It all began at a godforsaken stain on the pant leg of Greensburg PA called the Carmike 15 movie theatre. I was working there as an usher. I had been slaving for the company for 3 & 1/2 years already, and transferring to the brand spankin' new theatre that the"old heads" of the Carmike conglomerate had built using the money they received after claiming chapter eleven bankruptcies, was an unfortunate necessity. The job had its perks. I got to see shity movies for free...good ones too, but any true film fan will tell you- the good ones are few and far between. The managers would schedule according to my specified availability...which gave me lots of time off to smoke w**d.....not that I did not smoke w**d there too. Finally, there were some half-decent people I worked with that I came to eventually consider friends. One in particular I met after a severe bout of bronchitis almost killed me. I was hospitalized for three weeks or so, and then I returned to the theatre to this crazy red-headed guy who was all sliding down the banisters and making weird noises and stuff. I was like,"who the f**k is that guy...he's like Opie on crack or something?!"...I think it was Dan"the man" Ankney who informed me..."that's Brent Ross."Oh"...I pondered aloud.."I don't think I like him."....As it goes, when you work with people, you end up conversing eventually-Brent and I had a chat one afternoon in the luxurious outdoor Carmike smoking lounge...SH*T! This guy was pretty nice. So we talked, and, at the time, I was on the verge of leaving my present project, a band called Maybe, behind...because we just weren't going anywhere. We needed a bass player if we were ever to escape the old basement, which I affectionately referred to as"the music microwave"....(I am sure the ringing in my ears- which I still have to this day, came from prolonged jam sessions inside that dungeon of sound).Brent informed me in passing conversation that he played bass, so I tried to convince him to come and try out for Maybe...he seemed reluctant, and was already involved with some other band I think...So, he recommended his friend to me.His name was Matthew Glenn Krauss....but his REAL name was HOSS....Hoss....what can you say about hoss......he's a good guy.Hoss was all about coming over to Camelot to try out as Maybes' bass player. He showed up wearing the loudest pop culture t-shirt ever, and he was ready to play. Unfortunately, the band was not receptive to his style which was pretty simple and since the two founders of the band were looking for an aficionado to compare with themselves, hoss just didn't fit in to the mix. Also, at the time, another guitar player who Maybe had jammed with in the past stopped by, and so instead of focusing on the task at hand (trying out hoss), they instead opted to turn band practice into a jam session-...this was aggravating, and so I slowly slipped away from the idea of continuing to make music with a band that seemed content to stay in the basement. I moved on, and in the process of making this decision- I started to pen some lyrics in my mind..."watching the smoke clear"...hmmmm.I didn't have enough words, but I had a melody in mind.One night, while working at the good old carmike 15, (I think it was a Sunday), Brent broke out his guitar- and started to play...and I started singing along. I liked what he was doing with the beginning so I told him to do it several times, and then pushed him to change up the rhythm of it a little.After he played it, and I was thinking, he asked me"do you think something could be done?" that phrase, along with many of bents' later words became a refrain in the song. The song turned into"watching the smoke clear", and was my tribute to leaving behind my old band for something more productive. Brent stood there with me, watching the smoke rise from the rubble of what was Maybe."Hey, i can get Hoss to help us record some stuff." was Brent’s suggestion...it sounded good to me.But, we needed more than just this one song.So, i figured....i should call upon my friend Mike Riffle to help us.He had come a long way at playing the guitar, and I knew he could contribute to the cause.So, one fine day, Brent, Mike and I went to the rector playground...and within half an hour we had written our first single...Burst.It would be the first song we would record.Burst was magic. Hoss recorded us...and we had the song all mixed- Brent and I were so excited. It was around this time that we had opted to call our band"Beautiful Bloody Fiction"...it came from the titles of my, Brent,and mikes' favorite movies at the time...(otherwise we would be called the lords of the rings)....beautiful, from American beauty was mike/ bloody from rambo: first blood was brent/ and fiction from Pulp fiction was me. Brent and i brought the song to mike to hear after hoss gayed it up a bunch as Dave- our bands president (something i will later explain) would say. My parent were on vacation- so Brent and i had spent all night playing the legend of zelda on my front porch-this is probably why the song still to this day reminds him of the game. Mike gave the"final mix" of burst a listen....he was very disappointed...Brent and i were all about it though, and since mike didn't want to continue mixing with hoss, he quit the band after our first song was recorded. We decided to keep the name BBF though, cuz big bloody trouble in hoss fiction land just didn't have the same ring to it.Brent and i then recorded Watching the Smoke clear- i think..it took a while to get up and running, but once hoss heard watching the smoke clear- he was extatic...he wanted to be a functioning part of the little recording trio we were about to become. After we finished Watching the smoke clear- brent and i drove around listening to it..we finished the song on September 14 or 15th...even though we had actually written the song sometime in May or June...while listening to the song, and the lyrics- it occurred to us that it was very eerily reminiscent of what had just happened in our country (9/11)...we had written it subconsciously- months before it ever happened.This was a sign, at least to me- that i had to keep making music with these guys. And so we did just that...next came"I already Am"....(a song written first by Brent, then taken over by hoss- and molded lyrically by yours truly who wrote it as a bit of a note to my friend, and x-girlfriend Rebecca)then after that- i can't really remember- the songs just came pouring out. Brent probably has detailed records of when everything happened and was recorded...so much happened in the time we were recording. I spent some time thinkig about production, the cover, the insert- brent built a web page -which you have obviously found if you are reading this....Dave Kester became our persident, because we decided to produce the BBF album under the Kester records label- the same label Hoss had recorded the number one chart topping album"Fat and Frustrated", and i believe that"united 51" also recorded under this label...so anyways....personal lives aside- the band was flourishing, and we were writing stuff that defied all of our imaginations.The combination of the fiery furnace, the wizard, and the scribe- evidently, was turning out to be quite a positive experience. Along the way, many supporting people were there to witness our music... Coco, Blinden, Officer Jennings, Dan, Doug,...oh man the list goes on and on...One evening, brent had written a song- or maybe he wrote it in the morning- yeah, i think it was a sunday morning....he later played it for me. the changes were amazing- words started coming to mind. I had brent write some stuff too, while we were fishing at mammoth park, he gave them to me, and i wrote the lyrics- and then, one night- i sang them for Brent, and Neely..(that little ho-b**ch),...the song, is still in my opinion, our very best song. It is true, pure- perfect...I asked Brent what we should name the song-"Say the first thing that pops into your head Brent"- i saidto which he replied-"hey, that's not fair"....the title stuck, and the song earned us a place amongst some other songwriters at the resturant Red Star. They were having a singer/songwriter contest-"That's not fair" is still the only song BBF has ever played live.We did not win.... but it did not matter- we were grateful to have had the chance, and everyone seemed to like it....It's funny because in between the recording, and the actual live performance of that's not fair- Brent met Stacy-and she became our photographer- and consultant...cuz girls are real good at that stuff....especially the painfully honest ones. Brent was happy, but uncertain- Hoss was fat but getting thinner, and had just started smoking w**d- (which his cousins probably still blame me for), and i was having troubles in my relationship with Raven....things were about to change for all of us...I met Marcie at eat'n park.....and she inspired me to keep writing even in the aftermath of grape- which left both Brent and i pretty spent.We waited for so long for hoss to mix it- and it just was not happening- so, Brent decided to mix it on his own- and hoss threw a fit.....So we fired him from BBF...things were not looking good.it seemed our days of making music had ended.I had decided to go back to school for art- and i would be moving to Georgia-but somehow- there was still something left inside of us that made us want to finish the bbf trilogy.So, Brent and i started work on a third and final CD...and we enlisted the aid of the original Beauty- Mike riffle....we were returning to our roots, aged and matured like good calm wine-we were about to produce our finest music to date...brent and i fed off of one another, and pushed each other to complete 9 songs before i had to leave...it was an amazing feat.We decided to round out the album with the accoustic version of rose-colored spectaclesa song from the first cd, which we had recorded in theatre 10 at the carmike 15 one balmy summer evening after work.brent sent me a prototype cd while i was attending school-and to my surprise, he had remixed several songs from grape...they sounded ten times better!!!i was so happy, such a nice surprise.It inspired me to write more music...i had to, it was a part of me- if i didn't i would explodeSo, i wrote some lyrics, and brent- who was playing with u51 again- wrote a song...and when i returned home after 8 months-we got together, and pulled the talents of jared, seth, rehab hoss, and raven-we recorded a beautiful song called"the nature within"it will be added to the third CD..."voluntary reflex"making music was a reflex for brent and me...but any act of creation IS voluntary...hoss titled the album...it was his sole contribution until the nature withins' rythm and bass....he also helped to mix it.looking back-hmmmso sweet. Good times, great music...will there be any more bbf songs...it is hard to say.If i had to wager a guess, i would say yesssssssspreciousssssss...........This has been my summarized bio of bbf....the names and faces have not been changed- no one is innocentthank you