I don't think I've done this here yet, so, since I think I'm changing this to my "home" forum on the internet I guess I should introduce myself. So here goes.
My name is Barry. I'm a pretty avid fan of
Dream Theater, (love the new album!
) I am a 47 year old I.T. Department Director and web developer. I am also a musician - I started playing music about 40 years ago when I was 7 years old. My first instrument was the Clarinet. I took music lessons all the way through high school, where I played in both the marching band and the orchestra, although by then I had switched to Tenor Sax. When I was a teenager, I also took guitar lessons and since my father always had rock bands practicing in our basement, I learned to play drums by watching and then imitating the drummer in my father's band.
These days I have a collaborative studio-project band called
The ANABASIS and it's one of the greatest joys of my life to have been able to have one of my favorite keyboardist, Ryo Okumoto of Spock's Beard join us. Our debut album, entitled "Back From Being Gone" will drop in about 2 or 3 weeks. We just signed a multi-record deal with a fairly well-known progressive rock label, although I can't mention it in any detail yet, and I'm actually already working on the follow up album. In a very limited release to friends and relatives, the reviews were very encouraging and our music was best described as "Transatlantic with balls." I think a few people who post here have a copy of the album.
I've been married for 11 years, I have a 23 year old son who is a Master at Arms in the US Navy and I have two dogs and an African Grey Parrot named
Oscar. If you're into music gear, you can see my stuff on
this web page. My favorite bands are, in no particular order:
Dream Theater
Opeth
Spock's Beard
Transatlantic
Iron Maiden
The Flower Kings
I eat way too much pizza.
And I would definitely walk barefoot over 10 miles of broken glass for a chance to be reincarnated as Charlize Theron's bicycle seat.
That just about does it.
When my band's album actually drops, I'll lightly spam the music section of the board in case anyone's interested in picking up a copy or listening to the live stream - the label we're on will be streaming the entire CD for people to preview before buying.