He first met the two founding members, Paul Magid and Howard Patterson at Cowell College at U.C. Santa Cruz. They asked him to contribute music to some of their early performances while still in college. He re-connected with them a couple of years later when they asked him to come up to the Oregon Country Fair where he wrote some of his first extended arrangements for the then nascent “Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Chamber Band/ Orchestra” – including “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” which continues to be performed there to this day. He continued to collaborate on many theatrical and musical ventures, including runs on Broadway and shows with symphony orchestras
