Stooge History – part 2

After my high school band, Time Express, I was forced out of the music business
for a while. I found myself working a day gig and going to school 4 nights a week
until 11:30 PM. Needless to say, I didn’t have time for music.

But, after school, I got a good day job in the utility business. Within a year, I was
back into music. I finally got that Hammond Organ I had always wanted.

I stumbled onto this great deal on a Hammond BC with a tall boy Leslie for $500.
Sadly, I no longer own either. The BC is like the B3 but has no percussion, and
has this extra chorus tone generator (which was cool, but added at least 50 lbs
to the weight). I added the Trek II percussion module. I actually prefer the Trek II
percussion to that of the B3. Very nice ! I picked up a Yamaha CP-30 piano. It had
a great feeling weighted keyboard, but sounded like crap compared to sampling
technology. But, we were still years away from that being available. And, my very
first synth finally arrived. I traded that old Univox piano for this Korg 770 two oscillator
mono synth. It was a nice little synth with unusual filters, but it had no EGs. And, I sold
it too along the line. I wish I still had that one for sure.

This was my gigging combination for some time. The band was never very busy,
so moving the Hammond was not such a big deal. However, a few years later I
hooked up with a band that worked a LOT for a part-time band. After gig # 2, I was
pulled aside and asked politely to find something more portable. I purchased my first
polysynth, a Juno 60. And, I soon added a Hammond emulator to the mix. I really
wanted the Korg CX-3. But, the Roland VK-09 was about 1/3 the price. So, I had to
compromise. BTW, if you ever see a VK-09 at a cheap price and think, "This might
be a great Hammond sound for a great price" think again. They were not that great.

But, the Juno 60 proved to be a great gigging board. I still own one and love it.

This band did things I had never done before. We played in places where I had to
dress up (even a tux). But, we made money. Over the tenure of this band, I managed
to significantly increase my gear collection and put money in my pocket. So, I tolerated
the tux. We always has a female lead vocalist. I found that from a marketing point of
view this was a good decision.

MOTM work was not my first stab at metal work. I made this stand that clipped onto
the CP-30 lip and help all the rest of my keyboards. The 770 was making it to some
gigs, and I we even had a couple of Casios on the scene. Later, I ditched the
homemade stand in favor of the typical "A" frame by Ultimate support.

Some of the highlights of this band were several appearances at Indy’s hippest night
club, The Vogue theatre. We managed to get hooked to do warm-up shows to for what
I call the "has been" tour. But, it was fun. We did warm up for The Guess Who and
The Buckinghams.