In 1975, I had been playing guitar for nearly three years. I went mad for it and played every spare second. A kid I worked with at the restaurant played bass for a local show band based in Waltham. He was the one that first plopped a guitar in my lap a few years earlier.

He said the band was looking for a guitar player and asked if I would audition. Having never auditioned before, I said sure.

The audition took place in a rehearsal space in Fresh Pond, where one of the rooms was filled with equipment owned by a little know band named “Boston.”

After I turned up, tuned up and plugged in, they handed me some lead sheets and started the count.

In short order, I decimated “I Got The Music In Me, “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton and Honky Tonk Women.” Bruuuttalll!.

Another one of my patented “all balls, no brains” moves. Mercifully, after an hour, they called the session and we all stood in a circle to discuss ….moi.

At first, they were kind. Kind of. Then, when they got comfortable from passing the Jose Cuervo and a big fat joint, they let me have it. Both barrels.

They were killing themselves laughing at how bad I sucked. They even made fun of my guitar.

There were gales of laughter at my expense. But no applause.

They wanted to know where I even got the balls to show up. The reviews kept pouring in.

But I just told them how great I thought they were and if they ever needed a roadie, please call me.

After a few months, after my ego sufficiently recovered, and thinking of the future, I purchased this Kustom PA system. Nobody had a PA system in those days.

You get where I’m going here?

When word got out that I owned a PA system, my phone started ringing. My friends from the show band were one of the first to call. Seems they missed me.  🙂

Long story a little bit shorter, I grudgingly became a member of that band and I got to learn the ropes from the ground up. Not only did I play guitar, I picked up keyboards, started singing and ended up fronting the band.

Were they using me? Hell yeah!

Was I using them? Hahahahahahaah!