Growing up in a little town outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I started taking piano lessons when I was in the third grade.

Switched to Trombone in middle school through High School. Marching band (the point of the M), Pep Band (played at basketball games), Stage Band (annual variety show), etc. Music was fun, but was not my calling.

Attended Purdue (Electrical Engineering major) from 1975-79. Joined Delta Upsilon Fraternity where a good percentage of the brothers were members of the Purdue Glee Club. That got me hooked on singing. Regularly serenading all the best sorority houses…and the girls would come out in droves to hear the men of DeltaU. What fun that was. Competed annually in a University Sing competition for the best chorus (one fraternity, one sorority). DeltaU was always near the top of that competition.

Continued singing after graduation by joining church choirs. Headed to University of Illinois for a Masters degree in engineering (complements of Bell Labs -- my first employer!). Joined Wesley United Methodist church choir. Director was head of music program at UofI. Pretty intense repertoire for that gig. Managed to survive singing second tenor (aka lead) and surprised most of the music majors in that choir.

Spent the next few years in Indianapolis working for Bell Labs. Joined Lawrence United Methodist Church choir. Started a choral ensemble of four men and four women to sing special programs. That was awesome! Played trombone at Easter and Christmas in a quartet. (less inspiring!)

A job at Commodore in West Chester brought me to PA in 1984. Joined the choir at the United Methodist Church in West Chester. Wonderful organ and lovely acoustics at that old church in downtown West Chester. I got to be quite the international globe trotter with work, which took a toll on my spare time to be an active member of the choir.

I pretty much put my music on hold for the next 20 some years. Then just recently, Greg Berlin, with whom I worked at Commodore, mentioned to my wife that he was singing barbershop with the Mainliners. My wife thought it would be great if I could get back into singing. So I gave it a try. Been hooked ever since.

Learned all the tracks for the 2009 Christmas show and auditioned in January to formally join the Mainliners. Become Rookie of the year my first year and elected Chapter President at the same time. Named Barbershopper of the year in 2013 and received the Directors Award for Excellence in 2014.

I started singing with my first quartet in 2010, named The Partimers with Tom Peck, Jerry Schwebel and John Fielding. Joined a second competitive quartet when they lost their Bari called Late Entry with Rich Matusewicz, Gary Covert and Mike Ziegler. We won Atlantic Division Novice quartet our first year out. In fact we retired that trophy. (BTW, there is no trophy for that!)

Been to Harmony University twice 2011 and 2012. Joined the Atlantic Harmony Brigade in 2012. Wow. That was an amazing experience. Can't get enough. Who would have thought...Now I'm the President of that organization. hehehe

MY DAY JOB

I’m currently President and Founder of Porter Digital Signage, a consulting company specializing in “Digital Signage”. Perhaps you’ve seen the screen on the gas pumps at Sunoco? That’s my handiwork. Perhaps you’ve seen the large roadside LED billboards from Lamar? That’s me. Perhaps you’ve been to the Wells Fargo Center? That’s me. http://www.porterdigitalsignage.com

MY OTHER INTERESTS

Golf. Got a late start here. Wandering through BJ‘s one day a set of $99 clubs fell into my cart. I was 49 at the time. Never had played. But heck…even geezers can play golf. How hard can this be? It might even be good exercise. Wow did I get hooked. Fast forward a few years, and I'm seriously competitive in golf. I live on a golf course (Applecross CC) and in 2024 won Super Senior (net) Club Champion.

Running Spartan Races...yes, this old man has turned into a gym rat. I'm in the best shape of my life, and I compete in these obstacle races each summer. Crawling in the mud under barbed wire? Check. Rope climb? Check. Monkey bars? Check? Spear Throw? Check. Warped wall? Check. Fire jump? Check. What fun. Out of 5000 participants, I finished 6th place in my age group my first time out. Whoo Hoo! Showed those millenials a thing or two! HA!

OK...got bored with Spartan Races and got hooked on CrossFit in 2017. Did my first in person competition in 2019 in Fargo ND (yes, that's right). In the top 100 men 65+ years old in the world. Currently 86th. In 2023, I competed in another in person competition, in Ft. Wayne Indiana. Finished first place Rx for Men 65+. Whoo Hoo!

FAMILY

Three amazing kids... Dr. Katie the Vet. Nurse Emmy at Jefferson Hospital in Philly. Food Scientist John