In The Beginning
1958-1978

It all started back in 1958, in my living room in Hillside, NJ, when at the ripe old age of five, I saw Elvis on TV for the first time. I knew right then ... that’s what I want to do. A year or so later I got my first guitar. I think it was a Davy Crockett guitar. Then in 1964, in that same living room, as I strummed my plastic instrument in front of the same black & white TV, I watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan... that really reinforced it ... I'm gonna be a star.

In 1965 I started my first band me on guitar, my brother Ralph on guitar, Ken Johansen on bass, and John Ruggerio on drums. We use to practice in John's Basement. We really didn't know how to play but we would put on Beatle records, sing along and bang away on our instruments ... making total noise.

My next venture was another basement band ( different band ... same basement), Me on guitar, Joe Seaside on Bass, Tom Corso on drums and Mike DeAugustine on lead vocals. Not what you would call a powerhouse line-up of future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, but people did actually came to watch us rehearse. WOW! ... an audience! I played in that band until Joe Lordi (who became a local rock legend) asked to borrow my guitar. I said, "Sure here ya go." Needless to say I never saw my guitar again. I asked Joe can I have my guitar back he replied, "I ate it"! That was the end of that band.

Around 1972 I decided I had enough of doing the "Garage Circuit" and playing other bands' music. It was time to get serious if I was going to avoid working a real job and be able live the life of a Rocker. I wanted to front a band not just be a guitar player. So I took some time and started writing my own stuff. The songs were just your basic three chord ditties, no real direction in the lyrics or the music, but at the time I thought they were the most fantastic songs ever written. Now I just needed to fiind a way to get other people to hear them.

In 1975 I started doing a set of my original tunes at the Blue Ribbon Inn, a cowboy music club in the heart of Hillside. A local folk singer, Marc Muscatello was the headliner and I would do a warm-up set. The response I got inspired me to try to put a band together and record these songs in order to reach a wider audience. Then one day in 1976, while attending a performance of local rock legends "AIRFAIR", I met a young guitarist from Manchester, England. His name was Stiv Stevens. (Stiv went on to star in "The Razerz" and " Arthur Kill & the Pollutants" as well playing guitar on ALL my albums.) Together we pieced together a band to go into the recording studio with me on vocals, Stiv and Ricky "Evil" Bawden on guitar, Billy Lacy on bass and Kenny Kuni on drums. And so on the night of January 27th 1977 I entered the studio for the first time at Airfair Studios in Rahway, NJ. Together we recorded six songs which are now known as the "Lost Tiffany Tapes". We tried to get gigs to promote the songs but the best we could do was play a Polish wedding at the Moose Club in Harrison, NJ, where we just played the same six songs over & over again.

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"Joe Loco & the Motives"
1979-1985

For a town only 2 square miles in diameter, Hillside NJ was a breeding ground for young talented bands in the 1970's. Bands like Airfair,The Razerz, Mad Dog, Humans from Earth and Louie Louie dominated the local club scene and all were enjoying local success. There was several venues for these bands to play at, but none was more notable than a small club on the edge of town known as "Englanders". Even major recording acts like Cindi Lauoer, Joan Jett and Squeeze competed to play there.

By 1979 Stiv Stevens and Evil Bawden teamed up with D' Suave' and Slim Jim Torre to form "The Razerz" and they were chosen to be the first band to ever play at Englanders. Having seen my solo act a few years before, Stiv asked me if I'd like to open up for them. So technically, "I" was the very first person to step on that now infamous stage of Englanders.

Soon after my triumphant debut, I formed my next band, "The Locals" featuring me on guitar & vocals, Tommy Loredo on lead guitar, Chris Shadis on bass, and Linda Loredo on drums. In time we became regulars on the local club scene, but I still felt a need to get back into the studio.

But unfortuneatly, by 1981 the scene started to dry up and bands like Airfair, the Razerz and yes, even the Locals had disbanded.

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"Change Is Gonna Come"
1986-1988

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"Gotta Go On"
1989-1994

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"Days That Won't Come Back"
1995-2000

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"God's Play "
2001-2003

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THE FUTURE