Elson Raymund Garrote Trinidad was born on an odd-numbered day of an odd-numbered month of an odd-numbered year - some thirty years ago - in a little town called Los Angeles, California. The eldest of four children born to Filipino immigrant parents and the first member of his family tree to be born in America, he started reading early and became a smart-ass rather quickly... Elson grew up in the ethnically and linguistically diverse community of East Hollywood and attended the local LAUSD public schools, including John Marshall High School in Los Feliz where he graduated in 1989. He also attended Cal State Los Angeles for a couple years before transfering to the University of Southern California where he graduated in 1995 with a Journalism degree. Typical of a person in his generation, Elson is not tied to a certain career. Through most of the 1990s he's worked in various internet/dot.com/I.T.-related positions. He is also known to be helpless and vulnerable without access to some sort of computer. The primary interest in Elson's life is music, having tinkered with singing, various instruments and the stereo ever since he was a small child. At around age 12, spurred by seeing all those synthesizers in new wave music videos, he took up piano, as well as the saxophone and eventually self-learned other instruments as well. At age 14, he discovered songwriting and the rest is history. Elson claims to have the ability play every instrument, with the exception of the flute, the trumpet and the violin. A diehard native Angeleno, Elson never moved from his hometown and has no plans to. He also a big Los Angeles history buff and is active in improving his local community.