Plugging In (excerpt from chapter 13)

So many great bands transitioned with different names, personnel changes and experiences that are part of their legacy. The history of the Beatles includes former band names The Quarrymen and Silver Beatles. Stu Sutcliffe, Pete Best, Brian Epstein, Yoko Ono and Linda MCartney are all tied to the lives and music of the Fab Four. Would my first rock band,called Jug, go through as many ups and downs on the road to fame and fortune? I envisioned these things, even compiling lists of potential songs and other band names for future use. It was all part of the rock and roll fantasy.

Jug was looking to create our own sound and we started messing around with the acoustic/electric songs of CSN&Y, The Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band and others, plus a couple of originals. In a few months, Jug was sounding pretty decent and attracted the interest of a nerdy-looking guy. He had anachronistic short hair, wore thick eyeglasses and wanted to be our "manager." He offered a sound system and his very large basement for practices, a supposedly soundproofed place with egg cartons plastered on the walls. This was all pretty crazy but we agreed, moving our equipment to his house and deciding to identify all the songs that we would play when we finally secured a real gig. And, in the neighborhood, there were girls -- mostly young teenyboppers who spotted our long-haired band of oil and steelworkers as we carried our guitars into the house regularly.

The problem with being in a rock n' roll band is that five players and a manager shared different opinions about choosing the music we played or were capable of playing. It was beneath us to do an old pop favorite like "Hang On Sloopy," but impossible to replicate anything out of the Frank Zappa catalog. We would argue among ourselves, refereed by our manager, then shake hands and play on. We eventually focused on learning a few songs really well, but most sessions just ended up in long, improvisational jam sessions. It was exciting and exhausting, but somehow we all knew it wouldn't last long.