The Almost Band

The Summer of 1966

During the summer of 1966 my parents bought me an Ace Tone portable organ. As a matter of fact I still have it and it still basically works with the exception of a few dead keys. I started taking organ lessons about eight months earlier. 1966 was the era of garage bands and some of my friends at school were talking about starting a band. They asked me if I'd be willing to join their band as the lead singer and the organ player. At that time in music history most bands had a keyboard player and the keyboard player was often the lead singer. I told my friends that I would be willing to do this but first I'd have to get a portable organ and take lessons to learn how to play it. I took organ lessons for about a year and a half. I took organ lessons for about a year and a half. During this time I learned chords, how to read music, and how to play all whole song solo. Unfortunately, my music teacher did not teach me how to play in a band. It wasn't her fault. She wasn't trained to. The long and short of the story is my friends were not willing to wait any longer for me to get a portable organ. In the meantime they had hired another guy already had a portable organ. Later my friends did have a chance to hear me play organ. They told me that I was a better player than the fellow they had now. The problem was they weren't about to replace the keyboard player they had now. About a month later I answered an ad in the paper. Some other young guys were looking for a keyboard player. I auditioned for these guys and was accepted into their band. Unfortunately, these guys were just starting out and were total beginners like I was. Naturally, we had a hard time getting anything going. We had a few practices and I believe learned one or two songs that were hits on the a.m. radio. Actually, I thought we sounded pretty good for mere amateurs. It is sad twist of fate, the guys in the band were not totally dedicated to band practice. As a result, the time between practices became longer and longer until it fizzled out altogether. This is one of my many regrets in life. I don't think we would have become famous or anything, but I believe we would've had a couple of awesome summers if we work harder and were more dedicated to the project.