So this is my story...Not too terribly exciting but I will give you a bit of a background on who I am. I was born and raised in the Bible belt. My father taught 9th grade World History, was a deacon and sang in the choir at church. My mother is a CPA, sang in the church choir and ensembles, rang handbells, and directed Children's Choir. Sunday was Sunday School, church, lunch, nap then back to church. Monday was visitation (also known as "go to the people's house that visited the church on Sunday and asked them if they were saved and if not tell them they were bound for hell"). Tuesday was handbell rehearsal. Wednesday was family dinner in the church dining hall, choir rehearsal and youth night...etc, etc. Needless to say, if the church doors were open we were there.
Life at home was much like life at church. Do good or you will disappoint the family and Jesus. We didn't cuss. My parents never drank. Every Saturday night, my brothers and I would sit around the fireplace and our Dad would read us stories from the Children's Bible. We didn't celebrate Halloween (the devil's holiday), in fact, on that horrible night every year the family would turn the lights out in the house and go into my parents room and watch a movie so nobody knew we were home. Thanksgiving to Christmas was spent at rehearsals for the huge "look at how grand our music program is" Christmas pageant. I went to that church from the time I was an infant to my senior year in high school. The church outgrew 2 steeples in that time. Got to love the Baptists and their building fund.
As a kid, it was discovered that I had musical and acting talent. I sang solos in most programs at church and school. The Children's Minister at church told my mom about a television show filmed in Ft. Worth that was having an open casting call for kids to be on the show. So it was decided that I would audition. When we got there I realized that I was WAY out of my league. There were kids with professional headshots, over-bearing pageant style parents, little diva kids, and way too much arrogance and entitlement. I had never done ANYTHING outside of the church like this, but I had decided that since I was there I was going to go in there and walk out with a part. Most will tell you that when I set my mind to do something I do it at all costs. Some call it arrogance but I am just confident. I walked into the audition room, sang "The Lord told Noah there's gonna be a floody floody..." and walked out with a call back which led to being put on the show. I was on the show for 2 years. It was a great experience. I still talk to some of the other kids that were on the show with me.
I continued to sing as I got older and in high school earned 1st Chair in the Texas All-State Choir. This led to scholarship offers to about every college I had ever dreamed of attending. The problem was I was burned out. I had been singing for so long and didn't enjoy it anymore. Everything I did vocally in high school was done to make someone else happy, mainly my parents. I had some very tough decisions to make and a lot of pressure put on me to make the "right" decisions for my life. At least the right ones according to everyone else. This is the point where my life started changing. I decided to take at least a year off between high school and college. I took a job as a disc jockey at a small radio station at the age of 17 and loved getting away from the pressure of singing competitions. And then came "the day". I ran a commercial for "The Few, The Proud, The Marines." I called my dad and jokingly said "hey dad, I have figured out what I want to do with my life. I am going to join the Marines." His response, "Son, they would kill you." The next day I was at the recruiter's office. Challenge accepted!
Life at home was much like life at church. Do good or you will disappoint the family and Jesus. We didn't cuss. My parents never drank. Every Saturday night, my brothers and I would sit around the fireplace and our Dad would read us stories from the Children's Bible. We didn't celebrate Halloween (the devil's holiday), in fact, on that horrible night every year the family would turn the lights out in the house and go into my parents room and watch a movie so nobody knew we were home. Thanksgiving to Christmas was spent at rehearsals for the huge "look at how grand our music program is" Christmas pageant. I went to that church from the time I was an infant to my senior year in high school. The church outgrew 2 steeples in that time. Got to love the Baptists and their building fund.
As a kid, it was discovered that I had musical and acting talent. I sang solos in most programs at church and school. The Children's Minister at church told my mom about a television show filmed in Ft. Worth that was having an open casting call for kids to be on the show. So it was decided that I would audition. When we got there I realized that I was WAY out of my league. There were kids with professional headshots, over-bearing pageant style parents, little diva kids, and way too much arrogance and entitlement. I had never done ANYTHING outside of the church like this, but I had decided that since I was there I was going to go in there and walk out with a part. Most will tell you that when I set my mind to do something I do it at all costs. Some call it arrogance but I am just confident. I walked into the audition room, sang "The Lord told Noah there's gonna be a floody floody..." and walked out with a call back which led to being put on the show. I was on the show for 2 years. It was a great experience. I still talk to some of the other kids that were on the show with me.
I continued to sing as I got older and in high school earned 1st Chair in the Texas All-State Choir. This led to scholarship offers to about every college I had ever dreamed of attending. The problem was I was burned out. I had been singing for so long and didn't enjoy it anymore. Everything I did vocally in high school was done to make someone else happy, mainly my parents. I had some very tough decisions to make and a lot of pressure put on me to make the "right" decisions for my life. At least the right ones according to everyone else. This is the point where my life started changing. I decided to take at least a year off between high school and college. I took a job as a disc jockey at a small radio station at the age of 17 and loved getting away from the pressure of singing competitions. And then came "the day". I ran a commercial for "The Few, The Proud, The Marines." I called my dad and jokingly said "hey dad, I have figured out what I want to do with my life. I am going to join the Marines." His response, "Son, they would kill you." The next day I was at the recruiter's office. Challenge accepted!
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