Music and Passion

me_and_bo2I started playing music at a very young age. My step dad played guitar so there was always one or two sitting around the house. I’d say it started at maybe age 5 or 6 for me. I continued to play through high school just for fun, for myself. My brothers and step brother played too. It was kind of a family thing. We lived on a farm with shitty tv reception. There wasn’t much else to do really.

By the time I hit my late teens I was good enough to play the bar circuit and that’s what I did. I played my guitar and sang for people for a long time. I played and sang for every reason a person plays and sings. To share the music. To share the emotion. To share the feeling. To be popular. To get girls. To play for money. To make a living. To play for fun. Every stage of the game was for one of those reasons.

I did pretty good. I hooked up with some great musicians. I made a record. I had a few great bands. I opened for national acts. I opened for Jonny Winter, Marshall tucker, Joan Osbourne, Lonnie Brooks and many more. I played on stage with Bo Diddley. It was a great accomplishment and a great time in my life. I used to love the thrill of the crowd and the excitement of the performance. I used to love everything about it. But then it wore off.

I like to be alone now. I spent so many years in the spotlight that I hate the spotlight now. I hate being recognized. I’ve gone the complete opposite. I moved to the mountains. I don’t keep in contact with anyone. I hate when someone recognizes me. I haven’t been in a bar in over 2 years. I seldom talk about those days and I’m not sure why I’m talking about it now. I had fun back then. More fun than most can imagine. But I’ve been there and done that and now, I just enjoy the memory.

My guitars sit in their cases. Untouched, abandoned and forgotten. I never play them anymore. I don’t want to pour my heart and soul out on a stage anymore. The little piece of myself that I have left I want to keep to myself. It’s weird.

Anyway, I enjoy every memory I have of that time in my life and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ve just sort of moved on. Not ahead or behind. Just….moved on.

The pic is of a gig I did with Bo Didley at Gullifty’s in New Cumberland back in the early 90’s. That’s Bo up front, Ski playing drums and me in the back playing guitar. What a night!

3 Responses to “Music and Passion”

  1. Ya know – I still retell that Mammogram story

  2. was ist diesesMammogram ?

  3. LOL! What my good friend Josh is referring to is…. The last entertainment act I was a part of was a trio with Dave Venet and Trent Peechatka. We did it just for fun, shits and giggles. We charged the bar owners $50 a piece and all we could drink. We were all pretty talented musicians, but we had a lot of fun when we got to drinking on stage. It was about 3/4 music and 1/4 comedy. One of the features we would do every night is that we would give singing mammograms to any of the women in the crowd who wanted one. You would be surprised. It caught on! After about 3 months of providing this service in our show, we would have 15 to 20 women line up to get their singing mammograms when we announced that it was time for the singing mammograms. Essentially, one by one they would walk up to one of us and stick their chest out, or raise their shirt and stick their chest out, and we would squeeze and play with their titties for about 15 seconds or so while we sang them a song. Then they would move on and the next one would come on stage.

    The best one was, one night Dave sang the entire song “Every Woman” by Dave Mason with his head and the mic stand between Annette’s big double D’s under her shirt. Annette had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on a woman the entire time and the crowd gave Dave a standing ovation.

    Thanks for reminding me of that Josh. That’s great.

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