The Story of My Life: the Musical

I’ve always been around music, but it wasn’t until Middle School where I’d actually go out and buy a tape or album. My life is broken up into different chapters with certain albums/bands providing the soundtrack. I’m a creature of habit, so I tend to get a band stuck in my tape deck/cd/mp3 player and leave it there for an extended period of time. Here’s how it worked out for me:

1982 – 1985: The Middle School Years
This was the heyday of the hair metal bands and I was ate up with it. I had posters of Motley Crue, Ratt and Poison all over my room. The Crue were my favorite though, first with Shout at the Devil and then Theater of Pain. Afterwards, I discovered their first album, Too Fast for Love which is very good. The last song on the cd was On With the Show and I get chills just thinking about it. Other notables were Bon Jovi and Twisted Sister.

1985 – 1989: The High School Years
At this point in my life I discovered, and was immersed in, Led Zeppelin. My best friend and soul brother #1, Scott Dougherty, and I were jamming out on tennis rackets pretending to play Black Dog and Rock and Roll not knowing who it was. I had always heard of Stairway to Heaven, but never actually heard it and one night the DJ on the radio said that the midnight request that night was Stairway, so I taped it. The tape ran out just as the solo kicked in and I was devastated. I knew my brother had a Led Zeppelin CD, so I asked him to just tape Stairway to Heaven. Luckily he taped all of Led Zeppelin IV. I was surprised to discover that Black Dog and Rock and Roll were on it. I loved every song. After wearing that tape out I bought Led Zeppelin II. Amazingly, it took me a good 3 or 4 listens before I really got into that album, but once it grabbed me I was hooked and I knew I had to get every Led Zeppelin album in existence. And I did. Every one I have on vinyl including the original Led Zeppelin III with the Alistair Crowley inscription on the blank space, the original Physical Graffiti and original Presence. I also have 2 bootleg Zeppelin albums. One is called Mudslide I don’t recall the name of the other. Stairway to Heaven was my reason for playing guitar. I also discovered that Led Zeppelin IV was released on the very day I was born – November 8, 1971. Cosmic! Another gem from this era in my life was the Platoon Soundtrack. Scott and I would stay up hours with that album. These were the days that forged my musical taste for classic rock (obviously) and I discovered The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, The Beatles, The Doors, Hendrix and Janis Joplin during this time. During the Summers we’d listen to Van Halen while swimming out by the pool.

Summer 1989 – 1993: The Early College Years
Pink Floyd dominated these days. It started with my good friend Phillip Godeaux and I learning how to play Wish You Were Here. Then I discovered the Wall. Man, what great days those were. I fell in love with Phillip’s sister, Mary, and when she broke my heart I turned exclusively to The Wall for comfort. Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Delicate Sound of Thunder were also very quintessential to my tape player in those days. Other notables were Guns n Roses, The Cult, Concrete Blonde, and Yaz. I went on a mini-binge with Concrete Blonde there for a while. Tomorrow Wendy is such an incredible song. These were also the days that Scott left for the Marine Corps. He gave me his copy of The Cult’s Love before he left for boot camp and it has remained in my car to this very day always prominently placed near the tape deck. Also KISS Destroyer and Rock and Roll Over were stuck in my tape deck on various occasions especially around Halloween. During this time I also fell in love with The Police: Every Breath You Take, the Singles CD while at a Theta Chi Fraternity CLC Convention in North Carolina. I also discovered that Roger Waters had some pretty good solo material out there. The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking and Amused to Death were fantastic. Pros and Cons was actually an option for Pink Floyd, but they did The Wall instead. At some point during this time, after Scott had joined the Marines, my brother and I began going to Pepper’s on Thursday nights. They had a live 2 man band that night, Tom and Mitch. My brother convinced me to get up and play during one of their breaks and I was hooked on playing live. This small event led to me and Scott playing during all their breaks, to us playing half the night, to us having our own night at Pepper’s and eventually at OB’s and some other places around Lake Charles.

Summer 1993 – 1995: The Late College Years
The Smashing Pumpkins. The Fall of 1993 was one of the best years of my life. I had just started dating Kim and the Fraternity life was really fun. It was all going my way when one of my friends came to the Fraternity house with the Singles soundtrack. I listened to it amazed. One song in particular caught my attention, Drown by the Smashing Pumpkins. Not too long after that I heard Cherub Rock on the radio and I bought Siamese Dream. Wow. Totally blown away. The very next day I bought Gish. From that point on I was a Pumpkin Head. I bought every album, and extended single they released. Other notables were, of course, Pearl Jam and Nirvana as well as Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots and Mother Love Bone. Man, what a musical explosion those days were.

Summer 1995 – Spring 1996: The Break
Kim broke up with me, and for 9 months I was in the depths of despair. Just before the breakup I had discovered Jeff Buckley and now that we were broken up, his songs took on a whole new meaning. Last Goodbye, Lover You Should Have Come Over and Lilac Wine (“Listen to me, I cannot see clearly…is that she coming to me…nearly?”). Man, I would just ball my eyes out listening to this. Lots of dance music reminds me of this time period, since we’d go out every night and get hammered. Songs like White Lines by Grand Master Flash, Headhunter by Front 242 and Boy by Book of Love remind me of these days. I also got hooked on The Crow Soundtrack and The Cult’s self titled album during this time.

Spring 1996 – Fall 1998: The Lafayette Years
I moved to Lafayette, LA and in 1997 Kim and I were married. These were some good days. I met two more of my soul brothers, Chris Guardia and Scott Norton, and we started a band and played a few times at Kitty’s Sports Bar. We went through several bass players, but eventually when Klark Bowen joined, we had the band as I will always remember it. I affectionately refer to it now as “The Klark Version.” We would practice every Wednesday night at Chris’ house on Albarado Street, and one night we captured the magic on a recording that I affectionately refer to as “The Tape.” We played our one and only gig at the P.A.G.A.N. Fest in Henderson, LA and shortly thereafter I moved to Houston. The music that defines those days for me is Radiohead and The Dave Matthews Band. One of my Fraternity brothers taped 3 or 4 of the “Dick’s Picks” Grateful Dead CD’s for me and I really liked them.

Fall 1998 – Spring 2000: Houston, pre-Kids
Kim and I moved to Houston and spent many weekends downtown with my good friend and Fraternity brother, Brian Hall. Brian turned us on to Martin Sexton. Black Sheep and The American are two great albums. One day, Brian and I did a bike tour of downtown Houston. I don’t know how far we rode, but we’d ride a while and find a bar, stop in for a beer, and ride some more. At some point during the trek we began singing the entire Black Sheep album. That must have been a sight to see. We would also listen to Barenaked Ladies Rock Spectacle non stop. This is a band that took me by surprise. On the outside they were goofballs with songs like “If I Had a Million Dollars”, but then the song “The Old Apartment” just resonated with me. As a life long Louisianan, I was displaced from my “home” and I yearned to go back to my old stomping grounds and just remember the times we had in them. During this time I somehow got introduced to David Gray. White Ladder reminds me of the Spring.

Spring 2000 – Spring 2005: Family life in Mills Branch, Kingwood
During the early years of parenthood I got hooked on Nick Drake’s Pink Moon by watching a VW commercial. I bought the CD and began using it as a lullaby for putting Evan to sleep in the middle of the night. I later bought Five Leaves Left and found it to be equally good. His story is amazing. The dude that had control of his music sold all the rights to every band he had except Drake’s. He said he always knew deep down that something would come of Nick’s music and boy was he right. We moved to Kingwood and I got heavily involved in our Church’s Life Teen music ministry. I had never before heard contemporary Christian music, so bands like Third Day, Casting Crowns, The David Crowder Band, Mercy Me and Shawn McDonald really surprised me and were fun to play live.

Spring 2005 – Present: Expanding Family in Elm Grove, Kingwood
Having kids is pretty cool. When you see them jamming to the music that you love, there’s just nothing in the world that can describe that feeling. But sometimes, they lead you to new music. Curious George had a soundtrack provided by Jack Johnson and it was amazing. His style is much like that of Shawn McDonald. During one of my trips to Italy the restaurant where we were eating dinner was playing the entire James Blunt CD Back to Bedlam and it was a perfect CD for a perfect evening. One night I picked up The Band’s The Last Waltz DVD and was captivated by the combination of Levon Helm’s southern drawl and Rick Danko’s harmonizing. I bought the CD of that performance and for a few months that never came off of my mp3 player. With the release of Across the Universe, I went on a binge with the Beatles. I had bought Let it Be (Naked) and Sgt. Peppers a while back, so I dug those out and put them on the mp3 player along with the Soundtrack to Across the Universe. It was also during this time that I had full blown freak out over The Who. I had bought a greatest hits CD a while back but never really got into them. One day I bought Tommy and then one thing led to another and I was in love all over again. Watching them destroy the Rock and Roll Circus with “A Quick One While He’s Away” is awe inspiring. Check it out on YouTube. Also, while you’re at it, check out “We’re Not Gonna Take It” from Woodstock. Wow. Keith Moon is a maniac on drums. Live at the Isle of Wight is incredible. DVD and CD are very, very good. It is here at the present that I’ve met another soul brother, Clay Parker. He and I had a regular jam session/boys night out where he’d come over and he and I and Evan, Elliot and Drew would all rock out while Kim and Clay’s girlfriend Allison would watch Dancing With the Stars at Allison’s house. Clay and I have laid down some of our evenings on the 4-track. Some gems are in there. One night we were jamming and our neighbor came over and we all started singing Tom Petty. At some point during those few songs, I realized just how cool it is to have the friends that I have in my life. And you all are a part of that.

Thanks for being part of my soundtrack, and I can’t wait to see what music the future holds.