Don is a weekly contributing writer for the Dayton Daily News, covering music and arts. He is a native of Gadsden, Alabama, and has lived in the Dayton area since he was a teenager in the 1970s. He graduated from Wright State University with a BA in Mass Communications and was music writer and later Arts & Entertainment Editor for the now defunct local publication Impact Weekly. Don has also been playing music since the early 1980s and has toured nationally and internationally. Those real-life experiences as an independent musician allow him to relate with musicians and artists of the past and present and provide insight into their lives and work. In addition covering national and international music, performance and art, Don chronicles the local music scene in his long-running Rock Insider column.