On May 23rd, 2003, I became a Dad! This is a very cool thing to do...I highly recommend it. Check out my kid's first little web page: Ian's picture pages

Alrighty...so what do I say about myself, hmmm? Perhaps I should start with the usual general information: location, hobbies, job, blah blah blah. I'll add some more interesting stuff as time goes on.

So, I live in Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in the country. Yes, it really is hot as hell here, but it beats the crap out of shovelling snow. Overall, it's a pretty good place to live...all of the conveniences of a major metropolitan area, but with more available space and a much cheaper cost of living than you would expect. I've lived here about nine years now, and it feels like home.

I'm originally from Indiana, and arrived here by way of Chicago and St. Louis, so I've lived a lot of different places. I attended school at Purdue University where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Technology...but I'm not a spastic basement-dwelling trollish nerdling, I swear. No, really. I mean it. ;-) I now am a team lead on a software development team for JPMorgan Chase. Hey, I'd rather be a full-time musician or writer, but we all need a day job, right? Purdue is also where I met my lovely wife, Jen, who is also pretty damned smart...she's a chemical engineer.

Stuff I like to do: play drums, piano, sing (I'm fronting a new band called Escape Plan -- check us out if you're in Houston!), listen to music (live and otherwise), run, bike, hike, rock climb, SCUBA dive, read, write (I won a couple of awards and got published this year! whoo-hoo!), play the occasional video game, drink and brew beer (only the good stuff, none of that mass-produced crap with huge advertising campaigns), drive like a bat out of hell, and express my opinion on almost anything under the sun.

Music, Music, Music: I have a fairly stupid-sized CD collection -- it's around 1000 right now -- along with a decent amount of vinyl. So clearly enough, most of my reviews will probably revolve around music. Primarily, I'm a rock guy, but I also really dig progressive/experimental stuff, jazz, and classical music. Although I like a whole lot of different bands (obviously), here are just a few of my very favorites:

Alice In Chains, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, Big Wreck, Terry Bozzio, Brother, Brother Cane, Jerry Cantrell, John Coltrane, Chris Cornell, Miles Davis, Deep Purple, Dream Theater, Eleven, Escape Plan, Peter Gabriel, Greyhounds, Herbie Hancock, I Mother Earth, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Kansas, King's X, Tony Levin, Liquid Tension Experiment, Live, Mad Season, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Mellencamp, Over The Rhine, Platypus, Porcupine Tree, Poundhound, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, Rollins Band, Rush, Joe Satriani, Bob Seger, Soundgarden, Spock's Beard, Steve Morse Band, Steve Stevens, Stone Temple Pilots, Symphony X, Temple Of The Dog, Three Fish, Tonic, Tuatara, U2, Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Paul Weller, Wilco, Zakk Wylde, Yes, Neil Young, Frank Zappa

My 10-point Scale: I prefer a 10-point scale over the 5-star scale, but alas, that is not available here. So, I plan to just put a footnote at the bottom of each review stating my rating on a 10-point scale. It will apply pretty closely to the epinions scale, with 1-2 being one star, 3-4 two stars, etc., although since five stars usually means "excellent" here at Epinions, there may be cases where I will still give an 8-point album five stars. Additionally, I will almost never give an album 10 points, as I feel such a rating should be reserved for an album that is absolutely groundbreaking or classic (e.g., Deep Purple's Machine Head, Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien).

Petty Revenge: I do not and will not participate in revenge rating ("you gave me a Helpful, so now I'm going to rate all of your reviews the same"), and do not expect it from anyone else. If I think it is happening, I'll slap your happy a*s on my Web of Distrust. Hey, I'm a nice guy, but I don't take any crap from anyone either. Blame it on my blue collar upbringing.

WOT: I use my WOT as a reading list, and generally place people on there if they write consistently good articles, whether I agree with the opinion(s) or not. I firmly believe you can learn as much (if not more) from a person with whom you disagree than a person who thinks exactly like yourself. Of course, if I think you're way off on a topic, I will probably heckle you...but try to have a sense of humor about it. I'm only a smartass with people I like, so take it as a compliment.

There will be lots more to come on this page in the future (if I can find five minutes in my @#$! schedule)...stay tuned...

Cheers,

Grez

(The mountainous pictures above were taken in Acadia National Park, Maine, where I was on a hiking/climbing trip with my wife, Jen. The picture in front of the ocean was taken on the same trip, in Breakwall, Maine. Jen is the brilliant photographer in each case.)

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The Whole Mess

Following is a list of all of the music reviews I have written to date, in alphabetical order by band, then album title. Please check them out:

Alice In Chains - Dirt
Big Wreck - In Loving Memory Of...
Big Wreck - The Pleasure And The Greed
Bozzio/Levin/Stevens - Black Light Syndrome
Brother Cane - Wishpool
Flight 16 - Flight 16
Hornsby, Bruce - Big Swing Face
Kansas - Somewhere To Elsewhere
King's X - Ear Candy
Ian Moore - And All The Colors...
Steve Morse - Major Impacts
Temple Of The Dog
Tuatara - Breaking The Ethers
Tuatara - Trading With The Enemy
Paul Weller - Stanley Road
Yes - Fragile

Also, I have a few bits and pieces posted in the Writer's Corner:

Cat-Like Robot (Humor Poetry)
Circles And Addition (The Zen Fish) (Poetry)
Lure (Poetry)
My Special Place (Humor Poetry)
Putting Myself Away (Poetry)
Six Haiku (Haiku Poetry)
Soulstice (Poetry)
Ties And Intentions (Poetry)

Other:

My Feet Are Trees, My Head Is The Sun - Exercise in Surrealism W/O
Tangy Zizzle - What's My Porn Name W/O
Stuff You Probably Don't Care About, But I'll Tell You Anyway (Getting to Know Each Other W/O)

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Other Miscellaneous Crap:

Current CDs in the Changer:

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