User:Jcoochlucchese

Since he was a child, growing up in Brooklyn NY, Cooch was always building and designing with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Spirograph & Erector Sets. By the time he was ten years old, he knew he wanted to enter into three different professions: Police Officer (like his dad), Commercial Artist & a job in the Music Industry. All three were achieved by the time he was twenty-one.

In high school, Cooch would always be found in the A/V room, signing out video cameras & projectors for different events. He also worked at a major NY electronics chain, Crazy Eddies, in sales and assistant Stock Manager. He had other jobs during the time he was in college, majoring in Criminal Justice, working in Construction/Home Improvements and for Cablevision as a Lineman, Installer and System Security. In 1989, Cooch became a Police Officer and started his first business, a video production company, Law & Order Video Productions. He filmed live shows for hundreds of local bands as well as some national acts. One of Cooch's good friends had his own radio show, Fingers Metal Shop on WBAB Long Island, where for a few years Cooch assisted with production, provided security and filmed the interviews with the artists. One of these artists was Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, an idol of his when Cooch was in his teens.

Dee & Cooch became the best of friends, working on many projects together. For Dee's band Widowmaker, Cooch filmed a few of their shows and went on to be their guitar tech, then drum tech. When Dee started his first radio show, Metal Nation on WRCN Long Island, he asked Cooch to produce the show. When Dee Snider's SMFs was formed (Dee fronting a band of TS fans), Cooch became the Tour Manager & Merchandise Company (SKREW Worldwide Syndicate Inc - skrew.com). What started out as just seven shows on the East Coast, ended up touring the world for the better part of ten years, visiting 44 states and 13 countries. Cooch, as Executive Producer, Coordinator, Art Director & Photographer, signed Dee to Koch Records and recorded the CD, "Never Let the Bastards Wear You Down". Cooch also booked Dee for autograph signings, live shows and as a special guest in the Las Vegas Hilton production of Monster Circus.

Cooch had a small part in Dee Snider's Strangeland, along with the band he managed, BILE, and was the merchandise company for both. The German artist Doro Pesch (formerly of Warlock) was also managed & merchandised by SKREW. Other artists included, Drain STH, Britny Fox, Heeven Haven, KReeP and Perseverance. During these years, Cooch would spend every moment of down time teaching himself web design, graphics, video, animation and everything about the Mac. He began building websites for his merchandise company, the artists he managed and for friends. Designed tour passes, merchandise, flyers and logos.

All of the knowledge he learned over the years, all self-taught, wasn't enough for him. Cooch decided to go back to school to learn more. His first day attending Hendriks Institute for Graphic Communication, he realized he knew more about graphics, web design and the Mac than his teachers. The only skill he needed to learn was Flash design, which came very easy to him. He then set a goal, that by the end of this six-month full-time course, he would teach at this school himself. Hendriks hired him as a teacher in his fifth month as a student., teaching Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Flash, Image Ready, Final Cut Pro, Quark, Mac OS X, iLife, iWork, Fireworks, QuickTime and a laundry list of other applications. He was there for one year and then taught at New Horizons for a year, when he & a former student decided to start their own company, Adams & Cross. In business for a few years, Cooch decided to part ways to start WebVantage.