Music Madness with Krazy Dave

Hi Fellow Musicians and Friends

2010-11-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know...I haven't been on the blog for several months...please accept my apology. I have been battling illness plus financial woes...boy, it has not been fun. However, I would like to share with you today...

I put together a Jam Night up here in Mariposa, CA. I am honored to play with two magnificent musicians. Our bassist, Mike Simpson, has been playing music for over 25 years. He is a very accomplished musician with various genres and styles under his belt. Our percussionist, Austin Ritenmour, also is an accomplished musician with a classical background. And, Austin is part of the Mariposa Symphony.

We have a great time playing as we get together on the first Tuesday of each month. Our locals come out to share their musical talent with all. We just have a great time. Also, my wife and I take the opportunity to share Christ with everyone we can. If you're ever in the Mariposa, CA area, please stop by to see us. First Tuesday of the month @ The Miner's Inn Lounge, located @ Highway 140 & Highway 49 North. Hope to see you there jammin'.

I have updated my blog with some of my music. Take a listen! I plan to be more diligent with my posts. I appreciate my readers and want to continue sharing my music rants with y'all. lol

Bye 4 now...

James Perley…Power Drummer

2010-02-12T14:55:00.000-08:00

Recently I attended the memorial for a close friend and musical brother, James Perley. James passed away on April 30th, 2009 at the age of 46. His band has pics and thoughts on their site, myspace.com/keepyouhanzoff. There you can see the impressive history of this band and what great things they did, who they opened for, etc…

As I was walking through the church parking lot, I started to pass an older man, and slowed to ask him if he was there for the funeral/memorial. He said yes. I asked if he was part of the family, and he replied no…he knew James from his law practice. It struck me just how diversified an age group and cross reference of people James affected. When we got up to the front of the church, there was a long line of people waiting to get in. You saw families, lawyers and professional people in their business suits and a number of musicians dressed a little less formally. I was able to find a seat, but the place was packed and there were people standing as well…and this was no small church.

When the musicians talked about their song selections and that all the songs were played during the last service two weeks prior that James had played drums for them, my eyes started tearing up. They continued with what was a testimony as to James’ coming to grips with eternity and how a sermon preached there by the pastor was as though he was speaking directly to James and everything else faded away. I know that feeling as well. I had a pastor preach about the value of the alabaster jar that Mary anointed Christ with…and when the pastor asked what we had in our alabaster jar to lay at the feet of Christ well, that was my breaking point with Christ where I was broken. I had been praying and it was affirmed for me then. What was interesting was on the day of the memorial, my morning Bible reading, was Isaiah 57. Verses 1-2 (especially verse 2) were the ones I pondered on. Verse 2 says, For the GODly who die, will rest in peace (this is from the Living Translation). I thank GOD for I had shared/talked with James about JESUS and he heard the call. All I did was plant a seed. GOD called and James heard.

I first met James in December of 1981. Why do I remember the time frame? I had someone aka ex-wife tell me that if I didn’t find a band and play a gig by the end of the year (this demand came in the first week of December, 1981), I was to give up my music. Well I went down to the local music store, Gilbert’s Music, and saw an ad for a band needing a lead guitarist. I answered the ad, and got an audition. I went to the garage the band was rehearsing in Newark, CA (basically I traveled down a street called Thornton from the Fremont side where I lived to their place in Newark which was easy). Got down there, got set up, and as we were tuning, the introductions got under way. On bass was Tim Bucher, rhythm guitar was Della Sullivan (whom we have tried to find) and James, who was 17 at the time, was on drums. Later we added a soundman, who is now a killer behind the board with a number of credits to his name, Bob Tiwana. They told me their song list and we started going over the songs we all knew together. The fit was perfect and we had a great time. Well we had to wait for the singer to finalize whether I was in the band or not. She came in from having to work late at her job and we all played a song together. Her first comment about me was, “where’d you find this guy?” With a great compliment like that, I was in. We did our first gig right after Christmas, so I guess I didn’t have to give up my music.

James had this great double bass set of red Slingerland Drums. James was the first drummer I had played with that had bass drums that were that small…22”. He got a great, full, loud sound out of those drums. I asked him how he got such a great sound out of the drums. He shrugged his shoulders, smiled, and said, “wooden knockers”. He had wooden mallets on his pedals that matched his drums. And normally when someone was a power drummer, they had no finesse. James had both and yes he could be dynamic when he wanted to be. The first thing he did that amazed me as to his talent, which as good as he is, was a GOD given talent, was his drum intro for an original song, Rockin’ the Cradle. Where he showed me some serious finesse was in one of my originals, Carry Me On. One night at practice, James let me know he had a surprise for me. At one particular spot in my solo, I did 32nd note triplets. When I went for these triplets, James was right there with me, note for note. And the lick he chose to transcend out when the lick was done…WAS KILLER!!! By the way, James’ favorite drummer at the time was Buddy Rich, which is why he had the Slingerlands.

We played a lot of the local clubs and always went over big time. Some of those clubs were: The Crown & Anchor, and the Ducal Palace in Alameda, The Bohemian and the Brick House in Hayward, Niles Station (an icon and a legacy) and Joe’s Corner in the Niles District of Fremont, the Bodega in Campbell, the Catalyst in the hills between San Jose and Santa Cruz, and Keystone Palo Alto just to name a few.

One of my greatest music memories was with James and Breaking Point. I had written a sappy love song called Baby Hold On and shared it with everyone that night at practice. I thought the song was okay and don’t even know why I shared it. Tami really liked it and the others seemed to think the song was pretty good. I wrote it to sound like, Pat Benatar meets Eddie Money meets Boston. We played it out in the spring of 1982 for the first time at Joe’s Corner in Niles District. We announced this was a debut night for a new song, Baby Hold On. As I started the song with the guitar vamp, the people stayed on the dance floor and more rose out of their seats as well. The dance floor packed. By the second time the chorus came around, the crowd was singing it with us. People used to ask me why I didn’t do drugs…and this is why. The natural high I got after cause and affecting so many people like that was incredible…nothing to buy and no damage to the mind or body. And I could bring it back even now…a great flashback.

Not long after this, the band broke up…and I referred to the band as Broken Point. We had a great band and the crowds enjoyed us as much as we did them. An example of this was when the USS Enterprise left Alameda, the crew asked us to be their fare well gig and it was great.

When the band broke up, he joined Handzoff which was a great band. I went to support them at the battle of the bands, and I thought they should have won. This was the first time I had even seen James with the glitter on his drums. I thought they rocked the house and all of them are great talents as was James.

James had a great law practice where he helped a number of people and had a reputation for being a fair person with his clients. As one of them told me when James represented him, they won the case and James’ fees were more than fair. I had visited him a number of times at his office in Fremont and went to his favorite Chinese restaurant across the street from his office on Paseo Padre Parkway.

He had a wonderful family with his wife, Robi, and his sons, James II, Hunter, Ivanhoe Connor, and Carlynn. His sons continue in their father’s footsteps in music as the creative gifts from James flow through the family. I am sure his daughter will share in these gifts as well.

James was a true talent that not only his family and friends have lost, but the world has lost as well. It seems he excelled in everything he did. I know he cared about others…that was evident not only in the testimonies I heard from others, but the size of the people there to pay their respects. And as I said earlier this is not a small church and it was packed by people who came to pay their respects to both this great man and his wonderful family. My comfort is…that I will be able to see him again. My hopes are that all these people that attended the services will make the same commitment James and I have made or have made the commitment to JESUS and GOD and we will all be together “on the other side.”

CHRISTIAN ROCK: THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN THE WORLD

2010-01-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

Back in August of 1994, I was going through some very trying times. During that time I was spending time with a man who made two of my guitars, Pat Serna. He was a borderline Christian Pastor (almost but not quite though he now is a pastor). He saw what I was going through and asked me one simple and life changing question, “Dave, you tell me you are a Christian, but where’s your peace?” I hate it when people ask you a question you can’t answer. I started attending his church which was totally different from my Lutheran background and started attending the church which was a Christian Missionary Alliance.

The pastor, Gary Jung, preached such powerful messages that I denounced the Buddhist Faith and came back to Christianity. Powerful stuff back then. The worship was totally different from the hymns with an organ player. This church had a band…wow! While the music I played was heavier rock, this still got into me. And the message of the alabaster jar and what did I have in mine to lay at the feet of Christ, brought everything into perspective for me.

So I went to the Christian book stores and was on a mission to replace my worldly/secular music with “good, wholesome” rock with a message. I met Shawn Doty from Veil of Ashes at one store in Hayward. Later I met Harold Rosas (who has since gone on to be with the Lord) in Newark. I was first introduced to a cassette (later found the CD) entitled Axemen. Some great bands. Whitecross’ guitarist Rex Carroll was called the Eddie Van Halen of Christian Music and a great player. Saint was a band with a great instrumental, outstanding players. Bride’s We Won’t Go, was great, as were all the others. The two Swedish Bands, Jerusalem and Bjorn Stigsson (from Leviticus) were great. Sonny Larsson from Bjorn’s song blew me away with his vocals. He reminds you of Claus Meine of the Scorpions with incredible range. I have a friend John Lipka, who sounds similar, but a little smoother.

This got me started, and I had never heard of these bands before, other than Stryper, because they toured with Y & T, who I grew up with. Other musicians that some people know who had crossed over from secular to Christian are, drummer Tommy Aldridge (I saw him with Black Oak Arkansas), guitarist Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad (saw him at the same gig…they headlined the show), singer Jeff Fenholt who sang with Black Sabbath and did the part of JESUS in JESUS Christ Superstar, singer John Schlitt who went from Head East to Petra, guitarist Kerry Livgren of Kansas (on his album Seeds of Change, Dio sings a killer song called Live For the King), and John Elefante who sang with Kansas (his Christian band was called Mastedon). Now we have the likes of people like Lou Gramm singing for JESUS and Brian “Head” Welch from Korn, who have joined the ranks. They understand there is more to this life than what we see…there is eternity.

Well I got turned on to all this great Christian music that was to me so powerful, but was dwindling because the church didn’t support it like they should have. I listen to bands like Angelica, Barren Cross, Impellitari, Guardian, Deliverance, Holy Soldier, Fighter, Fear Not, Petra, Joshua, Mastedon, REZ Band, Sign of the Times, Sin Dizzy, Michael Sweet, Bloodgood, Legend Seven, The Brave…well let’s just say we have a collection of about 1200 vinyl, tapes and CD’s.

Two that stand out for me that are not of the hard rock music are Phil Keaggy and Beverly Rivers. As a guitarist, Phil Keaggy is so far above the curve, it is unfair to compare him to anyone else. I once told him I changed the word phenomenal for him. I call him Philnomenal. My wife says it perfectly about Phil Keaggy; he is in a class by himself. Beverly Rivers is like Phil Keaggy in many ways. They are both natural talents that are well above the formal training that the schools provide. In a very short time, Bev taught herself how to play keyboards. She doesn’t know what she is doing and does a great job coming up with her own material. In the studio, I have watched Bev do everything in one take. She is the only singer I know who can switch from singing low to high without changing her volume or have to move the mike away when she goes from Gospel to an operatic high soprano. And yes I feel blessed to have met and know these two truly GOD gifted musicians. They make me want to throw all my schooling away so I can be like them.

If you want to get an idea of what some of these Christian bands sound like, click on some of the radio stations on this blog, or google search Christian bands and go to places like radrockers.com. If you are a rocker, you will be pleasantly surprised by what these Christian bands have to offer.

What's happened to Krazy Dave?

2010-01-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

Greetings Music Lovers,

Many have asked, "What's happened to Krazy Dave and why is this blog not updated?" Well, I am here to answer that question and update you on upcoming events.

My name is Sue Hamlett. Some call me Mrs. Krazy, some call me Mrs. DOG (Dave On Guitar). First off, I want to update you on KD's whereabouts and why this blog has not been kept updated. He is fine (no health problems) but he has been busy with his music students and making his very own CD. We were hoping the CD would have been finished for the new year. However, we had a personal challenge where we had to move so it took up much time where KD could not spend time with his CD or blogging, which he loves to do...anything that has to do with music he loves.

We both have a project that we want to fulfill...personalized online guitar / bass lessons. I have done a lot of research in that area and have found online guitar / bass lessons but they are not personalized. Some offer subscriptions to their online music library--unlimited lessons for X amount of $$$. Their prices are reasonable (with the subscription) but nothing offered for personalized lessons. KD loves teaching his music students and wants to offer personalized instruction online with the student's preferred music genre. Plus get the student playing within a month.

We plan to advertise a free lesson on this blog once a month, along with a hyperlink to the New Music Lesson Site. Does this sound like something you all would be interested in? Please comment and make suggestions regarding this here. Provide us a way to contact you back so we can further discuss your ideas and suggestions. Your Comments, Ideas and Suggestions are very important to both of us and we look forward to hearing back from you.

Everyone-Have a blessed New Year. Let's ROCKKKK in 2010.

PLIGHT OF A DISC JOCKEY

2009-08-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 1985, I was sharing a house some friends. They had another renter that I formed a friendship with, Kent Eriksen, and we became pals hanging and going places together. While I spent most of my time in the East Bay, From Oakland, CA to Fremont, CA, Kent grew up in Redwood City, CA, which is called the Peninsula. Kent graduated from the Columbia School of Broadcasting and when you hear him speak, you can tell he is a radio DJ...he’s got that kind of voice. We had a lot of fun hanging together as he introduced me to his friends in the radio industry. They were all from the local stations I listened to, the FM arena rock and hard rock stations. And Kent would go to the local jam nights with me, and enjoy the local talent that played there, and watch me go crazy as well.

When we first met, he was putting together a book called The Baby Band Book. The names went from crazy to cool with all kinds of words and combinations. He got all of us to contribute a few names to finalize the book. On the front cover was local rocker, Eddie Money. The first picture on the inside was a truly great guitar player, Jimmy Lyons, from the Eddie Money Band. The next picture in the book was the lead guitarist from the band Stagecoach, taken a Keystone Berkeley, me. Other pictures of local talent were in the book as well, my good friend Leroy Silva, Dave and Dan Moreno, Penny Piper, and others. Recently Kent and I reconnected and he told me the book sold on ebay for $100.00.

His handle on the radio stations was The Kent. We had similar tastes in music and from what I remember Jeff Beck was probably his favorite at the time. Later on he turned me onto Jeff Beck’s Guitar Workshop album. Wow!! He has also shared a few of the stories that happened to him behind the scenes. So let’s have some fun. Here are the incidents in Kent’s own words:

“It was the summer of 1985......I think--strolled into KSJO.....small talk chat with the receptionist, a few people of the staff.....began setting up camp in my 'cubicle of music madness'. Hoisted my headphones on...began setting up the mixer board---and low and behold>>ShaZamm Zap...Electricity...Zap. I had gotten an electric shock from one of the control knobs, which sent me falling backwards and off my chair......thus, causing me to get a whiplash.
Sometime in 1984...........I did a favor for a dj friend of mine---he needed someone to take his place, so he could go to a party. I had just worked 8 hrs earlier......but, the money was good--so I said no problem. About 3 a.m........my friend-Larry......left his party, and was heading back to the station--he turned on the radio station--and heard me snoring in the background while the song "Nobody does it Better" by Carly Simon....play again, and again......and again. Larry arrived.....and woke me up!”
Interesting stuff...

When we were living together I found out it was easy to sneak up on Kent and scare him. So I took full advantage of it. I’d sneak up on him at his window on the first floor and yell or patiently sneak up on him in the gravel driveway (I could do it too) and yell and touch him at the same time. He was a great victim. My favorite time was late one night we went a jam night. He came home with the other room mates after I did. We had a laundry room at the back of the house that was an add on. This house was over 110 years old and this room was more of an afterthought attachment. I waited forever as Kent took his time smoking a cigarette and I guess looking at the stars. Well he finally came in and as he entered the room which was unlit, I grabbed him by the knee and roared at him. His reaction was priceless. I laughed so hard as he told me we needed to take his head out of the ceiling and pay for a new pair of underwear.

At the end of our stay, they were preparing to tear the house down. Power was cut, so they ran power from a neighbor’s apartment. The kids from the family we were living with had a band called Atomic Serenade. They later added new members and formed a band called Fungo Mungo and released one really good album...if you like Primus and good bands of that caliber. Well...they had a destroy the house party. Kent and I were outside working on my truck. Beer kegs were thrown through windows and through slam dancing the house became a victim with walls and plumbing being destroyed. First of all, we didn’t buy them the beer and they were all under age. We took a break and went to 7-11 for some coffee. As we were entering back onto the property, the police were converging on the party. They told us to stop and we didn’t. Kent and I made it to the old tank house behind the property and climbed up the ladder to the second floor, pulling the ladder up behind us. There were some cabinets that were big for us to hide in. So we climbed inside and covered up the openings with plywood to conceal us. The cops shined their flashlights up there a number of times. We hid up there for about 2 hours. Mike Johnson, Atomic Serenade and later Fungo Mungo’s guitar player, recently reminded me of this comic event. That was all we would have needed...to be busted at a party of drinking minors for contributing to something we didn’t do. We go a chance to see the damage the following day. Man those kids were a great wrecking crew.

It is too bad that the house was torn down. The history that those walls held was priceless. Recently Kent sent me one of the door knobs from that old house. Pretty cool.

The Past Touching the Present

2009-07-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Due to some new meetings that have happened, I need to retrace some tracks down memory lane. Here is an excerpt from my blog Euphoria - The First Band:

“Curtis Soward was our manager and like another brother to me. I spent a lot of time at his house as well. The way I met Curtis’ parents was they came home after being out of town and into the middle of a party Curtis had going at his/their house and yes we were still allowed to party, music and all (at 20 I had gone through GOD’s one step program and didn’t drink or do drugs). His parents were some really great people. Most of the gigs we played were for the Skyline High crowd. Curtis was Mr. Popularity and once the party was on, he would pull out his 3 phone books, call everybody and their brother. The houses were always so packed, we had to rope off an area for the band to move and put on a show. After the band broke up, Curtis put on some shows with local talent like the Tommy Dee Band and Rubicon. Because of his way with people he met many famous people and had books with pictures of these rock stars and all. I know, because when he died (which hit me like two tons of bricks), his parents gave me those books. It’s hard to lose a brother….”

It has been explained to me recently that Curtis’ parents were not out of town…they had gone to the movies and Curtis threw the party.

Recently, I had attended a meeting for my wife’s internet business in LA. They had an incredible speaker by the name of Stephen Pierce doing the meeting. We drove down Saturday morning, went to the meeting, and came straight home…what a day. When the meeting ended, we were outside talking with people and the town Oakland came up. A pretty young lady turned toward me and asked me about Oakland, saying I looked familiar and she was sure she knew me. I said that I used to play music in Oakland. She asked me if I knew her father? I asked her what was his name, to which she replied Curtis Soward. I grabbed her and we both started crying. She had prayed and written down a goal that she wanted to meet a friend of her father’s the week before. As a comment on the prayer, my wife put it properly, when you ask of GOD, you get the best, and we were best friends…or more like brothers. Her best friend and mom were part of Stephen Pierce’s entourage from St. Louis, MO (if you have ever been there in the summer, St. Louis is not in the state of Missouri, it is in the state of Misery). She had shared this goal with them so there were four of us crying.

This is the perfect example of a divine appointment. Brandee’s grandparents had this beautiful house in Oakland, CA, with a creek running through the front yard and lots of trees and vegetation. If you wandered a block or so from their house, you had left the oasis and entered back into the concrete jungle. I hadn’t been over for awhile and they moved from the house. I had lost track of them and had tried to find them without success.

A great deal of old memories have flooded in since our meeting. I have shared some things with both Brandee and Crystal about their father. Going places with Curtis was an adventure. You couldn’t afford to be shy. Curtis could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with all of their numbers and a warm relationship with everyone of them. He never bragged on himself, but he was confident in what he knew he could do. He was a good listener, a compassionate and good friend. His people skills were so good and he was so natural at it, if he had gone into politics, he is the only person I know that had a chance at the Presidency. His widow, Lynn, told me two things, one which I kind of remember. He had figured out how to gain the services of Lear Jets without owning them and was putting together a service company, that rented out Lear Jets and Limos. He was talking about me being one of the limo drivers. The other that was far more important to me was that Curtis had dedicated his life to Christ. The wonderful thing about this is that I know that when it’s time for me to “go home”, my close friend and brother, Curtis will be there as well….

Brandee, who is Curtis’ oldest daughter, is the mother of Nikos, a 2 year old that is working on speaking 3 languages and loves drums and guitar. I get the feeling he will become a student of mine. Brandee is the successful business woman of an advertising agency. She is successful because Curtis passed on his giftings and some great traits. You can sense and see the powerful presence that I remember in her father. I have no doubt that Brandee will be a force in the advertising world, or anywhere she chooses to be.

Brandee was in LA to open up a new office and was supposed to be on a plane for home, not at the meeting I was at. She opted to stay and take a later flight home. My wife and I almost didn’t go due to a sick animal. It all happened because GOD wanted it to.

We got together with her grandparents, Curtis’ parents, eight days later on a Sunday for dinner and time together. It was so good to see Keith and Vi, who were like another set of parents to me. Keith was probably one of the most creative wild life painters I had ever seen. I remember watching him pull out feathers from birds he had hunted to make the colors. His mother, Vi, is a very smart woman and when we got together for that great meal, I remembered one of the staples around the Soward household, Italian Mayo. Things were added to the mayo to give it more twang. We had a great time together.

Crystal is Curtis’ younger daughter and like her father has a big heart. Like me, she and her husband, Eric are Christians, real Christians. Brandee told me that Crystal is a Christian singer and yes, as they would say, girl got voice. I am looking forward to working with her on that voice and recording her voice. I am already working on a song, she’d be perfect for. We met her husband, Eric, who unfortunately was unable to be at the grandparent’s house that Sunday. I liked Eric right away. You could feel the same spirit in him that is in Crystal. They are wonderful young people. The two best words I can find to describe Eric and Crystal are genuine and compassionate.

I feel that if Curtis could look down on his daughters and their families, he’d be proud of them. I know I am as well as being blessed by having them back in my life as well. And it was so good to reconnect with their step-mother, Lynn as well. She has two sons with Curtis that she has told me will need to have me share with them as to who their father was as well. All I can say is when GOD blesses, He blesses…and these are people I need back in my life as well.

Some Music Trivia-Part 1 Foreigner

2009-05-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

I remember when Foreigner first arrived on the scene in the mid 70’s. Their first album Foreigner is still my favorite album…every song was a winner as far as I was concerned. Starrider was the first song I heard from the album. And then I heard Feels Like the First Time. The band I was in at the time added Feels like the First Time to our play list. We had the vocals and players to pull it off. Three of the members of this talented band I was familiar with. The other members though not known to me at the time were great as well.

Ian McDonald played in my favorite line-up of King Crimson. This was the first generation of King Crimson players. They were Robert Fripp (a very innovative guitarist), Michael Giles (one of my favorite drummers/percussionists), Gregg Lake (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer), Ian McDonald (keyboards and wind instruments), and Peter Sinfield (lyrics). Ian’s keyboard work was powerful. The swells and emotions he played on a mellotron in songs like Epitaph and The Court of the Crimson King were absolutely incredible. His flute work in I talk to the Wind, haunting and beautiful. 21st Century Schizoid Man had so many great parts, April Wine redid the song. The melodic part of Mood Child is sweet. All aspects of this album from the instrumental parts to the melodies and the beautiful quality of Greg Lake’s voice, to the incredible lyric writing makes this album my favorite of all time. It was released in 1969 with an incredible cover done by Barry Godber. I would call the music progressive with a classical flavor.

On a side note, Peter Sinfield is probably my main inspiration for lyric writing. He wrote with such depth and power, creating word pictures that you could close your eyes to see the images he wrote about. Both the music and the lyrics are what empower a song, with the lyrics defining that power….whether good or evil. Mine are about GOD and that is good.

Mick Jones, another Englishmen, came from the band, Spooky Tooth. Probably the most notable member of Spooky Tooth was Gary Wright (Dream Weaver). Mick’s guitar playing was always very tasteful. My favorite Spooky Tooth album was The Mirror. Two of the songs off that album that I enjoyed were, The Mirror and I’m Alive, both of which I am thinking of Christianizing in rewrites.

On another side note: Spooky Tooth was a band I had followed since the Spooky Two album (yes I am that old and did say album). Luther Grosvenor aka Ariel Bender (killer guitarist for a British Band called Widowmaker), was the guitarist on that album, and was a really great player…check out his solo on a song called Evil Woman. I caught them on Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert one night in the very early 70’s doing a killer hard slow rock version (not a ballad) of the Beatles’ song I Am The Walrus. I was so thunderstruck, the first band I played in, Euphoria, did it that way.

Finally there was an American, Lou Gramm. He looked familiar and sounded familiar…and then it came to me. I searched my album collection and low and behold, I found him. In 1974, there was a band called Black Sheep. The singer was the same person…a little different name, but the same person. His whole name is Louis “Lou” Grammatico. They did a song that got national airplay that was a “cover” song. The song was Woman, originally done by Free (Paul Rogers). While I mean no disrespect to the great singer Paul Rogers was and is still to this day (My wife and I have seen him twice and both shows were great), Lou’s voice was incredible on the song. They slowed the groove down and Lou just wowed me with his vocals. But I am sure all of us Foreigner fans know how good Lou Gramm is. He did two solo albums and on a few songs had a guitarist I would love to learn from….Dann Huff from Giant. What really excites me is Lou Gramm will be coming out with a new record/CD soon. The great thing is Lou is a Christian and the new record will be Christian Rock. I can’t wait.

To those of you that don’t know how good Christian Rock is, ask me for some bands and I’ll be glad to direct you to them. Christian Rock is the best kept secret in the world…but some of the world/secular musicians are finding out there is more than just this world.

Humbling Gig

2009-04-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

As I said in an earlier blog entry, Euphoria Gigs, that I never put on airs of who I “thought” I was. As Euphoria started out, we played a lot of gigs. At one of the earlier gigs, we were the second bill band. I don’t remember the other bands…sorry.

I liked being out in the crowd, because I never really saw myself as a “different” person, or “special” because I played guitar and wrote songs. If I was “special” then so was everyone else, because we are all “good” or “special” at something. However when I played, my philosophy was to give people more than their money’s worth, so that way they will come back for more…that’s probably why my knees are in such bad shape, with surgery on one of them.

As I was standing there, another young man came up and stood beside me. We said the usual greeting to each other (“What’s happening, dude”) and then he asked me what bands were playing. I named the other two and told him I was in the 2nd band. He asked me if we were any good. I basically told him that I could play like a ringing-a-bell and be a monster player, but if he didn’t like my style, it wouldn’t make a difference. So I suggested that after we were done with our performance that night that he come and tell me what his thoughts were, and that if there was anything I needed to change, I would listen to him. He said cool, and walked off to be with the friends he came with.

I got dressed in some wild clothes and went on stage. We did a great set, and the people in the crowd let us know we smoked the house down. Euphoria had some talented musicians that I was proud to say I played with. As I got off the stage, I saw the smiling face of that young man I had talked to earlier. He ranted and raved about what a great player I was and I could feel the pedestal he was trying to put me on, sliding underneath my feet. I backed off that pedestal, so I could see him eye to eye once again.

I thanked him for his wonderful comments and then asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a carpenter working on some track homes in the city of San Leandro, CA. I looked him in the eye and told him, so you get to build things that you get to look at and see the fruits of your labor, to which he nodded yes. My response was gee, I wish I could do that. I watched his smile broaden all the more, when I shared my appreciation of him, just as he had done for me. I didn’t want to be worshipped for something that was as easy for me to do, as framing is to a carpenter, or rebuilding a motor is to a mechanic. I didn’t tell him though that my day job at the time was as a carpenter building custom homes, because my goal was to get him to appreciate who he was.

A paraphrase from Khalil Gibran’s famous book The Prophet sums up my philosophy concerning humility, which is what this is all about. This was in a section of the book called work, where someone asked about working to which Khalil replied: We have a tendency to praise the bakery for all the wonderful pastries he makes, but forget about the farmer who plants the field. We praise the maker of the clothes who puts a rainbow of color in the cloth, but forget the one who makes the common sandals for our feet. But I say unto you, the sweetness of the breeze whispers no more softly to the giant oaks than to the lesser blades of grass.

I see high-mindedness as one of the single most destructive forces in human relationships. To think one is better than others ruins opportunities to meet some really great people who could fulfill empty places in one’s life. As a Christian, I see it as one of the more destructive forces in the church. JESUS didn’t say to sanctify and set your self apart from others, but to sanctify (set apart) to be His body and Church to others. After all He told the religious order of that time, when they shared their disgust of whom He was spending His time with, that He came for the sick and not the well.

Goal number one for me is to share with everyone regardless of station, age, or anything else is that we were all created by a master creator, GOD. We are born into a greatness that GOD created us for. However Christ put it in perspective, if you want to lead, you need to serve. I’d love see everyone grow into that greatness…

The Two Daves

2009-03-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

For a season, we were the two Daves or the Dave twins. Whenever you saw one of us, the other was nearby. We were like two brothers, close as twins, and consumed by the same passion, it seemed like we shared the same mind with a love for music, guitar, and pretty much everything. I went to many of Dave’s gigs with both the band before and with Yesterday and Today…and sat there watching his hands after helping set up the drums. Whether he was driving the parents car, or later when he bought his dark green ‘52 Chevy Panel truck.

I don’t even remember how the Panel Truck came into the picture, but it was a cool ride. There were issues with the motor and it needed to be worked on. We had some interesting friends back then and when it came to cars, two of them especially came to mind.

One was John Davis. He worked at a gas station doing mechanical work there. At one time, when we went to the second concert Dave and I had ever gone to, he let Dave borrow his baby. John had a ‘66 Chevy Malibu with a blueprinted and balanced 396. With a ¾ cam, that car rumbled with authority. We went to one of the best concert halls at the time, Berkeley Community Theater. The acoustics were great. The opening act was Edgar Winter’s White Trash with Ronnie Montrose on guitar, the Roadwork Tour. The headliner was Yes supporting the Fragile album, near the end of 1971.

The other friend was Duane Parker, who unfortunately later died, I believe of a heart attack. Duane was a tall, skinny, and I mean skinny guy. He was 6’6’’ and I think at 170, I weighed more than he did. He had this long, straight, black hair. He had these fingers that were almost twice as long as mine. But this guy was a brain. He could do anything, fix anything. Not only was he a brain, he was driven. He was our guru on a lot of things, but working on vehicles was where he helped us on the panel truck.

The vehicle had a straight six, 235, with a single barrel carburetor. I remember unbolting the last motor mount bolt as hail was coming through the hood and hitting me in the face. We got the engine in the garage, and with the help of our friends, Duane and John’s answers to our questions, we got the engine back together. We found out the hard way, that the rear main oil seal is not something you want to forget. I don’t remember if we took the engine out and rebuilt the lower half again, or that was when we took off the oil pan and tapped the seal in. When it was done, we took a maiden voyage in that panel.

We pooled our resources together and took off. There were three of us, our friend, Myron, joined the two Daves. We headed out and went up the coast, a scenic, beautiful drive. At one point, on a remote two lane part of the highway, we started clowning around. Myron had climbed out on the hood while we were driving down the road. Myron had that long, Mark Farner kind of, straight hair. Dave and I were standing on the runners, driving on down the road. A car with a family came up behind us, so Dave and I jumped back in the panel truck. Myron scooted back up against the windshield and we continued on. The family passed us and the father almost missed a turn as all eyes and heads were turned back in our direction….crazy.

We traveled on up the coast into Oregon. We slept in the back of the truck that night. We awoke early the following morning and work hungry for food and adventure. So we ate and continued on a small highway, 46, up into the mountains. We ended up at the Oregon Caves…so we took the tour through the caves. They were great and we enjoyed them. There were a number of rooms and caverns to take your breath away…even three long hairs living in a straight, short haired world. I remember they also had a small pond with some of the biggest rainbow trout I had ever seen. I remember thinking what a great meal they would make, especially with this being near winter and there was snow on the ground.

On the way back down, we were on Highway 1 a small, two-lane highway. There was a mountain to our left and a long drop into the ocean on our right. We took a turn, and at a blind spot on the road, there was a small, Ford Courier type truck upside-down in the center of the highway. With no power brakes, it was a miracle Dave stopped in time. We are sitting there counting our blessings, when a big, silver streak passed us by on the left. It was a big rig with a trailer, that was passing us on the left, rather than hit us, because like I said we were stopped on the blind part of a turn. The big rig passed us by in slow motion, climbed over the top of the truck, pushing it toward the people in front of us, before crashing into the side of the mountain. As the upside-down truck slid toward the people around it, a woman screamed with such horror, we thought there was someone still inside. It turned out the vehicle had slid into the woman’s father, who had helped the driver our of the truck. There was a lot of blood, but we were assured the wounds were superficial. He seemed to be okay, bloody but okay.

This got us into motion, out of our daze. Dave and I went for flashlights, while Myron got out because of the approaching car. He got in front of them waving his hands, and jumps out of the way, just in time. The car manages to stop, but later on the driver showed what kind of a person he was…he put the “j” in erk. When the CHP arrived, because they weren’t moving on getting the accident cleared, he drove through the glass between the big rig and the upside-down truck, forcing everyone out of his way. I am surprised the CHP didn’t do anything about it….must have been one of their relatives. We cursed him though, saying we hope he woke up to four flats in the morning.

We were able to stop a number of cars in time and talked with the people, sort of like a happening on the highway. We spent most of our time and concern on people traveling southbound, because that’s were the road was dark and the blind spot was. The north bound lane had a clear view for about 1 mile with a light over the accident. Once everything was cleared and we were on our way home, we were just thankful that big rig didn’t hit us and knock us down that mountain into the ocean…that was a long drop.

We rebuilt cars together, hung out together, listened to music together, and there were times we just drove around together. Many times Dave would drive over to my house, pick me up, and we’d go out, sometimes just with nowhere in mind to Berkeley or San Francisco. That old panel truck got 41 miles to the gallon on our Oregon trip, so it was really good on gas…not to mention gas cost somewhere between 25 and 35 cents a gallon. We did many things together back then. It was sort of like two very close brothers from different mothers.

After a while we ended up doing different things. I got into a band and it started to demand my time, just as Yesterday and Today became Y & T. I remember Dave and band were recording at Freeway Studios across from the huge Montgomery Wards, that is no longer there in Oakland, CA. They did a song I would love to see released: Mars Venus.

The engineer was Reid Ashby, another tall genius. Reid would later record the demo for my first band, Euphoria. Reid also ran sound for a number of clubs in the Bay Area. Unfortunately he was shot in the head later and all that talent can’t be expressed let alone done anymore. An example of his brain power, I went to Reid’s house once and he was building from scratch a 200’ snake for his PA.

At one point I wanted to be the other guitarist in Y & T., but they chose Joey Alves from the band Crutch. Joey played a Melody Maker / Double Cut-Away Les Paul Jr. guitar. My guitar is a left handed full size version of Joey’s guitar, a TV Special. As a matter of fact, the first time my wife saw Y & T, Dave was playing my Les Paul because it has a great neck, and yes I still have it. I played with the strings upside-down at the time, so a right hander could play it. While Joey played the junior of my guitar, that wasn’t the really weird fact…the scary thing was that Joey and I have the exact same birthday, day-03, month-08, and year-53. Too eerie.

On a side note, Dave and I have seen each other through the recent years, I got a chance to meet his wife at a few gigs. From what I see, Dave’s wife, is a lot like his mom, a classy lady, and you can see how much she supports Dave, she gets up there and shares the stage with him. My wife does the same with me. We will be doing music ministry, once my hand heals and we find the right players to minister with. Amen!!!!

MAD FACTS

2009-02-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

Back in 1970 there was a monumental song performed by Carlos Santana and his band, Santana. It was on the killer album Abraxas. The song was called Black Magic Woman and here is the kicker most people think Carlos Santana wrote the song…so who really wrote it? One of Carlos’ favorite guitarists. This man influenced a number of British players as well as Americans; I appreciated him as well. His name? Peter Green, and if you look on Abraxas for the song’s author, you will see P. Green. I know because I’ve had to prove it to people. Any guitar player that I know personally and some great ones that I don’t like Carlos Santana and Vivian Campbell have been influenced by this great British Blues/Rock player. Peter Green was the original guitarist for the original Fleetwood Mac (yes there was two generations of Fleetwood Mac before Stevie Nicks…I preferred the original band with Peter Green; the second generation had Bob Welsh on guitar and was okay). You can find the Fleetwood Mac version of Black Magic Woman on a re-release called The Best of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Other great songs are Albatross, Rattlesnake Shake and Oh Well. Three great Fleetwood Mac albums with Peter Green are Then Play On and Kiln House, and English Rose (1969 this was the original album with Black Magic Woman, very bluesy). I have a double album that was a re-release in the 70’s called Black Magic Woman. So now you know where Black Magic Woman came from………………..

MEMORIES OF LEROY SILVA

2008-10-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Leroy Silva lived in an area of San Leandro we called Oakie (spelling?) Hill. When I first met him, I was about 19 years old. He was in a band either called Oakland or Skin Tight. I know Skin Tight was also a song they did. I know the chords and it’s a great song to do at a jam night. The band consisted of: Dave Meniketti from Y&T (this was during the two Daves era), Arthur J. Finney on bass, Dwayne Parker (died of a heart attack) on rhythm guitar, and Leroy Silva on drums. He was the first double bass drummer I had ever seen, and sitting behind him, like I did at all the practices was a treat. Back then when we were all kids at 19 and 20, he amazed me….a short guy with long hair that was an absolute monster on drums. After a number of gigs, Dave left and went into the original lineup of Yesterday and Today…a trio consisting of Dave on guitar, Bob Gardner on bass, and Leonard Haze on drums. Dave always got great drummers and it is interesting the first two were Leonard / Leroy.

Most people that knew Leroy Silva in the later years knew him as the blues guitarist, Leroy Brown, because Lee (those of us close could call him that) was a gifted musician. I knew him as a drummer because we played together in 3 bands. He would just sit there and grin at you while blowing you away with his abilities. While most drummers played drums to the music, Leroy played music with his drums. I called him a percussionist, because he was more than a drummer. His style was like jazz, funk, and rock blended together with a very progressive attitude. If I could use only one word to describe Lee’s drumming it would be “flowing”. Leroy was like a liquid drummer who flowed over the musical terrain of a song. And his fills, licks, and solos were outstanding. You’d tell him what a great job he did and he’d look at you and shrug as if to say “ain’t that what it’s supposed to be”? He liked Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and while you could hear the influence, but Lee was unique with his own style. If I remember most of his learning was self-taught, which is why there was some much heart in his playing…a natural no doubt in my mind.

During our wilder days, I used to do spins and steps that would put me behind Lee and we’d get crazy back to back, leaning on one another. We had fun and he always seemed to know exactly, if not better what drum work needed to be on each song. On stage there was definitely a link between us….rhythm guitar and drums always seemed to lock in together. We were like brothers on and off the stage, which is why we were in three bands together.

To show you the kind of person Leroy was, I was on the verge of being homeless, and he took me in. He shared his house with me in the San Leandro Marina area, with his wife, Sandy (sadly they later divorced), his daughter, Gwen, and his son Stephen. One thing his wife made that was interesting was biscuits and chocolate gravy. His children were precious and I looked at them as part of my family. On one occasion, we took a walk around Lake Chabot and I have pictures of Stephen holding hands with my youngest daughter, Sara. In another picture are all the kids at Christmas time, with all these cool wood carvings, done by Lee’s dad. Lee’s dad was totally gifted when it came to wood. He did these cool little wood figures with paddleboards that they would dance on. There was and probably is a lot of talent in the Silva family…I’m not sure what Gwen and Stephen have explored…but I believe the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

After the bands, Lee and I would run into each other at jam nights or jam up at the old house on Oakie Hill and it was always good. I remember when he announced to me, he was going to start playing guitar. That tripped me out, because why would such a great drummer/percussionist change instruments and start all over? He bought a SRV (Stevie Ray) Strat and Fender half stack and started attacking the blues….He got good enough for me to notice and for a number of others to recognize him as an accomplished blues guitarist.

I moved out to Manteca, CA and heard through the grapevine that Lee had cancer of the tongue. I remember calling him and calling him, but due to chemo and how much it takes out of you, his mother buffered my calls. I was able to talk with him later as his health had dramatically improved. We talked one more time before he left the Oakie Hill address and it was a great conversation. We talked about music, church, and health. It sounded like the same old Lee I knew. He moved to the Dublin/Pleasanton area and I had no way to contact him, and because I moved and not many people knew how to contact me. Recently another old friend contacted me for the first time in 15+ years and in his email told me of Lee’s passing. What saddens me is that no one let me know and that I didn’t get the opportunity to spend some time with him before he passed. GOD is good and when I called the number I was given, spoke with Lee’s daughter Gwen, now all grown up and a mom herself. I did tell her I knew where her dad went, as a brother in the Lord, and with GOD’s grace, we’ll do some playing in heaven…unfortunately I will have to miss him here and wait until I get there.

Because of the places I play, churches, coffee shops, and where I live which is not far from Gwen and her family (the Kevins)

EUPHORIA GIGS

2008-08-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

As I said in the last blog, Curtis would pull out his phone books and call everyone. This was Skyline High in 1975. There was a senior that I saw a number of our gigs. We never talked and I don’t know why. I was never full of myself and didn’t really put on airs about who I “thought” I was (I‘ll share an example of that in one of the memorable gigs). Years later someone showed me his picture with his name, and of course I remember seeing Tom Hanks at our gigs. Whether he remembers Euphoria is a different story…maybe I’ll get to ask him one day.

In 1975, some of the seniors at Skyline didn’t approve of the bands for the school’s senior ball…so these people got together and formulated the Skyline High Senior Toast which became a tradition for a few years (I played two of them). This first one was at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall in Berkeley, CA. The opening act was Mile High (later 415 and part of the Eric Martin Band). We were second bill, and the headliner was a band called Mainstream. Second Bill proved to be a great spot for us. Up until this time, I was the reluctant guitarist, scared to death on stage. But the 500+ audience recognized me from all the playing I had done for them on a more intimate level in the parks one on one as I practiced (7days a week,10 hours a day…I was dedicated). The crowd went crazy and so did I, thus the birth of Krazy Dave. The crowd roared from the beginning, and I was changed that day from mouse to manic!!! Everything we played was golden that day. They ran out of alcohol and asked us to announce they were taking up a collection for more booze. We did the songs Fire and Water by Free and Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers by ZZ Top, and they raised $300.00 for more beer. We came out and did an encore, and had to do another, which is a song I still get great responses from the crowd when I do it, Too Rolling Stoned by Robin Trower. The headline band wanted their time on stage and the crowd wasn’t letting us off. I stepped out from behind that lead curtain to a deafening roar of a great audience…the natural high lasted for longer than I had lost my voice (which was 2 weeks for the voice). I thanked them and told them while we would have loved playing all night for them, there was one more band. That night inspired a Euphoria song called Sea of Faces. An exert of that song is:

“Looking down from upon this stage, the lion roars from within its cage,
Smile on us as we do on you, for you have made us do what we could never do,”

The next gig was up in a district of the Oakland Hills called Montclair, off a street called Estates. We were playing a house party that packed out quick. We had roped off a nice sized area in the back yard, because the Senior Toast gig had done something to us….like I said we got wild. I was a dark summer night and I had a new visual effect I was trying out in the song Burn. I had been working with the brother of Phil Kennemore (friend and bass player for Y&T), Jeff Kennemore (who was a magician and great makeup artist that later worked in Hollywood). He was teaching me how to shoot flames from my fingers. I couldn’t coordinate the flashgun (tube with a hammer and cap), so I decided to do it with a lit cigarette. Well….I had too much flash paper and because of the length of the song, my cigarette had burned pretty low. This is not to mention I had long frizzy hair. Right before my solo, I touched the flash paper to the end of the cigarette and threw the paper. I saw a big flash, figured everything was okay, and started my solo. The band was messing up so I looked over to see why. Here is Perry almost falling off his drums laughing and Ned and Bob are pointing at me laughing as well. I don’t understand what is going on until I realize there is a light on my right side that seems to be following me around. It was then I realized, MY HAIR IS ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I slapped it out quickly, put my head down and “blazed” a solo faster than anything I had ever done. The crowd thought it was so cool they wanted me to do it again. I later worked with a guy who was at that gig. He nicknamed me “Flame”. Later on the cops came and broke up the party. It was a three paddy wagon night.

The last one takes us back to the Finnish Brotherhood Hall. I am in one of the bands playing the gig. One of the people comes up to me and asks who the bands are. I told him that I was in one of the bands. He asked me if I was any good. I replied that I could play like a ringing-a-bell, but if he didn’t like our style he wouldn’t like us. I went on to ask him to give us a listen and at the end of our set to give us his opinion and if there was anything he felt we needed to change or do better to let me know. At the end of our performance, he came up ranting and raving of how great we were and I am not one for having someone put me on a pedestal. So I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a carpenter building track homes one of the local towns. I looked him in the eyes and said so you build things and get to see the fruits of your labor? He replied yes, so I told him that I wish I could do that. I wanted him to see how valuable he was and that we were no different from one another and to look at me eye to eye not above him. Humble things like that from a 23 year old rocker is how I now know GOD was there with me keeping me teachable and reachable. And no…I didn’t tell him that I was building custom homes in a wealthy part of the Bay Area as a day gig.

And now as I play for GOD, I can’t be His vessel if I am full of myself (thought taken from a Mother Theresa quote).

EUPHORIA - THE FIRST BAND

2008-08-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

We had some great people in skilled positions, Perry Dreiman on drums, Ned Lovig on bass, Bob Charboneau on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, myself on lead guitar and background vocals, Paul Goveia on light show, Curtis Soward as manager, and Reid Ashby, who produced our first demo. (we did have a version of the band prior with Richard Wold on drums, who is also a good drummer, but we really didn’t get this band off the ground).

Perry Dreiman was 6’7” and only 17 at the time the band formed. Perry and I were the only classically trained musicians at the time and he would have me come over on our time off and work on music for his theory class, which I was humbly honored to be a part of. Perry has been a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for some time and I know they enjoy having him. He is by far and away the best drummer I have ever played with. Excuse me….it is an insult to call Perry a drummer. Perry is a musician and a percussionist. Even his playing at 17 is superior to all others I have played with. He is the only person I have ever played with that looked normal behind a 28” bass drum.

Ned Lovig is probably still one of my favorite bass players. He was very melodic and had a great sense of what he was doing. Ned was a natural, gifted musician and would do some interesting things. We had an original Song called Burn. In one spot Ned did a polyrhythm, while we were all doing triplets, Ned was doing quads. Ned turned me onto two groups back then, and we did obscure songs by them that were pretty good. They bands were ZZ Top (Tres Hombres is still my favorite album) and Peter Frampton (who’s lyrics confused me). We also had a cool instrumental that all of us wrote, that featured Perry on drums. The song was called Strawberry Jam, named for Ned’s girlfriend at the time. Ned and Perry were a formidable rhythm section indeed.

Bob Charboneau….what can I say about Bob? The voice of the band. Bob’s the reason why all the little girls went crazy. He had that look and a great voice. Because of Bob, we could do Zep, Bad Company, and Free. I remember a gig at Jerry’s Stop Sign in Berkeley. We did one of those songs I don’t like to play anymore…unless someone tips generously…Stairway to Heaven (the other two are Rock and Roll by Zep and Freebird by you all know who). The crowd got into an enormous circle and slow danced arm and arm…those are some of the cool things you remember. Bob sang with an incredible voice, played great rhythm guitar, and lead harmonies. On his rhythm playing, he had a feel that was somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page (between the Jims). One obscure band Bob and I really liked was a band called Bee Bop Deluxe (I saw them 3 times).

Paul Goveia was an interesting character. He was introduced to the band by Ned. Paul was the second natural genius I had met. He could work on cars, build things, which is how his light show came into being. He told me once that his fingers were blistered for the first few gigs because he would change the lights at the speed I played guitar (I’ve always been kinda on the fast side). He did so many great light shows for us…both indoors and out. It saddened me to find out he was found in a chair in his house dead apparently from a drug overdose.

Curtis Soward was our manager and like another brother to me. I spent a lot of time at his house as well. The way I met Curtis’ parents was they came home after being out of town and into the middle of a party Curtis had going at his/their house and yes we were still allowed to party, music and all (at 20 I had gone through GOD’s one step program and didn’t drink or do drugs). His parents were some really great people. Most of the gigs we played were for the Skyline High crowd. Curtis was Mr. Popularity and once the party was on, he would pull out his 3 phone books, call everybody and their brother. The houses were always so packed, we had to rope off an area for the band to move and put on a show. After the band broke up, Curtis put on some shows with local talent like the Tommy D Band and Rubicon. Because of his way with people he met many famous people and had books with pictures of these rock stars and all. I know, because when he died (which hit me like two tons of bricks), his parents gave me those books. It’s hard to lose a brother….

Genius number three, Reid Ashby. Back in the day when most bands used PA’s that were two column speakers and a 4, 6, or 8 channeled powered mixer, I was visiting Reid. While we were talking, He was making a 200’ 16 or 24 channel snake, because the largest one at the time was only 100’. He was working of Freeway Studios at the time and that was where Y&T was doing a demo….there was one song on the demo called Mars Venus I wish Dave would find…I loved that song. Reid did our demo for us. First we did the music with the leads live at our studio in this cool basement at Perry’s parents house in Piedmont. We did all the vocals at Reid’s parent’s house up in the Oakland Hills. We were in the basement, where they had a lane to a bowling alley installed. Wild. Reid and I mixed it at some studio in Walnut Creek, which was my first experience as to how anal and time consuming mixing down is. Reid was so good he went on to do sound for a number of the popular underground clubs in San Francisco, CA, especially one called the Mabuhay Gardens, frequented by bands like the Dead Kennedys. Unfortunately, though I have heard more than one story, Reid was shot in the face and suffered, brain damage. Years later, I found out where he was and tried to talk to him. Sadly it was short, with very few words.

I was just a maniac, trying to play as wild and to the best I could play, and with these guys I was honored to play with and know all of the people listed above. Bob Charboneau aka Charby and I still stay in touch.

My First Guitar/Music Teachers

2008-07-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

At 18, since I had decided not to pursue my education in classical music, I picked up a guitar. I had an old Silvertone arch top I paid $10.00 for. I wish I still had it; it was a great playing guitar. I dabbled at bass for a couple of years prior, but got bitten once a guitar was put in my hands. I was bitten so badly by the passion to play guitar, I practiced 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. For the first month my fingers bleed on the fret board.

Part of my playing/practicing time was spent at a beautiful rose garden off of Oakland Ave. in Oakland, CA. I would sit there learning from my friend, Tim Garcia from San Antonio, TX. He was in the Navy and stationed at Alameda Naval Base. He taught me that really cool flat picking that Neil Young does on an acoustic. We’d play tunes like Old Man, Needle and the Damage Done, Cowgirl In the Sand, etc… We played other stuff as well.

The other part of my time was spent with a guy I had met during my senior year in high school. Because of our passion for music, we hit it off immediately. I moved, well sort of left shall we say under a cloud to Minnesota, where I completed high school. Upon returning to California our friendship fired back up and we spent a great deal of the time together. I virtually lived at his house for about 2 plus years. Those of you who know the band Y&T (Yesterday and Today), know who Dave Menniketti is. Whenever someone save Dave they knew I was nearby. He taught me the pentatonic 3 octave scale that goes from open E on the 6th string to E on the 12th fret of the 1st string. And all the time I roadied for them, I watched and learned….watched and learned.

We would sit in Dave’s room and listen to The Allman Bros, King Crimson, Edgar Winter, Uriah Heep, Stanley Turentine, Lenny White, Jimi Hendrix (Dave’s fav). We listened to a wide assortment of music…Dave was into broadening both our musical horizons, and he had a great collection of vinyl, yes albums. This was before cassettes even.

Here is where I’m going to stray away a little and pay some honor to Dave’s family. His father is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His mother was a very classy lady. She used to take time to educate me on a variety of things. The most memorable, probably because if she had been the one to introduce this to the world, she would have made millions….She used to make pizza on french bread all the time. She used to explain to me that this was the pizza of Italy, but not with meat, because they weren’t rich like us Americans. This was back around 1971-73. What a classy lady. His sister was a real nice girl and very supportive of Dave. Last time I saw his father and sister, they were still supporting Dave’s career. What a wonderful family to have touch my life back then. I hope they read this and give me a chance to say thanks to some people who blessed me.

Dave was in a band before Y&T either called Oakland or Skin Tight. Dave was on guitar with his wall of sound, a Baldwin amp, Duane Parker on guitar, Arthur J. Finney, and Leroy Silva. Later Dave started talking with Leonard Haze and Bob Gardner and the first generation of Yesterday and Today was born. Leonard and I used to joke that we could set up his drum set faster than the others could set up their amps and the PA which was an amp and two column speakers. The original band played top 40 at the Navy Bases and EM clubs, a story in itself. Later Bob Gardner left the band and they started heading into the direction of the Y&T that started doing albums and touring.

Bob ended up being “instrumental” in more musical growth for me. He was attending Cal State Hayward, where, if I remember correctly, he got a degree in music. Bob liked the fact that I was the only “rock” player he knew who appreciated his wide taste in music, which incorporated classical. Bob and I talked about doing music together and worked on some “Chicago” tunes, which were progressive at that time. Bob was the one that helped develop my ear training at that time. He would have me turn my back and hit 2 notes on the piano. I had to guess the interval between the 2 notes. Try it sometime…it is a great exercise.
These were the first people in my life that were responsible for music training after school was over. Humble beginnings that marked the aggressive learning curve I still have today…I love to learn, which is why I still carry a learner’s permit, though I teach as well.

As for the other training, by learning from the pros on the albums…the first “hard” song with lots of chords I learned on my own was: I’d Love To Change the World - Alvin Lee and Ten Years After. The first album? Paranoid - Black Sabbath…my wife hates the fact that I can sing like Ozzie. I have re-written the lyrics to 3 songs on this album (I call it Christianizing or GOD glorifying). JESUS Gathers for War Pigs, Savior Man for Iron Man and Not Paranoid for Paranoid.

The Madness Begins….

2008-07-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

With his mother outside tending to her garden and flowers, a boy of three prepares for the task ahead. Placed on the kitchen counter are a dozen eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a half gallon of milk next to the blender. Before him are all the ingredients his little mind thinks are necessary to make his favorite drink, eggnog (yuk! where were my taste buds back then???). He climbs the chair he had placed before the counter earlier and cracks three eggs into the blender, puts in more cinnamon than would be necessary, dumps a generous portion of nutmeg into the mixture, and reaches for the milk. Suddenly the radio on the counter comes alive with some rock-n-roll. The king is singing his newest hit, “All Shook Up”. The toddler starts singing and dancing to the music with the milk in his hands (warning Will Robinson…danger…danger). You guessed it. The kitchen floor got a really good milk bath. Mom was okay with it, because after the song was over, I went out and told her…I mean you didn’t expect me to walk out on the king when I spilt the milk in the first verse. And I still have respect for the king. That was my first music memory.

My mother told me she used to listen to opera when I was in the womb, and the closest I ever got to opera was the rock opera Tommy by the Who…I used to play the French Horn parts in the Overture to warm up before Orchestra class. I have written about 5 rock operas in my time…with a copyright on Gothic Tales, the Songs of A Warrior. I was also told my grandfather was a pretty good violinist back the old country of Finland, but when he came to America, he just fiddled around, but was still pretty good at it.

At 8, I found piano, and got competent enough to play that little tune we all learned how to play, but none of us remember the name. I could play either part, chords or melody. The progression is part of Crocodile Rock from Elton John (C - Am - F - G). Then I found that wonderful tune from Chopin, Chopsticks. I’m not certain what piece it is from.

At 9, we were given a hearing test in school…nobody told us why. We just listened to pitches of notes (is that pitching notes at us?). Don’t remember why or how the test went other than pitches being played. I ended up being one of four that got an opportunity to start playing musical instruments in the fourth grade; everyone else had to wait until the sixth grade. We were given a choice to play what we wanted, I wanted a trumpet and got stuck playing a clarinet. Later on I got used to it. It was a cool clarinet and I still have it, though it needs new pads. It is a Paris Standard from 1906, made out of rosewood with a beautiful tone.

At 12, I entered a school talent contest, where I gave everyone a good laugh. It seems my octave pad fell out of the key. Every time I tried to hit a low “C“, the note that came out was a mid ”G”. I had a new reed so I soaked it thinking I was squeaking with the new reed. After the second time, we inspected the instrument and saw the missing pad. We put my mouth piece on some else’s clarinet and I went out to the honks and chuckles to do it all again. To embarrassed to make a mistake, I played it flawlessly to good applause, but still received so teasing from my class mates.

At 13, I entered junior high school to be blessed by having my favorite teacher period of all time Mr. Caviglia. He took a mediocre clarinet player, and made me a first class bass clarinet player by saying he needed a bass clarinet player and felt I could be a great one. From that point on my gpa in music at any rate was 4.0. The highlight was playing in a junior high band that was so good, we blew most of the high schools away. Our jazz/stage band went off to a competition as the only junior high in a high school competition…and we won! I learned to play tenor sax but wasn’t a part of the stage band. Every time they tried to get me to improvise, I was a note reader and too shy or afraid. Boy if they could see me now, I’m a jammer.

Sight-reading was a strength in all my music endeavors, and when I’m reading charts today that is an asset. From the beginning until the end of my freshmen year, I attended summer school music classes. My last year saw me in three classes playing 5 instruments, bass clarinet and contra-bass clarinet in band, percussion/timpani and French Horn in orchestra, and Tenor Sax in stage band.

From 10 to 14, I played in a drum and bugle corps in San Leandro, CA called the Royalaires. We marched in parades and competitions. My first two years were on 3rd part soprano bugle and two years on French Horn, where I ended up 1st horn. They even gave me the most important solo…in concert position. We had great instructors and our horn instructor Cy Udall arranged some great pieces as well as was one of my summer school instructors.

In high school, I went to too many of them. Most were mediocre programs. One was excellent. The teacher didn’t give us the normal music written for high schools or even colleges…we played the real stuff the symphonic orchestras played. Talk about your greater expectations. He believed in us and we rose to the occasion. My final school was a modest one in the country, in Northern Minnesota. I still remember walking into the music class and having the teacher say, what instrument do you play and I responded back with what do you need? This small school had no French Horn player, so that was where I settled in. With very little required classes needed to be completed and having some of my classes agree to allow me to complete my homework and show up for tests, my homework was done for all of the classes on Monday and Tuesday. Music classes were held on Wednesdays thru Fridays. At one point the Music teacher, Mr. Levine, needed a drummer for the senior dinner. I agreed to do it and the drum set I played most drummers would die for…it was an old Ludwig four piece with a 28” bass drum. I used to take it home and beat on it in outside in back of the house (who cares…our nearest neighbor was ¼ mile down the road).

Wednesday thru Friday I stayed in the music room, devouring knowledge on all the instruments. I only came out for lunch, which was a great feast. When you are only cooking for a school of about 230 kids and that covered grades 7-12, these ladies did a fantastic job and I let them know it. This great food was 10 cents a day and all you could eat.

Each week, a different instrument was picked up. On one particular occasion, Mr. Levine was teaching me about chord inversions on a piano. I caught on to what he was saying so much of the time, he finally looked at me and said that I was like a sponge and music was like water, he had never seen someone pick it up so quickly. He gave me opportunities to mentor some of the junior high band, and at one point talked to me about music scholarships….possibly anywhere in the world. Because of my childhood, I wasn’t interested in school or being told what to. So I turned it down (ouch?). Because of my hunger, I don’t feel any pains of regret at turning away a music scholarship. What has been gained from “street” knowledge has far surpassed what I would have learned. I know too many who make theory law, but the truly great players I have been blessed to hear, like Phil Keaggy, know nothing of theory, just how to play from the heart.

And here ends the beginning of the madness at 18.