Originally posted on Facebook HERE
So… I’m playing music at live shows again. Which means a lot of driving. Driving to the shows I often listen to music, but on the way home I’m usually all “music’d out”, so I’ll listen to talk radio instead — and it also gives me time to reflect on how the show went, where my life is at, and maybe revisit memories of days gone past. Last night on the way home I got to thinking about the role music has had in my life. I’ve loved music as long as I can remember. We had a piano at our old house on Doemel Street in Oshkosh when I was growing up, some of the keys were chipped. I was told it was from when I was very young (too young to have any actual memory of this), I couldn’t reach the keys and somehow got a hammer and started whacking away at it. Which makes me wonder why this instrument would be readily available to anyone that young, but — I was born with the desire to play music. My father was a professional musician at one time in his life. He was really good, too — and a multi-instrumentalist and singer. When I was old enough to have my first record player — oh, man — just the memory of that little record player in our living room is incredible for me. It was like a “close and play” — where you could fold it up and take it with you. The speakers were built into the sides, pretty sure it as monophonic, too. All the records I bought back then were monophonic anyway. And I’d sit and listen to music a lot. The Monkees and The Royal Guardsmen (who were best known as the band who did the “Snoopy” songs back then) were the first albums I ever had. I got every one of their albums as soon as they came out. I’d sit and listen and read the covers while whacking them with pencils as I drummed along. I still have albums from back then that have the pencil marks on them. To this day, I still love those bands and those recordings. Then… The Beatles — OMG! The greatest band that ever will be. Back then I fell in love with their 2nd album and played it a lot. What a great time for music it was. I also remember the first two albums I ever got — years later — that wasn’t from one of those three bands. Allman Brothers Band “Beginnings” and The Who “Who’s Next”. 1973? That’s the year Beginnings was released, anyway. Who’s Next came out in 1971. Around that time, I started telling people I was a bass player. Now… at that point I had never even seen a bass guitar, let alone played one. I have no idea what led me to do this. But in 1974 a friend called me and told me the bass player in his band quit and would I be interested in playing with them? So, of course I said yes! I bought a Kingston bass for $20, and the stereo I had at that time actually had a jack in it so you could play guitar through it. That was my first setup. A $20 bass through my stereo. Larry came over and showed me the songs — I remember him telling me bass players usually play with their fingers, too (not a pick, as I was prepared to do). And, much to my surprise, I could play all the songs right away even though I had never played before. They weren’t all that complicated, but… that was it. I was hooked. I’ve been playing bass ever since. 51+ years now. Wow. Wow… I love it. By age 17 I was pretty good, and was playing regularly at my house with all the local musicians. Even though I wasn’t old enough to be in bars (drinking age was 18 at the time), if you were in the band they didn’t question you. And my alcohol and drug addiction really started when I was 14, but… having free drinks available at the shows didn’t help much. So, for a while there my musical career and my drug and alcohol addiction went hand in hand. But I was able to make a living playing music for a long time. Twistin’ Egyptians were the most popular band I was in back then. For a while I played with Jules Blattner as well. In 1988 I got clean, and by 1990 I needed to get away from the bar scene for a while. So I basically quit playing music for a couple years there. Didn’t really get back into it with any regularity until in 1995 I was dating my wife, who had no idea I was a musician when we met. She was instrumental in getting me back into it, and by 1997 I got the gig playing bass with Road Trip Band, just a fantastic band with great people. Still to this day the best cover band in Wisconsin (in my totally prejudiced opinion). And, wow — Amy Jo Doty. Sent shivers down my spine nightly. To this day, watching her sing can overcome me with emotion. She’s incredible. Music is incredible. I left Road Trip in 2006 to play with Buzz Meade. I had played on an album he released and his songs just spoke to me. I was often so overcome with emotion at shows with that band it was hard to play. I wish we had recorded an album back then, some great tunes that were never recorded or released. But that’s the magic, right? That’s what music can do for us. It can lift us up, it can comfort us, it can help us work out our aggressions. And yesterday, for a brief moment — it happened again for the first time since seeing Road Trip play last September while watching Amy Jo sing “Girl Crush” — I was overcome with emotion watching Pink Houses vocalist Kim Marshall sing Bruno Mars “Just The Way You Are”. It was beautiful. It was overwhelming. It was magic. It was music. And I hope you know and understand what it feels like to be overwhelmed with the majesty it offers to all of us. So, make a playlist of songs you love and visit it often. Dig out something you haven’t listened to in a while — it’ll take you right back to that place and time in your life. Revel in the beauty, the emotion, the wild ride that music offers. Let it take you away. Because it’s one of the best rides you’ll ever take. Music is magic, and it’s always there for you. Take daily as needed.
