I am an American but grew up in Aomori prefecture, Japan .
At the age of 14 I witnessed Takahashi Chikuzans Amazing soulful playing in concert and was instantly sold on the idea of becoming a Tsugaru Shamisen player myself one day. This was in the mid-late 1980s and I remember creating a cassette tape collection of Tsugaru minyo and solo Shamisen music. I wore those tapes out until one day I realized that people dont even use cassettes any more as everything had turned to C.D. technology.
At this time I was finishing up my B.F.A. degree from the California Institute of the Arts. Having majored in music composition (with a minor in guitar/music theory) I more or less set aside my dream of playing Tsugaru Shamisen and settled in to a life in Southern California as a music teacher at a local community school in Santa Clarita.
During this time I formed several progressive and multi-cultural bands including the J.S. Bach Experience (A Rock tribute to good old Bach) and Lefty`s Head which featured a lot of my original music. Compositionally I endulged in switching musical styles from classical, neo classical to jazz to Rock to Metal to world music to whatever. During this time I formed a musical philosophy which would ultimately result in the Shamisen style I created by drawing upon all these influences.

Fast forward to the early 2000s. My career as a Guitarist/composer in So Cal had hit a dead end. There were just too many Guitar Shredders… too much music being thrown out there. I started getting sick of it all.
“There has to be something More!” I kept thinking. “There`s got to be some new way to express myself musically that would be entirely unique and unlike anything else out there!”

It was at this moment that I met and had the rare opportunity to spend a few weeks on the road with the absolutely mind boggling Gypsy/Jazz/World fusion group FARMERS MARKET (from Norway). The leader Stian Carstensen played the Accordion like nothing I had ever heard. It was an embodiment of all of the worlds musical history expressed through this one instrument-All musical styles… no borders… no limits. I spent those weeks in a Daze and my determination to find my own personal and unique expression was brought to a passionate peak.

About a month later I found myself back in Japan visiting family and friends and happened to hear about a Tsugaru Shamisen teacher named Kazuo Yasukore who was open to anyone (gaijins as well). I wasted no time heading over to his place ,having suddenly remembered my youthful fantasy of playing Shamisen.
The moment came when he had me sit down and he opened the case in front of me. There lying before me was that strange yet familiar shape. Something clicked inside my heart and brain as I stared at the Shamisen lying there. “Go ahead,pick it up… try it!” Mr. Yasukore said. As I placed the Shamisen on my lap I felt like every ounce of confusion and every question I ever had about who I really a