Seems like it was only yesterday, It was February '77 and I was 22 and had moved back to LA from Chicago the year before for the music scene. I was living in Manhattan Beach, and one night I heard the unmistakable sounds of a local rock / dance band practicing in a local suburban garage. They sounded pretty decent, so I drove around with my car window rolled down and I eventually located which garage they were in. This is when I first heard Jeff Nadeau's singing and piano playing. They were just wrapping up that evening's practice, and as they were leaving I introduced myself as a local guitar player seeking a band. Jeff offered to have me come over and jam that weekend, and we hit things off rather well musically - within months we put a band together called Rocket 88. Since Jeff had a phone, Jeff booked most of our gigs - eventually we had a booking agency in Tucson, Arizona schedule our gigs, and we spent many many road trips in our vans traveling and playing rock gigs all over the southwest - up into Colorado and New Mexico. 2 weeks on / 2 weeks off, for 2 straight years. Lots of living, lots of colorful memories. Like any touring band several scenes in the movie Spinal Tap serve as a document to re-kindle up memories of those times. We went through many drummers - and we played many memorable gigs, as well as many clunkers. Wet T-Shirt Night, Wet Short Night, on stage wrestling matches between barmaids / bandmates and their girlfriends who dropped into town unexpectedly. Flagstaff was always my favorite place. We played an eclectic mix - Steelie Dan, Little Feat, Cheap Trick, and our one set per night of 100% originals from Bruce Bossert the Bass player and Jeff's own brand of honky tonk. I got to place my lead guitar icing on top of an eclectic mix of grooves. By 1980, the band eventually ran its course, and I got a day gig building guitars and repairing amps at Valley Arts. Then I moved on to work for NASA/JPL and deep space probes and got married for the 1st time around. Luckily I would run into Jeff every 7 years at NAMM show, and I'd hear all about his exciting music career. In '97 I was divorced and getting back into the music scene, playing guitar on TV commercials and Jeff invited me to sit in with his band in Santa Monica, CA – was a blast. His "muse" was always catered to and cultivated- always on tap, never left to wither and die, nor feel abandoned. I'm reminded of Jeff's spirit whenever I try to play Lowell George type slide guitar, or whenever I travel down a southwest desert highway and I pass the same stretch of road where our van broke down nearly 30years before. Jeff's humor always saved the day, and made us fearless. Steve Conradmy current bandwww.kristenblack.com |
