Roots

A moment of repose, a slight detour of sorts.
Today I was talking with my wife about a post about Dick Wagner I was preparing for another site I am writing. Well, one thing lead to another and I began to reminisce.
I was thinking back to when I first became interested in music and my first guitar. From there, a quick google directed me to this photo. There it is, not the exact item but the same model that was my first electric guitar.

Christmas 1971 -
In November of that year, I found a sale ad for a local department store of the day named Topps. They were running their specials for Christmas lay-aways and there, a half-page ad of a Teisco guitar and amp combo for $39.95. I tore the ad out of the paper and told my mother that I wanted this for Christmas. And nothing else.
I saved the ad. I looked at the ad every day. I studied it closely. I would fold the worn newsprint what must have been hundreds of times from that day until Christmas.

As you have guessed, under the tree that year was, in fact, an oddly shaped package that held the answer to my wishes. I know that my mother had to endure some hardships that year as she was recently a single mother of five and struggling with re-entering the workforce. She found a way to buy that gift for me and I have never forgotten the conditions we were living with at the time.

A few adjustments

Making a few changes to the color palette for ease of reading. Made a few adjustments in the sidebar too.

Before We Resume The Tale

I think the strangest part about this blog for me is knowing how the story ends and that it will end. As far as the saga of the Dead Dog years, which was relatively short.

My experiences as a musician continued beyond the time invested at DDE. I continue to play, write, and record original music, though not as frequently as I would like.

Whether I will take the telling of my tale further into the years after "The Dog" remains to be seen. I have a hunch but ....

Where'd it go?

Holy crap! A year has passed since I made anything close to a serious entry. Gotta fix that right away.

I am making some page adjustments. Some new features and coding going in currently.

Back shortly.....really.....I mean it.

New entry soon

Neglected and overlooked for a while, I will be posting more in the saga shortly.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

To my friend, Jeff Lightfoot, a person I admire and respect. Jeff is also one of the finest musicians I have ever known and had the good fortune to have worked with in more than 34 years of playing. I learned so much from Jeff while we worked together. He challenged me to improve my playing ability and to stretch beyond my current skills to become a better musician.

Thank you Jeff for making me push myself but most of all, thank you for your friendship, especially after all the years. I wish you the happiest of birthdays and continued happiness and prosperity for you and your family.

Friends We Made Along The Way

As our sessions began to develop, we started to "plan our plans" to market the band. We determined that there were some legal things to consider as well so we began to look for an attorney that would be able to assist us.

As our good fortune would have it, I met an attorney that was looking to develop his practice into the music industry. I met Howard Hertz while he was working with the public defender's office in Detroit. It is a long story about how we met, I'll leave it to your imagination. During this meeting, we had some moments that allowed me to ask him some questions about music business issues and he gave me his card.

Later, as we finished our next recording, I contacted Howard to help register our copyrights. We set up a meeting with the band a short time later. Howard told us that we were one of his first music act for his burgeoning legal practice. If memory serves me correctly, I think his first artist was a gentleman named Ted Strunck.

Today, Howard Hertz is a powerhouse in the music industry. His firm, Hertz, Schram, and Saretsky have represented many notables in the business. Here is his bio from the firm's website:

Howard Hertz formed the law firm of Hertz, Schram & Saretsky with Bradley Schram in 1979. He specializes in entertainment law and is the lead attorney of Hertz, Schram & Saretsky’s Entertainment & Sports Practice Group. Since 1976 he has represented numerous artists and entities in the entertainment field, including authors, screenwriters, recording artists, radio personalities, producers, production companies, record labels, agents, artist managers, music publishers, songwriters and athletes. Among others, his most well-known clients have been George Clinton, Sippie Wallace, The Romantics, The Bass Brothers, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, O-Town, The Go, Elmore Leonard, Warner Tamerlane, CDNow and Atlantic Records. Services provided to entertainment clients range from contract negotiation and litigation to entity formation and estate/tax planning. Mr. Hertz travels to MIDEM, the International Music Festival in Cannes, France, and to South by Southwest, in Austin, Texas, annually, on behalf of his clients.

Among the many organizations and honors to Mr. Hertz’s credit, he is a Michigan State Bar Foundation Fellow, a member of the International Association of Entertainment Lawyers, a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Motor City Music Foundation, a member and former chairperson of the Arts, Communications, Entertainment and Sports Section of the State Bar of Michigan, counsel to and a member of the Board of Directors of ArtServe Michigan, speaker and member of the National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences and is on the Advisory Board for Common Ground Sanctuary. He is the subject of biographical record in "Who’s Who in Entertainment" and "Who’s Who in American Law".

Howard Hertz has participated on panels and lectured on various entertainment related topics for organizations and schools such as: the Michigan Institute of Continuing Legal Education, National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences, Motor City Music Foundation, Wayne State University Law School, Cooley Law School, Detroit College of Law, the University of Michigan, Motortown Gospel Music Network and the Detroit Historical Museum.

Mr. Hertz graduated from Wayne State University in 1972 with distinction and received his law degree from Wayne State University in 1976, where he graduated cum laude.

Howard and his partners are featured panel members at the upcoming Motor City Music Conference 2005 on April 20-24th. If I am not mistaken, this is the second occurrence of this now annual event. Take a moment to check out the line up of talent that will be appearing during this event in addition to all the industry reps on the various discussion panels.

Oh, if you happen to attend the panel discussion with Howard, tell him Dave Stone says "hi".
Dave who?
Exactly.

And The Band Played On

As we got to know Jeff better, we felt he was a great "fit" in our little band. Despite the differences in our musical appreciations, the diversity of styles that Jeff brought to the trio was essential to creating the expressive tension that I believe to be the main requirement for good composition.

Jeff and I rehearsed more frequently in the beginning as we were both very dynamic songwriters. Not that our songs were dynamic necessarily, just that we were active in the process of songwriting. It was great to have another writer to work with though there were challenges in finding our way to communicate our ideas. There were many times that I know I was a real shithead. I admit that my ego got in the way on more than one occasion and it's hard telling how many good ideas were lost in the pissing match. This is something I regret and find no pride in to this day. (Jeff, I am sorry for that.)

Through the summer, we wrestled through the process of gaining familiarity with each other, finding ways to goof off together, and preparing for a recording session we were playing in October 1978. Since Todd and I had already ventured into the studio, we were considered the veterans (in our minds, at least) and we wanted to make certain to avoid some of the mistakes we felt were made in previous outings. We had developed a playlist of about 10 songs but were mainly focused on refining 2 songs for our new demo.

We had also begun to prep for possible gigs and made a checklist for our demo distribution, once complete.

- more to come -

New Blood

After a short time, I approached Jeff with the idea of rehearsing with Todd and I. The first couple of sessions were a mixture of nerves and excitement. It had been a while since we had a bass player to rehearse with and I was really enjoying the playing freedom it afforded me.

Jeff was a big Beatles fan and knew just about everything the Beatles ever recorded. Todd and I weren't really fans but welcomed the influence it would have on what we had been writing and rehearsing. I was wearing out the grooves of my Rush - All The Worlds A Stage LP and loaned it to Jeff. The difference between Paul McCartney and Geddy Lee is pretty dramatic as their music covers a totally different spectrum.

We continued to play together for a couple more months and soon we decided to take some new songs into the studio at Bob Goodsite's once again. Basically, we reworked an earlier song I wrote, "Stand Up", and wrote a new song called, "You Come Crawlin' Back". Todd had written the lyrics and Jeff and I thrashed out the music.

More about this........

Dishwasher, Janitor & Pump Jockey

I quit school two months before graduation in my senior year. I should say, my classmate were going to graduate but, due to my misaligned values about attending classes, I was not to be paroled any time soon. Looking ahead to probably two more years of school, I knew the die was cast and the smartest thing to do was leave school and jump into the work force before all the "good" jobs were taken. (Chuckling to myself.)

Being seventeen and a high school drop-out, my immediate employment opportunities were considerably limited. I took a job as a dishwasher at an all-night diner in town. Later, once I turned eighteen, I took a job as a porter at a film processing center which led me to getting a job at a gas station. What a career path, no!

As I was bouncing through these different jobs, Todd and I began toying with the idea of playing as a band again. Now that school was out and we were both working, we had some badly needed funds for equipment purchases and beer. We were set.

We still had the eternal struggle for a rehearsal space so we would squeeze in band practices whenever possible. We set our site on another recording session, planning to learn from our previous experiences, we felt confident that the outcome would be dramatically better.

As we re-engaged the rehearsals, we were still on the look-out for a bass player. Reminiscent of "Spinal Tap", we just could not seem to keep a bass player on the roster. Through our entire experience as a band unit, we had nine different bass players over an eight year period.

We spent the rest of 1977, until spring of 1978, looking for a third member and continued our writing. I once again changed jobs and took a position at KMart as a stockman. While at KMart, I met a fellow employee named Jeff Lightfoot and we became friends. Lo and behold, Jeff played bass!

The In-Between Time

After completing my "solo" demo tape, I spent a few months basking in the aura seeking a new band to join. I recall going on a few auditions but these didn't quite click. I have always had a preference for playing in a trio and many of these situations would have had me playing the second guitar role. One band I tried out for was a six-piece band that already had two other guitarists. I knew the moment I entered the rehearsal room there would be little chance that I could be happy playing in such a subordinated position. Another band was looking for a lead guitarist and I knew the drummer from Jr High School. I had jammed with him a few other times and we had a pretty good feel for each other's playing styles. He had arranged the audition and I thought it may hold some promise.

As it started, I felt very relaxed and comfortable. We ran through about ten songs that they were using in their set. Even though I didn't know the songs very well, I laid down some decent ad-lib that made playing easy and fun. Then it happened.

The lead singer/rhythm guitarist and his girlfriend, a back-up singer, began to argue about something that happened the night before. They lived together and were renovating the house we were rehearsing in and some debate began relating to the damned remodeling project. Right in the middle of a song, this dude stops playing and starts yelling at the girlfriend through the PA system. She grabs her microphone and started yelling back at him. The rest of us stop playing, hoping the two will stop using the equipment to broadcast their fight for the neighborhood. I look around the room and notice that the band doesn't seem to be phased by the display. (I asked my friend later about this and he said, "Yeah, that shit happens every time we practice. And they're getting married next year.")

The session ended with the girlfriend throwing a tambourine at the guy, he responded by yanking his amp cord, pulling the unit onto the floor on it's face. He then stormed off to their loft room upstairs. She chased after him, both screaming at each other. The rest of the band slips outside to the front porch for a smoke break and to talk about anything except what we had just witnessed. About twenty minutes later, someone commented that it gotta pretty quiet inside and that we may be able resume the rehearsal.

We went back in the house and from our vantage point, could see up into the loft and that the couple were now doing the horizontal bop! Needless to stay, the party broke up.

I packed my stuff and fortunately, I was not asked to return. I later learned two things about this band. About 2 months later, the girlfriend caught the guy with another girl, who was being auditioned. The band broke up shortly thereafter. I think the new girl must has passed.

Rework....again

As part of my New Year's resolution, I made some changes to the appearance of the blog. More posts coming soon. In a day or so....

Thanks for reading. I hope you like the changes so far and stories yet to come.

First Solo Recording

After working on the lyric re-writes for about a week, I returned to the Goodsite studio to complete the demo.

When I arrived to work on the songs, Bob had a friend in the studio. Scott was a keyboard player that Bob was collaborating with and they had some work planned for a bit later in the day. Bob asked if I would mind that Scott hung around and though it did make me a little uncomfortable, I said it would be fine.

We listened to playback of the tracks from the previous session to get warmed up. I asked Bob if we could re-track a couple of the lead guitar overdubs that just didn't quite work. I ran down a basic feel that I wanted to change and Bob talked to me about using a new stomp box he just bought, a phase shifter. We hooked it up and did a quick rehearsal on one of the tracks I wanted to record. It sounded great! Little did I know that Bob ran live tape on the rehearsal take. When it was done, he said, "Dave, listen to this. I think that song is done now." He was right. My test became the keeper for that song. It just sort of flowed forth and with the phase shifter, it was a perfect fit. Quickly working through the remaining overdubs, we moved to the lyric parts.

Should have stopped while I was ahead. A singer, I'm not. Still.

Bob offered some ideas to help me with my delivery and did a fair amount of tape tricks to minimize the poor performance. Rather than trying to force something that just wasn't there, I decided to get the lyrics down and call it a day.

Despite the vocals, this session did a lot to bolster my self-confidence as a songwriter/performer. It allowed me to see that I could write material and perform it on my own. (I could always hire a singer, right? Take voice lessons?) For the next couple of months, I "shopped" my tape around to other musicians I knew and began to educate myself in recording techniques. I continued writing and fashioned a rudimentary multitrack recording set-up using 2 standard cassette recorders. This allowed me to develop my ideas in greater detail and rehearse the vocal parts in advance. This would help me to convey the concept to other musicians must easier and save me time and money and frustration.