I was born in East Los Angeles to completely Mexican parents.  They may not have had their papers and they may not have been married.  The details of my family history are sketchy at best, but I know they weren’t musicians.

I picked up the guitar like the ape-man picked up a bone in 2001 a Space Odyssey and just sort of went crazy for a while.  This lasted a few years until I learned that you could actually “read” notes and bang bangs which I later came to call “rhythms”.   After that  I  became proficient in the art  of the (drum roll………) classical Spanish guitar.  Big surprise.  I was singled out by my first guitar teacher I say.  Nevertheless, I became pretty bad ass at playing the expected repertoire of Antonio Banderas movies.

Eventually I exhausted the joy of simply playing other peoples music and none of my own.  I also found out that I was too afraid to write my own music.  This lead to an interesting conundrum that lead to a B.A. in History from UCLA.  During this period my musical abilities lay dormant and only passed secrets between my imagination and my hands’ soul.

I decided to pick up the pace after my NSA (no strings attached) degree and applied for a job at Frys electronics store.  I was denied this job but was accepted to Cal State L.A. for a Masters degree in guitar performance, which was my safety application.  I didn’t have any music credits in my undergraduate degree so my master plan was bent and forced by way of administration into a bachelor’s plan.  I found myself at the bottom of the matriculation food chain, again.

Long story short I learned my ABD’s and flew colors and got my degree….my music degree.  The one that counts.  The one that sings.  My big score, if you will.  Now that I have my groove back I’m studying the ICIT at UCI living with my GF in the OC.