Hi there. On the Music front, I just finished my ten-song CD How To Be a Millionaire which you can listen to on myspace. Previous records include Work Songs and Wedge.

Most of you probably know me from the Hugh Hart stories. I landed in Los Angeles' posh Pacific Palisades neighborhood in 1999 and spent a year managing a Tribune Company website. Then I jumped ship and moved to Sherman Oaks followed by a brief home ownership misadventure in Van Nuys, AKA Helltown.

I now live in Studio City. From the baking hot home office here, I blog daily at Wired.com, write a weekly San Francisco Chronicle movie column Industry Buzz, cover art, design and architecture for Los Angeles Times and contribute TV features to the New York Times. I also serve as Brown Alumni Magazine contributing editor and deputy editor for Wired.com's Underwire blog.

The twisted path from rock and roller to journalist included a stint as a website designer and editorial producer for Tribune Media Services. Track my gigs back in the Old Country on my Resume. Alternately, check out the Fonts-Gone-Wild Version.

My first site Hughville has cartoons, music and other stuff I figured out after teaching myself HTML at the Highland Park, Illinois library.

Got away from it all for a three-month 1996 sabbatical on Pawley's Island in South Carolina. Here's are a couple of beach shots featuring my faithful companion -- Ladies and gentlemen, it's . . . the wonder dog, Lulu. And, more recently, the runaway Huck

UPDATE July 2: My recent post for Wired.com about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland racked up the biggest traffic count in Underwire history. Credit goes to the groovy images of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and other fantastical tableaux.

UPDATE May 5: Wired.com won the Webby Award (People's Voice) for Best Writing. Last Thursday, Wired Magazine won for General Excellence at the 2009 National Magazine Awards. My story on making fire for the new Harry Potter movie runs in the July issue.

UPDATE: My band The ODD will be included in a documentary on Chicago's New Wave music scene.

UPDATE: My first group, Huge Hart, will be included in Dean Milano's history of the Chicago music scene. Published by Arcadia Publishing, the book hits stores on November 30.

UPDATE: Composer Alaric Jans (House of Games) staged children's musical Captain Marbles' Acting Squad at Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs' Store Front Theater in December 2008. I wrote a few songs and played an insane harmonica player named Speedoo in a subsequent Captain Marbles show written by actor William H. Macy.