Born in 1960, my first memories of music are the songs of the
British invasion. I think the first song I remember knowing all the words for was a Herman's Hermits tune.. I'm Henry the
8th I Am..... and I still don't know how to play it! Beatles, Stones, Animals
etc... all are favorites. I started guitar lessons in 1973 while living in Fisher
IL (Yep... one of them there Fisher Bunnies). I grew frustrated trying to learn
how to read music- I wanted to ROCK! And since I was too young to drink beer... I gave up.
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| Chesleigh, Rick & Alexander |
I don't remember the place or date, but after a night
out with The Good Ol' Boys from Bellflower IL, I just had to try. I was terrible
of course, but with a lot of beer and help from my good friend Dave Raymer, I started to make progress. They even let me get
on stage with them while Dave yelled out all the chords so I could play along. Thanks go out to Dave, Dan Basham, Dan and
Bob Hobbs and Brian Miles for not telling me how bad I sucked back then!! (They MUST have been drinking gallons of beer)
2001 brought a change in attitude and I did a very brief stint
with Hillbilly Jones. Good guys, but bad timing...
Then, I heard from a friend
that a band I'd seen a few years before needed a singer. It was Back Paiges, but I just thought... no way! I
thought they were so good when I saw them that one time. I just knew I wouldn't be good enough. They took a chance and
asked me to come up and give it a try. They will never know how hard it was for
me (no beer) that first night, but the rest is history. Thank you, Margie Rock, for giving the guys my name!!
A special thank you goes to my life-long buddy David
Eshleman. David was always ready to go see any band that was playing and introduced me to many different kinds of music that
I would have never discovered on my own. He is the reason I love live music. And when I want to be a kid again........I can
always count on him for a good time and many laughs. Thank you my friend.
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