high school musical

Not the Disney version - I just watched my High School Musical on TV. It's called "The Blues Brothers." Now, it wasn't released in my high school years, exactly, but it did play a pivotal role in my musical upbringing (awakening?) in the late '80s.

Just look at the lineup:

James Brown
John Lee Hooker
Aretha Franklin
Ray Charles
Cab Calloway

Not to mention Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn, Matt Guitar Murphy... When the backing band has more (musical) star power than the frontmen, that is pretty impressive.

Anyway, watching it reminded me to thank the following people for my own musical development:

My parents - for making me take piano when I was a kid. Man, I hated it. I really really did. It was the endless practicing! But, they also allowed me to quit when I did (Royal Conservatory Grade 4) - and, didn't really discourage me when I went out and bought my first guitar and amp.

* Nostalgic note 1: it was only last year, some 20 or so years later, roughly, that I spoke again to our old neighbors the Wards. And they informed me of the entire neighborhood's annoyance when I cranked up Clapton or Hendrix or whatever and tried to play along. Apparently it was very loud. And, heartbreaking to hear now, not very good. The only redeeming thing, they said, was that it annoyed our neighbors to the back of our house (where my room faced) the most. And everyone hated them. So they poured another scotch, shut the windows, and cut me some slack.

James Morley - who, besides sharing a love for the Blues Brothers a little later on, originalyl introduced me to AC/DC. Yes I know, AC/DC. But they were ultimately a Gateway for Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Who, hell even the Beatles. Oh, and The Clash. Thanks James for The Clash.

** Nostalgic note 2: When we were 19, James and I rented a 4-track and recorded an album. 70+ minutes - a real LP! Both of us only really played guitar (and pretty poorly at that), so we had to learn all the other instruments. Still have that (somewhat embarrassing, but still very Awesome) CD. Beans & Rice, Out of the Cupboard. (And if you can name the song reference there, you win the privilege of never hearing our album!) Seriously though, one of the best summers ever.

Stewart Butterfield - who ultimately convinced me, the completely delusional me, that Zeppelin was in fact a better band than AC/DC. Yeah, Stu, you were right.

Shingo Takada - who taught me how to play the blues, for real. Guitar master, that guy. He used to keep this broken neck from a beer bottle that he used as a slide. Cut his hand up something fierce, but man it sounded sweet!

Dan Stringer, Jason Hunt and Erik Campbell - guitar, bass and drums of The Supergroup That Never Gigs. It is they who try to drown out my recently-pubescent-boy vocals and tolerate my occasional guitar wanking. Solid solid guys.

There are others, of course. But these people represent real Milestones. So, much love y'all.