(Kim Barely:photo)
Along with Dennis, it was DeWayne Schminkey, Russ Swearingen, our sound guy Randy Hartwig and me. Mike Swearingen didn't show up but Dennis did put the word out. Also of note, was the woman that I took out in high school, Penny Johnston would marry her high school sweetheart Karl and had the reception at the same place we had our band reunion. Five years later, Karl and Penny are still together. I did try to reunite with Penny twice, and thought about settling down with her but she knew me better and didn't think that would be a good idea. In essence, Penny was my high school sweetheart but in reality Karl was hers.
But this is not about Penny and Karl. We talked about getting the band back together in some aspect but we all knew that Dennis wasn't about to quit his job as airline pilot just to move back here; he's a transplanted Arizonian and is living the good life. In July of 2015 on the urging of Karen Tipton (no longer a FB friend but was instrumental of encouraging me to play) I returned back to a Thursday Night jam at Wrigleyville and played three songs, not sure which ones they were but my guess was Sweet Home Alabama, Mustang Sally and perhaps Hold On Loosely. The original jammers was T Ray Robertson, Guitar Dave Bonham, Ted Reily and a female keyboard player. Back then I didn't take notes or set lists. I didn't figure I was going to continue to play. The official date of playing was the third Thursday of July 2015 but due to the Corona Virus pandemic, jams and gigs have been placed on hold and I don't know if they will be lifted in time for my five years of playing.
There were highlights in the first month. Russ Swearingen came out to play bass on a couple Wrigleyville dates, including one to which we played Rocky Mountain Way and I sang that song. Dewayne Schminkey also showed up for a few gigs. The only two from Paraphernalia/Tyrus that did share the stage. For the first year, I was pounding on drum sets and trying to be the rowdy rocker from a long time ago. Kim Bean yelled at me for whopping his cymbals and then my brother from another mother Dana "rocky" Smith then played ten times harder than I did.
I was kinda hoping that I could write up a nice retrospective of these past five years and where it has taken me. There were highlights-meeting future Egads singer Belinda James and playing a jazz tinged version of Fever, being part of the Maury Baker jam and singing and playing guitar and having Phil Koening aka Phil Bo King and Craig Erickson helping out with the former Janis Joplin, and Ars Nova drummer Maury playing drums. Helping Julie Gordon and her projects, DOA, the Mad Dogs and her being a special guest star on a couple songs of note. Sitting in with Blue Scratch at Della Viti and the Boy Scout Hippies in the winter of 2019, then Notes From The Underground later on. And then becoming the host drummer for the F B Company Waubeek Jam for the past year. And the countless times of the Stone City Sunday Afternoon jam playing songs and getting applause. And, of course, the two acoustic shows at the Marion Fair On The Square at the start of the Freedom Festival.
I am surprised that I did start building up a band resume. I didn't figure upon playing in any bands since I worked evenings and have no time to be fully committed to bands. With the Boy Scout Hippies, I might have made a steady income, Ron Lafleur, was great at getting gigs with his high octane stage presence and Dakota McWhortor was a super fine guitar player. I found the BSH gigs to be very exhausting and very intense but I always had fun helping Ron out. And he was always welcome to request for me to play at Rumors when the BSH were in town. The Egads, were another fun band and to be honest, this band never played with a set lineup, usually Belinda and myself were the ones that kept it going, Mark Randolph was a decent guitar player but he had a split personality that caused him to leave the band (and Belinda) not once or twice but about four times. Larry Axelman, Rose Slaymaker and Tim Nemec were very important too, but when we did make it to the stage, which was the Vinton benefit for Veterans' we had to employ guest stars to make this go. It seemed like when I signed up to play in a band, to be in a band, we would play one gig and then break up. This goes all the way back to the days of Paraphernalia and the Routers, I was wondering if me being in a band would be a curse. The Wiley Kats, practiced and then imploded on a Rumors Popcorn Jam day.
We lost a good amount of musicians as well. Ron DeWitte, Tommy Patterson, Kyle Oyloe, Don Timmons. Kyle's passing would connect me with Julie for a wild ride, we would go out on the town, watch a movie or play and sometimes played guitar together. The night she sang Walking After Midnight while walking me out to the car makes me smile when I think about that. Best singer in town I still say.
The Townedgers took a back seat to my acoustic adventures and playing in other bands. I did record three albums of note and still working on a new effort but I have come to find out that I had more fun playing drums live with fellow musicians than with the TEs. It used to be that when Tyrus was playing, I wanted to do more original material. Nowadays, it's the opposite. I basically achieved what I wanted to do in the time after the breakup of Tyrus and the 2015 comeback, which started with Forthcoming Trains, an album that gave me confidence to finally shed the stage fright and indifference that has plagued me throughout life.
Time goes by way too fast. This shouldn't be five years now, but I think being on the internet has sped time up to the point that tomorrow is yesterday. When I started documenting the jams and gigs, this was my notebook, a reference guide to see what works and what didn't. I also added the folks who I shared the stage with and thankfully most of who I played with were cool people. Even if Kim Bean might have been a bit direct, he was right about my playing destroying his drumset and cymbals. I was trying too hard to find my groove and it would take the likes of Terry McDowell, Randy Burghdorff, Dan Johnson, Al Hendricks and Tommy Giblin to fix my shortcomings and get me to play the song right and not rush things. I may not agree with what they said but I did adjust my style to play the beat and for their efforts, I played my best drumming in 2019. Nevertheless, these past entrees of five years shows the good and the bad and sometimes the ugly. In the five years back, I have not gotten any one night stands, just like it was back in 1984 I'd be going home alone, and came to accept that since I'm always been the lone wolf.
Alas, the COVID19 pandemic has shut down the bars. I knew somehow this was going to be the big issue of the year, even as I was playing the the final weekend of March jams that we would be sidelined. To be honest, I cannot predict if things will ever return back to normal again. Or if there will be a music scene. I am winding down in my music career and perhaps life. I am playing with Blues Rox, which is Brian and his son Kris Bries and I hold the beat. This was supposed to be our year to make ourselves known. I hope that the notion that any band I play in would be a one and done deal will not be true. Kris Bries is probably the best guitar player I have been associated with, which might be a stretch since he's only 19, but he is so damn good with the blues guitar playing of a Stevie Ray Vaughn that in another time, he'd be on the same stage with a Samantha Fish or Walter Trout. I might be a stepping stone but as long as Blues Rox wants me around to help them, they are my number one priority band. Anybody else will have to take a number.
Looking back, my regret (outside of losing the girl in my PR class at Kirkwood) might have been not sticking with playing drums after the OK Lounge gig in 1984. I just wasn't interested of playing second rate Motley Crue crappy songs or country music, I always been on the garage rock side of things, and original material, tho 60 percent of songs I did write were subpar (no commercial potential) anyway. Three decades later, I return to embrace my inner strengths and not only gotten my groove back on drums but also managed to play and sing my best songs at acoustic jams. If we survive this pandemic, I might be able to pick up where I left off. As I mentioned before, I remain an outsider to the CR music scene. If I can keep my interest up, I might last another five years. Then I'll be 64 and perhaps that might be my last hurrah. But I'll be a musician at heart till the day I die
Too many people to mention but I thank each and every one of them that I shared the stage with. Even the grumpy DJ who had his ride cymbal down to my knee and challenged me to keep it that way he had it, I played the drums like the host had them. And I think I did a damn good job improvising that too.
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