While growing up in Mardell Manor, our next door neighbors had three children. The middle kid was the exact age as me and even had the same name. Darin moved to Bartonville during the Summer of 1966, we quickly became best friends and spent almost every day together for many years. One of our many pastimes was to build model airplanes in his parent's basement. The Monkees were THE big group for us at the time and Darin had all their albums. He would alternate between The Monkees first record and More Of The Monkees. Then Headquarters, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones and on occasion, The Early Beatles and Something New while we constructed magnificent vintage airplanes built from scratch with patience and glue.
I heard all the current music from Darin, mostly because he had a record player and seemed to have an endless stream of lps and 45's coming into his home regularly. Along with the Monkees albums, I remember hearing a variety of 45's played in rotation. Honky Tonk Women - Rolling Stones, Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye - Steam, Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding, Lonely Days - The Bee Gees, WAR -Edwin Star, Spinning Wheel - BS&Tears. This would have been around 1969 and we we about ten years old. It was during this summer that I remember Darin's Mom pulling their wood paneled station wagon into the driveway, my friend grinning from the far back window, ( no seat belts then ) victoriously holding a silver snare drum up for me to see. "Wow' I thought....A real instrument! How cool is that!!!!
Now about the same time, my Mom had asked me if I'd like to take guitar lessons. (keeping up with the Jones ) My parents and our neighbors were friends by now and my Aunt and Uncle were playing Country music in local VFWs and bars, so I was giving the opportunity to learn to play the guitar. To be honest, I didn't really take to it. I hated the practicing and the sheet music sucked. I was WAY more interested in playing baseball. My neighbor, Darin on the other hand, was taking to his snare drum like a fish to water. He was learning to read and was quite accomplished very early on. We continued to play sports together or ride bikes but more and more often, he would ask... YOU WANNA PLAY INSTRUMENTS???? Not, "let's Jam" or anything hip like that. Just..."do ya wanna play instruments"? Since I was not very good, I'd RELUCTANTLY go home and bring my electric Harmony hollow body guitar and Sears Sivertone amplifier over to try and play music. I knew nothing but BYE BYE LOVE on sheet music!
So how did we make music together during the months of 1969 and into 1970? It was pretty crude, but we would sit in Darin's basement and play to 45 rpm records one at a time. Darin would drop the needle on Honky Tonk Woman and begin to tap out the cowbell intro. I would try my best to find the melody on a single string of my Harmony electric. Tuning was the biggest challenge for a while. This went on for months and Darin continued to get better, but my heart was just not into it.....YET! This is where the Beatles entered my life. After watching a rerun of the Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium Concert on TV in early 1971, I was bitten by the MUSIC BUG!!!
Now I had a reason to play the guitar!!!! GIRLS!!!!!! I saw those GIRLS on TV and I was totally turned on. I began playing the guitar with a new found urgency. But, the lesson's were not cutting it. I finally asked for a Beatles song book and learned to play chords from those books. Soon, I was learning complete songs. My first song was MONEY then LONG TALL SALLY from the BEATLES SECOND ALBUM. Next, I learned, Watching Scotty Grow by Bobby Goldsboro and soon after JOY TO THE WORLD by Three Dog Night. My Dad had heard me singing in my bedroom ( soon to become THE ORANGE ROOM ) and one day after work, brought home a cheap Realistic Microphone from Radio Shack... but not a microphone stand. For months I used my folded music stand as a mic stand. It was with this new mic and folded music stand configuration that I walked over and debuted my new found tenor singing voice to Darin and his mother. We played Joy To The World, Money, Long Tall Sally, YO YO by the Osmond's and WATCHING SCOTTY GROW. It was a magical experience. Darin by this time had acquired a small KIT of drums and I was singing and playing guitar TOGETHER for the first time. AMAZING.
I crossed the next portal a few months later and finally learned a few Barre chords, backbreakers and double stops thanks to the records, Smoke On The Water and Johnny Be Good. Darin continued to progress as did I.... only at a slower pace. Before too long we were playing during the breaks of my Aunt and Uncle's band, The PEACOCK FAMILY. We'd do 15 or 20 minute sets with my cousin Allen playing guitar with us. Allen was an amazing guitar player even at a young age. For some time, this was our music scene. We'd play rock n roll music during the breaks of the country band and all the kids who didn't like the old country songs would dance and go wild to our short sets. We played Joy To The World, Money, Long Tall Sally, Spaceman by Harry Nilsson, Johnny Be Good, Smoke On The Water, It Don't Come Easy by Ringo Starr, Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis, Sweet Little 16 by Chuck Berry, Never Been To Spain by Three Dog Night, Eight Days A Week by the Beatles and a few more. We loved playing with Allen but he wasn't always available since he was pretty busy with his Mom and Dad's band.
It was at the Norwood Tap in Norwood, where we really cut our teeth as 12 and 13 year olds. I saw my first bar fight there, learned to like Pizza, played my first New Years Eve Party and also lusted after my first dancing girl. We called her the Leach Woman because...to be honest, we were a bit scared of her! She had jet black hair with a white streak in it and a body that was long, tall and busty....and DAMN...SHE COULD DANCE AND MOVE!!!! She was about our age and would always come to the Tap when the family band played but.... only came ALIVE when the three of us would play loud rock and roll!!!! She teased us and she enjoyed it. She used to make us crazy and we'd always turn up the heat.
Once it a while, Allen would play with us when the country band was free. Our first gig totally on our own was the Pilot's Club in Sept of 1972..... and we needed a name. Between Darin and I, we came up with LIBERTY SUNSHINE!!!! Darin drew the obligatory logo on his bass drum and we were off. Three 45 minute sets playing to our parents and all their friends in a wood paneled saloon that smelled of stale beer and pizza. Even my Grandma and Grandpa came sitting at the far end of the bar ( which placed them the furthest away from our loud music ) It was such a fun night. My Mom bought matching shirts for Darin and I and the family band played during OUR breaks. I remember we made $5.00 a piece which seemed pretty chintzy even then, but I didn't care. I was on my way!!!! After packing up our gear, I remember Dad dropping me off at home before returning to the Pilot Club for more socializing. I sat down on the floor in front of our new CURTISS MATHIS wood grained COLOR TV set and watched Midnight special as I munched on a bag of chips with dip. My legs were tired from standing all night but I felt a feeling of satisfaction.
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To be Continued
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