(The above image of Chewbacca was blatantly stolen from the "World o' Chewbacca" page, created by Andrew Massey - it isn't really a picture of me. I have no idea where he stole it from!) It refers to my nickname in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. The Question Marks refer to my nickname in Beta Omega Beta - a not-quite-real fraternity made up of folks from MSU's Players.
Where do I begin? Probably the beginning, since it makes it a little more chronological!
I was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on August 21, 1971. (For the astrology buffs, I'm a Leo, but darn close to the Virgo cusp with my Moon, Mercury, and Pluto in Virgo! Go figure that one out!)
I lived in Long Branch with my Mom (Nancy Jenkins), my Dad (Marty Piatkowski), and my sister (Karen Piatkowski). In 1979 we moved to Howell, New Jersey. In 1983 the youngest addition to the family came along, my sister Katie.
Through the years growing up my penchant for the peculiar was pointed out to me by just about everyone. Some observations were flattering, others were not. But the thing I needed to learn and accept in life was that I Am A Very Unusual Little Boy! I tended to do pretty darn good in school, and spent much time hanging out in my own imagination. (Sometimes during class, which tended to get me into trouble!) I was a hyperactive kid, which pretty much drove my parents and grandparents nuts. That also got me into a lot of trouble at home, school, and especially - every hyperactive kid's personal hell of boredom - the mall!
For the most part, in the earlier years, I was pretty much a loner, just content with my imagination. I was never much into sports, though Dad & I were huge fans of the New York Cosmos - when soccer was actually a popular sport in this country. I also inherited a warped sense of humor from Dad, which the average human tends not to appreciate. Therefore there was a good deal of strangeness that got me beat up a bit in elementary school. I've had to seek out my fellow warped souls to find my own place in life. (And the older I became, the more warped everyone else seemed to get!)
In 1983 I had a vicarious experience to the music of "Weird Al' Yankovic through one of my classmates, and by 1984, after seeing his video for "Eat It," I was hooked. Been a big fan ever since.
I always was attracted to the arts - I loved reading, writing, watching movies, and listening to music. "Star Wars" was a major influence on me - them darn Kenner action figures became long time pals o' mine! My grandparents bought me the soundtrack to the film, which was my introduction to the brilliance of John Williams, and was a stepping stone to my appreciation of classical music. My folks mainly listened to rock - I grew up listening to their music: The Beatles, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen. At age four I spent most of my time with headphones on listening to the "White Album", The Who's (original) Tommy, the Broadway soundtrack to Hair, the motion picture soundtrack to Grease, and the original album version of Jesus Christ Superstar. In school I sang in the choir and began playing the trumpet.
In 1985, when I was in 8th grade, my parents - for reasons too complicated and personal to explain on the net - split up. For many families it's a devastating experience. For ours, it was a new beginning that offered a ray of hope we never dreamed of. Mom wasn't doing well for a while then, but she got back on her feet and moved back to Long Branch. She's been there with her boyfriend Michael Normile ever since. Dad married Mary Ann Bancroft, and we moved in with her and her kids (and our schoolmates), Allan and Lorelei. I was there until the end of my first year in college.
At that time my entire world was changing. High school brought about new people, new friends, and new opportunities to bestow the grace of weirdness upon people. 1985 saw the release of "Weird Al" Yankovic's Dare To Be Stupid, the title track of which had a most profound influence upon me. The lyrics, in a nutshell, say, "Hey! It doesn't matter what people think - do what makes you happy. Even, and especially, if it's different from what everyone else is doing!" That song happened to come out after I realized my own personal philosophy, "We're ALL Strange!" (More in my Philosophy section.) As a result of all of this, my life became happier, I became happier, and I learned the value of close friendships.
My hyperactivity remained throughout high school. I was very involved in marching band, jazz band, choir, the Madrigals ensemble, a men's sextet called "The Doublestuffers," and drama. (I ended up playing Kenickie in Grease in 1986, Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar in 1988, and in college played Woof in Hair in 1994 - I guess I spent my early childhood preparing for these roles! I always found that ironic. All I have to do know is get involved in a production of The Who's Tommy and it'll all be complete!) I was also involved in student council in my senior year, wrote an article or two for the school newspaper - The Accent - and had a short jaunt with the Science League. (I don't remember what I did in the Science League, but my high school yearbook says I was involved, so I won't argue.) I also became involved in an infamous clandestine operation my friends began known as "M.U.D. T.o.u.r. '85" which I continued after their graduation. There were secret files that kinda spoofed what was going on in our lives - quite amusing, actually. I could tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you.
In high school I also began writing poetry for our school's publication, The Laureate - that all began when a classmate asked me to write her a poem. We were in the library working on the computers. I made up some crazy, oddball crap that was a really bad parody of a Shakespearean sonnet. Somehow my teacher, Ms. Adams, found it & scolded, "Who wrote this?" Thinking I was in trouble, I 'fessed up to the crime of goofing off. She loved the poem - I thought she was out of her mind. But it influenced me to keep writing. Most of the earlier work was garbage-on-purpose. In college I began to take it seriously.
In the beginning of 1989, during my senior year, tragedy struck our community. One of (my step-brother) Allan's best friends, Michael Drinkwater, took his own life. He was discovered in the woods on the morning of New Year's Day. Ten days later, Allan was driving home from work with another friend following him. It had snowed the weekend before, and there was a mixture of sand and ice on the ground. As Allan turned the corner onto our street, he lost control of the car and hit a tree. Later that afternoon, despite the optimism of my friends on the EMS, Allan died in the hospital. At the time I was working on a set of song lyrics called "Only The Strong Shall Survive," and worked on the music with my friends Joe Cantaffa and Scott Dority. The song was written as an anti-suicide song, but took on a whole new meaning after Allan's death. We performed it several times for our fellow students, and it always seemed to pack quite an emotional punch.
In high school I was interested in both music and psychology, and my band director told me about music therapy. I was intrigued. "Only The Strong Shall Survive" helped push my desire to study music therapy in college. I applied to Montclair State College, since it was the only New Jersey school that offered the program. In September, 1989 I became a music therapy major, with voice as my primary instrument. I eventually pledged the Lambda Mu Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia - a national, professional music fraternity for men. I soon became Vice President and Fraternity Education Officer of my chapter, and eventually held the regional position of Collegiate Province Representative for two years, which required me to be a delegate to our National Assembly in 1994. In my first few years of college I also started writing a collection of song lyrics & pop music, but after a while I thought they were pretty bad. The lyrics might make great country songs someday, but country ain't quite my bag. I could always try to sell them someday. Meanwhile, I just put a hiatus on writing.
In 1990 I discovered a local musician named Vic Hennegam. I was amazed by his style & became a big fan. Through his connection with the campus radio station, I got to meet him & had him perform on campus - to the totally wrong crowd, but it was a performance nonetheless. I was helping him pack up equipment afterwards and he asked me what my major was. I told him & he said, "Reeeeeeally! We were thinking of adding a male backup singer to the band!" Anyway, I came to the audition, already knew all of the songs & started performing with "The Modules," as his back-up band were known. We played a couple cool places like CBGB's and The Spiral in New York, and Live Tonight in Hoboken. Almost a year later, Vic and his wife Ellen took a trip to Los Angeles, fell in love with the place, and decided to move out west. Oh, well. Such is life! Ellen changed her name to Zoe and they started a band called Daughter Judy. We kept in touch for a while, but after many years the inevitable drifting occurred. (I was psyched last winter when I saw an ad in the Village Voice announcing Daughter Judy at The Bitter End on Bleecker Street - I went there, but it was a different band.)
After a year and a half, I decided music therapy really wasn't for me. I switched to music education, after reliving the memories of my involvement in music during high school. After a year and a half in the music education program, my girlfriend at the time graduated, got a teaching job, and told me, "I could do this for the rest of my life!" Suddenly the permanence of teaching right after college didn't seem so attractive. I knew I always wanted to get into teaching, but I felt I wanted to go out and have a life first. I needed a new plan...
In high school I met a girl who also happened to attend Montclair State with me. She was a broadcasting major. I used to watch her catching the bus to New York, going on all her internships, hearing stories of her working for ABC Sports and travelling all over the country while still in school. She asked me to act in one of her in-studio projects once, knowing I had a background in theatre. I walked into the studio, gawked at all the cameras, the lights and our professional, state-of-the-art control room. I saw my friend going to work, directing her crew and thought, "I could do this!" When I needed to switch majors, I decided on broadcasting.
Through my Writing For Television class, I learned the basics of screenwriting, which is more along the lines of feature films. I had an idea for a script a few years before that, and used that idea in my class. The script was called Just Divorced, and soon it became a passion. I got into Montclair State's film minor program (they didn't offer a major) and found a screenwriting course in the catalogue. Unfortunately, they never actually held the class due to lack of interest. (Go figure!) I convinced the department to let me take the class as an independent study. I wrote the first draft of the script in the summer of 1994, and that fall worked on the rewrites with the coaching of my teacher. I eventually realized that I needed to make so many changes, that I decided to put it on the backburner, and hopefully someday plan to start it over from scratch.
During college, my hyperactivity continued. Outside of the fraternity, classes, video & film projects for class as well as work, and my screenplay, I was involved with the radio station, WMSC (serving as a disk jockey - with a hit show called The Cellular Toaster, Assistant Production Director, News Director, and in my final year as Operations Manager), Players (a non-Theatre Department, student-run theatre organization, through which I performed in Hair), the National Broadcasting Society - Alpha Epsilon Rho (though it was disbanded shortly after my induction), Class One Concerts (which brought rock bands to the campus - I worked on the Meatloaf and The Allman Brothers Band shows), plus I usually worked at least two jobs (or more) at once. I worked for a United Artists movie theatre in Upper Montclair, plus an array of on-campus employers including the Gifted & Talented Youth Center, the music department (I ran the recording studio & taped all of the recitals - I even had my own office!), the computer lab (best job a student can get - worked on my screenplay a lot there!), and the Office of Student Activities as a video producer.
Through the friendships I made during Hair, I became reacquainted with poetry. Some of my friends were really amazing poets, and we ended up starting a poetry workshop through an organization known as MindscapE Productions, based at Tex & Cindy's Casablanca in Garfield, New Jersey. We studied each other's work, as well as the works of famous poets. (I started getting a feel for jazz poetry, and soon became a fan of Keruac and Ginsberg.) On Tuesdays they featured live jazz, an artist of the week, and a featured poet. I also helped create a weekly publication called The Page, where local poets could submit their current work. Many of us also branched out to a group called La Di Da in Montclair, which featured original music and poetry every Thursday night. La Di Da eventually took a hiatus for a while, and now only does special events every once in a while. My poetry habit was strong then, but time & work soon made me put it on the backburner. I had a great spurt of poetry burst out last fall, but it didn't last. Someday, though... Someday...
In 1993, a my fraternity brother P Jay Etra gave me the nickname "Chewie" - due to the fact that like the Wookie from the classic Star Wars films, I too am alway thinking with my stomach. (Hence the graphic up top!)
In my last semester of college I did an internship with Batfilm Productions, under Michael Uslan and Benjamin Melniker - the executive producers of the Batman movies. I was hired by a girl named Kim Fagen. She actually quit before I started. Her replacement was Tommy Walker. Tom & I have been great pals ever since, and I've been a big fan (and unofficial promoter) of his band Friday's Child. (They've put out two CD's Boy Without A Name and Thirteen, both of which have sold thousands of copies. You can find in most Borders Books and Music stores on the east coast, or you can order it through on the internet. Check their website for more details.)
I graduated from (what became) Montclair State University in 1995, and got my first job working in feature films. Kim Fagen had called me in April to ask me to work as her Assistnt Production Coordinator, but I couldn't start then, since I still had classes to finish. She called me again right before my classes ended. The movie was called Caught, starring Maria Conchita Alonso, Edward James Olmos, and Arie Verveen. It was released in small art houses (i.e. The Angelica on Houston Street in New York) across the country, and can be found in many video stores today. Between the principal photography and the reshoots, I held the positions of Parking Production Assistant, Craft Service (which was a job I didn't like & kept getting hired as for months to come!), Assistant Production Coordinator, and Key Set Production Assistant - sort of the bottom of the Assistant Director totem pole. Eventually, I started to get somewhat steady work in film production, as an A.D. (first, second, and second second), Production Coordinator, and Production Manager.
In between projects I have kept some ties with Montclair State University. I held the position of Alumni Secretary for Lambda Mu for two years. I have also directed a few shows for Players, including The Mystery of Edwin Drood and a one-act play called When God Comes For Breakfast, You Don't Burn The Toast. Being a big fan of Woody Allen's work, I'm still dreaming of directing Play It Again, Sam, but my proposal keeps getting turned down. I'm not giving up, though!
Most recently I have undertaken a major personal project - a screenplay called Ride With The Dragons, which is based on a poem I wrote by the same name, which is based on the story of Allan and Michael. I'm hoping to take it into production in October of 2001, and the chances seem to be looking better and better! More on that as definite things happen.
I have been living in Clifton, New Jersey for almost seven years now. I've had several roommates there, including P Jay Etra, George Idell, Jeff Colarusso, and Will Coles. I currently live with my wife, Melanie, which leads me to the biggest newsÖ
Melanie and I got married on May 28, 2000. Melanie and I have been friends for six years, share the same passion for the music of "Weird Al" Yankovic, acting (though she's had formal training and is much more talented than me), '80's music, romantic comedies, and many, many other recreational activities.
We were married at the church that I belong to, the Unitarian Church of Montclair, which is a church with no particular creed. Unitarian Universalists believe in the freedom of religious thought, a well-rounded religious education and understanding of all of the world's religions, and a basic sense of morality, compassion for others, appreciation for the arts, and harmony with nature and all the universe. (For more about Unitarian Universalism, check out My Religion Page!)
To complete this autobiography, I must say that I have a whole throng of the most wonderful friends a guy could ever want - you know who you are & I love you all!
More to come when more happens to me!!!
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