The first record of a transaction for Black Cat Sound Service was January 7, 1977. Just three days before the first anniversary of marriage to my wife.
In the early days I was mostly playing music in bars, restaurants and the like. The first "professional" gig I played was on my 22nd birthday (1973). It was at the Vets Hall in Grass Valley, CA. I was stationed at Beale AFB at the time and married to my first wife... I played one niters for a while until we landed the house band gig at The Nevada Club in Grass Valley. After the Nevada Club we went to a club in Auburn CA. Can't remember the name. It was here that I met my "current" wife.
I was gigging all over until 1985 or 86 when I started to turn my interest in sound into a money earning thing. Slowly built up my equipment, built a small production studio in the house and diversified my work. I began doing theatrical sound design, editing live recorded concerts and duplicating audio cassette taped. Then in January 1996 I received a layoff notice from the day job of 17 years. A small high-tech company: The Grass valley Group.
It was then that I did what I didn't have the guts to do. See if I could turn the part time gig into something that could help sustain me and my family. All I can say is that business and opportunities grew slowly and I am now what I call "...great to be busy but sometimes tough to be a one man shop..."