James Stone: President

James Stone started out playing cello in 4th grade and was reading music on a fretless instrument by 5th grade. In 8th, he played in the Northern Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in a 75 piece orchestra. In 9th grade, his teacher had him playing in a quartet and played many civic functions around Northern Virginia. But he always played guitar and sang. After high school he joined a band called Madstone in Morgan Hill, California and has been in a band ever since. In college, he took classes like Bach Harmony and had his own radio show on the college radio station. He played bass for the first 10 years in a band but he always played guitar and sang and starting writing his own music. There were many bands and projects after Madstone, including Stone Lion, and Head First. In the early 80's, he joined Onyx and played 4 to 5 nights a week all over the bay area and Santa Cruz in California. Finally in 2003, he joined Hester Prynne, but the lead singer, Steve Burnside, passed away. It then became Madstone once more and has been since. Madstone features the music of James Stone and Steve Burnside and currently has 3 CDs out with a following that extends from California to here in Texas. In addition, James has been in non-profits for many years, running a Moose Lodge as administrator handling all aspects of running a non-profit and venue. He also is a very experienced programmer, engineer, and web master, his day job for over 40 years. He brings that experience with him to the MACT Board.