I live in downtown Washington, DC. I've been in a bunch of loud bands in the past. My last band was Cry Baby Cry, and before that I was in Norman Mayer Group. Acoustic was a left turn at first, but now I love getting all the attention. I do web development for a living. I like computers, and around the time that digital made home recording more affordable, I dove right in.

Behold the glorious offspring of that unholy coupling!

So. That's me. How about the other collaborators and Rare Animals, you ask?

• Monica Stroik is professionally cool and fabulous but is also a painter, an art teacher, and makes jewelry on the side. She was in a band called the Ruminating Breathers for a long time.
• Doug Kallmeyer is the man with the golden ears. He funnels his talents into an unique three-piece called 302 Acid these days. He also does live sound for a living, and works the hell out of his home studio.
• Greg Ceton can play pretty much any instrument and has done a lot more recording than me. He's also got a litany of ex-bands, most recently The Patsies. And he writes a weekly column for the City Paper online.
• Katy Otto runs the world's best record label, Exotic Fever. She currently plays drums for for Del Cielo and formerly for the much-lamented Bald Rapunzel.
• Brian P. Duss is an excellent photographer, an admirable activist, and is just starting a new band called Ibid.
• Jonathon Kenney plays drums in the nine-piece band The Rude Staircase and plays a hell of a game of chess.
• Greg Schebish was in Norman Mayer Group and is currently hard at work being a dad in northern Virginia.

Do you really want more? I just unearthed the tour diary from Cry Baby Cry's 2001 tour. Takes me right back...