30 Years Later…
In the 80’s, it was Caught in the Act. In the 90’s, it was Red Handed. After that band “retired”, I thought I was done playing in a live band. Then, in 2019, I was approached by one of the founders of both CITA and RH about sitting in on a rehearsal he was involved in. When I walked into their practice room, I saw familiar faces.
The situation? These four guys–three guitarists and a drummer–had gone to school together and were gearing up for their class reunion. The plan was to put together a couple of sets for the occasion. Now, most of them had either played together in school or in previous professional bands, and over the years I’d often remarked that I’d love to get every musician who’d every played together from the Del Rio area and have a one-night-only all-star band gig. Even given that wish, I felt odd being asked to play with them for their reunion when I didn’t go to school here, much less graduate with these guys. However, they were dead-set on having me play with them, so I was in.
Tragedy would strike the ground on that New Year’s Eve, when Gary Stone passed away unexpectedly. Undaunted, the remaining members decided to press on, knowing that’s what Gary would have wanted. When the group had three guitarists, having one of them switch out to bass guitar as each song dictated wasn’t a challenge. But, now? That’s when I reached out to Tom, who’d I’d work with before in a church band, and he was excited to try something new. Thus, the current lineup was established: Louis DeRango on drums, Mickey Hunkin and Gilbert Rodrigues on guitar, Tom Jones on bass, and me on keys.
Hard work ensued, songs were chosen, friends and other musicians were invited to watch a practice session or two just so we could gauge how we were progressing. Much to our surprise, we were asked to headline a huge celebration the city was putting on in order to welcome The Thunderbirds to the area for the air show at Laughlin Air Force Base. We kicked things into high gear in order to be ready for our first gig in public.
Then COVID struck.
Just a couple of days out, and the world went to sleep. It came to a standstill. Maybe we wouldn’t be able to play, maybe the class reunion that spawned the group was cancelled, but–shutdowns be damned–we continued rehearsing, albeit covertly. We added more music. A lot of music. We came up with a name for the band. By 2021, when the world figured out it hadn’t ended, we had 70 songs in our repertoire. And we started gigging.
So, here we are. Some guys who thought we were pretty much done with playing in a band, together with guys who never thought they would be in a band, enjoying playing a lot of music we used to play when they were considered Top 40…and are now “classic”. It’s a different dynamic, playing and performing now compared to then. Not so much ego. It’s nice.