John was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on January 19th (this century, uh, actually last century!), to an Anglo-Burmese mother and an Air Force father from NYC, NY. Through the age of 14, John traveled and lived in many diverse cities and countries.
John lived in Frankfurt/Germany, NYC/NY, Liverpool/England (home of the Beatles, folks!), Columbus/Ohio, Saigon/Vietnam (yes, during the war when John was only 9-11 years old!), Wiesbaden/Germany (where Elvis met Priscilla!), finally ending up his primary school years and graduating from Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville/Arkansas (suburb of Little Rock/AR). John went on to college for awhile but opted for performing. He currently resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
SAIGON
WIESBADEN
"THE CIRCUIT" American Teen Club, Wiesbaden, Germany - 1967
JOHN'S FIRST BAND
John began playing guitar when 11 years old, on a Framus acoustic which he got for Christmas. After spending all his free time learning his chords and some simple leads, after much pleading and begging, he talked his parents into buying him his first electric guitar, a Hofner with whammy bar. He also had a Selmer amp which was similar to a Vox AC-15, later getting a Guyatone with two cabs with 2-12s in each.
John's very first "band" was a throw-together unit of himself @ 12 years old, 2 other guitarists, a "singer", and a drummer, none of whom played or sang very well. Very quickly John and two of these players advanced well enough to begin performing at parties and small dances, adding in a new drummer and a singer who could move and sing with more authority.
This photo was taken of this end-result, who transformed from "The Revisions" into who you see here, "The Circuit". This band was comprised of John (14) on lead guitar/lead vocals, his best friend David Opper (14) on rhythm/lead guitar/vocals (left), his friend David Campbell (14) on rhythm/bass guitar/vocals (behind John), Larry Beck (14) on lead vocals/tambourine/cowbell (not shown), and Bobby Shealey (13) on drums (not shown) who was a grade younger but a very good drummer and soloist. This band was the youngest band to play the American Teen Club and for Jr. High and High School Dances in Wiesbaden, Germany.
CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR FULL-SIZE VIEW. OPENS IN NEW WINDOW.
AWARDS
John has won awards and is independently certified in musical engineering and producing, not to mention having many years of major concert, arena, club, T.V., and radio appearances and performing. The three awards on the right are just three out of seven awards John has won for production, guitar, and bass.
John has won trophies and ribbons for sports events in school, mostly for track. In Wiesbaden, Germany, he won his school's decathalon. John's favorite track sport was the 100-yard dash, which he won in Germany and also set a school record (00:10:01).
ROD SERLING - 1973
IN THE MOVIES
John was hired as an "extra" in three movies, "Encounter With the Unknown" (1973, Rod Serling, "Twilight Zone" fame, filmed in Little Rock, AR), "White Lightning" (1973, Burt Reynolds, filmed in Benton, AR), and "Smoky and the Bandit" (1977, Burt Reynolds/Sally Fields/Jackie Gleason, filmed in Atlanta, GA).
John was invited by an ex-girlfriend from High School, who was dating Jimmy Dean's (Singer/Actor/Jimmy Dean Sausage) business manager at the time, to audition for the four-segment "Encounter With the Unknown" compilation movie.
John met Burt Reynolds once while performing regularly at Burt's Alma Mater, Florida State University in Jacksonville, Florida, at the University concerts and various clubs in Jacksonville, and suggested for John to audition as an "extra" in his movies.
MARTIAL ARTS
John began his interest and studies in the martial arts while in Saigon/Cholon, Vietnam. He began with Judo, but quickly changed over to Tai Chi Chuan's "hard style", as well as learning the flowing "soft style" commonly used as exercise. He also trained in Gung Fu and a bit in Aikido. Aikido is Japanese, a distant cousin to Tai Chi.
John's first teacher was Sifu Yang, who came from Kowloon, China. He spoke no English and had an interpreter for all lessons. He was a Master in both Tai Chi Chuan and White Crane Gung Fu. John also boxed and wrestled Western Style during his school years.
John tries to go through his forms as often as he can, walks and runs regularly. John no longer does any tournaments, not since many years ago, and only a few at that. He likes to keep in form but does not enjoy participating in "the shows". John feels that "self-defense is just that...'self' defense, not a show".
RDM RECORDS BEGINS - 1976
RDM RECORDS
Along with RDM Productions, John's former sound company, he began doing his own recording of bands, starting out as a way for bands to have inexpensive demo tapes. Before John knew it, he was beginning to get more sessions than he could handle due to his performing schedule, which were averaging 6 nights every week.
In 1976, the year John's oldest son was born, RDM Records was also born. Sort of an early "indie" label for unsigned regional artists needing any recording done. Unfortunately, John did not have as much time as he'd like for this, so concentrated mostly on performance. Many good recordings for sale were done, a few cassette tapes and CDs of John's material and some of his bands. "Zeke" Kenny Phillips, Grammy Winner w/Robin Williams, was a friend and huge influence upon John's studio and live sound skills. John was Kenny's best man for his first marriage in OKC, OK.
RDM PRODUCTIONS
John was the owner of RDM Productions from 1973 - 2008. John had two main systems, one for clubs and one for concerts. John and his associates provided sound production for many local artists and many international artists such as Edgar Winter, Keith Urban, Emerson Drive, Blackfoot, Pat Travers, Steppenwolf, Head East, ZZ Top, Gregg Allman Band, Tres Hombres (with Billy Bob Thorton on drums!), Tracy Nelson, Rusty Weir, Kansas, Barbara Fairchild, Sammi Jo, Davis Daniel, Dean Dillon, Mark Farner (Grand Funk), Blue Oyster Cult, Killer Bees, and many more.
JOHN AT YOUNGEST SON'S SCHOOL IN 2004
JOHN'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE SCHOOL SYSTEM
As a father of four sons, John was very active in his sons' schools as much as his schedules allowed. The photos were taken when John was showing his youngest son's 3rd grade class many items from the Orient when John lived in Saigon, Vietnam, and when visiting Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Thailand. As John's mother is half British and half Burmese, he also brought a few Burmese items for the children to view.
BIO
