Tho' Ya Handzup!

Here's the thing, though i've never been officially diagnosed, i'm fairly certain i'm borderline schizophrenic... and hyper... and suffer from attention deficit disorder... wait... wha... huh... what was i saying? Oh yeah, so what am i to do about my conditions? Release a record of course! It's taken a little while but i finally finished the debut release of my original project, DOOTYBUG. It's a cross-section of styles that have influenced my playing, and ideals that have influenced my life.

The record is called Playground Philosophy. The last time i was this proud of anything was when at the age of five, my son played drums so hard he broke the kick pedal on his drumset. It was a momentous occasion to be sure, but that was then and this is DOOTYBUG. The disc shares it's name with track 7, a little reggae bubble that talks about the beauty and simplicity of being able to see the world through a child's eyes.

I was once in a McDonald's with my father. Ronald McDonald was going to be there that day and they had all these balloons out for the kids... or so i thought. When we got to the front of the line, my father, Dr. Cornel Morton, asked the cashier for a balloon. I was so embarrassed. It doesn't take much when you're 10 years old. One eyebrow raised, she handed it to him. Mortified, i said, "Dad, the balloons are for the kids!" My dad asked, "Why?" and continued, "What age exactly are you too old to have a balloon? And who decides that age?" Typical of a man with a doctorate degree in philosophy. That event stayed with me (obviously, since i'm recounting it 2 decades later).

There are countless elements in society that try to squeeze the youth out of you, or tell you that it's not okay to hold on to a little immaturity. It's so easy to lose yourself attempting to meet the expectations of others. Certainly there are practical matters that make it difficult to spend the entire day playing with Play-Doh and paste, but there are no reasons why you can't break it out on occasion. I doubt my dad realized the wheels he was setting in motion, but ultimately he began weaving the tapestry that was to become Playground Philosophy. The album's subject matter deals largely with the idea of following your path despite the nay-sayers. The exploration of Playground Philosophy was a learning experience that i will always treasure. Should you chose to add it to your CD collection, i hope you will enjoy listening to it as much as i enjoyed creating it.

I have to give a very special thanx to Sean Halley, my partner in crime, without whom this record would only exist in my head.