Mom and my brother, Greig, in my childhood home of San Miguel, California. I, on the left, was just starting to hear the call of music. Mother, on an old Spinet piano, would hold down the sustain pedal and play the black notes. The haunting pentatonic scale vibrated my heart and cells, building a bridge from the the me at 4 to the adventure in music and sound that was to surely follow. My grandfather, Nicholas Tsamis, built and played the Greek instrument, the sanduti, in San Francisco at clubs and weddings. It was kept in the storeroom under the white sheet. I never heard Grandpa play I…but I sure felt the vibe of it upstairs.

Mark’s Musical Journey