In 1996, Roget’s Playground formed in San Diego with yours truly on guitar. We were one of those hard to classify bands — kind of adult alternative with a bit of a jazz influence at times. I just discovered the one CD we recorded, Periodic Table Manners, is available on iTunes in iTunes Plus format. The CD was recorded within the first year of us getting together. I have a lot of fond memories of this time in my life, and I still have the band website archived here. “Quiet” was always my favorite track on that CD.
Disbanding in 1999, our sound had evolved to be both a little heavier and little jazzier at times, if that makes sense. Dani McGee, the singer, bass player and main songwriter in Roget’s Playground, released a four song EP solo CD, Bar Talk, a couple years later. Recorded in Los Angeles where she was living at the time, it is also available on iTunes. Bar Talk contains material Roget’s Playground was performing in our live set when we disbanded. Originally I was to be featured on guitar throughout the album, but due to logistics and technical difficulties I only appear on two of the tracks. “Room Full of Redheads” is my favorite of our later tunes.
After Roget’s Playground, I focused my musical attention on So What, a jazz trio/quartet that played pretty regularly around San Diego. So What has been rather dormant for a couple years — strangely, since I joined MP3tunes as CTO. Still working on that whole rebalancing thing.