Bio

It was a crisp fall day, late 1960’s in a little town in New Jersey.  The kids were playing and hanging around while the adults burned large piles of leaves, filling the yard with a pleasant aroma.  Then, for reasons I still don’t understand, my “friend” decided to push me in.

Thanks to Levi’s and their flame retardant material, the physical injuries weren’t that bad and healed fairly fast.  But the psychological ones were another story…

For decades, I could not get near fire in any form.  Even a small birthday candle was terrifying.  If for any reason I had to light a match I would pray for it not to work, if it did I would drop it and jump back.

Time passed and new friends came into my life with similar yet different interests, one of which was fire.  I would of course sit as far away as possible as I watched them practice, but soon my fascination grew.   I would edge a little closer each time, and despite the fear I eventually found myself wanting to try it.  It started out with just being able to hold a lit torch (a big step).  Eventually I worked my way up to actually eating fire, transforming from scared and scarred child to master of combustible ingestion, the moment Professor Fire was born.