Ever since I picked up my first guitar in the 1970’s, I knew I wanted to be a rock star.  Thanks to trailblazers like Suzi Quatro, Nancy Wilson, Chrissie Hynde, Lita Ford… it didn’t seem like an impossibility.

In high school, Walter Pliszak (member of Timbres), invited me to join his band Gowanus Canal, not as a go-go dancer, but as a vocalist, and later guitar player.  This opportunity allowed me to hone my skills as a musician.  Early 1980’s, Leslie West of Mountain, down on his luck, was teaching guitar.  Lo and behold, I was accepted as a student.  This is a long story, but I ended up with his Fender Stratocaster, which he told me, he used on Mountain Rising.  Unfortunately, during one of our lessons, Leslie received a call from police that Felix Pappalardi’s wife had shot him, thus having to cut our session short that day. I ran into Leslie later on in life, before he died, and had the guitar autographed.  He did not remember me.

My ancestry is Ukrainian, and I am a descendant of the Cisyk musical dynasty.  My cousin George Pawlyk, who has always been my guitar guru, my sister Roma, bass player extraordinaire, and I decided to form a band and named it, yes, CISYK.  With the help of Doug Yagilowich, we recorded some original material, on an analog reel-to-reel!!! Drummer Carlo Solo and I left Cisyk...

After graduating from NYU with a degree in Music, Business & Technology, I had to make a decision.  I decided to work in a supermarket and pursue my musical career.  The owners of Associated, made me their manager, and gave me a key to the store, and let me have a rehearsal studio in the basement! Those guys were the best.  This is when I hooked up with Peter Swido, bass player like no other, my musical/songwriting soulmate. This was the most prolific time of my songwriting.

After recording some material, I formed several bands:  First: Phantom, then: Quazar, finally: Crystal Chill.  This was my heavy metal period.  Worked with so many great musicians and guitarists.  We even did a WSOU benefit at On Stage in Staten Island.  There were many “real” bands there, for some reason I only remember TT Quick and Yngwie Malmsteen, who was a prima donna and threw a mike into a monitor because he was unhappy with the sound.  We opened the show, with no sound check, well, you can hear the results in OUR MUSIC section of this site.

Was so lucky to have met Kenny Lienhardt, of Black Virgin, who offered us rehearsal space at the Music Building in NYC.  Incidentally, Madonna lived somewhere in that building, on the roof maybe?

We toured with them, Kenny and I became great friends and recorded much material on a Fostex 4-track.  Check out the tracks in OUR MUSIC. 

My rock star career never made it, but I was happy to have met many musicians along the way who have participated in my recording endeavors. 

Sean O'Connor, guitar, Mick Redmund, bass, and David Sandler, drums, of the Lookalikes come to mind.  And of course, Steve Selezniov!  These guys basically were the studio band for Xtine... Live at Home which you can hear in OUR MUSIC.