I was born in the Soviet Union and moved to the United States in the late 1970s, while still in elementary school. I have two siblings but they are 8 and 10 years older than me so I spent a lot of time day dreaming as a kid. One of my fondest and earliest memories is working my brother's reel-to-reel machine and listening to Paul McCartney's Band on the Run album, over and over. I must have been around 6 at the time. By the time I was 10, I was hooked on the Beatles and got my first guitar when I was 12. From that point on, I no longer dreamed of being a major league pitcher but a guitar player. I spent hours in my room — playing along with songs on FM radio and trying to figure out how the magic worked.

By the time I was in high school, I was playing in a band and discovering the importance of songwriting. This has led to a life-long love of song — it is the poetry of my life. While I don't think I've written any truly great songs (yet), I've written some pretty good ones and have seen the effect they can have on an audience.

After high school, I was encouraged to pursue a "practical" degree and finally settled on finance. At the time I took little interest in the subject and would have enjoyed something like music composition, literature, history or journalism much more. But as the years have passed, I have actually come to appreciate the effect economic policies have on society and having a business degree has helped me to better understand my clients' business needs. That said, my college years focus was mostly on traveling around the midwest with my band, Phineas Gage. We had a some good songs, a bus and a dream. And took it as far as we could until our bass player decided he preferred to play lead guitar in a local cover band instead.

After the band broke up, I started to sing my own songs (for lack of a real singer) and hit the road promoting my first album in 1994. There were lots of shows at coffeeshops, college campuses, the occasional theater and (to pay the bills) sports bar. These were the days before Couchsurfing but that's exactly what I did much of the time. I traveled and played in just about every state, and loved every minute of it.

Sometime around the turn of the century, I was getting somewhat burned out and decided to plant some roots for a change. Happenstance and luck landed me in a junior graphic design position at an ad agency, where I was mentored by some talented art directors. It turned out I had somewhat of a knack for telling stories visually and a new career was born. I soon got tired of hawking products for corporate clients and went to work for a magazine publisher, where I felt much more at home. By 2003, it was time to start my own tiny design studio, and that's what I've been doing ever since.

Over the years, I continued to record music in my little project studio, but my traveling days were gradually winding down. In 2004, I was in a poetry jazz band and we toured Russia of all places, which turned out to be the last of my big trips.

I got married in 2005 and we had a daughter in 2007. Our son was born in 2009. The kids (now 12 and 10) are wonderful — both are budding musicians, artists and philosophers. Also, very good debaters — too good, in my opinion :)

Fatherhood is a most rewarding (but challenging!) experience, but now that the kids are getting older, I feel the pull of the road calling out to me again. Traveling with the family is wonderful but there is something about being on the road alone that awakens the deepest parts of me. Traveling has taught me that the world is full of hospitable and friendly people and I hope to host some of them on their visits to the Detroit area.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

As mentioned in the short novel above, I love to meet people when I travel. Learning about a place from someone who lives there beats any travel guide (on most days). When I travel alone, I will prioritize a good conversation over a comfortable hotel room, any day. And, let's face it, not having to pay for a hotel room means we can all travel that much more, meet more like-minded people and contribute fewer dollars toward some corporation's profit margin. I also love to play the tour guide when people visit Detroit so, if you are coming to Michigan, I'd be happy to show you around.

Centres d'intérêt

• literature
• cooking
• music
• guitar
• history
• travel
• art
• food
• museums
• songwriting

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bod Dylan, Tom Petty, The Band, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Chopin, and anything with a Cuban beat.

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Raised my kids (work still in progress)

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I can teach guitar; tell stories; discuss books and philosophy.

Ce que j'aimerais partager avec mes hôtes

Stories, music, chess games. I also like to assemble Ikea furniture and can pack a van better than most people :)

Pays que j'ai visités

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russian Federation, Spain

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Russian Federation, United States