I was thinking about one of my friends Ken. It is kind of weird to call him "friend" because he moved from the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area years ago. The last I knew, he lived in Dubuque. He was a guitarist - we spent many hours in my parent's basement. We went through a metal phase, in the summer of 1989, then a blues phase, in the summer of 1990, and by the summer of 1991, we managed to get through "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. The legend goes that we cranked that out in the basement, then talked to our friend James, who had also gone through the metal and blues phases with us. He had been jamming with two others: John and Stoff. John sang while Stoff played guitar. The idea was hatched for the five of us to play "Enter Sandman" at my college's talent show. We also put together an original that John and Stoff had written called "Bullfrog Blues," a song I still adore.
The talent show was two nights. The first night was not as good as the second night. I remember watching the video of the first night immediately after we played. During Ken's solo during "Enter Sandman," John paced in front of Ken. I told him not to do that the second night so he ran down the center aisle during Ken's solo the second night. My drum solo the first night was pathetic. The second night was a lot better. I also looked like a geek the first night and had 'cooler' clothes the second night. My roommate Brian Rock ran the lights and on the second night, he made it not as dark on stage. Overall, I don't like watching the first night.
Which leads me to Ken. Ken married Carrie in the summer of 1990. I got really drunk and had a good time. Fast forward to 1994 and Ken and Carrie were getting divorced. He was going to move to Dubuque to be closer to his family, who lived in Sherrill. Ken was working at the Spring House as a cook, but his passion, at the time, was guitar and art. He was a big SRV fan. I found the following cover song of a band. Youtube is amazing in that they are called Schroeder's Ghost. The video is from a live gig on 5/29/10 at JD's Place in Farmingdale, NY. The band members are Joe Sanfillippo (guitar), Frank Bisceglia (bass), Keith Taylor (keys), Tommy von Stiegler (drums) and Pam Dixon (vox and other miscellaneous items). I wish they'd come to eastern Iowa!
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