On The Road - Submitted Reader Supplement

...continued from On The Road - Gabe

Those of you following my On The Road series may find this post interesting. I received an email today from a reader (only referred to as "A Fly on the Wall") who wanted to share this note he/she received from someone else who had seen my stories and wanted to contribute some additional background information about Gabe and the business he ran.

Even though there's no real way to know how historically accurate this information is (being as how it is 3rd-party anonymous hearsay), I still enjoyed reading it because it contains all the elements of a good story: drama, celebrity intervention, and the MAFIA!

Honestly, I had no idea who/what I was involved with during my brief stayover at the barn and my 6-month employment by Gabe, but after reading this - I'm glad I didn't know this back story!

So here, in someone's unedited words, is the story of Gabe.

So you will know more about the time at The Barn.... Gabe built it out of his pocket with whatever he could lay hands on, it had a recording studio, a mirrored dance room, a TV Studio, and several rooms for stages. It was meant to be a school and a video and recording center...it was ever growing, changing. Old trainees that would see him like at The Addadin in Alanta City, would stop playing and come hug him. You were there to be trained and sent out so you could earn a good living if lucky. When you were there, Eb was the Voice Coach, Don was a helper and the bands were taken out locally to be showcased, also select performers would go out on their own to make money. Gabe had a traveling Mariachie band and traveled the world, was related to another traveling band and changed his last name. He's what you would call a Mystro, he and Eb had perfect pitch and is what Eb often taught you how to sing in the pitch, tone and meter. And, yes, even at the clubs Gabe would lean under the table and yell --- YOU SUCK!!! -- Hopefully it made you stronger as the road is NOT an easy place and, as your efforts now show, YOU DID HAVE GOOD TALENT. Gabes land bordered Jack Palance's land and they fought constantly. Gabe's home attic was huge and housed many many outfits for all the showbands. Gabe actually lived in West Hazelton. The owners of the Beacon were a sweet Greek couple. The area, and entertainment in general, was controlled by the Mafia - whom Gabe confronted often and they often came armed. The area WAS a mafia stronghold- he grew up with them and lived amongst them, but was not of them - they respected him. Remember the ICED OVER DRIVE WAY? Some people that were there then was, Johnny Angel - about time he was putting together The Rock And Roll Idols -- the ones you see playing in Vegas imitating Idols, came from him many years before. When you did not see Gabe, he was at home on the phone with Agents/Promoters - who really were throwed off, but he got his band the World's Fair, etc. The original singer for the boxtops fought to stop bands like there ( where you buy the name and put them out as the original entertainers ). The mafia fought the Boxtops ( Gabe's) because they had a black singer and she was preg - blacks did not play in their clubs - so, the local yokels had to be dealt with at the clubs.. The INTENT was good and the bookings could be kept going and all could be taught and grow. He was your coach - you will NEVER forget him, ya ain't gotta like him or agree with his style, but he was the Coach.  BTW, the RECORDED MUSIC was personally hand delivered in NYC - even if sent to him from past people he had mentored... he BELIEVED in his people. And yes, The Barn was a whirl wind :)   As Willie says, "there's 3 sides to every story, your side, my side and, the truth". I'll leave to each to chose which is which.

I suppose all this anonymity is due to the fact that whoever submitted this story is concerned about implicating a certain nefarious group of fedora-wearing men. And so as more and more people become Facebook fans of I Played in a Gabe Garland Band, the plot continues to thicken. I can't wait to find out MORE of what I don't know!

But right now I'm still hoping someone will submit a picture of dear old Gabe. I know there are some out there. Anyone?

Next Up: The First Show

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On The Road - Gabe

...continued from On The Road - The Barn 

As many of you know, I've been slowly writing this series called On The Road based on my first experience as a road musician at the tender age of 19. Fortunately, I was aware enough at that time to keep a hand-written journal of this life journey, and now have the pleasure of sharing it with you.

Some of these stories have been told from my perspective today, others are a combination of my memory and my journal, and this one is lifted directly from my diary, word for word, right out of its pages (grammar and spelling included) with no narration from me.

I find this chapter to be of  particular significance because it introduces you to a character that has gotten a lot of attention lately... the owner of "the barn" described in the last chapter - Gabe. And right after I began this series, I started receiving comments from people who said they had worked with Gabe as well back in the 80s and had shared similar experiences to what I went through. In fact, I was so intrigued with wanting to hear their stories that I set up a Facebook page here so these people could write in and share them (you need to unfold the comments in the wall posts to read them). In fact, the page just received a new comment yesterday from a woman who says, "I too played in a Gabe Garland Band....I remember the old man had a wart on his tongue....ugh!"

It just doesn't get any better than that folks. So if you're interested in finding out what happened after I drove across the country by myself only to land at a barn in eastern Pennsylvania, read on! But be warned... this is a long post. Probably one of the longest I've written to date. But I wanted to contain the "meeting of Gabe" all within one entry to keep the continuity of the experience.

We pick up from my 2nd day at the barn. Enjoy.

It was at this point where I was starting to get my jitters a little bit. I mean I had been anxious the whole way out, not to mention extremely curious about everything in store for me but now it was time to “prove” myself so to speak, so when the reality of it all hit me, it kind of blew me away a little bit. I mean here I was 1000 miles from home, all alone with 50 songs to learn in 6 days, trying to fit “right in” with a professional road show, having very little experience in this particular style of musicianship, with about 30 strange musicians listening to every note I was going to play. Yes, I had the jitters, but alas, that good old self control, patience and whatever else it is I posses that gets me along so well in life, kicked into gear and started me to work. Well, the first day of practice wasn’t too successful – they started me learning some funk tunes I’d never heard before with synth solos and everything, plus they really wanted me to first get the show material down which consisted of a lot of medley type arrangements of different artists – so that was something I had to learn with the band – not off a tape. But I managed to get a few songs down the first day – 5 or 6 I guess but I knew I’d have to double that for each day we had left – only 5 days to go before we played and I needed to learn about 35 more songs. At this point I still hadn’t met Gabe yet and was real curious as to what this guy was really all about. Day 2 of practice – We worked all day – about 10 hours on the show material and that was good practice. Everyone gained instant confidence in me and we were really starting to get somewhere. That night I met Gabe. He wasn’t too far off from what I had expected. The first thing he said to me was something of the nature “It’s a pleasure to meet you – Oh, he’s good looking too.” This comment gave me kind of a strange first impression but I soon learned this was just part of the eccentric old man’s behavior. Now, Gabe is a relic, kind of like a Vaudeville act gone future, bursting with experience but unfortunately having the subtlety of a bulldozer when it comes to applying it to the future and to people and their emotions. Gabe is 60 some years old, has gray hair, a round pot-belly and talks with a kind of growling rasp. This man knows a LOT about show business and he knows it too. He’s very wise to the aspects of the business end, the performing end, the recording end and most importantly – the audience’s reception end of this art. He knows what the word “entertain” means for both the people and us. So – in his eccentric way he has bought a large barn and refurbished it into a schoolhouse/studio for wayward musicians. He’s made lots of money in the past and now, in his retirement age, has decided to invest it all in this worthy project. Now, when it comes to applying his knowledge with lesser experienced musicians – especially women – here is where Gabe is at his bluntest. On the third and fourth day of my visit to this “musician’s commune for hopeful success” we had the pleasure of Gabe’s personal guidance. We had been practicing this one particular section of material extensively for the last 3 days and felt we had it pretty well figured out and tight. So now it was time to play it for Gabe. Well, we didn’t get 4 bars into the first song when he stopped us to tell us it was all wrong. Now granted, he is experienced and all but his method of expressing this experience isn’t too flattering to say the least. He’ll start with, “Hold it, hold it, this is all wrong” and continue on with “that sounds like shit” or “you don’t know anything about drumming – you suck!” Now if you proceed to talk back and state your claim you get absolutely nowhere except to make him mad, so – the best thing to do is to let him speak his mind and try not to let it get to you personally. He has a very brutal way of expressing his opinions and I found most everyone was afraid of what Gabe would think of their playing. He would come right out to tell you what you’re doing sucks and would make you feel pretty small sometimes in the process. But this particular method of brainwash teaching was effective in making us all aware of what he thought was wrong. When it came to women he was Webster’s definition of a male chauvinist pig. As far as he was concerned women were helpless, problem, stupid to the business crybabies but he knew (or thought he knew) that they were smart enough to manipulate men for their own needs. He knew that if they looked good too that they would sell on stage and he always expressed more T+A to the audience. Well, the particular girls in our band, Mary, Glenda and Shirley were definitely 3 of a kind… (to be continued)

And so again we will pause here until next time. Stay tuned... there's MUCH more to come!

Next Up: Submitted Reader Supplement

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On The Road - The Barn

...continued from On The Road - The Journey 

A funny thing has been happening over the last few months. Gravity has been starting to form around a 30 year-old event.

In April I published the first chapter of my On The Road series, which highlight my early years on the road as a young musician boy-man.

In chapter one, I described how I was summoned on the phone at 7 a.m. by a gruff old man named Gabe Garland, who coaxed me into driving out to Pennsylvania to join one of his magic road shows (my word, not his).

In the second chapter, I  relived the harrowing cross-country road trip, aided by the pages of my infamous angst-filled teen diary.

However, in the weeks that followed those stories, I started noticing several new hits on my blog by people searching for "Gabe Garland." Then I started receiving comments on those posts, followed by emails from various people who also had experiences with Gabe and one of his many bands. These messages came in 2 flavors:

1. people sharing their stories with me
2. people asking me to continue my story

And so, to fulfill my duty as a servant of the people, I will now continue the tale of my first road experience as a 19 year old musician.

The Destination

When we last left young Jeffrey, he was just pulling into Hazleton,  PA after a horrifying 3-day limp across the United States.

By the time I reached Hazleton I was completely spent. For 12 hours I battled mountain hills, road construction, pea soup fog, and icy, pouring rain. All I could think about was finding someplace to lie down and sleep... for a long, long time. But I was still not at my destination completely. I still had to get to the studio. And so, armed with the phone number Gabe gave me just a few days earlier, I pulled into a gas station, dropped a quarter in the pay phone and called the studio. It was now 1 a.m.

Band guy: "Hello?"
Me: "Um, yeah... I'm, uh... Jeff Lee and I need directions to... uh... you know, where you guys are at."
Band guy: "Oh. Well, you're still about 15 miles out dude. How about we meet you at the Beacon Diner in Hometown and you can follow us from there to Barnesville, where the barn is."
Me: "15 miles? The barn?"

The Beacon Diner today... STILL 5 miles from the barn

The Barn

Little did I know that the studio was not so much of a "studio," in the traditional sense of how you would imagine a recording studio, as it was a "barn." Literally. In Barnesville.

And also little did I know... that the band I had just traveled 1267 miles to join was not the only band living at the barn. In fact, there were three bands living there - our band The Toys, The Boxtops and The Classics Four. In addition, not only were there 20 or so musicians occupying the place, but so were their various spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, children, dogs and cats. All-in-all I estimated there were about 40 people in this place. In other words, I had just pulled into what was the equivalent of a hippie commune.

The Barn

When I finally walked in at 2 a.m. the place was quiet. And dark. One of my band-mates showed me to a large room and pointed me at a mattress on the floor along the wall, which was to serve as my new "home" for the next 10 days. I was asleep within seconds.

The next morning things became very strange very quickly. Allow me to quote directly from my infamous diary:

When I woke up there were a lot of things going on - especially in my head. 1st - what am I doing here? There was a band set up at one end of the room and there was all these weird people waking up on all sides of me. So I took refuge in Matt, our bass player, and had him show me the place. First the shower. The bathroom (guys) had 2 toilet stalls and 3 shower stalls. There was a long counter with 3 sinks and a long mirror over the sinks. There were toothbrushes, shaving kits, hairbrushes and anything else a bunch of guys would need. So I took a shower and got dressed and got my act together so I could meet all these people. I went into the kitchen which was the popular hang out. Here they had a fridge, a stove, some cupboard space and a table that seats 6. No sink of course - you had to go into the bathroom to wash your dishes or get water, which was real appetizing. There wasn't much in the way of dishes there either. A few spoons and plates and cups - you had to wash out anything you wanted to use and then wash them when you were done - so there was all kinds of dishes in the bathroom on the counter next to everything else - including the smell.

And so we will pause here until next time... which I promise will be sooner than it took me to get to this one. In the meantime, since I have been receiving so much interest in this story from ex-Gabe recruits, I thought it would be insanely cool to set up a common space for all of us to get together and share our tales, pictures and pain from 30 years ago. Hmm, let's see. What would be a good place to do that? Wait, I know... how about a Facebook fan page? Good idea Jeff!

So, if you're someone who wants to contribute to this living legacy, or just follow along, simply click this link and you will forever be included as a member of:

I Played in a Gabe Garland Band!

Next Up: Gabe

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On The Road - The Journey

...continued from On The Road - My First Tour...

As we left young Jeffrey he was about to embark on a country-wide trip in a tiny Toyota pulling a huge trailer.

Like I said... what could possibly go wrong?"

Fortunately, I was smart enough to have captured this adventure in my trusty journal (of "Dear Diary" fame) so I don't have to try to remember how this little trip played out some 25 years later. Here are some excerpts of the experience:

[The day before] It was weird too - leaving everything just like that. When I left work I didn't tell everyone what I was doing so when I went that night for the last time I said "goodbye" like I'd be back tomorrow and just about everyone said "goodbye" the same way. It was funny. All my immediate close friends knew but everyone else I knew had no idea what was going on. [Day 1] So - on Fri morn, I got into my car and drove into the sunrise for the opportunity of my life. Well, I must say that pulling a 5' x 8' trailer that's 3' higher and just about as heavy as my car was no barrel of fun. Especially since my car has a 4 cylinder engine with a 5 speed manual transmission. This meant I could never go faster than 50 mph (unless I was going down hill with a tailwind). I got to Iron River Wis, about an hour from Ironwood when I ran into ice and a snowstorm - so bad I couldn't go over 35 mph. And someone told me it was worse on the U.P. so I had no choice but to turn down toward Madison and head for Chicago. [Day 2] The next day was a real bitch. I headed for Chicago into strong headwinds which were really slowing me up bad. When In finally got there I had to take the Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago Skyway - both which had about 2 million cars on them at once, and there's me towing an oversized trailer with a little yellow Toyota going 40 mph. Real fun. 6:00 p.m. - I'm driving on the Ind. Tollway or the "Mainstreet of the Midwest" as they call it (I 80-90) and I noticed my engine was steaming so I pulled over and looked at it. Well, my heater hose had rubbed against my manifold and burned through causing my radiator fluid to drain out. So here I was on this major highway at supper time with a hundred trucks a second passing me up, I had my trunk open, my flashers on, a handkerchief tied to my antenna and a worried look on my face - no problem right? I figured there would either be a cop or tow truck there within 20 minutes to get me off the freeway with all the CB's and everything. I sat in my car for two hours freezing my butt off until I couldn't stand it anymore. In 2 hours not one cop came by and no one stopped. So I got out and started walking towards a light I saw at a distant farmhouse (it was dark by then) but I got about a block away when a truck stopped to give me a lift. He told me a cop had passed him up only 5 minutes earlier and had to have come by me - boy was I pissed then. [Day 3] The next morning I started out again, driven by pure, raw excitement wondering about what could possibly be in store for me in this little town in Pennsylvania. All I could do was imagine. Was it going to be totally in vain or was I going to make lots of money and become a star? Well, I drove through Ohio that day and crossed the PA border that afternoon. It was then when I called the "studio" to inform them I would be there later on that night. But what I didn't know was, that Pennsylvania was going to be an uphill battle the whole way, literally. For the next 10 hours or so I climbed and climbed. Lots of neat things happened at this time. One, I slowed down to a snail's pace burning out my 3rd gear and clutch to keep going. Two, there just happened to be "road construction" on this mountain so what does that mean? That means that only 1 lane was open causing traffic to back up behind me as far as I could see in my mirror. Not only for short stretches either but for 5 mile intervals, every 15 miles all day, it was terrible. And to top it off - there was a rainstorm and fog so thick you couldn't see the side of the road. All good things must come to an end as they say and I finally pulled into Hazleton PA, my destination - almost. I still had to get to the studio.

Next Up: The Barn

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Become a member of the "I Played in a Gabe Garland Band" fan club on Facebook to share your experiences and pictures from those days.

I Played in a Gabe Garland Band!

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On with the show this is it!

*** UPDATE ***

The webcast I mentioned at the bottom of this post will NOT be broadcast live tonight. It is being recorded tonight but will be broadcast sometime in the near future. You can be assured that I will post a link when that happens.

So, those of you on the other side of the globe can now go to bed at your usual bedtime.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Holy crap... our concert is tomorrow night!

This show is going to be a blast, there's no other way to put it.

I haven't been this excited about something since I was five and waiting for my birthday. In fact, I clearly remember putting a giant calendar up on my wall and marking off the days with big Xs. I remember it so clearly because I did it last month.

Anyway, the CD is out, the band is ready and the keyboard player is psyched. Just about everyone we know is going to be there.  Can you tell I'm hyped? Is that fact that I woke up at 3:30 this morning and didn't fall back asleep again any indication?

In related news... THANK YOU to all of you who are buying our CD on our web site and those of you who are posting my widget on your blogs. We've actually sold quite a few so far! Watch for yours to arrive next week. I'll be mailing out the first batch out this afternoon.

Speaking of CDs... the local music reviewer wrote this in our paper yesterday as well.

With the exception of the fact that he didn't single me out as the single most talented musician he's ever heard, I'd say it's not too shabby.

Finally... BREAKING NEWS! I just found out this same paper is testing a new webcasting software and have asked if we would like to have our concert broadcast tomorrow night on their web site! So if everything works out you can watch us live from the comfort of your own home. How cool is that? Check back here tomorrow and if it's a go I'll update this post with the link to the broadcast.

Now, please excuse me while I go pace back and forth for the next 30 hours or so.

I so don't have the patience for this.

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The Receders CD is now available!

Hey everybody... THEY'RE HERE!

After nearly a year of discussing, planning, recording, mixing, producing, photographing, designing, packaging and a whole bunch of other verbing - our CDs have finally arrived and are now available for sale. Yay!

And let me tell you... this CD is fantastic, and I'm not just saying that because I'm on it. It really is a great album and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out - or more proud of the guys. WAY TO GO BOYS!
So if you're interested in hearing what it is I've been yackin about for the last 4 years, go here to pick one up. And if you like it, please tell your friends. We'd like to sell enough of these to at least recoup our studio expenses. But even more than that, we really want to share our labor of love, and hopefully turn you on to some great new tunes along the way.

So thank you in advance for giving The Receders a shot. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Stop by our web site for tons more information and our Facebook page to become a fan.

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On The Road - My First Tour

People often ask me when I started playing on the road. The answer varies depending on how you interpret "on the road."

When I was 17 and 18 I spent a lot of time traveling around Minnesota playing grungy little bars. I don't consider that actual touring. The following story describes my first "real" touring gig... the one that started it all. The last time I lived at home.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was 19 years old and heading home from a short-lived stint with a band called The Playbakz. Four guys and a female lead. Think Blondie, The Motels and The Pretenders.

As I was passing through Minneapolis I decided to stop at a place called PMR, Professional Musician's Referral - a place where musicians can pay to leave their resumes and in exchange will receive a list of bands looking for musicians. A win-win for both sides.

The very next morning at 7 a.m. my mom knocked on my bedroom door and told me I had a phone call. I took a second to come to and picked up the receiver from the wall by my bed.

"Ya... h-lo," I grunted.

A gruffy voice that sounded like George Burns blurted out a phrase I'll never forget.

"Is this Jeff Lee? This is Gabe Garland. Is Pennsylvania too far?"

I had absolutely no frame of reference as to what he was talking about.

"Pennsylvania what? Who is this again?"

"Gabe. Gabe Garland. I own and manage several bands and was wondering if Hazleton Pennsylvania was too far for you to go to join a band. I got your name from PMR."

I was stunned. I had only left my name there a mere 12 hours earlier and already people were calling me from the great beyond.

Over the next hour or so I learned that Gabe was an old vaudevillian entertainer who had taken up the business of buying the names of once-famous musical acts, reforming them with new members and selling their shows on the road in the highly lucrative show band touring market. At this point he was in the process of assembling 3 historic bands, The Boxtops (The Letter), the Classics IV (Traces, Spooky, Stormy), and the group he wanted me to join... The Toys (A Lover's Concerto).

It didn't take much convincing on Gabe's part to get me to accept his offer. After all, we were talking about a band that had a gold record and had made it to #2 on the charts! I was going to be rich and famous...

...and I was going to leave in 3 days.

leaving for PA - October 1981, 6:00 a.m.
(all I needed was my donuts)

During this call I learned I would be meeting up with the band in Hazleton where we would practice for 2 weeks, at which time we would begin a fully-booked 6 month tour. Sweet! I was finally going to be a professional, and most importantly - highly paid musician.

But then came the tricky part. How was a 19 year old kid from Minnesota with no cross country driving experience supposed to get to Pennsylvania in a tiny Toyota Corona with 800 pounds of keyboard gear?

Easy, go to U-Haul and rent a trailer that's rated at least 2x more than your 4 cylinder Toyota can handle, strap on a temporary hitch and hit the highway! What could possibly go wrong?

Next Up: The Journey

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Become a member of the "I Played in a Gabe Garland Band" fan club on Facebook to share your experiences and pictures from those days.

I Played in a Gabe Garland Band!

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Wrapping Up

Well folks, it's done! Our CD is finally finished and "in the can" as they say.

It will be sent out for duplication tomorrow and available at our album release party on April 25th.

For any of you local readers who would like to join us for our big concert that night, make sure to reserve your tickets now. There are only 50 more available! Click here to order.

(I tried to make this picture look like a CD case but it came out looking like a tile instead, but then I liked the way that looked so I went with it)

I know I've been yacking about this forever, but this is a big project and it takes a lot of time - especially with 15 songs. First you have to prepare the songs, then spend several days in the studio recording them. Next you have to edit and mix them to your liking. And finally you have to take pictures and come up with album text.

In the end however it was all worth it. This is an extremely well-produced record with excellent songs and I couldn't be prouder to be a part of this project.

I'll be creating a link for purchase in a few weeks if anyone is interested in buying one. Plus, I'll be adding samples to our band website in a few days as well. In the meantime, bear with me as I continue to finish up my home projects and other band-related things. I'll be back online soon.

Oh, and one more thing... please feel free to wish my mom well as she recovers from a very painful case of shingles. From everything I've heard, that is not something you want to deal with when you're nearly 80 years old.

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2014 - a very good year

Ever since my kids were babies, I've fantasized about lying in bed on weekends all morning and getting up when I feel like it, but of course the inescapable demands of children prevent that reality. You just can't simply lie around on Saturday morning when your toddlers are up putting Fruit Loops in the toaster for breakfast.

But of course now that my kids are finally old enough to take care of themselves and leave me alone in the morning, my body decides to wake up at 7:00 instead and say:

"Hey Jeff - time to get up! We haven't peed in like 7 hours and my back is killing me from lying down all night."

Grrr.

Other than that I don't have any real complaints about this "phase" of my life (*cough* middle age). In fact, my wife and I are actually looking forward to the milestone summer of 2014 in only 7 more years. This will be the summer:

• My daughter turns 18 (See ya baby. We love you and all that good stuff but it's our time now.)
• My wife turns 50 and I can throw a huge surprise party and everyone will bring "black" gifts and it will be really funny. No really.
• I quit my job and we sell our house and move to someplace more non-dead than St. Cloud and more conducive to being 50-something hippies.
• We celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. And don't bother with the silver crap, just bring big cards filled with lots of money - you know, to help fund the health insurance that will no longer be provided by the job I used to have.
  

And speaking of middle aged, here is another one of our original tunes from The Receders called Middle Aged Man. This is a fun tongue-in-cheek tune written by Pete about becoming ... yes, you guessed it - middle aged.

Hmmm, what do ya know - at 45, it appears I'm right dead smack in the zone. Ok, scratch the "dead" part. Anyway, at least I would hope that I'm going to live to be 90.

I just wonder what time I'll be waking up then!

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Monday Night Live - Blues Don't Get Off At Night

Well, it's Monday again and time for another (and final) installment of Monday Night Live.

Even though we performed 12 songs that night, I've decided that this will be my last feature post of the Monday Night Live blog series. I'll still be posting the videos in my sidebar every Monday (under our Receders logo), but I just won't be writing about it. I sorta figured that when I only post 3x a week, using one of them to tell you a new video is online is kind of redundant.

So that being said, for this post I've decided to show you my signature tune - the very reason I used the name Harmonica Man as my screen name in the first place nearly two years ago when I started this blog.

When I chose that name I worried that people would think I was being conceited and thought of myself as "all that." No, that's not who I am. I hope by now people know what kind of person I am. I'm a middle-aged nerdy dad who just happens to LOVE playing the harmonica and am fortunate enough to be able to do it on a regular basis. I chose the name because it is an identifier of something I truly love to do that is different, and sets me apart from other people in my own special way.

And you'll know what I mean by "special" when you see this clip. This isn't your average "camp counselor playing Oh Susanna" kind of harmonica - this is dirty, gritty serious mean blues kind of stuff.

One thing you'll notice is that I work my harp pretty hard on this tune. In this style of rock/blues harmonica, you have to inhale aggressively for a long time to bend the notes and keep the riffs flowing. So when it looks like I'm suffocating and my neck is straining like a Russian weightlifter - it's because I literally am running out of air. You see, the whole time I'm playing I'm actually sucking air through the reeds of my harp, which causes my lungs to say, "Hey dude, dying here! Do you think you can get that piece of scrap metal out of the way?"

But then all I have to do is exhale and I'm good as new and ready to rock.

So, crank it up and enjoy my tune Blues Don't Get Off At Night. It starts out slow and kicks into gear later on.

Oh, but do not try this at home. I am a professional.

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The Receders Live - Got it Good, Got it Bad

Check it out. Another clip from our Monday Night Live event.

This song, Got it Good, Got it Bad was written and sung by our guitar player Pete. Yeah, he rocks.

Enjoy!

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Monday Night Live - Baby Baby

Ever since I was 5 years old music has been my life. I studied piano my entire childhood, idolized David Cassidy and the Monkees as a tween, sang in choirs from 6th grade through college and toured professionally on the road for 10 years.

Now, thanks to The Receders, I have the unbelievably good fortune to keep making music as a grownup.

Recently, we spent an evening at St. Cloud State University playing for their weekly Monday Night Live program. This is a cool TV/radio simulcast that features local (and some national) acts every Monday night (duh) and rebroadcasts the show multiple times over the week. We were lucky to be the last act in the studio before summer break and now our show is going to run multiple times per week - ALL SUMMER! Yay for us. People are either going to really like us or be really sick of us by the time school starts again.

Anyway, now that I have the YouTube thing all figured out I'd like to share some of the tunes we played that night, and I figured what better day to post these than on Monday. So, for the next several weeks, I'm going to feature a new song from The Receders every week.

This song, Baby Baby, was written by our guitar player Pete and sung by our most excellent bass player Mike. It's a standard stock blues tune but one of my personal favorites, because it gives me the opportunity to do my very most favoritest thing in the whole world - PLAY BLUES HARP!

By the way... Mike is an admitted closet reader of this blog who has yet to leave a comment, so feel free to give him a shout out.

And who knows, maybe if we all ask nice enough - we can convince him to come out of the closet.

Heh.

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The Receders Live - Turn It Around

*UPDATE...

I finally figured out how to convert my video. As Ashley said, she wants the lips IN sync next time. The good news is, this video no longer looks like a bad Japanese science fiction movie.

Now I know what I mean by this song. I really DID have to turn this around!

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Well then, here is my first ever video of our band The Receders, playing our original material for St. Cloud State's Monday Night Live program on KVSC.

I apparently need a better DVD converter because the audio and video aren't in sync here. It appears I'm going to have to actually spend some money to make this look good. At any rate, I thought it would be fun to share one of the songs we did that night. Once I get the video thing figured out, I'll post the rest of the songs about once a week.

Here I am singing Turn It Around.

Welcome to my world!

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Livingston Fury - Track 8

Speak The Language

Here is the link to download track 8, Speak The Language. This track has been added to the MY MUSIC DOWNLOADS dropdown box in the sidebar as well.

Well, here it is - the 8th and final track from Livingston Fury's one and only album - Nature Of The Beast.

This song, (I Don't) Speak The Language, with it's darker and more mysterious style, shares a similar feel to the title track. Even though it doesn't immediately present itself as a standard manufactured "top 40" type of song, it was always one of our most requested tunes in the clubs. I think the steady backbeat, the smokey flavor and the instrumentation variety, such as sax and keyboard horns, caused it to stick and become a memorable favorite among our fans.

In other music news, the guitar player from The Receders and I will be performing downtown this Saturday night in our first-ever event as a duet. We've been toying with this idea for a long time and have finally decided to just bite the bullet and give it a shot.

Of course, this gig in no way implies that we are moving on from The Receders. We're just interested in trying something a little different on the side - something a bit more subtle and tasty. We'll be playing old-school stuff such as James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin and even some Tom Waits for good measure.

So for those who can join us locally, stop down at the Mississippi Bean and Tea Company on Saturday night between 8 and 11 and check it out!
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Related Reads - follow these links to read related posts:

Track 1 - Nature Of The Beast
Track 2 - When I Think About You
Track 3 - Waiting For The "A" Train
Track 4 - Holding Out For Love
Track 5 - Only You
Track 6 - Hot Seat
Track 7 - Blame It On Love

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Livingston Fury - Track 7

Blame It On Love

Here is the link to download track 7, Blame It On Love. This track has been added to the MY MUSIC DOWNLOADS dropdown box in the sidebar as well.


This song, Blame It On Love, was our management's pick for "mostly likely to become a hit." I had it figured that had we signed a record deal, there would have been 3 hits - When I Think About You, Only You, and Blame It On Love. Other people in the band probably had different opinions, but I always felt these songs were the most "commercial."

The Receders played this weekend at Bubba's again. It was great to see so many Harleys lined up out front. I laughed when one woman came up to me after dancing for about 1/2 hour nonstop and commented about how hot it was in the place. I suggested that perhaps if she removed her leather chaps and vest she might be more comfortable.

But the best comment came from a woman who was there playing pool at 7:00 p.m. when we were setting up. She stumbled over to me and asked "What time do you guys shtart?"

I told her we started around 9:30.

"9:30?" she slurred. "Hell, I'll be shmashed by then!"
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Related Reads - follow these links to read related posts:

Track 1 - Nature Of The Beast
Track 2 - When I Think About You
Track 3 - Waiting For The "A" Train
Track 4 - Holding Out For Love
Track 5 - Only You
Track 6 - Hot Seat

Read More......

Livingston Fury - Track 6

Hot Seat (Of My Car)

Here is the link to download track 6, Hot Seat. This track has been added to the MY MUSIC DOWNLOADS dropdown box in the sidebar as well.

In Evolution - Part 3 I mentioned that our management group at the time was also responsible for the rise of the teen pop sensation group The Jets. This song, Hot Seat, was their attempt to tie us into that same formula by having us put out a similar 80's "pop" offering. I actually like this song very much and had a lot of fun with the keyboard stuff on this one. It's fun, catchy and extremely danceable. Enjoy!

Speaking of danceable, The Receders played last night for the annual Freedom Flight POW/MIA fundraiser and had another great turnout. I don't know the tally yet, but last year this event raised over $25,000 for this worthy organization.

Hundreds of people showed up for the auctions, drawings and fabulous New York strip steak dinner. Yum. We've been playing this event since 2000 and ALWAYS enjoy the evening. The people are great, the food is fantastic and the dance floor is packed.

I'll be chillin today, however, since I didn't get to bed until 2:30 a.m. and had to be at church at 8:00 this morning to sing with the choir. Yowsa.

Snnzzzz...
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Retro Read - follow these links to read related posts:

Track 1 - Nature Of The Beast
Track 2 - When I Think About You
Track 3 - Waiting For The "A" Train
Track 4 - Holding Out For Love
Track 5 - Only You

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Evolution - Part 3

As soon as the USO tour had completed, the owners of Sensitivity hung up their sequin-studded jumpsuits and called it quits. They had been on the road for years and had planned to make the tour their last hurrah, which was fine with me.

In fact by that time, I had been on the road non-stop for over a year and was ready for some time off myself from the music business. However, just 1 week after returning home I received a phone call from Livingston Fury asking me if I'd be interested in joining their band. I told them "sorry, no thanks" and that I was burned out from being on the road so long and needed a break. The next day I received a cassette tape in the mail of some of their live recordings. I joined them that weekend.

1982: Here was the original version of the band - still stuck in the early 80's "trying to look cool but done with the 70's" look.

Soon after I joined, the guitar player and drummer left the band and we found replacements from another MN band who had recently broken up.
These guys had a harder rock edge which provided a much needed energy boost to the band. For the first two years we banged around the standard local dives before signing with a management group out of Minneapolis.










1985: However, it didn't take long before our new manager (who was also managing the teen pop group "The Jets") decided we needed an update. Suddenly all black was look of the day. Don't even ask about the aviator scarf - I have no idea.









1987: Eventually, the temptation to emulate groups like Duran Duran and Bon Jovi became too hard to resist, and long hair, eye liner and ??? clothes became the look du jour.






So where does that leave me today? Well, instead of publishing pictures of my current band The Receders on this post, you can go here to see several shots of how we look today. But if you really want to know who was underneath all of these pictures the whole time, I think this current picture of me describes it best.

Just a nerdy guy from Duluth, MN.

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Evolution - Part 2

After Sleeper, I headed for college and spent the next 2 years as a piano performance major at the University of MN Duluth. Then in 1981 I joined a show band called Sensitivity who had lost their keyboard player at the last minute, just before heading to Asia for a 3-month USO tour.

Sensitivity was what is known as a "professional show band." Billed as a "Las Vegas Style Review," we played everything from New York, New York to the Blues Brothers (I was Elwood). The three women were the front singers and professional dancers and the men were the musicians and featured acts.

Our venue consisted of a 90- minute fully choreographed show and our group was the third act of a larger tour consisting of Lou Rawls and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

Essentially the way the performance hierarchy worked was Lou Rawls played only the largest 10 or so stages, the DC Cheerleaders played those and the next 20 smaller rooms, and we played those as well plus every officer's club, cafeteria and mess tent the military had to offer - sometimes 2 or 3 shows a day.

Here is one of our posters:

All in all, I would say we got the best deal of the entourage. Not only were we able to experience more of the true Asian culture, but our "adventure factor" was ten-fold that of everyone else. For example, we played the mess hall at the infamous Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of Panmunjeom South Korea, a tiny cafeteria at the Marine base on Iwo Jima, and a training camp tent deep within the jungles of Okinawa - accessible only by helicopter. Lou Rawls only got to visit the nicest, cleanest and largest military bases on the tour.

Some of the places we played included:
Japan, Okinawa, South Korea, Philippines, South Pacific and Hawaii.


[Next: Part 3 - Livingston Fury and beyond]

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Evolution - Part 1

For the next few days I'd like to take a step back, to one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place, and post a few pictures and comments about the journey I have taken as a musician.

So over the next three posts, I'm going to highlight a few of the pictures that best capture the evolution of my musical youth, starting from the beginning when I was still dreaming in my basement...

1979: Here I am at the young age of 17, the year I graduated from high school. I had been playing in this basement long enough and was ready to hit the "clubs." Unfortunately the best gig I could get at the time was playing high school dances with my friends. We must have put together 10 different bands but just couldn't seem to make anything stick. I still have to give credit to my family for putting up with all the noise we generated. I'll never forget heading upstairs after rehearsals and seeing the entire family huddled around the TV with the volume blaring, in a desperate attempt to watch their shows. Thanks everyone. Don't think I didn't notice.

Summer of 79: I had hit the "big time" - at least in my world. I managed to hook up with a local band called Sleeper and these guys were the "real deal". They had talent, equipment, experience and most of all GIGS! Here was our first picture taken as a group, in an effort to at least get some kind of picture to the clubs. We obviously didn't have money for a professional photographer - or studio.



These were the days of "tough guy" rock and roll bands. Songs from groups like Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Kansas and Nazareth required us to look the part. Ok, try to look the part. And nothing says tough like a back alley stairwell.





It didn't take long before we were the hottest act in Duluth and the surrounding area. Before I knew it we were playing every weekend and were being featured in the local newspapers. After a near total shutdown of live music in the area clubs as a result of the disco virus, this was a time of resurgence, when people were done with the mirror balls and desperate for the real thing. Every nightclub we played during this time was packed wall-to-wall with people starving for live, loud rock and roll - and we were on the menu.

[Next: Stay tuned for Part 2 where I join a professional show band and head overseas]

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Livingston Fury - Track 5

Only You

Here is the link to download track 5, Only You. This track has been added to the MY MUSIC DOWNLOADS dropdown box in the sidebar as well.

This is my favorite song on the album. With its bright sound, catchy refrain and memorable melody, Only You was a hit just waiting to be discovered.

I still believe this song and others on this album would have stood up to anything else being played on the air during the 80's. However, since commercial success is more about who you know and luck than just pure talent, the odds of being "discovered" are actually very low.

That's why I like posting these tracks every few weeks. It's a fun way to highlight what I did for an entire decade of my life, and hopefully other people will get a chance discover Livingston Fury along the way.
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Retro Read - follow these links to read related posts:

Track 1 - Nature Of The Beast
Track 2 - When I Think About You
Track 3 - Waiting For The "A" Train
Track 4 - Holding Out For Love

Read More......