CURRENT MISSION

To motivate and entertain children and their parents

ABOUT ME

Renaissance Man of marketing, teaching and writing. Fun and friendly father and grandfather. Married 30 years in 2012 and gradually developing a retirement career as a full time singer/songwriter and author for children. Loves tennis and skiing and has been writing for a living since 1986. Turned 60 on 12/12/12.

PHILOSOPHY

Lead and laugh. Be yourself and fight for your right to do so. Explore. Listen. Take responsibility for your actions. Believe that a person is good until they prove you wrong. Call a spade a spade. Create daily.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a contrarian. If I see a crowd rushing in one direction, I'll go the other way. I seek natural space and new experiences and I love meeting new people and learning about their lives. I recently tried an experiment of offering a free personal poem to anyone who would stop at my table at a street fair. I wrote at least 75 personal tanka poems that day.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Toured solo in the US and Canada in 2012/13. Couchsurfed with approx. a dozen wonderful families - at least two of whom turned me into their house sitter for about a week. Couchsurfing truly made my trip interesting, fun and educational. And it was much preferred to motels, hostels or campgrounds in most cases.

Interests

From Dec 1 2012 until Feb 25 2013 I sang and read my way across the southern and western US states. Successfully completed thirteen contracted shows booked and did at least that many again for my couchsurfing hosts! Then skied my way back across Canada to my home in Montreal by April 1st.

• writing
• poetry
• music
• skiing
• tennis
• entrepreneurship
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Any movie with William Holden or Nathalie Wood in it. Old time blues and Appalachia music. Bluegrass singers. Sonny Boy Williamson. Neil Young. The Boss. Lucinda Williams, Linda Ronstad, Annie Lennox. John Irving novels. Deepak Chopra wisdom. The life concept of Buddhism though I've never explored it fully.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Every day now is amazing but my most amazing moments were the births of my three children and being on the top of various mountains on bluebird ski days. And my first taste of tortellini.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm happy to share my music, my writing and my sense of humour. I can teach people entrepreneurship, harmonica or what my wife and I did to raise three successful adult children. My biggest learning challenge is understanding myself.

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada