Posted: Apr 27, 08 9:42pm

Hi y'all,

I play guitar, drums, and harmonica.

I played the drums in many working bands in the 70s, and 20 years later, I just wanted to play for fun...no commitments, no gigs, just jamming with some friends of mine a couple times a month.

I was in the same garage band for about 7 years. As a band, we went nowhere, but we shared some good times.

The band consisted of myself (drummer), Glen (lead guitar or bass),

Danny (lead guitar, rhythm guitar), and Danny's brother Doug (part time drummer).

This was a mostly classic rock band.

What follows is WHY we went nowhere.

Danny was the leader of the band. He also owned a lot of equipment.

Danny was a very good guitarist, but he insisted on singing...and he always sang flat.

Glen was a heavy drinker, and though he was an excellant bass player, he refused to play bass because he felt it was demeaning.

Problem was, when he played lead guitar, he couldn't tell one key from another, so he played out of key half the time.

Doug was our part time drummer. Doug was as good as I was on the drums, but he only wanted to play hard rock, and he had the attention span of an 8 year old. If we were playing something he didn't like or we took a break and just talked for awhile, he would just walk out and not even say goodbye.

But when he WAS there, I let him have his turn on the drums and I just picked up the bass, because I could play enough bass to get by.

Then we come to your's truly. Believe me, I had my issues too.

The main problem with me was that, at the time, I smoked pot.

And I loved playing drums while high. The downside was that it threw my timing off.

I remember Danny telling me, "Man, when you are straight, you are sharp as a knife on the drums. But when you are stoned, you are either a half beat behind or a half beat too fast."

I, of course, didn't believe him. That is to say, I didn't believe it was the pot that was doing it, because I didn't want to believe it.

I also didn't want to commit the time it would take for us to become a working band.

Long after the band broke up (because Danny moved to another state), and long after I quit smoking pot, I found a recording of some of our jam sessions.

By golly he was right. I could tell which songs I did when I was stoned and which ones I did when I was straight.

In the 12 years since the band broke up, Danny is living in another state and I have lost touch with him.

Glen is probably playing in another band.

I sold the drums to Doug, who sold them to his son.

I got married, am drug free, and live in a small town in Maryland.

But I still have that one cassette tape of some of our jam sessions......

Something I still cherish.