okay, Friday nite lounge lizards ... so what do you think of this?

[Pepperbelly]

No big deal, of course except for me, it kinda is.

I am 51 and am about to get started in a rock band ... I played in bunches of them (bands come, bands go) in my misspent youth and now, at this late date, I am going to risk my peaceful sleep on the weekends and a possible hernia lugging amplifiers, et al around in sort of a mid-life freak out.

Not really although ...

I am playing with four other fellows, each of whom is very talented. Covers. But what covers!?!?

Stuff you don't hear covered very often. In that way, we hope to find a niche with the pot smokers, young and old. :smoke: Our notion is that if we homage a band by playing their stuff, we will homage them good but doing 2 or 3 pieces back to back. A nice bit of Dark Side of the Moon, for example, or several Led Zepplin songs or a trio of Tom Petty or AC/DC or ...

The permutations are ENDLESS.

We even have a name, one that accounts for the eclectic mixture of head music ... The Richard Peter Johnson Rock and Roll Review, featuring Mike Hunt (the bass player said he would be honored to wear a t-shirt identifying him as Mike even though that isn't his name.

A good time for all.

Two or three gigs a month would no doubt tax my old ass physically but I think it would be a hoot to play stuff tailored for ... er ... that niche.

Any thoughts? Is that a viable niche?

Who can say.

:smoke:

[RebelYell]

1. I say go for it!

There isn't enough live music out there tailored to people "our age".

The only kind of live music here for someone my age is Blues. The old 4 chord progression gets bor-ing.

I certainly would come out to hear your band! Good luck and just do it!

You might want to open up the mic during last set for any musicians in the audience. I enjoy the heck out of the spontaneity.

[Pepperbelly]

2. Amazingly ...

Two of the guys in the band are young ... 22 and 19. The other two guys are in their 40s. I am the geezer of the crew.

But what is really odd is how popular that sort of music is with young folk. While visiting some friends a month or so back, a guy was there and playing the guitar passably but ...

I asked him if I could play and I struck up "Over the Hills and Far Away" and everyone stopped talking and listened. But the neatest thing was my friend's daughter ... age 15, said, "Fucking A. |Led Zepplin."

I was shocked.

My kids ... early 20s, love EVERYTHING the Beatles did and have bought their albums when they run across one they don't have. Excuse me, their CDs. What was I thinking?

[RebelYell]

4. Don't get me started......

...I just don't "get" today's music at all.

I wish you the best!

[Droopy]

3. I don't smoke pot, but I still enjoy "head" music.

I think you guys should do some Allman Brothers. They've got lots of great jams.

[Pepperbelly]

7. I've actually been fooling with the intro to ...

Rambling Man. It's kinda quick but all in all, a good song. From the same album, Brothers and Sisters, I've also been fooling with Wasted Words.

So many good bands.

We're also working up some old Animals stuff which, IMO, rocked then and can still rock.

[KittyWampus]

5. Pepperbelly, We Get Satellite TV/Radio & Cream Was Playing

the other day.

Been pining to hear more old Clapton since.

Born Under A Bad Sign... been down since I began to crawl..

Good luck. You should have a heck of a time! :)

[Pepperbelly]

9. the other guitar player in the band ...

is ... and I have been playing for 40 years (holy shit!) ... in the top twenty players I have ever heard or seen. He plays slide with all of D. Allman's control and cleanliness and picks straight up as well as a Clapton or a Beck. He is amazing.

First thing we're working on is A medley from Dark Side of the Moon ... Breathe, Brain Damage and then the last cut ... the only that Brain Damage segues into ...

This is kinda exciting.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Southern rock is making a comeback

Lynrd Skynrd
Outlaws
Jerry Jeff Walker
New Riders
Do some Greatful Dead
stuff like that...

trust me

make sure you do some shuffles like Chuck Berry stuff so if people want to dance they have something with a beat.

[Pepperbelly]

8. We've been looking for another Skynard to hook up with ...

Gimme Three Steps.

No Free Bird here or Sweet Home Alabama though. But we'll find another song or two to hook up with them.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. That Smell is pretty easy for lead guit

and What's Your Name is dancable

[Pepperbelly]

11. Thank you, ma'am ...

This is fun.

Also we're looking at doing some George Thorogood ... Move It on Over, Cocaine Blues, and maybe Get a Haircut ...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. Sure Thorogood and some Georgia Sattelites

Keep Your Hands to Yourself...some ZZ Top...and throw some blues and Cream in there and you've probably got several sets

oh yeah some of the Bluesy Beatles stuff and some of the bluesy Johnny Rivers stuff like Seventh Son

[Pepperbelly]

16. Actually ... to me, one of the very blusiest of Beatle songs was ...

actually done by John toward the end. "I'm Losing You."

I don't know where I was when that came out but I only discovered it two or three years ago. Dang, that was good. That and Watching the Wheels Go Round. Add Stand By Me to it and there's another chunk of a set.

[shugah]

12. i think covers are really cool

think of ghoti!

i spell it that way because it seems that "Phish" has an intellectual property hit (mafia style) out for all the original work they have done.

have they ever done anything original?

[Pepperbelly]

14. Hard to say but speaking of original ...

when Paul McCartney wrote Yesterday, he fooled with it for weeks thinking it was merely a tune he'd heard somewhere, sometime in the past and hesitated to bring it up for quite a while.

Remember the whole My Sweet Lord trial?

:smoke:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

15. Funny thing about My Sweet Lord was Phil Spectre produced that

and He's So Fine...you'da thought HE would have heard it