Scant few photographs exist from the formative years of my musical life, which is unfortunate because Berklee was quite the scene in the early nineties. I can't tell you how many of the people I played with went on to professional careers in music of some kind, many right here in Los Angeles. As always, you can click here for a text-heavy version of the story of days gone by.

When at Berklee, you aspired to play in the Berklee cafeteria. I put together this 20-piece band--which I lovingly called Cosmic Chicken--in September of 1991. The name of the show was Cosmic Chicken Is Dead, and without tooting my own horn too much, I can say that it put me "on the map" in the crowded and competitive Berklee scene. I'll spare you the full band listing, but look closely and you'll see me in the middle, seated with an Adidas tank top on…and partner-in-crime Joe Travers in the top row, second from left. We were a hit, baby.

Joe Travers at age 22, setting up for Cosmic Chicken Is Dead. Only because of him am I in Los Angeles today. You'll be happy to hear that he's eating better nowadays.

That's me, weighing in at god-knows-how-many pounds, checking out the videotape of my just-completed Senior Recital in November of 1992. Looking on, from top left, are my sister Marcy, my mother, future Duran Duran bassist Wes Wehmiller, and trumpeter Matt Bowman.

Onstage again in the Berklee cafeteria, this time for a Metallica tribute show in early 1993. I was basically done with school by this point, but I was stretching out my last semester for as long as I could, because I had no idea what I was going to do after I graduated.

It all came together in August of 1993, when I scored the gig with Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa's band Z, thanks to a referral from Mr. Travers. After having flown to L.A., passing a searing audition conducted by one Mike Keneally, and flying back to Boston to pack up my apartment, I drove a U-Haul down to Westfield, NJ, bought a car, and packed it as full as I could. This shot was taken in my parents' driveway just moments before Joe (who already lived in L.A. and was home for a short vacation) and I embarked upon the cross-country trip to my new home, The City of Angels.