More About Me

I started shooting pictures out of high school, first in Toronto then Vancouver. In Vancouver, I was hired by all the record companies to shoot the record execs backstage with the bands. Not only did the record companies pay me for going to these amazing shows, but I had backstage and frontstage access to shoot the concerts and sometimes even took pictures at the sound checks.

A couple of years and a hundred or so shows later, I decided to move to Los Angeles. I’m saving that story for the book but I will say it was hard since I didn’t have a green card and didn’t know anyone. Within months of being in L.A., I came up with the idea to do a coffee table book of artwork done by musicians. I wanted the book to be taken seriously so I set out to find six musicians who had an extensive body of work and could have made their living as artists had they not found success in music. Three and a half years later STARART was published. The brilliant artist/musicians that participated in the book were JONI MITCHELL, JOHN MAYALL, CAT STEVENS, KLAUS VOORMANN, RON WOOD and COMMANDER CODY. We did a few gallery shows with 36 pieces of original works from the book. The openings, attended by most of the artists, were a blast. This is the book cover:

Yes, it looks a lot like The Beatles Revolver cover but that's because it was designed by Klaus Voormann who also did the Revolver cover. The book is currently out of print but there a few used copies floating around the internet for several times the original price. There are also portions of the book reprinted on some fan sites - mainly Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens. Google the title if you want to check it out. Just do me a favor: come back here and let me know what you think.

After the book I got a short-lived job shooting production stills on the second Breakin' movie. I parlayed that into a career designing movie posters. Hit the Chesher Cat Productions link to check them out. I also did some acting - see my stellar credits on imdb, or better yet, don't. And the past several years I have been writing screenplays. Nothing up on the silver screen yet but I have been optioned and am determined to get something made. I'm currently finishing my latest screenplay, My First Kiss, which I am also planning to produce.

And, of course, I am working on Everybody I Shot Is Dead. Hence the blog. For the first few posts I'll play catch-up - how I came up with the idea, who's in it, my decision to take it to last year's book convention and what's happened since. Then I'll go into real time and share the process of making the book a reality - the up and downs of both the creative and business sides. Also if you're interested, I will post photos and stories of the bands I shot that are still living. I shot a lot of great bands from Genesis and Pink Floyd to the Eagles and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and on and on...

I hope to build an intimate, interactive creative community with this blog. Please make comments, ask questions and offer suggestions. Nothing is off-limits. I'm counting on your participation to keep me on track and make Everybody I Shot Is Dead a reality.