Michelle Qiu was a young and earnest real estate agent just starting out in the industry when she crossed paths with Dean Harlowe. The owner and proprietor of Harlowe Properties was tall with roguish good looks and a silver tongue; the instant his eyes met Michelle's at a conference in 1983, they both knew at once they were going to be together forever. Theirs was a whirlwind affair: they were married by the spring of 1984 and by early autumn of the same year, their eldest child Grae Harlowe was born. From the very beginning, Grae commanded the attention and adoration of the entire family; constantly held, coddled, and spoiled rotten, Grae grew into a devilishly charming little boy, the spitting image of his father as a child. He was a healthy, athletic child who had a knack for instantly picking up anything he set his mind to - baseball and violin in grade school, and later on martial arts and electric guitar once adolescence struck.

An attractive and talented young man, Grae began to court trouble on a regular basis as a teenager. He was always well-dressed and eloquently spoken, perfectly polite with teachers and authority figures who were always charmed by his manners. His best friend was the ringleader of their gang, and always the one who got them into trouble while Grae got them out of sticky situations. At first, it was relatively harmless. Then drugs and fairly significant sums of money became involved, and naturally, trouble followed. His parents were frustrated with his behavior and yanked him out of public school, sending him to a private school several towns over in hopes of keeping him out of trouble. It never worked.

Grae applied to several colleges at his mother's insistence, but half-heartedly; to his shock, he was offered a partial scholarship to his father's alma mater, Cornell University. The fact that money changed hands was not lost to Grae, but he decided to go anyway. In his heart, he knew that he was destined for bigger and better things outside of Michigan and going away for college was likely a step in the right direction. And it was - for awhile. Grae was a faithful student for a solid year, but it was near the end of his sophomore year that he dropped out for good. The band he formed with a fellow freshman the year prior was gaining serious momentum, and after a well-received demo, the band was offered the chance to tour the country. Much to his parents' chagrin, Grae accepted the offer and hit the road with his bandmates.

The first few months of the tour had Grae living the dream. He liked the road tripping aspect, he enjoyed the parties that took place before and after gigs, and he was especially fond of the female (and sometimes male) attention that he received as the band's lead guitarist. As far as he was concerned, things were all on the up and up - until he drunkenly slept with the lead singer's girlfriend. A massive knock down drag out fight followed and the band was dissolved practically overnight. Instead of going back to Michigan, Grae remained in California for a few years and spent the next year or two as a starving artist: he worked petty odd jobs while moonlighting as a studio musician, and lived off of the kindness of friends and strangers alike, using couches for home base. But a man can like like that for only so long. Eventually, Grae left Los Angeles and went back to New York state, where he collected his belongings from storage in Ithaca, and headed for NYC. It was time to start over.

[ work in progress. ]