The "About Me" Page
A Work In Progress

I've been a musician since the age of ten... well, not really, I'm a bass player... I just hang out with musicians.   I started playing guitar and at about 15 or 16-years old, and then switched to bass guitar.   It was at the time that the first VAN HALEN album came out and Edward's guitar playing revolutionized the way everyone played guitar.   I was never the greatest guitarist (if you ever heard me play guitar, you'd understand why I play the bass), and everyone in the neighborhood had already rushed out and purchased electric guitars upon hearing the VAN HALEN album.   Well, out of all my friends, there were 50 guitarists (all playing really bad VAN HALEN twiddly-bits), two drummers and one mediocre bassist who only wanted to play MARSHALL TUCKER tunes... band practice sounded like a cacophony of power tools.

Me, Christopher Buttner, Edward Van Halen center and former editor of MUSICO PRO magazine, Beto Hale, clowning around at a NAMM Expo.

Realizing my inabilities as a guitarist, I switched to bass guitar and found myself in a band the very next day.   I continued to pursue music as a fulltime passion, while working a fulltime day job, until I was in my early 30's.   The one bit of advice my father gave me, that I actually applied, was to always have a day job to fall back on if the music didn't pan out.   I would suggest that advice to every musician in the world (it's called "music business" for a reason).

In the pre-MTV days of the late 1970's, I was fascinated with musical instruments and technology.   I loved electric guitars, amplifiers and the amazing array of stomp boxes and other technology of the era.   I pored over influential magazines such as CREEM, CIRCUS, GUITAR PLAYER, BILLBOARD, and MUSICIAN , whose writers I considered as integral and influential to my musical development as the members of Rush, Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin.  

While it would have been great to have become a rock star, (if it happened, I am sure there would be a very revealing VH1 'BEHIND THE MUSIC' documentary about me by now), I always believed I would be incredibly fortunate in the music business if I simply wrote about instruments and interviewed the artists for the magazines.

It's really a dream come true to work with great musical and manufacturing talent, be a part of the editorial content of the magazines I revered as a young musician and, in some small way, be an influential voice in the entertainment industry. I base my clients successes on my love of the entertainment and music industries, my passion for what I do and the good graces of the numerous editorial relationships, as well as friendships, I have developed over almost a decade and a half in the industry.

I was born and raised in New Hyde Park, on New York's Long Island (pronounced Lawn Giland), and my career began immediately after college (I was an English and Communications Major and all through elementary and high school, I excelled in English), in 1984 when I was retained as a sales manager for a heavy machinery manufacturer.   I was in charge of the US sales efforts for a Swedish company that manufactured food-processing equipment for restaurants and commercial kitchens.   If you needed a machine that could produce 8 tons of potato salad per-hour, I could hook you up.   This gig had me traveling the country at an early age, while I pursued my musical aspirations by playing in New York City-based rock bands.  

In 1988, I was hired by a leading advertising agency that specialized in producing trade show exhibits.   This is where I honed my marketing and public relations skills.   After burning out on this job in the spring of 1991, I contacted a company called Music Industries Corp., after finding their contact info in a NAMM show directory.   When you're in the advertising industry, everyone is a potential client and I discovered this little importer/distributor when I was in the process of cold calling companies trying to drum up some business.   I got right through to the company president by simply asking the receptionist, "Who's in charge of hiring and firing?"   The boss was persuaded to hire me based upon my in-depth sales, marketing, public relations and music industry knowledge.   Don't let anyone ever tell you that cold calling is a waste of time.   This was the most important cold call of my life.   I was so confident of my abilities, I made sure my pitch was smooth and effective, (the easiest thing to sell is yourself); I was hired immediately after sending in my resume.

Fulfilling a dream to live in Northern California, I relocated to Sonoma County in late 1993 to take the marketing director position for Petaluma-based pro audio equipment manufacturer Apogee Sound.   As a component of the company's sales and marketing team, my skills contributed to a 65% sales growth for Apogee Sound between 1994 and 1995.   Finally, after a year, my skills at being able to sell myself as a publicist and writer eventually superseded my musical abilities, desire to become a Rock Star, as well as the necessity to work for just one company. That lead me to establish my agency, which for the last ten years was called Aarvak Marketing Communications, and most recently PRThatRocks.com.  

Associates consider me a prolific author and photographer, as I have written and published approximately 500 international trade and technical articles, and countless photos, in numerous international entertainment trade and music enthusiast magazines during my career.

These days, I reside in Mill Valley, California.   I'm an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer and videographer and I beta test and review equipment for start-up scuba gear manufacturers.   (I have this innate ability to turn my hobbies into paying gigs, plus I always have a reason to get in the water).   When not working or diving, I'm either mountain biking, hiking Mount Tamalpias or the Marin Headlands, or working on my first book of short stories.

For more info, please contact me: rockme@prthatrocks.com