Is that your Mom?

Do you remember your first big arena show?

My first big show was Peter Frampton , I went with my best friend Jon Barrett, who lived right down the street from me, followed soon thereafter by an AC/DC concert and then the Rolling Stones in 1981.  With the Stones, my parents rented a large commercial bus, decked out with a bathroom, and allowed us to invite all of our friends to the show in The Astrodome in Houston, TX.  Can you imagine all of the fun that we had? 

Jon Barrett taking video of the Titans, 1992

Once again, my parents were mega supportive in keeping our music aspirations alive when we were growing up.  I remember seeing the rock band Van Halen live with my whole family including my mother!  Somehow we had managed to get front row seats and were even spotted by longtime bassist Michael Anthony who mouthed “Is that your mom?” as he was shredding bass parts on stage.  My parents would endure many, many hours of our practice sessions. We would be either in our room practicing individually or as a band set up in the dining room while my parents sat in the adjacent living room watching TV.  Now before getting the wrong idea, these same parents of ours also made sure that we were all in church every week and for my brother Ken and I, in Catholic  school.  When you are a kid, church altar service with your brothers can be like being on the world’s stage, all those people watching seemingly every move or misstep that one might make.  I’m sure my parents really enjoyed seeing all three of us at once (Ken, Gary, Danny) at mass doing our best to serve the Church.  

Meanwhile, like many kids of the time, we were fascinated with Jimi Hendrix , Ozzy Osbourne , ZZ Top , Led Zeppelin and just about anything else deemed “rock and roll” and heard on local Austin  radio station KLBJ FM  at the time.  And how about that crazy punk rock scene exploding in Austin? -unexplainable and RAW.

Now kids that play music ultimately realize, whether truth, fiction, or just good marketing that in order to sound better, to get to the "next level" in performance capability, what is needed is newer and more expensive gear. We were no different.  My parents were supportive but they were not rich in the sense that they could go out and buy every piece of musical gear that we desired.

What developed in each of us then was a certain work ethic.  At an early age we sought work - cutting grass at first and then working for large grocery and fast food chains.  Making money seemed to be a good thing - a very good thing!  Something about work and turning 18 -one thing led to another and the next thing I know, I had enlisted in the US Army, my own musical dreams on hold for the time being.