[Brian Krashpad]

Well done Mr. Beers!

Though we'll expect some amplifictaion (pardon the pun) and additional stories from you as we go.

I'll start with my early pre-band history.

My dad was a career US Navy officer, starting off as an airman recruit in Elvis/Sun Records-era Memphis in the late '50's (for reasons I still don't understand, there was and/or is a "Naval Air Station" in Memphis, Tennessee, USA), which is where I was born in 1958.

By the time the early 70's rolled around, Dad had become a US Navy officer and was off on tours of duty off Viet Nam. While on his travels (and on previous travels during the 60's, when he did a couple tours of duty with the spy organization, the National Security Agency, where he went to Europe to eavesdrop on the Eastern Bloc), he picked up a variety of acoustic instruments. He was mainly a banjo player. But never a "natural." Learning instruments came difficult to him, and he had to work at it.

Dad's rule was, if any of his (5) kids could learn an instrument he brought back, he would give it to that child. I had a slight advantage being the oldest. Dad had a "Mel Bay" guitar book, so I took that and taught myself with a (very) little bit of help from him. In junior high school, my school actually offered a one-trimester guitar course. By the time I could take it, however, I already knew everything they taught.

But that was a good thing, for a couple different reasons.

First, since I already knew the course material, what the teacher did was round up everybody who could play even a little (only a few people), and send us out into the hall to jam. So I got to sit in the hall with some stoner dudes and learn stuff from them. Easy automatic "A."

Second, they would not let you re-take the course every single grading period. Instead, before you could take any instrument over again, you had to take a trimester of the other TWO instruments. So the first year I took guitar, and then recorder, and keyboards. I wasn't very good at the other ones, but it got me more well-rounded musically, and more motivated to take guitar again and get another easy A. After I took guitar a second time, I just took shop.

During high school I continued playing guitar, mainly acoustic. At some point my parents got me a small amp and a horrible Sears electirc guitar. But the electric was so awful I mainly stuck to acoustic. There was an interdenominational relgious group called Young Life at my high school. It was very low-key, just 2 or 3 dozen kids, and met at people's houses, not at church or anything. I was one of a couple kids who could play guitar, so we provided the musical accompaniment. No PA's or anything like that, just totally acoustic playing and singing. We did a lot of folk-song type stuff-- "Kum Bay Yah," "If I Had a Hammer," "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," even John Denver songs. It was great fun. Plus there were some really cute surfer chicks (my high school was 3 blocks from the beach) that attended. I didn't know it at the time, but by doing Young Life I was becoming at home with playing in front of others, albeit on a very intimate level. In my senior year, 1976, we all took a trip (from Florida) up to the mountains of North Carolina for a weeklong camp/retreat, and of course my trusty guitar went along. I still have a songbook from that era with lots of folk songs and simple religious songs.

Next up: The College Years and my First Band! Beware '80's photos!