Welcome to the site!
This is a one-stop shop for those interested to see what I've been keeping up to with respect to my music, films, writing and other creative endeavors. Thanks for stopping by!
If I had to guess, the music thing had to start somewhere in the early nineties. And I'm basing that on my purchase of the Casio Rapman keyboard which released in 1991. Shortly after, I bought a 4-pad drum machine (Mattel's Synsonics?) to compliment it.
The group was called the "Savoir-Faire Posse" and consisted of my homie, Wendell; my cousin, Kye and myself. We used the prebuilt beats and the scratch pad that came with the Rapman. Kye and myself served as the MCs while Wendell (aka "Dose") served as the ever-silent hype man. We "signed" our first group, Triple-Cast to the label, composed of Cadi, Resh and Dome. And as time went on, I tried to get EVERYONE to rap.
Being blown away by the talent on display, my cousin, Freda, attempted to vie for a spot on the team. So, we pitted her against one of our most vicious MCs, Gabriel (aka "GVG") to see if she had what it takes. She didn't. And after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the meticulous GVG, Freda went into hiding.
Then we went digital! The homie, GVG, invited me to his house to see this MS-DOS program he was messing with. It was called ModEdit, a digital tracker. And it was beautiful in all of its 4-track, beat-making glory. My first song, T.mod, was about 10 seconds long. It was a putrid, offensive blend of percussion, horns and sound FX that was a challenge to listen to. And I still love it to this day.
From there, I moved onto another DOS program called ScreamTracker III. It was a significant step up, allowing for a whopping 32 tracks for recording, 99 samples and 100 patterns. And by this time, I had a VGA monitor so that I could watch the mediocrity unfold in full color!
Throughout my time in college, I had continued to use ScreamTracker here and there. But it wasn’t a serious endeavor at the time. And I didn’t churn out anything significant.
Then came the Mac Pro around 2009 or so. That’s when I discovered Logic Pro, another sequencing program. But this one was high-tech, sophisticated, and more than I could actually handle (and I still only know a fraction of it). With Logic I made more music, stepping up the audio quality if not the actual skill or art. But I had become hooked on it ever since.
Around 2021, I decided I wanted to actually do something with all of this music sitting on my computer. I had to accept that I was still a novice at it. But also decided that I wouldn’t let that stop me from putting something out. So, I worked on putting an album together while also binging YouTube videos on music theory, production, etc. And in January 2023, my first album, Chillaxium was released. I followed it up with Chillaxium 2 six months later and plan to follow up with a lot more.
If I had to guess, the music thing had to start somewhere in the early nineties. And I'm basing that on my purchase of the Casio Rapman keyboard which released in 1991. Shortly after, I bought a 4-pad drum machine (Mattel's Synsonics?) to compliment it.
The group was called the "Savoir-Faire Posse" and consisted of my homie, Wendell; my cousin, Kye and myself. We used the prebuilt beats and the scratch pad that came with the Rapman. Kye and myself served as the MCs while Wendell (aka "Dose") served as the ever-silent hype man. We "signed" our first group, Triple-Cast to the label, composed of Cadi, Resh and Dome. And as time went on, I tried to get EVERYONE to rap.
Being blown away by the talent on display, my cousin, Freda, attempted to vie for a spot on the team. So, we pitted her against one of our most vicious MCs, Gabriel (aka "GVG") to see if she had what it takes. She didn't. And after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the meticulous GVG, Freda went into hiding.
Then we went digital! The homie, GVG, invited me to his house to see this MS-DOS program he was messing with. It was called ModEdit, a digital tracker. And it was beautiful in all of its 4-track, beat-making glory. My first song, T.mod, was about 10 seconds long. It was a putrid, offensive blend of percussion, horns and sound FX that was a challenge to listen to. And I still love it to this day.
From there, I moved onto another DOS program called ScreamTracker III. It was a significant step up, allowing for a whopping 32 tracks for recording, 99 samples and 100 patterns. And by this time, I had a VGA monitor so that I could watch the mediocrity unfold in full color!
Throughout my time in college, I had continued to use ScreamTracker here and there. But it wasn’t a serious endeavor at the time. And I didn’t churn out anything significant.
Then came the Mac Pro around 2009 or so. That’s when I discovered Logic Pro, another sequencing program. But this one was high-tech, sophisticated, and more than I could actually handle (and I still only know a fraction of it). With Logic I made more music, stepping up the audio quality if not the actual skill or art. But I had become hooked on it ever since.
Around 2021, I decided I wanted to actually do something with all of this music sitting on my computer. I had to accept that I was still a novice at it. But also decided that I wouldn’t let that stop me from putting something out. So, I worked on putting an album together while also binging YouTube videos on music theory, production, etc. And in January 2023, my first album, Chillaxium was released. I followed it up with Chillaxium 2 six months later and plan to follow up with a lot more.
The interest in filmmaking came about when a college friend asked me to star in a film trailer he was doing for a class project. The Trailer was for the film, "Se7en", starring myself, some other acquaintances of the director, and Wendell (with his cameo debut).
Sometime around 2007, I impetuously purchased two Sony HDR-FX1 cameras with my credit card, truly ignorant of the work that goes into film production. And I told myself that I'd crank out my first movie, S.L.I.P. Trigger.
Eventually, I caught wind of the Rhode Island Film Collaborative, a collection of film enthusiasts who met regularly to pitch ideas, find work and the like. Along with friends, family and folks from the R.I.F.C., I had a good number of people crazy enough to want to help me with this film project.
Nothing came of the movie. As I said, I didn't understand all of the work and the education that went into this. But I still had a hand working on another indie film.
Eventually, I still churned out a film, "Devil Doll 2", with friends and family over a Thanksgiving weekend. The movie is ridiculous. And its predecessor, "Devil Doll", can hardly be considered a film at all.
If that wasn't enough, I decided that I should torture my offspring too by having her do a film that tied into the "Devil Doll" universe. The fruits of that labor was the "Dollhouse", which debuted in 2021. And the director of that "Se7ven" trailer brought things full circle with his cameo.
The interest in filmmaking came about when a college friend asked me to star in a film trailer he was doing for a class project. The Trailer was for the film, "Se7en", starring myself, some other acquaintances of the director, and Wendell (with his cameo debut).
Sometime around 2007, I impetuously purchased two Sony HDR-FX1 cameras with my credit card, truly ignorant of the work that goes into film production. And I told myself that I'd crank out my first movie, S.L.I.P. Trigger.
Eventually, I caught wind of the Rhode Island Film Collaborative, a collection of film enthusiasts who met regularly to pitch ideas, find work and the like. Along with friends, family and folks from the R.I.F.C., I had a good number of people crazy enough to want to help me with this film project.
Nothing came of the movie. As I said, I didn't understand all of the work and the education that went into this. But I still had a hand working on another indie film.
Eventually, I still churned out a film, "Devil Doll 2", with friends and family over a Thanksgiving weekend. The movie is ridiculous. And its predecessor, "Devil Doll", can hardly be considered a film at all.
If that wasn't enough, I decided that I should torture my offspring too by having her do a film that tied into the "Devil Doll" universe. The fruits of that labor was the "Dollhouse", which debuted in 2021. And the director of that "Se7ven" trailer brought things full circle with his cameo.
Back in high school, in Miss Oakley's class, we had a writing assignment. I can't remember the specific objectives of it; but it was creative writing and we could pretty much come up with anything we wanted.
I remember telling Gabe that we should write our stories so that, at some point, the two would intersect for a bit before veering off into their separate directions.
And that's the earliest memory of me being intrigued by the idea of writing.
Now, I didn't really enjoy reading as much. Some of the mandatory classics you read in school were pretty good. Others weren't.
I didn't REALLY get into reading until one night in the nineties. I was bored out of my mind. And in the closet were a few books. One of them was titled "The Ninja" by Eric Van Lustbader.
Though my mother was (and still is) an avid reader, she's not into ninjas. As far as I knew, I was the only one. And to this day I don't know how that book got into our home.
The first thing that turned me off was how thick it was (I just googled and its 442 pages). But, because I loved ninjas, I gave it a go.
Now, I'm not sure if it was the story, my love of ninjas or the fact that I wasn't forced to read it. But I loved it.
I had written stories in some form or another since the nineties, including a couple books sometime around college. But I never did anything with any of it.
So, with a collection of stories, story ideas, and poems (that shall never see the light of day), I decided I should do something with all of this mess (the approaching golden jubilee was a motivator too).
I read through one of my college-era books and found it to be absolutely confusing. And also, pretentious. I had some concepts in there that were off the wall. And reading that book decades later, I couldn't even understand what I was trying to articulate.
So, I hit YouTube again, followed writers and editors, learned the tips and tricks. Learned the business. And started to study the art.
I spent most of 2024 writing my first published novel, "Souldiers of the Sand: Dark Sire," which debuted in May of 2025.
And have plans to write many more.
Back in high school, in Miss Oakley's class, we had a writing assignment. I can't remember the specific objectives of it; but it was creative writing and we could pretty much come up with anything we wanted.
I remember telling Gabe that we should write our stories so that, at some point, the two would intersect for a bit before veering off into their separate directions.
And that's the earliest memory of me being intrigued by the idea of writing.
Now, I didn't really enjoy reading as much. Some of the mandatory classics you read in school were pretty good. Others weren't.
I didn't REALLY get into reading until one night in the nineties. I was bored out of my mind. And in the closet were a few books. One of them was titled "The Ninja" by Eric Van Lustbader.
Though my mother was (and still is) an avid reader, she's not into ninjas. As far as I knew, I was the only one. And to this day I don't know how that book got into our home.
The first thing that turned me off was how thick it was (I just googled and its 442 pages). But, because I loved ninjas, I gave it a go.
Now, I'm not sure if it was the story, my love of ninjas or the fact that I wasn't forced to read it. But I loved it.
I had written stories in some form or another since the nineties, including a couple books sometime around college. But I never did anything with any of it.
So, with a collection of stories, story ideas, and poems (that shall never see the light of day), I decided I should do something with all of this mess (the approaching golden jubilee was a motivator too).
I read through one of my college-era books and found it to be absolutely confusing. And also, pretentious. I had some concepts in there that were off the wall. And reading that book decades later, I couldn't even understand what I was trying to articulate.
So, I hit YouTube again, followed writers and editors, learned the tips and tricks. Learned the business. And started to study the art.
I spent most of 2024 writing my first published novel, "Souldiers of the Sand: Dark Sire," which debuted in May of 2025.
And have plans to write many more.
Researching the family history came about unexpectedly in 2012. I was in Newport, RI driving my Aunt Loretta home and we were having a discussion about the family. One of the things that stood out was her stating that she had an aunt named "Fascination." The name stuck with me because of how unique it was. And I assumed it would be easy to track her down.
A short while later, while looking for this Fascination, I came across a post from a then unknown Virginia cousin named Sha'ron. She was also looking for information about a Fascination Massey; and so, we connected and started sharing information about what we knew. But despite this info-share, we were still having trouble connecting all of the dots.
That changed one day when Sha'ron mentioned that "there's supposedly a madam in the family." As in run-a-brothel type of madam. I honestly thought it unlikely and didn't really look into it until I ran into a long stretch of dead ends.
Finally, I did some googling on this "family rumor" and we ultimately discovered that Melvina Massey, a native of Virginia, born in the early 19th century, was indeed a madam for a brothel in Fargo, North Dakota. And a relatively infamous one at that.
This breakthrough actually allowed us to fill in many of the more recent ancestors, including Melvina's son, Henry Massey, a police officer for the Pawtucket, R.I. police department.
We still have some mysteries to uncover, including what Melvina actually looked like, why her son used different last names depending on what state he was in, and just why Henry Massey chose Rhode Island to relocate.
The hunt continues.
Researching the family history came about unexpectedly in 2012. I was in Newport, RI driving my Aunt Loretta home and we were having a discussion about the family. One of the things that stood out was her stating that she had an aunt named "Fascination." The name stuck with me because of how unique it was. And I assumed it would be easy to track her down.
A short while later, while looking for this Fascination, I came across a post from a then unknown Virginia cousin named Sha'ron. She was also looking for information about a Fascination Massey; and so, we connected and started sharing information about what we knew. But despite this info-share, we were still having trouble connecting all of the dots.
That changed one day when Sha'ron mentioned that "there's supposedly a madam in the family." As in run-a-brothel type of madam. I honestly thought it unlikely and didn't really look into it until I ran into a long stretch of dead ends.
Finally, I did some googling on this "family rumor" and we ultimately discovered that Melvina Massey, a native of Virginia, born in the early 19th century, was indeed a madam for a brothel in Fargo, North Dakota. And a relatively infamous one at that.
This breakthrough actually allowed us to fill in many of the more recent ancestors, including Melvina's son, Henry Massey, a police officer for the Pawtucket, R.I. police department.
We still have some mysteries to uncover, including what Melvina actually looked like, why her son used different last names depending on what state he was in, and just why Henry Massey chose Rhode Island to relocate.
The hunt continues.
My earliest gaming memory was when I played "Defender" on my Uncle's Atari 2600 as a kid. Simple side-scrolling shooter that I kept playing until it was impossible for me to lose. It was fun but I woulnd't say I was hooked. It was just something to do when I was bored.
Fast-forward to when I first saw the Nintendo Entertainment System. It had to be some time in the mid to late eighties, when I was living in Boston. I was at the house of a family friend and saw this kid playing a game that was designed to look 3D. The player was riding a motorcycle, and the goal was to take out enemies that were hunting you down. The game was "Mach Rider." And I would say that's when my gaming interests were piqued.
I really got into the Nintendo when I moved back to Newport, RI and joined the Boy's Club (currently the Florence Gray Center). They had a Nintendo set up for us to play. But only had "Super Mario Bros." And like everyone else, I put some serious time into that game.
I THINK it was my thirteenth birthday when I got a Nintendo of my own. And some of my favorite games were "Megaman", "Contra", "Bionic Commando" and the like.
But my all-time favorite was - and always will be - "Ninja Gaiden." I played that game (and its sequels) so obsessively, that it became the only game I wanted to play. I was so engrossed in it that I needed to see it even when I wasn't playing it. And so, I ran my Nintendo through my VCR and then out to my TV so that I could record myself playing it. And after I had all three games recorded, I'd watch them all back-to-back like the true trilogy they were.
I even drew my own "Ninja Gaiden" sequel, complete with every level and boss. And then I wrote Nintendo an email letting them know I had the next big ninja hit for them to make. Their response letter was cordial enough. But they obviously didn't think much of it.
I had a SNES at some point. Never cared for the N64. But I still remember going to buy the PS1. And in college, I won the PS2 as part of some trade-back-your-books contest or something. And I spent much more time on that thing in the dorm lounge than I care to admit.
Then there was GameMaker. A game development program with a graphical UI that made game design pretty much a drag and drop affair. I was able to create my first games: "Zodion", "Empyrean Fighters" and a Pac-Man clone.
All of the assets, whether graphical or audio, came from other established games; so, it's not like I could actually market them. But that was the spark I needed to create an original game.
And I still plan to one day.
My earliest gaming memory was when I played "Defender" on my Uncle's Atari 2600 as a kid. Simple side-scrolling shooter that I kept playing until it was impossible for me to lose. It was fun but I woulnd't say I was hooked. It was just something to do when I was bored.
Fast-forward to when I first saw the Nintendo Entertainment System. It had to be some time in the mid to late eighties, when I was living in Boston. I was at the house of a family friend and saw this kid playing a game that was designed to look 3D. The player was riding a motorcycle, and the goal was to take out enemies that were hunting you down. The game was "Mach Rider." And I would say that's when my gaming interests were piqued.
I really got into the Nintendo when I moved back to Newport, RI and joined the Boy's Club (currently the Florence Gray Center). They had a Nintendo set up for us to play. But only had "Super Mario Bros." And like everyone else, I put some serious time into that game.
I THINK it was my thirteenth birthday when I got a Nintendo of my own. And some of my favorite games were "Megaman", "Contra", "Bionic Commando" and the like.
But my all-time favorite was - and always will be - "Ninja Gaiden." I played that game (and its sequels) so obsessively, that it became the only game I wanted to play. I was so engrossed in it that I needed to see it even when I wasn't playing it. And so, I ran my Nintendo through my VCR and then out to my TV so that I could record myself playing it. And after I had all three games recorded, I'd watch them all back-to-back like the true trilogy they were.
I even drew my own "Ninja Gaiden" sequel, complete with every level and boss. And then I wrote Nintendo an email letting them know I had the next big ninja hit for them to make. Their response letter was cordial enough. But they obviously didn't think much of it.
I had a SNES at some point. Never cared for the N64. But I still remember going to buy the PS1. And in college, I won the PS2 as part of some trade-back-your-books contest or something. And I spent much more time on that thing in the dorm lounge than I care to admit.
Then there was GameMaker. A game development program with a graphical UI that made game design pretty much a drag and drop affair. I was able to create my first games: "Zodion", "Empyrean Fighters" and a Pac-Man clone.
All of the assets, whether graphical or audio, came from other established games; so, it's not like I could actually market them. But that was the spark I needed to create an original game.
And I still plan to one day.