I try to pawn this photo off as my grandfather. It's actually me in my western garb during a brief pause while on a frenzied 24 hour trip to Las Vegas. Any resemblance to "Western Ron", convicted in thirteen states of playing music too loud is strictly coincidental.

I was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1933. (Whew! That makes me old.) Being from Brooklyn I led a sheltered "ute". By the time I was ready for High School the family had moved to Forest Hills but my roots remained in Brooklyn with all the "utes" I grew up with. As soon as I could I bought a '38 Dodge and a Brooklyn "cellar club" was my home on weekends. By the time I was 21 I moved out of my parent's house, had moved back to Brooklyn and dropped out of college to persue a career in the jazz world, achieving some recognition as a promoter, dj and writer. Lack of making any money led me back to the straight life and by the time I was 35 I had married, gone back to school and achieved an LL.B degree and also two degrees in Actuarial Science which led to being able to add eight more initials after my name (MSPA,MAAA).

Years later a chance meeting with my old friend Jack Lonshein, active in the graphics art field and making a living painting and designing record covers, changed my life completely. Jack noticed some of my photographs and felt that he could sell them as covers. He did and we were off to a partnership that not only would produce covers but eventually an art gallery featuring both of our work and the work of other artists we had come in contact with. Carpeted from floor right up to the ceiling, "a different journey" was truly something else.

You can just about make out the carpeted walls. The name, "a different journey" was taken from an album by Chico Hamilton.

Jack Lonshein designed the logo, seen above the door.

Of course the gallery was far from a commercial success. Eventually I came back 100% to the "straight life" but in my mind I never left the world of creativity. Many years passed. The kids grew up, got married, had children of their own. The wife and I moved to Manhattan where we resided for six years in an apartment overlooking all of New York. It was wonderful but like all wonderful things it came to an end. High rents and the kids all moving to North Carolina brought us to Charlotte where we live now. Back to Community College to learn about computers and the internet and it's been wonderful.