The Earth cooled. Then later, in the great state of Ohio, near the beginning of the latter half of the previous century, TJ was born.

When TJ was seven years old, now living in Yakima, Washington, his mother brought home an upright piano. He began playing by ear and soon started taking lessons. His teacher, Bill Barber, was a ragtime piano player. That started TJ's life-long love of the music.

TJ was thrilled when the movie "The Sting" debuted in 1973 and helped bring Scott Joplin's ragtime music back into the American pop culture. Although the time setting for the movie was the 1930s, the music used actually predated that by 25 years or so.

In 1978, TJ made an effort to learn more of Joplin's rags. In the process of searching for Ragtime albums, he came across an LP by Bob Milne called "Boogie, Blues & Rags". "WOW!" TJ says, "This guy is amazing! He was an inspiration." Later, in 1980, TJ played ragtime piano five nights a week.

He went on to play piano, saxophone and guitar in country western bands for the next five years, mostly in the Yakima Valley area, and in Seattle.

TJ then furthered his education and got a real career. To his amazement, he still has it!

Now it was time to get back to his musical roots - Ragtime Piano. Several years ago, TJ flew to Denver for the yearly Evergreen Ragtime Festival in nearby Evergreen. The purpose? - to meet Bob Milne and many of the other ragtime piano players. Afterwards, TJ began re-learning all the rags he once knew and a lot of new ones. In 2001 - 2002, he played several times as a guest piano player at Hokum Hall - now Kenyon Hall - in West Seattle.

TJ now plays at cafes, clubs, private venues, and open mics around the Puget Sound area, and anywhere else there is a piano. TJ also sits in and plays piano with blues bands, folk musicians, and country western bands. He also collaborates with other musicians.