| Mark |
 |
Mark Goffeney is a native San
Diegan whose talent and ambition have helped him to achieve ongoing
success as a performer, speaker and television personality. Mark has
been recognized for his work internationally and was nominated for an
Emmy award in 1998 for his principal role in the Fox Network commercial,
“Feet”.
Born without arms in 1969, Mark was raised to see himself as an equal
in society and to value independence. With these values instilled, Mark
was soon noticed by several charities and by 1973 had become a Poster
Child and principal; fund-raiser for both the Variety Club and March
of Dimes.
For the next decade, Mark co-hosted hundreds of telethons working side
by side with celebrities including Monte Hall and Kathy Lee Gifford.
By 1981, Mark was credited for having raised over 6 million dollars
for children’s charities., He appeared on Real People, the Mike
Douglas Show and Regis Philbin By age nine, Mark was attempting to create
his own music, but choosing an instrument would prove to be a challenge.
For a while he played trombone in the school band, then his dad brought
home an old guitar he had found on a jobsite.
With his friend’s help,
Mark soon developed his own technique. He would lay the guitar on the
ground, supporting the neck with whatever he could get his feet on.
He would strum with his left foot and make chords with his right.
By the end of the nineties, Mark had successfully completed his first
CD, titled “Big Toe”. Sponsored by PSB Records and produced
by Steve Dudas (known for his work with Aerosmith and Ozzy Osbourne).
This CD is a collection of Mark Goffeney’s greatest, original
songs and was featured in the San Diego Reader’s “Best of
the Best”.
In Recent years Mark and his band Big Toe have appeared on ARD TV in
Germany where he opened for Lee Ann Rimes on the hit show, “Lippe
Blofft”; and “Explosive” Two Korean network shows,
“Amazing World” on SBS and “Amazing People”
on MBC.
At home in the U.S. Big Toe was given two thumbs up by producer David
Foster, (winner of sixteen Grammy Awards for his Work with Celine Dion)
and Travis Barker (of Blink 182) on NBC Star Tomorrow in 2006. One year
later in Oct. of 2007, Big Toe performed on the Fox network Show “The
next Great American Band”. The show was Created by Simon Cowell
of “American Idol”. After the performance, Johnny Resnik,
lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls said ‘you kick ass on the bass
guitar!”
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| Sam |
 |
Sammy Carini, guitarist, vocalist,
songwriter started his career in San Francisco with the likes
of "Skinny" a power pop vocal group co-writing 2 albums opening
shows thruout California for artists like "Joe Satriano, Greg Kin,
Huey Lewis and the News".
He later became the front man for a progresive rock band called "
Fafners Lair" writing an album which later came into the hands
of Bill Acoin (Kiss founder).
Relocating in The Southern part of the state he rounded his carrear
as a player with a band called France which he co-wrote 4 more albums
and seen tours with artist like " Def Leoppard, Vixen, Molly Hatchet".
A published recording artist with 12 albums is now a guitarist, vocalist
for Big Toe, Alice and The Copper Gang, Eddy Riggs Band, and Koksur.
His new recording studio "TuneTown" is a vibrant addition
of more original music some we can hear on Radio and film scores. |
| Donny |
 |
A Little About Mr. Don
So ya wanna know more about me, Don Hambrick, the drummer for the “BigToe”
band huh! Well where does one start! I guess the beginning is a good
place, huh! I got interested in playing drums one day long ago. I was
on my way home from school, Yes I was young once, and heard this band
playing and had to take a look. When I went to see what was going on
I came across this guy playing the drums and he looked like he was having
the time of his life! Well I wanted to do that too! That’s how
I got my interest in playing drums, it took a few years to actually
get the drums but I did and have never looked back. I know it all sounds
crazy huh . . . well it’s the truth!
I’ve played with a lot of people over the years and done my share
of traveling with bands since that day. None you’ve ever heard
of, but all had great people, great players and great times! I remember
one band more than the others, and I’m still fond of to this day.
The Mr. Whoopee Kat band. We were young, dumb and wrote our own original
tunes and all of us grew up together doing that. A death in the band
stopped us cold, seems we just never recovered from that! To fill the
void I went into doing live and studio sound for a number of years.
Made good money for the times too.
Live sound, well I did a lot of traveling as a sound engineer, which
for a while seem to be my calling or so I thought. I traveled all over
from Japan to Alaska where we shared the stage with none other than
Def Leppard! Now that was a kick in the pants!
I’ve kept on playing thru the years I think mostly because it’s
just in my blood and I have to or I’ll become depressed! When
things got slow I started writing my own songs and I took up playing
guitar a number of years back. I started playing in a Classic Rock band
as the Lead Guitarist and have been doing that for years now. Too much
fun!
Well I still love and play drums for a lot of bands, did studio work
as a drummer for tons of projects, some good, some not. Then one day
along came Mark and the BigToe band! This drew me back to playing drums
more than I had been for a long time! Seems playing drums is a lot like
riding a bike, once you learn how you never forget! I brushed up on
my skills and got a new set of tubs and have been working with Mark
and the BigToe band ever since. I love our tunes and the guys I’m
working with and YES, life is good. We have big plans as all bands do
so I hope it’s our time, even at my age now!
Well, in a nut shell, that’s my musical story. If ya want to know
more I’ll see you at one of our shows and you can ask me anything
ya want! See ya there! {:-) |