A Journey Of A Thousand Miles
Quick disclaimer:
This is a work in progress, so if you're not finding what you're looking for or have suggestions to improve site navigation please let me know.
Quick disclaimer:
This is a work in progress, so if you're not finding what you're looking for or have suggestions to improve site navigation please let me know.
I got my first guitar when I was 14 and played in my first dive bar a few months later, a place in South Mulberry called John's Oyster Bar.
The first band was actually a trio consisting of my brother Jim, my uncle Gary Bobbitt and mysef.
I was originally the drummer. Jim and uncle Gary were the guitar players.
Uncle Gary knew the melody line to three or four old country tunes so within a week or so we found our repertoire a little stagnant.
In the early 70's there was a store in Lakeland called Specs Music with rows and rows of records.
They had listening booths with headphones. They sold concert tickets, sheet music and guitar strings.
Jim had bought a Beatles book there that had a lot of Beatle songs with the guitar chord charts above the words.
Within a few weeks he was playing a recognizable version of a few Beatle songs. Recognizable as long as someone was singing along.
My Dad's occupation was a TV Technician and he had a very small shed behind the house where he repaired TV's and electronics on the side.
That was our hell house. In the summer they would send me outside (I was the youngest) to spray the water hose on the metal roof so we could stand the heat for another hour or so.
One day I got home from school and went to the hell house to practice and Jim's guitar was leaning there calling my name and the big white Beatle book was just laying there on an old TV cabinet.
So I opened it up to Across The Universe and got started. Within a few hours my fingers hurt like hell but I was pretty proud of my progress. So I kept up my guitar lessons until the next weekend when uncle Gary showed up for our weekly practice sessions.
When we all got together I played it and asked him if he knew what it was. He responded "it's supposed to be Across The Universe" That was good enough for me. If he knew what it was supposed to be (without me singing) I had arrived. I was a guitar player! That's the day uncle Gary became the drummer.
I know it's not relevant to the story but it matters to me, uncle Gary's middle name was John. So most of the time we called him uncle John, so if I use those names interchangeably please don't get confused.
I also got a nickname the first night at John's Oyster Bar. It didn't really stick that night but a few years later I was given the same nickname and it became our band name for a few years.When John told us we were getting paid in drinks and tips he gave Jim and Uncle Gary a draft beer, I asked for a coke. He handed me a little six and a half
ounce coke. I thought how cute. I swallowed it like a shot and asked for another. He gave it to me but immediately called Jim over and said "Okay Little Bit will kill me with these cokes" He said "when you come over and ask for a beer, I will give you two. Like Happy Hour, what you do with the second one is up to you but I can't be giving out anymore cokes" That's the day I started drinking beer. I gotta admit, it was some time later before I started enjoying it.
The first band was actually a trio consisting of my brother Jim, my uncle Gary Bobbitt and mysef.I was originally the drummer. Jim and uncle Gary were the guitar players.
Uncle Gary knew the melody line to three or four old country tunes so within a week or so we found our repertoire a little stagnant.
In the early 70's there was a store in Lakeland called Specs Music with rows and rows of records.
They had listening booths with headphones. They sold concert tickets, sheet music and guitar strings.
Jim had bought a Beatles book there that had a lot of Beatle songs with the guitar chord charts above the words.
Within a few weeks he was playing a recognizable version of a few Beatle songs. Recognizable as long as someone was singing along.
My Dad's occupation was a TV Technician and he had a very small shed behind the house where he repaired TV's and electronics on the side.
That was our hell house. In the summer they would send me outside (I was the youngest) to spray the water hose on the metal roof so we could stand the heat for another hour or so.
One day I got home from school and went to the hell house to practice and Jim's guitar was leaning there calling my name and the big white Beatle book was just laying there on an old TV cabinet.
So I opened it up to Across The Universe and got started. Within a few hours my fingers hurt like hell but I was pretty proud of my progress. So I kept up my guitar lessons until the next weekend when uncle Gary showed up for our weekly practice sessions.
When we all got together I played it and asked him if he knew what it was. He responded "it's supposed to be Across The Universe" That was good enough for me. If he knew what it was supposed to be (without me singing) I had arrived. I was a guitar player! That's the day uncle Gary became the drummer.
I know it's not relevant to the story but it matters to me, uncle Gary's middle name was John. So most of the time we called him uncle John, so if I use those names interchangeably please don't get confused.
I also got a nickname the first night at John's Oyster Bar. It didn't really stick that night but a few years later I was given the same nickname and it became our band name for a few years.When John told us we were getting paid in drinks and tips he gave Jim and Uncle Gary a draft beer, I asked for a coke. He handed me a little six and a half
ounce coke. I thought how cute. I swallowed it like a shot and asked for another. He gave it to me but immediately called Jim over and said "Okay Little Bit will kill me with these cokes" He said "when you come over and ask for a beer, I will give you two. Like Happy Hour, what you do with the second one is up to you but I can't be giving out anymore cokes" That's the day I started drinking beer. I gotta admit, it was some time later before I started enjoying it.