The First Man is my father, Hugh Lawrence. I refer to him as the “First Man” because he is the first man in my life who made a significant difference in developing me into the man I am today. My father was a master carpenter, a painter, a master electrician, and a mechanic, and one of the smartest men I have ever known. He taught me by example what it means to have a strong work ethic and morals and live by principles. Those principles made me strive for excellence and to be the type of man that people can count on; in other words to be a man of my word and always bring quality through the door. I joined my first band when I was twelve years old and I needed a guitar amplifier so my father made me one. He built it from scratch. I watched him cut the wood for the cabinet, put the electronics in it, and put the vinyl covering on it. When he finished with it, it looked and sounded like a guitar amplifier that you would find in a music store. When the band needed a PA system he said, “I will make that too.” Our band had the biggest and the best PA system in town. 

Then my father allowed our band, which was made up of a seven-piece band and a vocalist to rehearse in our basement Monday through Thursday from 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM for ten years. He became the manager of the band and booked our performances. My father saw that the band had too many people and too much equipment to carry in cars so, he bought us a bus, and to top it off, he became the bus driver.

That is the type of support I had growing up. That is the kind of role model I
had. That is the kind of father I had….