So, what is the origin story of The Schnooks? Have a seat, kiddo, I have a little bit of explaining to do. Grab a drink, this will be a little lengthy.

In 2005 I was working for what was then the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities as a safety and security officer. I did the typical institutional safety and security thing: building inspections, safety drills, patrol of grounds, etc..

But I also did have a lot of “resident” contact (they individuals there are not patients. that is their home , for better or worse, therefore they “reside” there). It wasn’t just saying hello or holding a door open for someone. By contact, I am referring to actually physically engaging them to intervene, redirect, and prevent harm to anyone. That meant that if someone was having a bad day and starts biting and hitting people and the direct care staff couldn’t get the situation under control, I would respond to assist.

This often meant performing “takedowns.” This meant placing folks who were acting up into a hold called a “basket hold” by wrapping their arms around their body, taking their legs out from under them, and then as gently as possible get them on the ground and hold them there for up to a half hour at a time. Sometimes the behavior stopped within minutes, sometimes you go the full 30 minutes, release them, and then get your butt kicked immediately after releasing the hold. Then it is “wash, rinse, repeat” until the resident is no longer acting up. That could go on all day.

It was during one of these events that my back finally had enough. After getting up from an emergency call, my leg felt weird. Later that day at home, my leg gave out and I fell. Long story a little shorter, I developed incomplete cauda equina syndrome that no doctor would operate on until the disc at the L4L5 level of the low back extruded 8.6mm into the spinal canal, crushing the nerves (called the cauda equina) and squashing them down to 3.5mm in the canal. To compound things, I was found to have congenital narrowing of the canal already. At this point, the pain was almost unbearable. a few months later when I finally had surgery, the disc material had ended up wrapping around the right side outgoing nerve. The disabling event was in 2005. Surgery didn’t happen unto October of 2016.

With all of that said, I was disability separated in 2006 and lost my career in public safety. I was also a police officer, former EMT/firefighter (3rd generation), and basic life support instructor-trainer. All of that, gone.

Fast forward until February of 2022. I had just discovered that getting music published was a lot, LOT easier than it ever was in history, so i took advantage of that to start The Schnooks. For over a decade and some years, I had not been able to find an opportunity to prove that I am still worth something. That is where The Schnooks comes in.

It is my attempt to regain some agency, rebuild my sense of worth, and give me something to both take pride in and leave a legacy doing. And it is my attempt to have something to tell someone what I do for a living when asked. I take this seriously, like it is a job, because it is one to me.

I don’t care about being popular. That was never going to happen. I don’t care what the Tikkity Tok has to say about what’s popular or that my songs have to blow their wad within the first 5 seconds of a song. So, I do things my way, without regard for any of it. The music I make is for me, after all. I am just choosing to share it with you. Selfish? Maybe…

But That is why I am doing what I am doing. That is why my counts are so low. It’s not about them, per se. Just publishing the music was the goal, and had always been for decades. Any pennies in royalties or recognition is just a bonus.