when I was allowed to touch the needle, whether to start or stop a record. (Later, automatic record players would come in very handy, especially at the end of a side.) I recall that we had multiple record players. We also had cassette players (portable and component) and even a reel-to-reel player plugged into our main system. Eventually, we would buy one of the early CD players on the market, produced by Philips or maybe Realistic, Radio Shack’s house brand. (Like most people, we had very few CD’s.) We also had short-wave radios, on which we sometimes listened to news from abroad in English. So, while growing up, in addition to my mom playing the piano almost every night, we often had music coming from some type of player in the house. (And I’m talking before Sony’s ubiquitous Walkman showed up.)

As a very young boy, I can remember listening to such varied artists as Elton John, ABBA, Kenny Rogers, and the Eagles. Lipps Inc.’s Funky Town was quite popular. I also listened to the Spanish children’s group Enrique y Ana. And who could forget Menudo, who took Venezuela by storm, and who really rocked when they first came out! (If you’ve not heard of them, you’ve probably heard of the youngest one of them: Ricky Martin.) Through the years, from every trip to the U.S., my mom or I would bring back 45’s of the top 10 or 15 singles on the charts. Eventually, I would start buying and bringing back cassettes and 12″ remix records. But we were always adding to our collection of 45’s. My favorites were “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Charlie Daniels Band, “Hurt So Good” by John Cougar Melloncamp (as he was named back then), “I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and “Lick It Up” by KISS. A few of th albums that I played over and over were “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers, “Eliminator” by ZZ Top, and “Greatest Hits Vol. II” by ABBA.

From the summer of 1982 to the summer of 1983, I moved to the U.S. and lived in the small town of Mooresville, North Carolina. That year I got a heavy dose of the Beatles and Prince, two favorites of Chris, the cousin I was sharing bunk beds with. Chris was also the one that had introduced me to Aerosmith, whom his older sister listed to a lot.

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