Much like many of the other recent posters in this thread, I, too, just realized that I have never taken the opportunity to formally introduce myself. So, here goes . . .
My name is Noah, and I live in suburban Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. I'm 38 years old, married with two great kids (boys, ages 6 and 8), and I live about 10 minutes from my original hometown of Rockville, Maryland. By day, I work in the project finance group of a hotel company. It's still a mystery to me how I ended up in the hospitality business, but it pays the bills and allows me to satisfy my more significant bouts of GAS.
I started playing piano at age 7 and took classical lessons for 9 years. I come from a relatively musical family, and it was simply a given that I would play an instrument when I was growing up. Both my parents are musicians -- my mother is a professional violinist/violist (and a well-respected violin teacher in the area) and my father is a cellist. I also have uncles, aunts, cousins, and (when they were alive) grandparents who all were classical musicians. I was actually a pretty good young pianist: I competed regularly in the Peabody Conservatory's annual youth competitions and I even placed in a couple of Maryland state piano concerto competitions in 9th and 10th grade. As I got further into high school, however, the demands of practice, lessons, etc. were just too much given my other interests, and I stopped lessons.
At the same time, however, I joined my first band: a hard rock cover band in which I was the lead singer. When the leader of the band decided that he wanted to play more "poppy" music, I bought my first synth: a Korg Poly-61. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, since I could play things like the keyboard intro to Asia's "Only Time Will Tell" and make helicopter sounds! (No laughing, please.)
I left for college in 1986 and formed another band playing mostly 80s covers (U2, Cure, R.E.M., Replacements). As with my previous band, I doubled as keyboardist and lead singer. We mostly played parties around the school and occasionally hit to road to play a fraternity party or lawn party at a nearby college, but it was all small potatoes stuff. Generally, we were paid just enough to cover gas money and the cost of our sound guy. It sure was fun, though.
After college, I went to law school (in our esteemed moderator's hometown of Philadelphia) and then joined the real world of work, wife/family, etc. For several years, music sort of faded into the background for me. I always kept playing acoustic piano (mostly pop stuff like Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, show tunes, etc.), but I didn't touch an electronic instrument for about 15 years.
Then, last year, some buddies from work and I realized that we were all musicians (in the loosest sense of the word). Since between us we had drums, guitar, and keyboards covered, we recruited a bass player (a friend of the drummer), and we put together a casual band just to jam and have some fun. Man, did the memories come flooding back. I had totally forgotten how charged up you can get just playing music in a basement with other people!
Anyway, I rushed right out, bought a new keyboard (an S90ES that I love) and an amp and threw myself back into the music thing with a vengeance. It was also around that time that I found this place, and for that I am extraordinarily thankful (except for when the gear envy gets the best of me ). I totally dig hanging here with all you guys, given your vast experience and your incredible knowledge, and, if you don't mind, I think I'll hang for a while longer . . .
All the best,
Noah