This month’s Vinyl of the Month is Blue Oyster Cult‘s 3rd album, Secret Treaties. There is a good story behind why I chose this album to be Vinyl of the Month. That story is captured on my YouTube channel – Retirement Ain’t Easy. Go check it out or click the play button below on the video. Like and Subscribe,
Thanks for stopping by.
This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.
After all the practicing in a garage for months, Second Chance version 1.0 (Me, Dennis, Steve, Mick and Howard) was ready to play out. We started looking to play at local bars but of course with no experience and no media package or word of mouth, we had to take what we could get. Even if it was for free.
I can’t remember if it was our first gig but in the Fall of 1980 we played the Ellison High School commons area during lunch time. Playing my old High School was a dream come true. The commons area was like a big open area with a stage that abutted the open cafeteria. A really big area with a nice, big stage. Back then, we had cheap instruments and borrowed speakers and amps from the Fort Hood Music Center but we made the best of it.
We were playing in front of people that knew me. My brothers and their friends and our girlfriends were in the audience. Because Ellison had two lunch periods and we were only playing during the first, we had kids skipping their classes to sit and listen to us.
Playing my old high school was a feeling I will never forget. I started to come out of my introvert shell and become a front man. We were a five piece at the time but we would later return and play Ellison High School again as a four piece after Howard moved away with his family.
We got another gig on Fort Hood playing for the Grunts (slang for military personnel) at Fiddlers Green, a recreation center for the military folks. It was a kind of activity hall for adults. We set up our equipment, once again we were borrowing from the Fort Hood Music Center, and that night during our sound check Howard touched his bass and then touched a microphone and started shocking the shit out of himself. Dennis, being the quick thinker, tackled him to get him to release the mic. It was a scary moment and a learning experience – make sure everything is grounded. Howard was shook up and disappeared for a walk outside for 30-45 minutes. He returned and played the gig. It was a small audience but we had fun playing for them. They loved the live music. We were getting better and better at playing live. We were ready for bigger things.
Fiddlers Green ©John Sturgeon Photography
The story continues …
This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.
Spring 1980 rolled around and I was back home in my room that I had left 4 months before to attend the University of Southern Mississippi. I started dating my future wife. I started taking computer science courses at the community college, Central Texas college. My Dad bought me a car so I could get around to classes and such. I had my family around and mom cooking dinner. My brothers and their friends were around to hang out with. I was happy to be home. Best of all, Dennis was back in town after flunking out of the University of Texas. I believe he had a .4 GPA. He was back home in Harker Heights and working at a restaurant called the Steak Out.
We started jamming together again at the Music Center and got together with our buddy Howard who was still attending Killeen High School. I don’t remember how or when, but during the summer of 1980 Dennis met a couple of brothers who had moved to Killeen, Steve and Mike (we called him Mick). Steve and Mick lived with their parents in Killeen and Mick was going to Ellison High School. Steve played guitar and Mick played drums. With Howard on bass and Dennis on guitar that left me to be the lead singer.
Dennis named us SECOND CHANCE. The name story was that Bill L., our drummer from our first band LEAF, used to drive an old black car that we called the Batmobile. It had a habit of not starting or just stalling while being driven. One afternoon the car decided to stall on a train track and sure as luck would have it, it got hit by a train. Bill got out in time and survived. Hey is still with us and lives happily in Central Texas. Dennis figured he got a second chance at life. Dennis remembered that episode and so we called ourselves Second Chance.
The Garage – ©John Sturgeon Photography
Second Chance practiced a lot in Steve and Mick’s family garage, and sometimes Howards’ family garage. The 1980 Texas summer was sometimes brutal but we persevered and sweated out the practice sessions. Because I was just singing, my guitar playing took a back seat at that point and suffered. I focused my efforts on learning the lyrics to songs and mimicking the singers as best I could. Not to brag, but I could sing like Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Geddy Lee of Rush and Bon Scott of AC/DC and throw in some Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin for good measure.
We practiced a lot. We were learning songs that no other bands were doing that we were aware of. Ted Nugent, Judas Priest, Montrose, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. We got to be pretty damn good. By the Fall of 1980, we were ready to play our first gig. We played my alma mater, the Ellison High School commons area during lunch time.
The story continues….
This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.
Before anything more happened with the LEAF we all graduated from high school and off we went to college. I went to Mississippi, Dennis went to the University of Texas in Austin Texas and Bill took off for West Texas and Texas Tech. Howard was still in high school and drummer Bill found other opportunities, probably as a guitarist since that was his main instrument. That was the end of LEAF.
While at the University of Southern Mississippi, I completely stopped playing guitar. I left all my music making equipment in Texas and immersed myself into school and enjoying college life as a freshman. Thanks to two summers working at a Mo Ranch, a Texas Hill Country Presbyterian resort, I initially had no concerns being away from home. I never felt homesick. That was until I came home for one week during November for Thanksgiving and I met this red haired girl who lived across the cul-de-sac. For that story I made a video for my kids to tell them how I met their mother. Go watch this to understand what happened there.
During that week of Thanksgiving, I also got back in touch with Dennis and Howard. Dennis was home for Thanksgiving as well and was not doing very well in his college studies. He was failing. It seems being away from the strict hand of his parents, he became undisciplined and unfocused. He didn’t really want to go to college, he wanted music. Like all of us kids with military parents, he went off to college because it was expected of us. Like it or not. You were preached to choose a major, go to college, graduate nd get a job and your own life. Dennis basically quit going to classes.
Dennis was home for the holidays and was not planning on going back to the University of Texas. So we talked about getting a band together. Howard was in his senior year of high school and had no issues getting the band back together. So, with plans for a band and the introduction to the red haired girl across the cul-de-sac, that was all it took to make me not want to return to school. I grudgingly returned to Mississippi to finish out the semester but I begged my parents to let me come home and take classes at a local community college. They agreed and I couldn’t wait to take my semester finals and pack up and come home.
I said goodbye to my dorm roommate, packed my sparse belongings in boxes and headed home to Texas. My Dad came and got me. I was now home and enrolled in a local college with plans for a new band in the works. I started dating that red haired girl who would, 5 years later, become my wife. But that is another story altogether. Go watch the video.
Dennis and I picked up where we left off with learning songs on the guitar we and started planning our next band. The story continues next week.
This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.
I learned many songs from Dennis but the first two songs that LEAF actually played publicly as a band were Strutter by KISS and Jumpin’ Jack Flash by the Rolling Stones. We spent hours practicing these songs in a sound proof music booth at the Music Center on Fort Hood (TX). We didn’t have enough songs for a full 2 hour set at a local bar, so we couldn’t get any gigs. Let’s be honest, at this point, we were not very good.
Finally, an opportunity presented itself to play our hard learned songs for people other than girlfriends. A Battle of the Bands was held at our weekend hang out, the Music Center. We were pumped. There were only three bands in the competition. We had never seen these bands practicing at the Music Center, so we felt pretty good about our chances of winning.
We drew the short straw and played first. We boldly set up our borrowed beat up Music Center amps and drum set. We plugged in our no-name pawn shop guitars and bass, and we played our hearts out. I don’t recall us making any mistakes. From where I was standing, at the right side of the stage, I thought we sounded really good. We hit our marks as practiced and Bill sang the best I’d ever heard. We completed playing our two songs and looked out to the audience for appreciation. There was a smattering of applause from our girlfriends. The audience consisted of our girlfriends, the other two bands, and their girlfriends. We left the stage on a high, congratulating each other on our accomplishment.
That high lasted about 20 minutes. That’s how long it took the next band to set up their own, not borrowed, amps, their very expensive Gibson Les Paul guitars and their own shiny drum set and start playing. They were good. They were better than good. They could play their instruments on a whole higher level and they were playing songs that made our simple songs sound like nursery rhymes.
I don’t remember the band’s name, but I would later learn the name of the guitarist who was playing a red sunburst Gibson Les Paul. A real Gibson Les Paul. His name was Doug Soto and he was the nicest person you could ever meet and an extremely talented guitarist. We were in awe of their perfect rendition of Blue Oyster Cult‘s Dominance and Submission. You could’ve closed your eyes and swear you were listening to the BOC album Secret Treaties. I don’t remember their second song but I do remember sitting, as a band, in the auditorium seats and slowly slinking down in our seats. There was an unspoken feeling of crushing defeat at that point. Perhaps second place would be just fine for our first outing.
There were only three bands competing in the Battle of the Bands. Out of the three, only two would get to play to a larger audience of soldiers on, I believe, a July 4th celebration. Can you guess which band, out of the three, didn’t make the cut? Yep, LEAF did not make the cut. It was a blow to our ego but also a wake up call that we needed to commit more time and effort to the band and practice. The two bands we faced in that Battle of the Bands were, what I would call, local-professionals. They were playing at local bars on a regular basis. We needed to get to that level.
High School graduation came and LEAF broke up as we all headed off to college in different directions.
The story continues in my next posting.
Dennis, geometry, music and guitar
My First Band – LEAF
Wind and Wuthering by Genesis was featured 4 years ago here but I had since rediscussed this album for my YouTube channel. Go check it out. Subscribe for more stuff.
This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.
You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best, the Hottest Band in Killeen – LEAF!
Dennis (deceased) and I formed our first band while still in high school during our senior year, if I remember correctly. It was formed with my other high school best friend, Bill O. (deceased), a friend from our church youth group, Howard and, to round things out, a guitarist named Bill L.
It didn’t matter that Bill O. had never sung before, at all. It didn’t matter that Howard had never picked up a bass, much less a guitar. It didn’t matter that Bill L. had only occasionally played the drums. We were all virgins when it came to making music as a band. We were going to take on the local music scene and kick ass. But first, we needed a band name, and we needed to be able to play songs in a coherent manner.
We called ourselves LEAF. Capital letters. I don’t remember who came up with the name but I do remember us hanging around outside the Music Center on Fort Hood Texas throwing names out. We all liked KISS and so we wanted a short, simple name like that. So, we became LEAF that afternoon. It was an obvious reference to Marijuana which most of us had partaken. Black Sabbath had a song called Sweet Leaf and we knew what they were singing about so we hoped people got the meaning.
As mentioned before, LEAF consisted of Dennis and I on guitars. We were still learning our instruments. Howard, who was also new to his instrument, was on bass. On drums was guitarist Bill L. who we had met and befriended at the Music Center. Bill L. was a guitar player, but since there always seemed to be hundreds of guitar players at the Music Center, he started playing drums just so he could sit in and jam with people. He could keep a fairly simple beat, so all our songs we learned were pretty basic stuff. During this time, neither Dennis nor I thought of ourselves as singers, so we got my high school best friend, Bill O., to sing with us. He had never sang in a band or really in front of anyone. We should’ve called ourselves The Virgins. We certainly were clueless on amps and sound systems and making music as a band. It was an adventure I cherish and will never forget.
We would meet at the Music Center because none of us owned amps, Howard didn’t own a bass at the time and Bill L. did not own drums of any kind. Of course none of us owned a sound system or microphones. We would meet every weekend and rent equipment that was set up in a sound proof room. The equipment was beat up and abused but still worked to our basic needs the time. We would practice all day. We would go in the morning when the center first opened, rent a room and practice for couple of hours, then take a break and go eat lunch together. We were our own little gang. We felt invincible. We would return to the Music Center and get back in our soundproof room and practice the rest of the afternoon. Things got even more real when we started having girlfriends come hang out and listen to us. wow, we had groupies. It was a wonderful time of my life.
We started learning songs. Two songs exactly. They were KISS’s Strutter and the Rolling Stones Jumping’ Jack Flash. I don’t remember learning any other songs with LEAF. Of course we could jam on other songs and I recall us doing extended jams on the simple chords of Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4. I think everyone at the Music Center knew that jam. It would result in a never ending jam of various guitarist playing lead over those simple three chords. No one ever sang during these jams and we certainly didn’t have horns to accompany us.
LEAF diligently learned our two songs. Bill O. learned the words, Howard did his best to learn the bass and Bill L. kept a simple beat, nothing fancy. Dennis taught me the chords for the songs which were so similar that it was a not difficult to master. Dennis went on to learn the leads as best he could. From those two songs a bond was formed between Dennis and I. Our future roles were solidified. I was always a rhythm guitarist to Dennis’ lead guitar. I was completely happy with that and I miss that. Later, we would both take on singing chores and more songs, but that comes later.
It was time for LEAF to play in front of people. The story continues next week.
This is the continuation of a series of posts – select Category LIFE AS A BAND MEMBER to read in sequence.
As of the post, it has been four years and seven months since they found Dennis’ body sitting on his couch in the living room of his Sachse Texas home. Robbie, his little brother, found Dennis that Wednesday morning when he dropped by to check up on him. At the time, I was sitting in a conference room at work in the middle of a meeting when I received a text from a mutual friend, Steve, on my phone. I was shocked. I had to leave the meeting and sequester myself in my office so I could digest what the text said. I cried. I called Steve back and he verbally confirmed that Dennis, my friend since tenth grade, was dead.
My life with Dennis was defined by our love for the same music, guitars, and a very similar sense of humor. We worked hard to make each other laugh.
I met Dennis in the Fall of 1997, my eleventh grade year of high school. We met during a Geometry class at Killeen High School (KHS) in Killeen Texas. We were both sitting in the back of the class. We were both Army brats. While my family lived on the army base, Fort Hood, his family lived in Killeen. We got to talking and soon realized that we both loved the same rock bands and from that point on we were best buddies. It helped a lot that we had a Geometry teacher that would allow us to decorate the classroom with pictures of our favorite guitarist from our favorite rock bands. Pictures torn out of the latest rock magazines. Pictures of Alex Lifeson and Angus Young were prominently displayed above the chalk board.
The biggest commonality that bound Dennis and I for life was the guitar. He had taken up guitar and was learning how to play where as, I had taken guitar lessons one summer after sixth grade and knew some chords and how to tune a guitar. It had been many years since I had played but Dennis’ enthusiasm inspired me to pick up my guitar and seriously learn how to play again.
During that whole spring semester we would talk about music, guitars and sometimes Geometry. Dennis would come to class with new guitar knowledge to impart to me. Using his arm as a guitar fretboard, he would show me how to play the latest barre chords he had learned. I had never learned such chords in my beginning guitar lessons. All I knew was basic open strumming chords used by folk guitarist. Barre chords were rock. Barre chords were an epiphany. It was like learning the secrets of the universe. The clouds parted and a new understanding of songs was gained. Barre chords were what all our favorite bands used to play their songs.
Our Geometry classmates looked at us with amusement as we would grab our right arms with our left hands and play out the sequence of chords from a favorite song as we pretended to play the guitar. I learned quite a lot of songs this way from Dennis. Before long, I realized I needed an electric guitar, my acoustic guitar was not going to cut it. So, with Dennis in tow, we visited a pawn shop in Killeen and I bought a cheap, very cheap, electric guitar. From that point on it was destiny that we start a band. How could we not. We graduated from the back of a classroom jamming on our fretboard arms to actually playing our instruments through rented amplifiers with other people at a place called the music center on Fort Hood.
This story continues next week.
This week’s posting is very personal and is a video I made for my family. Enjoy this history lesson of our relationship.
I am in retirement pre-launch. I am on the launch pad ready to take off.
First let me give you my definition of Official Retirement. Retirement is
As of this blog posting I would consider myself in pre-retirement. I no longer have income from a job but I am not receiving monies from social security or a retirement savings account. I am on the launch pad though, ready for take off. The countdown has started:
FIVE> I’ve been getting a pension for years now. It’s a really nice chunk of money.
FOUR> I’ve set up my annuity payment and I received my first payment January 23rd. It’s not much but it will cover a couple of bills.
THREE> I’ve set up Social Security payments finally. After playing phone tag with my case worker, we finally connected, cleared up the questions and I have now gotten the official letter saying approved. My first payment will be on March 14 and it’s a pretty decent payout.
TWO> I’ve set up medical, dental and vision insurance and have already paid two months of premiums.
Combine the annuity, pension and SSA, I’ve got a nice little base nest before pulling from my retirement accounts.
ONE> I have set up quarterly payments from my Individual Retirement Account (IRA). That first withdrawal is March 1st. Based on my savings withdrawal needs, I believe I can pull from that IRA for 5 years before having to touch my 401K (the big money pool) for living expenses. Not to mention the wife has her IRA.
BLASTOFF! Set for March 1st.
As both me and my wife get on Medicare, reducing health insurance costs, our expenses will continue to go down each year. And she will start receiving social security payments next year which will add a nice extra chunk of money. With the diminishing expenses and, hopefully, the stock market continuing to grow, my 401K should sustain us until we pass from this earth.
At this point we have been living on residual paychecks from my ex-company and part of our existing savings. January and February have been on those two pools of money and a couple of annuity and pension payments but it’s time. It’s time to Blastoff into Retirement and see how my financial plan works.
Check out my YouTube Channel video where I discuss this further.
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