I’ve played music almost all of my life.
Drums mostly, starting in the fifth grade. Little me, learning stick grips, sitting on the floor in front of a Slingerland practice pad, one-e-and-ah’ing away at rudiments. My parents bought me a drumset. Tama with Zildjans. Countless hours spent trying and failing to play along with The Police, Rush, so many others. I know our neighbors hated me for it. I played continuously through school. Marching band. Orchestra. Solo & Ensemble.
Then came the bands. Bands in college in Athens. A band or two in Seattle (no one you would have ever heard of, although we did ‘open’ once for Modest Mouse — a birthday party at The Rendezvous). Some years passed without drums and my steering wheel drumming became even more annoying than it always was. I’m back at it now with an electronic Roland set in the basement. What a pleasure it is to play — it’s difficult to put into words.
Piano lessons started in middle school. A recital where I played Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer. Another where I played the theme song to Hill Street Blues. The TV Show. Yes, really. Always had some kind of keyboard in the house. An unflattering upright growing up. A no-name baby grand we seldom played but hauled across the country. A perfect-for-me full-size Casio with weighted keys right beside my desk now. It’s in all my Zoom calls. I play terribly but with passion these days. I really do wish I’d stuck with the lessons.
And now synthesizers. In the late 90’s I had a 70’s Roland keyboard but it mostly just sat there gathering dust. But recently, something clicked, and now it’s Bitwig this and Arturia that and a nice pair of HIFIMANs. I’m smitten with the Digitakt II.
So I posted the very first thing I created. The first track I “laid down” (who hasn’t ever wanted to say that?). Inspired by a terrific guy I used to work with who’s posting his daily synth explorations on YouTube, I thought, I must do the same, or at least something similar. That’s why there’s a there there.
Cherry Cola Coma was posted on February 20, 2026.
My previous YouTube upload, Guerrilla Street Artist… SPANKY?, was posted on December 5, 2015.
That’s a gap of 10 years and 77 days, 3,730 total days, or 322,282,898 seconds, depending on how you’re counting.
Some things take time.