|
|
Me, 17 years old, about the time of my high school
graduation. Nice sunglasses. I had just quit my band and was looking forward to college. My high school music career consisted of playing alto sax in the high school band and playing guitar and bass for 2-3 years in a Beatles-era "professional" rock band. |
My Band
I had a band in my last three years of high school. I started as a guitar player who played tenor sax a little. As the band got better and started to play for pay I gravitated to electric bass, a better instrument for a shyer player. The band was pretty good and we won both "battle of the bands" competitions we were in. We had a manager who secured gigs at country club dances, many school dances, rec hall dances, and clubs too. Our most regular club gigs were at NCO clubs at the military bases in our area and some civilian nightspots. We even had "go-go" dancers at some of these smoke-filled alcohol-serving clubs. I was never comfortable performing and, at the time, did not care to develop my skills as a musician. While I enjoyed being in the band in some ways it was a relief to me when I quit.
|
|
Bill, Gary, Pat (Jim), and me (polka-dots) |
Other
I had the good fortune to see some of the famous groups and performers of the 1960's era. The highlights of these are listed here. In 1966 I saw the Beatles at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles. In the 1970's I went to two Beach Boys' concerts in which all five of the original group members were performing. I also went to a Joan Baez concert soon after she performed at Woodstock. Some of the others were Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul and Mary), The Cyrkle, Bobby Hebb, The Ronettes, etc. I have seen an assortment of other performers/groups, right now the one that comes to mind is The Village People, there were others.
