Sonic Soup biography

The Musician: I have loved music as long as I can remember. That’s just where I spent most of my time since I was about 6-10 years old. When I was about 15 or so, I got my first drum set. I went in half on it with a friend of mine and I kept it in my shed out back to play. We both had a key to it and scheduled times we could play. The funniest thing about this whole “drum” thing is that I first wanted to play a guitar and my family thought it would be too loud! I still can’t see the logic in that now (my mom and I still joke about it) but I’m glad I ended up where I did.

It was about 1997 or so when I started getting serious about singing. I was always singing with my musical friends as a teenager in the car, etc. But the person who inspired me to really push it was Paula Cole. After a chance encounter with a high school friend of Paula’s at Focus on Boston (a research marketing group) in1997, we had the chance to talk for a bit before the meeting that day, and he asked me if I had heard of her. I said no (I was a “metal” guy back then) but I told him I
would check her music out.

I bought Harbinger (her first record) and in the first thirty seconds I was speechless. That’s the music I would write (I thought to myself) if I was indeed a music writer! Her music (especially back then) has been the key factor in my motivation to keep singing. I’ve played, recorded, gigged and have been a musician since 1986, and no matter what happens with it, it will always be my first love.

The Life Coach: After reading Joseph Campbell’s work in class, I spoke with my professor at the time - Mr. Kenneth MacIver (bless him) and I asked him why the questions - Who am I, Where am I going, Why am I here? - isn’t a central focus in higher education? I said to him “What could be more important than these questions for a person’s or a people’s direction?

I ended up writing a very short story for a speech I gave at: “The Celebration of Arts and Sciences Day”at Salem State College in 1999. The speech/story was well received, and a classmate came up to me and
said “Thank you!! I’ve always wanted to work with children and now I’m going to!” It was on that day that my future seeds to write and become a coach began.

I heard that if you could help guide the direction of just one person’s life (for the better) it would make a huge difference. That is the basis for my Coaching practice. I wish to help as many people as possible to find “their
way” so that they can create a life for themselves that they can be happy and proud of... What more could one ask for?

The Sociologist: Graduates Salem State College in 1998. I intended on becoming a Nurse, but just about the last semester of the third year I had a change of heart. I was taking an elective course called “Myth, Ritual and Society” and the textbook for the class was The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. The book had such a profound impact on my way of seeing what life was about. The book’s premise is that if you could “Follow Your Bliss” then you would come to bliss. Since the term “bliss”(just like other important terms) can be misquoted and misunderstood, I substituted the word “love” instead (which I would assume is highest feeling of being alive), and it seemed to fit. Hmm, do what you love, and you will be filled with it (love). It made sense to me. “If you spend most of your time with what you enjoy most, you would most likely enjoy your time!” The logic here sounds like something out of the book “The Phantom Tollbooth” but it is very simple. Why would we be created to love (fill in the blank) most, but choose to be doing something else? The choice has always been up to us to follow this (feeling, calling, etc.) and see what happens.

If you can think of any person, who was: very successful, influential, happy, wealthy, healthy or all of the above - they most likely spent their time doing what they loved most. Why? They found their “gift”of love in what they did, and because of this it pushed them to do and become their best - simply because it felt great to do so. Everyone has a big dream or something that is deeply important to them, and it is there for a reason (I think as well as Campbell did) that it is there to be followed. If something you love deeply isn’t a compass for your life’s direction what would be?

I know there are plenty of people who disagree or feel like it’s too good to be true. The evidence is around us every day. All the people who we “look up to” for doing what they love are examples of what’s possible - no matter what the field. Still in doubt? Here’s a simple test. For one whole day spend time listening to music you don’t like, watching TV shows you don’t like, talking about things you don’t like, doing an activity you don’t like to do, wearing clothes you don’t like and eating things you don’t like...The next day do the complete opposite. Which day feels better to you? Now multiply that by about 30-40-50 years. Life would be kind of like that. (I’m getting grumpy just thinking about it!). Just remember, it is never too late to change the road you are on...If you are alive, there is still time left.

BIOGRAPHY