Music Career Talk Sixteen

I received so many positive comments about my last blog, I will take the next few weeks to finish this autobiographical talk. I ended last weeks blog with my band "The Wishful Thinkers" playing throughout New York. That band evolved into "The Backyard Blues" I wonder, would I ever be in a band that doesn't have the word "The" in it?
Well at this point we were tight to a fault. Well rehearsed and playing out on a regular basis. The road to my future has now been paved, even if I didn't know it at that time. Our lead singer got a very disturbing notice from the government, he got drafted. This seemed to be the beginning of the end. The two guitar players were college bound, the drummer on his way to heavy drugs, and I wondered, what next? Well that band was finished, that dream gone, and my band mates all in different directions. So I dropped the bass, picked up guitar, and put myself out there as a young musician looking for a musical home. One of the first bands I joined was a "Cream" cover band. All the guys were older then me and very seasoned players. I liked that because sometimes it's good to be the weakest player, that's how you learn. Of course I lived in a different part of the city so lugging my gear around in a cab or subway was a major pain. That lasted just so long, and I found my self in another band from Queens N.Y. We had a Chinese bass player, Puerto Rican drummer, female Irish singer and me with too many parts to mention. Lots of fun and good food at the bass player's house (who's parents spoke no English, but not what I was looking for. I thought I would try another whole direction doing club dates. I ran ads and spoke to friends about going out for one nighters just for the money and experience. I found the gigs, but missed the love of the adventure and friendships. Two years had passed since my band had scattered into the who knows where, when one day a got a call from my old singer fresh out of the army and ready to start the process again. Thank GOD my nomad musician days were over!! We met after two years apart, got a slice (New York lingo for pizza) and discussed plans to form a band, write the best music and go conquer the world. First on the list was to write music and pick hard rock and blues songs so we could play originals as well as standards. Next find players, we did. With luck on our side we found an amazing bass player, 6 years older then me, I was 19 or 20 at the time. He was very experienced, a great song writer, and chops forever. Along with him came a drummer, still a little older then all of us. We called him uncle Ernie, short and round, a very good player but didn't fit the image. We found an agent in New York, a real slime bucket who did come up with gigs. One day we got a call to open up for Buddy Miles (former Jimi Hendrix drummer), did we want the gig (300 miles away)? hell ya!! So here's the bad news, Uncle Ernie couldn't make it, "say what"?? Our bass player had been playing with another drummer on side gigs. This guy could play his ass off, had been Neil Diamonds musical director and drummer. My singer and I had seen him perform in a Central Park concert a few months before. He ended up replacing Ernie. We called him "The Bat" because if there was a paying gig he would be there like a bat out of hell!! We became "The Power House" a named I borrowed from an old English band. "The Power House" opened for a number of well known bands including; Paul Butterfield Blues Band, James Cotton Blues Band, Seals & Crofts, The Beach Boys etc. This went on for a few years, maybe some of the best playing years of my life. We were really good, there was no weak link!! The gigs started to dry up as the punk scene came in. The bass player and "The Bat" drifted into other things as they had wifes and lives, we didn't. One day while looking through "Billboard" magazine we noticed an article that mentioned the city of Toronto Ont. having the most rock venues surrounding a major city in North America. Guess what happened next. This was a trip in every sense of the word, fill ya in next Sunday. I would like to dedicate this blog to my friend Jani Lane who passed away a few days a go, enough said.