Misadventures In Rock In Roll Or A Year Back Into The CR Music Scene

I can safely say it's been officially a year since I return back into the C.R. Music scene.  I guess I can say that at this stage of life, I have come to appreciated it more than I did when Paraphernalia/Tyrus was around.   I also have  a different mindset, back in 1983 we had aspirations to make it big in the music world, only to have endless practices and very few gigs and when we finally get that gig of note, we broke up.

Throughout the years, I went into the working world, on occasion to drum up a new album under The Route 66 or Townedgers name just to show the world that I was still around.  I only got lucky when Diggy Kat started his net radio station and managed to keep The TEs alive by playing selected songs. Even in 30 years exile, nobody knew that I played drums or compose depressing songs about love and loss.  At times, I found myself in bands that either Mike Swearingen or Russ formed and they managed to convince me to get off the couch and play.

Except for The Routers, the band that Greg Nutter drafted me in and I/O the 2009 reunion of me and Russ, I have stayed away from gig playing.  Simply of the fact that I worked evenings and wasn't looking for any bands.  Looking back, had I been on days I might have drawn up a cred of playing.  But then again, I didn't know anybody and I tend to shy away from people and places that I'm familiar with.   The only time I showed at a jam, I hid behind most of the people and then went home soon afterwards.

Last year, a couple things happened.  One was the Tyrus/Paraphernalia reunion at a sports bar, on the  same day my high school sweetheart married her high school sweetheart. Another was jamming with Rod Albaugh after work, we did a few off the wall songs and it put a thought into my head about maybe participating in a weekend jam.   And then I got invited to a uptown jam session and I managed to overcome my stage fright and not knowing anybody to do a couple of songs.  A very shaky start but the people at hand were very supportive.  And I returned back to that bar on nights I didn't have to work and slowly but surely I was trying to shake off the rust from not playing alongside people.  Eventually I managed to be lucky enough to jam with some of the finest folks around, and even played drums behind some of the most talented drummers as they took their turn at singing in front of people and not behind the drum kit.   How I managed to play the song behind Tiffany Z remains one of the most cherished moments of my comeback.

While there have been great moments, there are not so memorable moments:  The Wiley Kats.  Ernest The Soul Man, which we tore up the floor one week and then the next he quit talking to me when I explain the reasons why I couldn't join up the band due to my work commitments,  I never said no, I said I'd jam with him at future jams.  It shouldn't come down to not talking if you just want to have fun and do music on the weekends.  In the long run, Rick Nelson was right, you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself.

Being 30 years removed from the music scene, I found myself totality outdated.  I have seen bands playing classic rock along the likes of Blink 182, Pearl Jam and Eve 6.  I've seen country bands play more Bon Jovi than Buck Owens, and I have seen bands continue to play the same old bar standards of long ago and far away, the likes of Skynyrd or Folsom Prison Blues which give me the blues to play.  I went to see my jamming buddies and their bands to get a feel of what songs they play and if and when there would be a chance for me to join them on stage if need be.  Or perhaps give them my phone number if in case their drummer went MIA or needed a night off.  And then go home and practice on the drums just to keep in shape with the time keeping.  Just in case.  But the one song I do notice most bands play is What's Up by 4 Non Blondes.  What is the secret to that song that people love about?  I will have to ask somebody from the Acousta Kitties or Tiffany herself about that one.

In some ways I still feel like I'm on the outside looking in, but not as the total stranger that came in from the cold when I gathered up the courage to head to Wrigleyville on the first Thursday night jam.
I have surrounded myself with some great players and managed to hang around them for a while and talk music.  It's a beautiful feeling to be on stage with the likes of a Tommy Bruner, a Kenneth John Webb, a  Jess Toomsen,  or Julie Gordon, or to help out fellow drummers like Terry McDowell, a Mike Lint or Tiffany Z and Mike Serbousek.   It's a special feeling to have old bandmates like DeWayne Schminkey or Russ Swearingen show up for a song or two, and I really wish that would happen more often. Or even the day Dennis Lancaster flies from Phoenix with guitar at hand to play a popcorn jam.  To which my bucket list would be completed.  Knowing what I know now, it's a shame that Dennis and I couldn't keep the old band going, looking back we both should have taken on jam sessions and improving our craft.  I can't say we would be rock and roll stars but at least we'd be better known on the local music scene.

It's funny how fast a year can go by.  And it's been a long strange but somehow a fun trip. And I may as well sign up for another year of misadventures and rock and roll from a middle aged rocker who never did grow up.

Another strange adventure begins.