As I write this blog in October of 2022, SW Florida was just recently hit with basically, a category 5 hurricane wiping out most of Ft Meyers, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorta in its path. These are all cities where I played music last Winter with our drummer and friend, Marc Keefer. We are set to return this coming January to play again but we wait in anticipation to hear when reconstruction and reopening will occur. We pray for everyone that was in its path. In the mean time, I'd like to rewind the memory tapes back to February of 1976 when I met a lifelong friend on an airplane heading to Florida for a Limestone Band Trip. We even started a rock band!!! What a trip it was!!!!
This blog could be rated R because of the drug usage.... but it was the 1970's As I've stated in previous blogs, I'm not going to sugar coat things that happened in my life, but I always considered myself a good kid who respected his parents and other adults. I never got in trouble with the law but like many of us in the day, I did use recreational drugs in the mid 70's. The term, recreational drugs seemed to fit me to a T because I never sold them nor did I have enough money to buy large quantities of weed. Heck, there was even a phone number that people could call called DRUG LINE where a recorded message would inform the listener of what drug was in your city and even which neighborhood. It think it was supposed to act as a warning, but I always saw it as an advertisement as to what was around. The next thing was to call someone who was a little more willing to take risks and buy some of said "candy". These kids were mostly middle to upper class form good homes and comfortable environments like basement bedrooms.... not sleezy allys or anything.
Looking back, I'm not proud..... but I turned out ok.
By February 1976, I had spent two years in Marching Band and had paid my dues to play guitar in the Limestone Jazz Band when the slot became available. Doug Nevitt, who was an amazing guitar player, had graduated so I auditioned and got the part. I think I was able to quit Marching Band after the 1975 football season and I concentrated on Jazz Band for the next two years. It was during this period of time that we heard about the opportunity for Limestone to participate in a parade at DISNEY WORLD in Orlando Florida!!!! A band trip was organized. The whole Band was asked to participate, even the Jazz Band who would not be marching in the parade. The Jazz Band would play a concert in the hotel we were staying!!!!
This meant, packing a large drum set, guitars and amplifiers as well as all the other horns and percussion. Back in the day, my amplifier was a 50 watt Marshall head with a speaker cabinet that held 8 10 inch speakers and was the size of a CASKET!!!! What an operation!!!!
As the trip got closer, we began to learn of our hotel accommodations and who we'd be rooming with. I knew one of the guys who was a year older that me and played sax in the Jazz Band but I didn't know the other guy. I heard that he played drums in Marching Band. The day came to board the plane and say goodbye to our parents and girlfriends/boyfriends. Soon we were air-born!!!! Eric and I sat in the far back and felt the excitement flowing through our veins. It was the first time I'd ever flown so I was extra pumped. To add to the excitement, I had managed to smuggle on board some Recreational powders. They were small amount's wrapped in tin foil but enough for me to put a nice glow on Disney World when we finally arrived. Imagine trying that today!!!!
Eric and I began to walk the cabin when we were notified it was safe to do so and eventually found a dude sitting by himself in a window seat. He was dressed in a tweed suit and had very long hair. He seemed a bit annoyed to even being on this trip but lighted up when we introduced ourselves and explained that we were all going to be sharing a hotel room!!!! Before long, we all hit it off as we talked about music and our favorite bands. Things really got interesting when I spilled the beans about my contraband. It seemed that this dude had thought ahead as well!!!! Let's just say that The Doobie Brothers had nothing on us!!!! And with that....we were stocked, locked and ready to get loaded.
I'll never forget the feeling of getting off that airplane and feeling the warm humid climate of Florida!!! We had only a few hours before, been in sub zero weather and now I was looking up at palm trees silhouetted by the moon. It's a feeling that I still enjoy each time I find myself in the Sunshine State. After a short bus ride, we arrived at our hotel and soon we were within the safe walls of our hotel room!!!! That meant only one thing...first things first....we needed a smoke!!!! We soon realized that no one had the proper paraphernalia so creativity soon became the "BUZZ" word.
I was always amazed at the ingenuity of pot smokers when it came to finding ways to smoke it. A toilet paper roll was quickly liberated from its two ply sheets and and piece of Juicy Fruit gum was stripped of its aluminum foil. Before long, the three of us were laughing and having ball. We still had days ahead of us. I pulled out my electric guitar and began playing an unamplified version of Led Zep's Heartbreaker when we decided that we should start a band when we got back. We had a drummer and a guitar player and Eric said he'd buy a bass guitar and fill that role. We later found out that he was a natural musician and could play anything!!!!
After our pact was made to start a rock band, I must have had the munchies so I pulled a Snickers Bar from my suitcase and took a big celebratory bite!!!!! Unfortunately, before I could get that bite chewed properly and swallowed, one of the guys cracked some joke and I began to laugh hysterically..... which lodged the Snickers bar into my throat!!!!! At first, I thought I'd get it down but it was becoming apparent that I was NOT going to
swallow this bad boy and I was beginning to CHOKE TO DEATH!!!!
At first, the guys were oblivious to me as I began to point to my throat with that BUG EYED look you get when you're ABOUT TO DIE!!!!! A minute passed, and they eventually noticing that I WAS DYING!!!! to which they both began to laugh hysterically!!!!!! Somehow, I relaxed enough to unlodge the candy bar from my windpipe and began screaming at those two butt holes that they were gonna let me die!!!! Of coarse that made ALL THREE OF US begin to laugh even more!!!!!
We had over came our first test of adversity and it was only up from here!!!! The bond was created and the band was ready to rock. Plus, we had the rest of the week to enjoy Florida.
What trouble could we get into?
Tune in for part two.
Comments