Hi. Since I'm the person largely responsible for all this crap, I figured I'd use this page as my own little bio deal. Be warned that the below will probably be pretty damn boring.

Basic facts:
Well, I'm not from around here, but I currently call the hot, chemical-flavored steambath that is Houston, Texas, home. Came here for college and just stuck around, I'm afraid. I work for The Man, doing technical writing stuff for big, evil, oil-related companies and rationalizing it out that hey, I need to eat (and yes, the work is interesting, from time to time). When I'm not at one of several offices I'm hanging out in the freakin' huge house over in Meyerland, which is inhabited by me, my wonderful wife Kim, three demented dogs, and a very cute little munchkin with sharp teeth and an enduring love of Metallica and Outkast. I listen to a lot more music than is healthy, read lots of weird shit, watch far too many movies, and can play the Kevin Bacon Game like a mofo.

I also try my hand at a number of other pastimes, including traveling as much as possible (Ireland in '99, Fiji in 2000, and Morocco, Spain, France & London in 2001), cooking, rock-climbing (mostly indoors, since Houston's flat as a pancake), and attempting to learn how to surf. For a while I was running pretty religiously with a freaky group of people called the Houston Hash House Harriers, but I've been slacking lately, what with the move and all. I used to write songs, play guitar & yell in an indie-rock-ish band called The Freshmakers, and me & my homey Josh had a little record label, Stupid Gaijin Records, but both those've fallen by the wayside, I'm afraid, due to time and monetary constraints. These days, when I get a chance to do musical stuff at all, it's mostly just futzing around w/a guitar and a 4-track as this little deal I call Moonrocket.

Written materials:
As you probably know by now, this Website here is the companion deal for a print music-and-other-things magazine called Space City Rock. I serve as Co-Publisher, Editor, Designer, and Writer/Reviewer for the mag and this site, which is largely why it takes so long for a new issue to come out. Oh, and I sometimes claim to be a freelance writer, as well, and contribute quasi-regularly to a few other publications, notably the Houston Press, Far & Near, Hostelworld.com, Get Lost Magazine, HERE Magazine, BootsnAll.com, and Pop Matters. Most recently, I've thrown together a cheesy little political rant/commentary blog called Something's Got to Break, if you're bored... Below is an almost-complete list of the stuff I've written, in chronological order (going all the way back to college), with links to the pieces that are online. Some of it I'm proud of, and some...uh, well...

• "Bolivar Diary," HERE Magazine, May 2004

• "Eulogy for the Hazard Street Bridge," HERE Magazine #6 (Fall 2002)

• "Run Through The Jungle," Hostelworld.com, September 2002

• "Up Navua River: Dealing with the Cultural Sideshow," Far & Near, April/May 2002

• "Playbill: Fugazi," Houston Press, March 28, 2002

• "Go Lightly: Traveling Fast & Cheap Doesn't Have to be Hell," Get Lost Magazine, March 2002

• "Various Artists: Twisted Forever," PopMatters, February 2002

• "World Enough and Time: The Gloria Record's slow road to success leads from Austin to Nebraska and back," Houston Press, January 31, 2002

• "Thug Murder: The 13th Round," PopMatters, January 2002

• "Arthur Yoria: Arthur Yoria," PopMatters, January 2002

• "Rival Schools United by Onelinedrawing: Rival Schools United by Onelinedrawing," PopMatters, January 2002

• "The Chemical Brothers: It Began in Afrika," PopMatters, December 2001

• "Superchunk: Here's to Shutting Up," PopMatters, December 2001

• "Money Mark: Change Is Coming," PopMatters, November 2001

• "Modest Mouse: Sad Sappy Sucker," PopMatters, November 2001

• "Ticket to Minto: Stories of India and America," PopMatters, November 2001

• "Reach for the Sky: The selfishness of Hands Up Houston nourishes Space City's beleaguered indie scene," Houston Press, November 1, 2001

• "Suicide Machines: Steal This Record," PopMatters, October 2001

• "Elliott: False Cathedrals," PopMatters, October 2001

• "The Enemies/Pitch Black: The Enemies/Pitch Black," PopMatters, October 2001

• "Techno Animal: The Brotherhood of the Bomb," PopMatters, October 2001

• "Milemarker: Anaesthetic," PopMatters, September 2001

• "Moviola: Rumors of the Faithful," PopMatters, September 2001

• "Dynamite Boy: Somewhere in America," PopMatters, August 2001

• "Various Artists: The Real Jamaica Ska," PopMatters, August 2001

• "Six Going on Seven: American't (or Won't)," PopMatters, August 2001

• "Sad Like Crazy: Love Songs to Death," Houston Press, August 2, 2001

• "Jimmy Eat World: Bleed American," PopMatters, August 2001

• "Sixer: Saving Grace," PopMatters, June 2001

• "Bad Moment #2: Falling Down Mountains in Fiji," BootsnAll.com, May 2001

• "Got a bad reputation, baby: The Fatal Flying Guilloteens burn the house down," Space City Rock, Spring 2001

• "Overexposed: Confessions of a Movie Junkie," Space City Rock, Spring 2001

• Various CD/7" reviews, Space City Rock, Spring 1999-Spring 2001

• "Falun Gong's Challenge to China: Spiritual Practice or 'Evil Cult'?," PopMatters, May 2001

• "List: Favorite Places in Ireland," Get Lost Magazine, April 2001

• "An Ode to Soup: An Irish Chowder Mini-Odyssey," Get Lost Magazine, April 2001

• "Various Artists: The Amos House Collection, Vol. 1," PopMatters, April 2001

• "Silver Scooter: The Blue Law," PopMatters, April 2001

• "Fatal Flying Guilloteens: The Now Hustle For New Diaboliks," PopMatters, April 2001

• "The And/Ors: Will Self-Destruct," PopMatters, April 2001

• "Various Artists: Listen Picks: Hip-Hop," PopMatters, March 2001

• "The Kiss Offs: Rock Bottom," PopMatters, March 2001

• "Captain Audio: Luxury, or whether it is better to be loved than feared," PopMatters, March 2001

• "Cephas & Wiggins: From Richmond to Atlanta," PopMatters, March 2001

• "Koko Taylor: Royal Blue," PopMatters, February 2001

• "The Pharcyde: Plain Rap," PopMatters, February 2001

• "Munkafust: Down For Days," PopMatters, February 2001

• "Sig Transit Gloria: 2> 8> 2000," PopMatters, January 2001

• "The A*Teens: The ABBA Generation," PopMatters, January 2001

• "Wading at the Edge of the World: Cold, Wet, and Mostly Alone on the Irish Coast," BootsnAll.com, February 2001

• "Bim Skala Bim: Krinkle," PopMatters, January 2001

• "Jebediah: Of Someday Shambles," PopMatters, January 2001

• "Kincaid: Kincaid Plays Super Hawaii," PopMatters, January 2001

• "The Caribbean: The Caribbean," PopMatters, January 2001

• "All Transistor: Parts," PopMatters, January 2001

• "Catch 22: Alone in a Crowd," PopMatters, December 2000

• "The Arrivals: Goodbye New World," PopMatters, December 2000

• "The Weakerthans: Left and Leaving," PopMatters, December 2000

• "Books Lie: It A Weapon," PopMatters, December 2000

• "J-Majesty: J-Majesty," PopMatters, November 2000

• "The Movielife: This Time Next Year," PopMatters, November 2000

• "Cold: 13 Ways to Bleed On Stage," PopMatters, November 2000

• "Sonny Sixkiller: This Is Your Heaven," PopMatters, November 2000

• "The Adjusters: New Political Sound of Right Now," Space City Rock, Fall 2000

• "The Stereo: It's Just Rock & Roll, Alright?," Space City Rock, Fall 2000

• "Words with The White Papers," Space City Rock, Fall 2000

• "Overexposed: Too Many Damn Movies," Space City Rock, Fall 2000

• "Imbroco: Are You My Lionkiller?," PopMatters, October 2000

• "Mark Lanegan: I'll Take Care of You," PopMatters, October 2000

• "Red Monkey: Difficult Is Easy," PopMatters, October 2000

• "Gods Reflex: Scenes from a Motel Seduction," PopMatters, October 2000

• "Jai Agnish: automata," PopMatters, September 2000

• "Into the Great White Unknown: Culture Clash in Canada," Get Lost Magazine, September 2000

• "The Killingtons: The Killingtons," PopMatters, September 2000

• "Sergio Vega: The Ray Martin Sessions," PopMatters, August 2000

• "The Slackers: Live at Ernesto's!," PopMatters, August 2000

• "Sharks Keep Moving: Desert Strings and Drifters," PopMatters, August 2000

• "Conversation Topics for Lonely Foreigners 101," Get Lost Magazine, April 2000

• "Velcro Mary: Hello from the basement," Space City Rock, Fall 1999

• "The one true meaning of...Hayflick Limit?," Space City Rock, Fall 1999

• "Give 'em a Middlefinger," Space City Rock, Fall 1999

• "Live: Tilt/One Man Army," Space City Rock, Fall 1999

• "Terabithia," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Not Done Yet: Damon Allen Grows Up," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Pop Has Freed Us," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Radio Free Montrose," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Madman with a Pen: Scott Gilbert," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Quickie: Jawbox is Dead," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Live: The Push Kings/Junior Varsity," Space City Rock, Spring 1999

• "Outdoor Show brings Escovedo, other artists to campus," The Rice Thresher, March 31, 1995 (with Eric Rutherford)

• "Soundgarden and the taste of chicken," The Rice Thresher, March 18, 1994

• "Do not pass go: get thee to Fitzgerald's to see Curve," The Rice Thresher, November 12, 1993

• "Swirly New Kingdom of Medicine hits Rice," The Rice Thresher, November 5, 1993

• "You got rap in my metal! You got metal in my rap!," The Rice Thresher, October 22, 1993

• "My Name, Cracker, Therapy? and P-Funk together at last," The Rice Thresher, October 8, 1993 (with Booth Babcock)

• "As promised, part II in a series about Bands at Rice," The Rice Thresher, October 1, 1993 (with Marc Hirsh)

• "Jazz, techno, pop, ska and punk: musical gumbo never tasted this good; Bands at Rice," The Rice Thresher, September 24, 1993 (with Marc Hirsh)

• "Bands mix multiple styles of music in new CD releases," The Rice Thresher, September 17, 1993

• "Some to love, some to loathe on the A&E turntable," The Rice Thresher, September 3, 1993 (with Booth Babcock)

• "Rush roars through Summit," The Rice Thresher, February 21, 1992

• "Van Halen veers into Houston," The Rice Thresher, February 7, 1992

• "Metallica thrashed Summit," The Rice Thresher, January 24, 1992

• "XYZ sings same old ABC's," The Rice Thresher, January 10, 1992

• "Highlander 2 lacks first's style," The Rice Thresher, November 8, 1991

• "Chili Peppers abandon funky thrash on Blood Sugar Sex Magik," The Rice Thresher, October 4, 1991

That's about it. Anybody who wants to can contact me at "gaijin" at "spacecityrock dot com", but I can't guarantee that I'll necessarily respond; lots of e-mail, y'know...