That's when, out of the blue, our guitarist called me one day and said he was back in town for good. The wheels started turning in my mind right away. He'd been the only thing standing in the way, seeing as how he lived about 1,000 miles away, but I had the idea to book a reunion and use some of the door to pay for a flight for him.
When he called to say he was in town, in my mind it was on. I immediately called Doug, and of course we were thrilled. We'd discussed it several times just in passing anyway, and it looked like it was actually going to happen. Out of the four of us left (our percussionist Matt died unexpectedly some years ago), only O' had yet to give his approval, and even though he was an asshole and screwed us all over in several ways including financial, destroyed the band, along with the new bass player, by drinking themselves into oblivion and making the whole band look bad, we'd decided to forgive and forget, or at least call a truce, for the sake of the music, and we figured surely he'd do it, if nothing else for the money alone.
O' and I played phone-tag for three days and then he went out of town for three weeks and we didn't talk directly. He and Greg messaged each other though, and he was totally on-board with it, but only under one condition- that we leave the past in the past. In other words he wanted us to let him slide on all the shit he did, and logically that's the only possible was we could do it, and we agreed. We figured it was on.
Greg and I got together a few times and we had a blast. He and I got to be really close, but not until near the end of the band, especially when the heavy drinking and drugging began. We had to team-up just to try to combat the image those other guys were giving the band- things like 25 (easily) empty scotch glasses, running in a line all the way across the top of the Hammond up onto the bass amp, visible to everyone, and throwing-up on stage and shit like that. It was pathetic.
Greg and I kept in touch over the years since, and gained a deep love and appreciation for each other that will continue always. He and Doug buddied-up and got together a few times. That was fantastic, and made even better because they didn't always see eye-to-eye in the band days. We started getting the old song list together and dusting off the cobwebs. It was discussed that we'd get together and hammer-out some tunes while O' was gone so that when he came back he'd see that we were serious about it, but it didn't happen.
Then something happened that was for me anyway a huge score. I can't play drum kit any more because of my back, so I wanted to get another drummer, and I'd play percussion, since it's not as painful to play standing up. That's the setup we had before anyway, and it'd free me up to maybe sing a little better and such, without having to be there for every single beat, which I don't mind obviously, but can compromise singing. My first and only choice was my pal John Scalici. I didn't really think he'd be interested or have the time, although there's a handful of drummers in town who'd kill for this gig, but to my great delight he said yes.
Scalici and I have done several different drum things over the years, and as they say we play well together. The fact that I wanted him though had nothing to do with his drumming skills. I wanted him for his heart. He's good people. He gives of his time freely to work with special-needs kids, teaching them drumming, which has been shown scientifically time and time again to be therapeutic in many, many ways. I did a few things at nursing homes with him, like my mom did for 35 years. We'd do a drum thing and everyone would enjoy it, and then we'd do it again and anyone who wanted to grab something and join-in was welcome. It was a trip to see an 85-year-old lady playing a Djembe.
It was that loving, giving spirit that I wanted in the band, and like I told him, I didn't care if he broke an arm and a leg, I'd still want him to be the guy. That flipped him out. I knew that he'd been doing hand-percussion only for almost a decade and hadn't touched his drum kit, but it didn't matter. I didn't tell the other guys that but I knew he'd be fine. I could picture us playing, and he fit perfectly. With all due respect and love to Matt, I know Scalici and I would have an even better hookup. I know things that as a drummer I'd want to hear from the percussionist, so I wanted to be that percussionist.
About three weeks ago John called me and asked if I wanted to get together a few times with just he and I, to get our groove on as it were. The fam was going out of town at the end of the month so we could play all night and not bother anyone. I was thrilled because I didn't think he'd have time and I really wanted to do that, if for no other reason than to be able to get out and stretch my legs and do what I love most...playing music. I was literally counting the days. Well, all I can say is that originally I was supposed to be there tonight and at least one night this weekend, yet here I sit. I should be playing drums right this minute.
All these synchronicities started popping up, and they weren't only noticed by me. That told me that we were doing something right. One day a strong image of Scalici playing his drum kit with headphones on popped into my head. Greg and I had gone over there a week or so earlier. He'd started setting up his kit but was only halfway done. About three hours later he called me all excited, and said "Hey man, guess what I've been doing?" "Tell me bro." "I've been playing drums! I warmed-up on some Steely Dan! I'm LOVIN' it dude!" "Good man! It's fun, huh?" I said. What a coinkidink.
I'd be dialing Greg just as he was dialing me, and it wouldn't ring but we'd both just be on the line. That happens, but it happened at least twice. Or he'd call me to talk about something pretty specific, and at that moment I'd be texting him about the same thing. We did an obscure Steely Dan tune in the band. I'm a Dan FREAK from way back, and Greg liked the tune but he really hadn't listened to much of then and wasn't a big fan, but he saw the light since then.
I was emailing him with links to a couple of Dan tunes I thought would be good for us to do, and I ended up deleting it because just then I got a text from him asking how I felt about doing a couple more Steely Dan songs. I was like "Dude, is that a trick question?" That was another cosmik-coinkidink, and I had no idear he'd become a Dan fan.
About a month or so ago I was wanting to get together with Doug and Greg to knock out some tunes, but Greg said that he and Doug wanted to get together a few times first, to work through some things first, and then get drums going. I didn't want to wait but all I could do was say okay, but then of course it never happened. So far no more than two of us have gotten together. You can't run a reunion like that. One thing I've learned is that there's a slight difference between talking about doing something and actually doing it.
One thing I tried to convey to the guys was a bit of a sense of urgency. I believe that we've been given a window to act, and I believe it'll be closing soon. More lockdowns and mask bullshit are coming. Clubs may be open again for a bit, but I don't see them staying open much past the Fall. I hope I'm wrong but I kinda doubt it. Lockdowns are already starting. Whenever I mentioned it they guys said they needed time to rehearse, which I was all about, and wanted to as much as we possibly could, but those guys think there's no time-limit, and that things are going to go back to normal. They're not.
Plus we've had two months or so now to practice, but we don't have a single tune in the can. Even if we'd only rehearsed once a week we'd have eight rehearsals under out belt by now and we'd be well on our way. It was like I was trying to rush the guys along a bit, which I was, but I didn't mean for us to be unprepared, I just wanted us to GET GOING. We could've had two sets of material by now. WTF happened?
What was thrilling to me, besides Scalici accepting my offer, was that instead of just rehashing the old tunes and calling it a reunion, like most bands do and we could too, we were going to learn some new tunes, and some good ones. Greg said he wanted to do "Why Can't We Be Friends" by War, again a surprise. I've been wanting to do that song in a band for about 100 years, and doing that one tune would make the whole think worth it to me. It would mean a lot to our old fans that we went the extra mile, and didn't just rest on our laurels. The thought that we'd be an even better band than before pleased me beyond belief, but at this point even just learning the old songs would've at least been progress.
Scalici and I would've had SO much fun. We could've swapped-out on a few songs and I play drums and he percussion. We were going to try to play as one- a drummer with four hands if you will, and it would've been spectacular. Again, I should be playing drums with John again tonight, but as usual I'll be sitting on my ass. It's a fucking shame.
So now Scalici has gotten tired of waiting on us to get our shit together and has moved on to other things, and I can't blame him. I want to cry right now. We had a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to play music again, and WE BLEW IT. Well, I guess if they still want to do it they can find another drummer, and I'll be left in the cold. Tough shit I guess.
It isn't all bad. Greg and I got closer and that's cool. I was over the Moon that John had agreed to play drums. He loved me and trusted me enough to take the gig without even knowing the rest of the guys, and that meant the world to me. It meant a lot to him too, that I wanted him alone, above several guys who could've stepped right in and already knew most of the tunes and could do the gig without even rehearsing. It also got him playing the drum kit again, and he's having a blast with it. He'll probably be playing tonight...without me.
All we had to do was go for it, and quit talking about it, but we couldn't do that, and I'm out a gig. We let ourselves down big-time. I'd have expected better of us. We deserved it. I deserved it. Too bad. We should be ashamed. I know I am. Talk is cheap. Apparently we didn't get the memo. What a pity.
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