To my fellow forum members,
This is a quick and simplistic bio of Toshi. I played jazz as a trumpet player all my life. My father was a jazz trumpet player as well so it was natural that I followed in his footsteps. My first proffesional gig was at the age of 13. After that, I was hooked, nothing could stop me. While playing jazz at night, I also made money as a chef, selling insurance, working at Sears selling paint, front house waiter, and customer service departments to just name a few of my exploits. My band was called Jazz Attack, my sax player was Pharaoh Sanders whom played with John Coltrane, my drummer played with Miles Davis, my piano player also with Miles Davis, and I was the band leader at 18 years of age. We toured all over the U.S. and Europe. While the band returned to the U.S., I decided to stay in Amsterdam. I've been to Zurich Switzerland, Paris France, Brussels Belgium, London England, and Scotland,
This was during the '80s in a very tumultuous time. I was there when Chernobyl blew up, the Berlin Wall Fell, and my band opened up for the very first live aid concert. I got to meet and hang with Queen, the Police, and many other artist too many to name here.
I met and married Mrs. Toshi during the early '90s. We have a boy 25 and a girl 21. They are both living on their own. Thank the lord! We moved from our birth place Honolulu, Hawaii to Maui, Hawaii, Palm Springs, California, and finally Ohio. This is during a time when I retired as a jazz musician to become a executive chef. I also learned the art of sushi from the official sushi chef of the emperor of Japan. I then set up the sushi program for Giant Eagle, became the personal sushi chef for Bart and Iris Wolstein. Mrs. Toshi and I branched out and decided to install in ground swimming pools as a general contractor.
During the financial fall out in 2008, we had to shut down our bussiness like the thousands that did as we went ahead with. I then took a job at a factory called Temple Inland whom is now International Paper. It was here that I suffered a life threatening injury, 250 pounds of board hit me on my right temporal lobe and I fell on my right side of my temporal lobe as well. I ended up in a coma for several days and not even remember what had happen. That was approximately five years ago. I still have short term memory, unable to read a book, and the inability to recall what I did yesterday. Through the encouragement from my therapist and MENTIS, I can now collect some really rare and serious football cards. I also have been encouraged to build scale model aircraft to enhance my fine motor skills. This was most beneficial as it also helps with my short term memory.
I currently have completed a Testors F4U Corsair, P-61 Black Widow, Revell Monogram Flying Tiger, Minicraft PBM-5A, and a Revell Monogram P-38 Lightning. I plan on purchasing a Revell Monogram B-17 and a Sparmax Airbrush and compressor.
Thank you all for the kind words and support,
toshi