In the 1980s, I did a lot of recording with my band, Shock Wave, at Monkey Hill Studios, located in the neighborhood of College Point in Queens, New York.

During one of our recording sessions, I met a friend of the engineer’s who lived in the same apartment building as Ian McDonald, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, from the rock group, Foreigner. She said she was friends with him and asked if I was interested in having her introduce us to have him listen to some of my songs that I was recording there. The hope was that possibly he could be of assistance in connecting me a major record label or to someone in music publishing or music management.

A meeting was arranged about a month later and we went up to his apartment. He was very polite and gracious in a typically English gentleman’s way.

After he listened to my tape, he politely said that he found it difficult to assess the quality or appeal of heavy metal music since he personally didn’t care for the genre and never performed it or listened to it. As for knowing publishers or managers, he said he was acquainted with many, but they only handled established, mega-artists (such as Foreigner) who had already secured recording contracts. He didn’t know anyone who “took on” any “unsigned” acts.

So, while nothing came of our meeting, it was a pleasure to meet him and I remember him fondly for graciously allowing me into his home and taking the time to listen to my music.