Hi everyone! My name is Dan and I just arrived here a few days ago. I'm a guitarist and musician living in the middle of the desert in the southwest United States. (Thank goodness for my internet connection!) I'm really excited to be here, and especially excited to start using dsound and dtube to share some original music with you. I'm not famous (at all), but I am real, as you can see below:

Most people have at least one thing that they're really good at. My thing is music, and the guitar is my medium. I've always felt that no matter what happens to me in life, I've always got the guitar.

So about a year ago, I was teaching a guitar lesson, sitting across from a student, when I was distracted by a flying bug (insect) hoovering over the fluorescent light above our heads. (Now the story gets really stupid.) The bug stopped on the light cover and I saw my opportunity and swatted it - with a lot of force - with my left hand. In case you don't know, guitar players (right-handed) press on the strings with their left hand.

I saw the blood spatter on the wall as my hand came down. The bug survived, in fact, he was completely unharmed. Fluorescent light covers sometimes have sharp bubbles - that's what I cut myself on, badly. There was a lot of swearing (from me) and the guitar lesson ended early. I had someone drive me to the hospital, and five stitches later I was back home. Very uncertain about my guitar present and future.

I had to completely change the way I play (after 30 years of playing.) The cut was on the pad of my middle finger - the worst finger, the worst place. That finger was not usable for months. Anyway, I won't bore you with the rest - we've all had injuries. I'm totally healed up now and ripping up my guitar again.

Have you ever been faced with the possibility that your best skill or talent could be taken away from you in an instant? It can. I was lucky, some people aren't. Anyway, I hope this story helps you learn a bit more about me.

And the moral of this story: If you want to squash a bug, use your shoe. Happy to be here - thanks for reading!

-Dan