It began as a simple mission. Write on the greatest musical acts the world has never heard of. If not for the world, then for myself in an effort to keep the music immortalized within my own conscious mind. It has been a joyous effort, breaking down this music for the world to discover and to great avail; I've enlightened a lot of people to some forgotten jewels and underground phenomenon alike. The Forgotten West soon became a personal platform as well as a musical one. Really, it's all one and the same because I am the music I listen to. It defines my everyday life. But the cancer I was diagnosed with gradually eclipsed the casual music articles I wrote, conjuring something that was all inclusive and not at all definitive. My writing has become my lifeline and legacy; the one thing I hope to leave the world. Why the West? It's simple, really. The West, the real west-where the wind blows tall and the sand stings your eyes-is a place where the mind, body and spirit are most engaged and in tune. The perfect stillness of the West is where I imagine myself every time I pick up my pen and put it to paper. The Forgotten West is a vague notion tucked into the back of my mind that keeps my writing on the ball, as if each word is aimed at keeping something from fading away entirely. It's my mission statement: to keep what I see as important from drifting into obscurity. For the sake of form and cohesion I have broken my works into two segments: my musical writings and my personal writings for I am a music lover and writer foremost. My hindrance is the cancer that I live with, but it will not define me or my writing.