I was born in Harlem, New York in 1962. The 60's, what a decade that was, and even though I was too young to experience it, I do remember some of the random images and the over shadow of the Vietnam War. I had two brothers already "in country," with yet another brother and cousin coming into the age for the draft.
    No.. The Sixties was an idea to me.. But the dreaded 70's, Now that was my decade of growth and consciousness. And just so you know.. Disco didn't kill the 70's; Saturday Night Fever killed disco.
    I was a product of the Catholic school system, from the word go… right up until I graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in 1979. Some things we should never inflict on our kids, and Catholic School is one of them. I believe I escaped with out too much ready-made guilt embedded in me. However I do bare the scars from Sister Mary-Ellen's ruler, and I do have a serious dislike to any form of plaid clothing.
    Regardless, Life went on pretty much normal for me, well,... as normal as it could be growing up in Harlem, I managed to make it thru puberty relatively unscathed.

   My first adult job after The Corps was working at Mount Sinai Hospital on 5th Avenue. I worked in the Transportation Dept, transporting everything from patients files to patients no longer with U.S... (Morgue Patience).
   Handling the dead is not a gig for everyone…the first time you hear air released from being trapped in the lungs, is a freaky event to say the least. It's funny how your rationalization skills quickly come on line...
The Hospital was a good paying job, it was at a time in my life that I was really on my own. I did all the cool things expected of someone in their 20's living in New York City with a disposable pay check.. I partied and went to Concerts.
   It was the 80's and Rock & Roll was hot Thanks to MTV. I saw everybody from AC DC to ZZ Top. My friends Peter, Julio, and I would camp out all night long on the sidewalks of New York, waiting in some line with the rest of the die-hard rockers, just to get good seats at a concert. Often you would see the same people again and again and very odd "Concert-line" relationships would end up taking place. It was an awesome thing to do, a sort of concert comrade took effect. People just sitting, lined up along the walls, on some street in midtown Manhattan.
   It was this love for music and entertainment that would change my life and cause me to go in a direction that is still influencing me today. This is where I got the itch to be a Lighting Designer.

   In 1991 I got an itch to travel, The depression hit Massachusetts hard and a lot of people were out of work. I had seen a lot of countries while in the Marines, but this time I wanted to do something different, I wanted to travel the tropics.
   I remember wanting to work on a Cruise ship back in the days of "The Love Boat" and being a lighting designer was a good gig to do aboard ship. I did some research and I applied for a tech position with Norwegian Cruise Line, but was turned down because of lack of ship experience. Can anyone say "catch 22".
   Later that summer I got a call from a friend of mine, also a lighting designer, we started talking about this and that and the topic of Cruise Ships came up. I told him the story of my Norwegian encounter and how they basically blew me off, so he suggested that I send my resume off to Club Med. with nothing to loose I sent my CV out. Within seven days I had an interview at Club Med. head office in New York, within two weeks I was on my way to my first village.
   ~Workin' for Club Med.~, Yes there was work involved believe it or not! Any of you who have been to Club Med. knows that the G.O.'s did a lot of work, and yes,. . . we did like it.
   There may have been a little bitching and moaning here and there but what do you expect after working for 6 months straight. Besides this is normal as with any job. The main thing is that the guests never see this.
   My Club Med. experience was a bit different than most G.O.s. My work was mostly done at night, so this left a lot of the day to "hang out". And hang out I did.. I spent a lot of time laying on the beach and working out in the gym. The atmosphere of a Club Med Village is very active, positively charged, and highly flirtatious, so being fit and energetic is a must.
   As far as lighting design went, Club Med. may not have been the Mecca for great Broadway performances, but I have to admit those kids did put on some really good shows, seeing how none of them were professional performers. The idea behind the shows at Club Med was having a professional technical staff to support the production, then the shows would have a spectacular impact, even if the performance were not top level. The overall experience gave me the opportunity to bring the ideas of several fledgling choreographers' to life, not to mention the experience of practicing my craft under primitive conditions.
   In 1994 the thrill of Club Med. was winding down for me. I had spent the last 4 years on a lot of beaches: The Bahamas, St. Lucia, Martinique, Turquoise, Ixtapa, and Playa Blanca. I loved the beach bum life, I got the chance to meet some really nice people and make some really close friendships. But the best part is I was probably in the best shape of my life. So.. in the latter half of 1994, I thought it was time to move on.. and I did

   Late '94 I said goodbye to Club Med. and returned Massachusetts were I tried to shake the travel fever. I had three jobs at the time and was trying to keep myself relatively busy. I had been home for 3 months, when right out of the blue, I got a call from a cruise line called Dolphin. They needed a sound and light tech to fill in while one of their Technicians went on Vacation. I accepted the position eagerly, it was an opportunity I had been waiting for. So within a week my bags were packed and again off I went on a new traveling stint.
   The ship I was on was called the MV Royal Majesty, it cruised from Boston to Bermuda on a seven-day schedule. 2 days at sea, 3 days in port, and 2 days back to Boston. I did this for 2 months and had a blast. Working aboard a ship is similar to Club Med. In that the party atmosphere is everywhere, but the lifestyle had a whole new set of rules.
Seems on a ship the contact between the guest and the crew is somewhat limited, not to mention there were curfews involved for the crew. So at 2:00 in the morning if you were caught above deck 2, you automatically turned into a pumpkin.
   The Royal Majesty got my feet wet for working on ships, it was quite a gig.. Not only was I the lighting engineer, but I also did the sound engineering for the show as well. Trust me this was not an easy task. I had only one week of training and there were 4 major shows I had to learn.. I did get through it tho,.. with the help of a great dance team and a lot of trial and error.
   When my two months were up on the Royal Majesty, I returned to Cape Cod and started working for a production company in Boston. I worked production gigs for six months and in the winter of '95-'96 I got a call from Royal Caribbean. Seems they found my resume after 4 years of collecting dust and decided to give me a call. Thank goodness I had some prior ship experience to show them 'cause they snatched me right out of the cold winter in Boston and sent me off to Puerto Rico.
   I found myself aboard the "The Sovereign of the Seas" one of RCCL's largest ships at that time. It was 12 stories tall and weighed 73,000 tons. This was my first large ship, and this would be my first 6 month contract. I was very excited to say the least, and I didn't miss the cold of Boston one bit. The 'Sovereign' was a fantastic ship and it is also were I would meet the young woman who would later become my wife ...
   I worked on the 'Sovereign' for 6 months and got a good dose of ship life. Cruise Line shows are much more professional than their vacation counter part Club Med. The dancers on the ships are auditioned and trained performers, this tends to elevate the level of technical requirements to an almost Broadway standard. The shows are much more elaborate and tend to have more visual effects with moving and programmable lighting. As far as production experience, this would also be my first contact with using pyrotechnics and Lasers on a regular basis.
   On a personal side, Royal Caribbean as a whole seemed a bit to stuffy for me. Too many regulations controlling the crew in an already limiting environment. I must say that even though I did like ship life, RCCL was a bit stiff necked for me. I needed a more relaxed and party atmosphere to really be happy, so, I did my six month tour on the 'Sovereign' and returned home for the summer.
   Winter '96 -'97 was in session and again out of the blue, Carnival Cruise line called me on the phone. I started to think all the cruise lines were either in a time vacuum or were in communication with each other. Needless to say with the coming of winters bitter chill, I happily agreed to take off for the tropics.. (there is a pattern here).
   I boarded the Carnival ship "Fascination" out of Miami, and cruised for six months during the winter of '96/'97. The Fascination was a large ship as well; 10 floors and 70,000. not as large as the Sovereign, but you really didn't notice. With these large ships, anything over 10 stories and 65,000 tons is huge, and the ships they have out now are even bigger.. imagine that.   Read here . Carnival to me is the best cruise line for young party goers. The vibe on Carnival ships seemed more lively than on RCCL. Carnival has less restrictions on the crew, and dress code is a bit more relaxed. And what better way to have happy guests . . . you need to have a happy crew, just that simple.
   The Last ship I was on for Carnival was in the winter '97/'98 ( this shouldn't be a surprise ). This was the oldest and smallest ship in Carnival's Fleet, The Tropical. This ship proved a challenge because of its size but also because it was an old vessel. I had technical problems out the yang on this ship. Everything from bad microphones to faulty electrical circuits. However, though it was a small venue and I was plagued with issues the shows had the same intense ness and integrity as the larger ships... it had to.. it was still Carnival..!
   I worked the Tropical for six months, I would have to say that this ship was my favorite. I made a lot of good friends and had a really marvelous time, . . and it was pretty much the end of my traveling days..