First gig EVER - borrowed drums, no bass player, no name, just myself & Bobby Goldie on guitar....
I think we knew 5 songs, and played them over & over..... and over.... and over.... and over.....

MANZO ... Sayreville block dance, Summer '77. We covered Lou Reed, the Ramones, BTO & Zeppelin...

MANZO .... Sayreville High gym, Spring '78... What self-respecting drummer would do a gig WITHOUT a tympani..

Nice hat......

Atlantic City Expressway,  "Save The Whales" Benefit concert, Sayreville, NJ, Spring 1979.....
HUGE Ludwig kit, 6" all the way to 16" toms..... hee hee!

A.C.E., "Save The Whales".... Out of focus shot I scanned off of a contact sheet.....
Hard to tell, but the white, fuzzy blob in the foreground is John Bongiovi......

A.C.E. ... Fast Lane, Asbury Park NJ, Fall 1979. Those drums looked like crap, but they sounded like Godzilla marching thru Tokyo!

I had just seen Bill Bruford the night before, and decided to raise my cymbals like he had his...
Pay attention, kids: NEVER, EVER make a this huge of a change to your kit AT THE GIG!!!
I missed more cymbal hits & threw more sticks into the audience that night
than I did at all the other gigs that year combined...... Good Times!

Jersey Home Grown, Farewell Gig, Emmett's Inn, Spring 1983. My first brand new kit - great colour, no?

Note the ever-present Kenny Walus standing over me.
I learned how to work with a bass player with Kenny.
We were a great team.

STRENGTH, 1996 - After 10 years as a part-time drummer, these were the guys that convinced me that we could do it for real.
L to R: Derek Tailer - Bass & Vocals;  Charlie Sabin - Lead Vocals; 
Tony Palmucci - Guitar & Vocals;  Charlie Mills - Durms & Vocals

Dee Snider's SMF's, 1997 - THis was in between takes for Swedish television.
L to R: Keith Alexander - Guitar; Derek Tailer - Bass; Cooch - Road Mgr.; Tony Palmucci - Guitar;
R.Anger - Stage Mgr. / Skull Wrangler; Charlie Mills - Drums; Dee Snider - Vocals / SMF King

SWEDEN, 1997 - This was during taping for a Swedish TV show. We had to play " We're Not Gonna Take It "  live, while the original Twisted Sister video for the song was running on the immense video wall behind me. I've got video tape of the show somewhere.....

Karlsham Rock Festival, Sweden, 1997 - This was my view of the first Festival crowd we were playing for - all 35,000 of them! And they were going nuts!

This was from a 1997 photo shoot. Nadine, my favourite photographer, and I set the shot to cater specifically to the drum companies I was trying to build relationships with. This shot helped break the ice with a few endorser reps.

Skid Row 2000 - L to R: Rachel Bolan, Scotti Hill, Your's Truly, new singer Johnny Solinger, and Snake.

These black & white shots were taken by Jeff Hoffman, my tech TJ's brother.

Backstage, somewhere in the US, with my faithful tech, TJ Hoffman. I took him out on the road in 2000, mainly to keep him away from my then-wife while I was away. Note the curious absence of any drum-related gear in his hands.....

The out-of-focus, upside down logo says VATER. The people at Vater Percussion were the first to give me a hand with equipment, starting with my stint with Dee Snider. No matter where I've been in my life & career, these guys have always been great to me. I fly the Vater logo loud & proud - and usually in focus - wherever I go.

Meadowlands, June, 2000... Thank you. Goodnight.

With Steve Gadd, Modern Drummer Festival, '98.
 

With The NYC Drum Club, February, 2008. A great monthly lunch get-together, with an ever rotating cast of characters!

With The Mangos, Fall 2006. L to R: Joe Prewitt, Yours Truly, Jimmy Jett, Droop. Missing: Sonny Prewitt, Johnny Gutch

With The B-Street Band, Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, March, 2008.
L to R: Steve Lopresto, Steve Meyers, Glenn Stuart, Willy Forte, Myself, Steve Barr, JC.

With Tommy Grant, rehersals for the Massey Prenupt, Winter, 2006.

Zach Burns, future Rock Star (In Training).

With MOTORHEAD's MICKEY DEE, Sweden, 1997

With Jon BonJovi , August 3d, 1987. This was the first night BonJovi was headlining The Garden, something they've been doing regularly ever since.

With Dave Bryan, Madison Square Garden, August 3d, 1987.

With Ted Nugent. I remember roaring down the Garden State Parkway towards Seaside Beach, with "Free For All"  blasting on the 8-track!
Uncle Ted was great to watch & always available to hang with.

Tommy Aldridge has been a huge influence for as long as I've been playing. To be able to watch him  play with "Uncle Ted" 4 nights a week for 6 months was an invaluable experience.

With Marco Mendoza, July 2000. Marco was my "go-to" guy when things got crazy with the Skid Row guys. Always ready to listen, "Brother Man"  had a way of calming me down & seeing the bright side of every situation. And not to mention, he's an AMAZING bass player & singer!

With Billy Idol's Drum Tech Extrordinaire Jim Robison, relaxing in the upstairs lounge on our bus, Europe 2005.