About the Blogger

About the Blogger

Hello rock and roll fans, metal heads, music freaks, punks, grungers, and lovers of music from all genres.  My name is Brent, the Sandy City Rocker.  This is my first time writing a blog and I am very excited and a little intimidated at the same time.  This is the first time I have ever shared my feelings and experiences about music in such an open forum.  Whether you are a casual or obsessive music fan I hope you enjoy reading my stories and experiences with music. 

My love for music I was literally born with and I was blessed to be raised in a family that nurtured this.  I was born in Salt Lake City in 1977 to a Mormon family (aka The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a faith that I am active in), the middle child of three boys, and raised in Sandy, UT, a large suburb of Salt Lake City. My mother my entire life has played in various orchestras in Salt Lake County and while I was in her womb she was performing with the Murray Symphony and during the concert I was kicking against her cello.  Even at that stage of life I was starting to explore music.   My mother loves classical music, Broadway musicals, soft rock, mainstream rock, and Irish Folk music.  On the other end of the realm my father had a very massive music collection.  He loved the music of the British Invasion, especially The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, Yardbirds, The Who, Herman’s Hermits, Donovan, and the Kinks.  On the American side of the 1960’s he loved The Byrds, The Doors, Love, and The Beach Boys.   By the late 60’s he’s into Jeff Beck, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Credence Clearwater Revival, and Led Zeppelin.  In the 70’s he into Johnny Winter, Grand Funk Railroad, Styx, Kansas, Journey, Montrose, Queen, Foreigner, Bad Company, Van Halen, Boston, Rush, and AC/DC, and by the 80’s he was into heavy metal.  But at the same time he has a soft spot for The Carpenters, Elton John, Billy Joel, and The Raspberries/Eric Carmen. 

My tastes in music have been very diverse since the very beginning of my life and thanks to my parents I had access to a massive music collection.  One of my earliest memories is by the time I was two years old I already knew how to operate my parents 8 track player, couldn’t even read, but I still remember thumbing through my parents 8-track cassettes and looking for the artwork of the 8-track I wanted to listen to and then cranking up the music.  By the time I was 11 years old my Dad started taking me to rock concerts.  At age 14 I learned how to play the bass guitar.  At age 21 I picked up my Dad’s Ibanez guitar and just started to mess around with it, I would end up teaching myself how to play guitar.  Whether it’s listening to or playing music, I just love everything about music.

On the non-musical side of my life, I graduated from Hillcrest High School in Midvale, UT in 1995, served as a Mormon Missionary in Western Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission) from 1996 to 1998, earned my Associate of Science in General Studies from LDS Business College in 2002 and earned my Bachelor of Science in Finance from Utah State University in 2005.  In my professional life I have been budget and grant manager since July 2005.  On the fun side I am an avid hiker, bicyclist, runner (primarily 5 and 10 K’s), and although I am not great at it, I enjoy skiing.  I am also a fan of Utah State University and Utah Jazz Basketball, Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche Hockey, and Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies Baseball.

Now that you know a little bit about me, enjoy the blog!