I'm a Harlem-born, Tokyo-based writer, songwriter, and artist who makes joy out of hard stuff.

                                 photo by Nick Clegg, [Sound Factory Tokyo](<https://www.soundfactorytokyo.com/>)

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"I make joy out of hard stuff."

I’m a New Yorker — born in Harlem, raised in Queens, came of age in the East Village/LES — who moved to Tokyo in 1998 and never left.

I’m a writer, singer-songwriter, and artist. I spend lots of time learning, creating & finally, this year, publishing.

I make creative tools for folks who need to stay curious in the face of chaos.

Right now I’m fighting cancer for the second time, on chemo, on disability — and thankfully, I’m learning+creating+publishing more than ever.

                                                         my bedroom studio in Tokyo

The short version

Born & Raised — Harlem → Queens → East Village / LES. New York runs through everything I do.

1998 — Moved to Tokyo (not for ‘the culture’), but to manage a band called Pizzicato Five). Stayed. The postmark became part of the brand before I knew I had one.

The Long Middle — Writing. Making music. Making art. Buying courses, mostly not finishing them (more on that later).

2024–Now — Second diagnosis. Chemo. Disability. Building civic projects, Course Corrector and more. Still here.

What I make