“I wanted to be a rich, famous rock-and-roll star in that order.”

Dee Snider

I still remember it like it was yesterday; sitting in a condo in Breckinridge, CO in 1984, watching MTV (back when MTV still played music videos) and seeing the Twisted Sister video for “We’re Not Gonna Take It” for the first time.  It was completely outrageous!  The costumes, the music, the lyrics, the story line of the video; fighting against the establishment, against the “man.”  It spoke to me and laid out all of the teenage angst at the time and began my love for Heavy Metal music.  Bands like Ratt, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Twisted Sister helped shape who I am today and got me through some tough teenage years.

I grew up in northwest Oklahoma in a little town called Shattuck.  My mother divorced when I was four and we had moved from Seattle to where her grandparents lived.  She remarried quickly, to a dairy farmer, and I learned quickly that farming was not the career path I envisioned.  A swift kick to the face by one of the cows while I was putting the “milkers” on her essentially sealed that deal.  Shattuck is a farm town and children there grow up, follow the example of their parents, and run the family farm.  I always knew I was different.  Country music is king there.  However, I wanted to be Dee Snider. 

Over the years, I have played in several bands; folk, rock, hard rock, metal, and even once in a country band.  I have toured the US and played in large festivals.  During those years, I learned everything I could about audio and music, the gear we used, large boards, small boards, compressors, equalizers, recording, etc.  And since, I have never stopped trying to learn more about my craft.

One night, while attempting to understand how some of the new Digital Audio Workstations worked and how to use the new digital equipment, I realized I would need to go back to college.  Costs for software and equipment had come down significantly.  A person could put together a good digital recording studio for a fraction of the cost of traditional analog studios, and I wanted to get in on that.  However, it was a new era for me, far from the days of using four track analog tape recorders that I grew up using.  An associate of mine told me Rose State College had a digital recording program tailored specifically for that purpose.

When I went to college the first time I didn't have a purpose and I was just going through the motions.  Fifteen years made a significant difference when it came to my attitude.  Since I now had a purpose and a goal, I began to excel at my studies.  I fell in love with learning and school, and when I was done at Rose State, I decided to continue again at OU and finish my bachelor’s degree.  I knew right away, what I wanted to do.  Up until then my toolbox had only “audio” in it.  I was going to learn the visual media arts to add to that growing toolbox.

After two years of study at OU, and another child being born, I knew that my days of hitting the road were numbered.  On the bright side, my insatiable thirst for knowledge had flourished and I wanted to learn even more.  I love the promise of what an education can give and the euphoric feeling of expanding my knowledge on any given subject.  It doesn’t matter what the subject is, I attack each one with the same amount of zeal and passion.

Since then I have finished a bachelors and masters degree and am now working now towards a PhD in Mass Communication.