My Rock “Career” Was Determined by Drawing Straws

My Rock “Career” Was Determined by Drawing Straws

It was early 1964 and I was a freshman in high school. The country was only a few months removed from the Kennedy assassination and people needed some good news. Needed a reason to feel good again.

The Beatles had just exploded on the scene with “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” The two main fan bases in the U.S. were Beatles fans and Dave Clark Five fans. I had to be different. I was a Rolling Stones fan because I liked the Chuck Berry song (“Come On”) I’d heard on an EP…before “Satisfaction” changed the world in ‘65.

I was a teenager and my hormones were steering me in a new direction. I loved sports, baseball in particular, but there was no doubt that girls were more interested in rock musicians than baseball players.

One afternoon three of my closest friends—John, Chris and Paul—met in Chris’s basement. It was on that day we made a decision that changed our lives: We decided to form a rock band. We were all in the same grade in school, except Paul, who was four years older and in college. This turned out to be extremely important, especially to him, because unlike the rest of the band, he could grow his hair long. High school restrictions prevented the rest of us from doing so. Paul’s “cool quotient” rose from average guy to “that cool long-haired rock and roll dude.”

There was only one impediment in our plan’s path: None of us played an instrument, except Chris, who played piano. Actually, I played violin but that was not much use in a rock band. Not then anyway.

Somehow we must have sensed that this was a momentous decision, because we took the decision-making process seriously. We drew straws. The shortest straw got to learn to play guitar. The middle straw would learn bass, and the longest straw would learn to play drums. John pulled the longest straw, Paul the middle straw and, thank God, I got the “guitar straw.”

That fateful bit of luck quite literally changed my life, and it affects me in a positive way to this very day.

The first thing I did was buy a guitar. I’d never purchased a guitar and I had no idea what to look for. My only prerequisite was that I must be able to afford it. Sadly, even then there weren’t a lot of guitars for under $10. The fret board and strings on the guitar I bought looked a lot like a bow and arrow. Because the strings were so far from the fret board, my fingers actually bled occasionally. My learning curve was steep and painful, but I was undaunted. I taped a flat-faced microphone on the back of the guitar and plugged it into a $10 amplifier, which wasn’t really supposed to accommodate an electric guitar. It was more like a large tabletop radio adapted to be a guitar amplifier.

Our first practice was odd, but memorable and, in retrospect, quite hilarious. Paul appeared with an inexpensive newly purchased Danelectro bass. John showed up with a pair of drumsticks, which he proceeded to bang on an empty Peter Pan album cover. Thankfully, Chris played his piano so at least there was some actual music activity involved.

By the time we had our first gig, I had purchased an entry-level cherry Gibson solid body guitar, on a payment plan, from the local music store, and a Silvertone amplifier from the Sears catalog. You have to be an Old Guy Still Rockin to remember Silvertone amps. But man, at the time, they were really cool.

Within a couple of months we looked like a rock band. Even though we didn’t sound like one. We called ourselves The Caesars. We had publicity photos taken and we dressed alike. We even had a fan club.

Soon we started playing high school dances and other social functions, including a parking lot dance at the local Penny’s. We even got chased down hallways by female fans. Thinking back on it, this probably explains a lot about my personality.

We weren’t very good, but we were first. And we were loud. When other bands arrived on the scene—bands with guys who could play their instruments—our star faded. But it was great while it lasted.

Eventually The Caesars broke up and we all went on to play in other bands and on our own. Chris and I continued to play in bands off and on—though not again with each other—our entire lives.

During the Morning Glory Coffeehouse days.

From 1970-72 I ran The Morning Glory Coffeehouse in Toledo, Ohio. I played guitar with lots of people, including a bunch of famous people who would stop by the coffeehouse. This was because when bands played at the University of Toledo there was literally nothing open after midnight. We were open till 4 am. People like members of Chicago, Badfinger, and many others stopped by and jammed. For free. One night I was in the musicians’ room upstairs jamming with some people, getting ready to go downstairs to the main stage when some guy stuck his head in the room and said, “You got an extra guitar?” It was Country Joe McDonald of Country Joe and the Fish.

My guitar seemed like a passport to another life.

I came to Los Angeles to make it as a rock star. I didn’t, but I played for a couple of years in clubs around town and had brushes with a few “almost-there’s” and soon-to-be-famous rockers. In 1980 I bought an Ovation guitar with part of the advance on my first big novel. In 1989 Garth Hudson, keyboard player with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, The Band (famous for being Bob Dylan’s backup band), played on my album (“Trick of the Light”). In the 90s I put music I wrote in a film I wrote and directed, “Street Crimes” starring Dennis Farina. I recorded a couple of albums since then.

When we moved from LA a few years ago, I started playing guitar with the guy who sold us our house. He and I started a band. We play out regularly now—or at least we did before the Coronavirus—and last month we played a Valentine’s Day dance for 140 people.

I now have my own studio. Over the past couple of years I’ve recorded, mixed and mastered about 50 new songs, some of which you can listen to here. I enjoy getting together with other musicians and playing, as well as occasionally recording other musicians and bands.

The bottom line is that writing and playing music shaped my life in so many ways, and that has never been truer than it is today. In fact, my love of music, playing guitar, and the camaraderie that comes with playing music with others prompted me to start Old Guys Still Rockin.

I don’t think music would have played such a big part in my life had I not drawn the “guitar” straw.

And my life would have been much the poorer for it.

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Jennifer Batten

Jennifer Batten

The buzz on Jennifer Batten rose from the guitar underground, and the guitar magazines promptly began chronicling her savvy musicianship and highly original approach to the electric guitar.

A major turning point came when she was selected from over one hundred guitarists to play in Michael Jackson’s highly skilled band which toured the world for one and a half years playing for over four and a half million people. In 2012 Sony released an exciting live Wembley Stadium show DVD as part of their BAD 25th anniversary package.

Photo: Sam Emerson

Jennifer wasted no time after the” Bad” Tour’s grand finale, diving into work on her debut album with renown producer (and ex-Stevie Wonder guitarist) Michael Sembello. Shortly after the release of “Above, Below, and Beyond,” in the spring of ’92, she was asked again to join Michael Jackson for his upcoming “Dangerous Tour.”

In January ’93, she joined Jackson to perform in Superbowl XXVII’s halftime entertainment, which aired to one and half billion people in 80 nations. It was the largest audience in television history.

Her follow up CD “Momentum,” which was heavily influenced by world music, was released just before she left for Michael Jackson’s final global tour in support of the HIStory CD in 1997.

In the spring of ’98 Jeff Beck asked Jennifer to join his band. They joined forces for 3 years on the CD’s “Who Else” and “You Had It Coming,” which were both supported by world tours. A DVD is available of this collaboration entitled “Jeff Beck Live in Tokyo 1999.”

Jennifer is the author of two music books and has released three solo CD’s venturing from world beat and rock n roll, to electronica. The CD “Whatever” comes with a 90-minute DVD that includes some of the visuals from her one-woman multimedia show where she plays guitar in synch with her self-made projected films, as well as unreleased music videos, and a guitar lesson.

During 2011 she did a guitar residency for the Cirque Du Soleil show “Zumanity” in Las Vegas. In the last few years she joined forces with truefire.com to record instructional DVD’s/ downloads. She currently has a rock soloing course, a rhythm course, and the latest release, “Ultra Intervallic Licks.” Upcoming projects include recording a Truefire DVD in a new artist lick series on Jeff Beck. In August of 2016, she joined Beck on stage at the Hollywood Bowl for a special “50 years of Jeff Beck” concert.

She continues to tour the globe in various formats, from bands, to solos shows, to clinics, and master classes. In Jan 2016 she received the She Rocks “Icon” award and was inducted into Guitar Player Magazine’s “Gallery of the Greats.”

Also in 2016 she toured with Uli Jon Roth and Andy Timmons on “The Ultimate Guitar” tour.

CLICK ON AUDIO PLAYER ABOVE TO HEAR OGSR’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER BATTEN

GREAT Rendition of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” by Z/K

GREAT Rendition of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” by Z/K

You’ve got check out this music video of Tom Petty’s “Refugee” by singer/songwriter Paul Zollo and Barry Keenan. 

Paul is the author of the newly-released book, Conversations With Tom Petty, Expanded Edition. It’s available on Amazon & Kindle. Click Here for more information. Over the course of a year, Paul spent his Saturdays with Tom talking about Tom’s career and music, and they became friends.

This is a must read for all Tom Petty fans. And if you’re not familiar with Tom Petty, this book will take you on a fantastic journey into the world and the mind of one of America’s great songwriters.

A few months ago, Paul and Barry were talking about music and songwriting. They both came to the realization that they had the same desire to release a new and different version of The Beatles song, “Help.” Barry suggested to Paul that they go into his studio and record their idea. They did, and their version of “Help” will be released in the near future. 

However, because Paul’s book was being released in February 2020, the two decided to do a tribute to Tom Petty by recording one of Tom’s songs and releasing it before they released “Help.” Paul and Barry went through several of Tom’s songs but were undecided on a song to record (because Tom Petty has so many great songs) until Paul sent Barry a slowed down, funky version he was doing of the song, “Refugee.”

“I was immediately taken by it,” says Barry. “I told Paul that this is the song we should do.”

Click Here to see the video of ZK’s (Zollo-Keenan’s) version of Tom Petty’s “Refugee.”

Bonus: Exclusive Old Guys Still Rockin Interview with Barry Keenan about the recording of this song: Click Here.

Desert Trip 2016

Desert Trip 2016

Desert Trip? You know, the one with Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones on night one, Neil Young and Paul McCartney (playing 35 songs) on night two, and The Who and then Roger Waters finishing things up the final night.

We almost didn’t make it to the concert. Four of us tried to get tickets in the spring when tickets first went on sale. Even with all of us dialing constantly, we didn’t get through. Some after-market tickets were in the thousands. So we thought that was that.

Flash forward to a week before the October concert (2nd Weekend). Got a call from my buddy Randy and he said he could get tickets for all three nights for about $200. I said I’d call him the next day and asked him what he was smoking. I didn’t think that was possible. I checked on the internet and, sure enough, due to various reasons there was a glut of last-minute, low-priced tickets available. I called him back first thing in the morning and got two tickets. Our friends, who we had just dined with the night before, jumped on board and bought tickets too.

So there we were with our friends a week later at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Ca., the scene of Coachella Stagecoach Music Festivals, and in 2016, Desert Trip (see photo). There were about 75,000 paying customers each weekend. The estimated gross was at least $130 million, according to Billboard, which made it the highest-grossing festival ever. Even with all the people the experience was terrific. Clearly the promoters were way up the learning curve in terms of providing a great concert, festival-seating experience. The monitors were huge. You could see the wrinkles on the faces of most of the performers from wherever you were sitting. And the sounds was fantastic.

Dylan started things off on Friday night. He had just been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He played a lot of the old songs, although often with different arrangements. When The Rollings Stones came on stage and hit the opening riff of “Start Me Up,” the place exploded! I’d seen the Stones twice before: in the late 60s and in the 70s. This performance was by far the best Stones concert of the three. Mick was moving and dancing for two hours almost nonstop. And he was charming and even a little self-deprecating: “I hear this is being called the ‘Catch ’em Before They Croak’ tour.” My wife had never seen them live and she was extremely impressed. When Keith broke into what is probably the most famous opening guitar riff in rock history (for “Satisfaction”) if there had been a roof on the place, it would have blown clean away.

The second night was more of the same with hits and long jams from Neil Young and an incredible 36-song set from Paul McCartney covering Beatles songs, Wings songs and several more recent songs. He was animated, in great voice and his band was energetic and phenomenal.

The third night featured The Who. During the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” there one of Daltrey’s–and rock music’s–most famous screams. At one point near the end of the song, the music drops to almost nothing, just an organ playing a repetitive riff. Then the drums come in. And then… The scream! When the band got to that point, the music came down and we all waited. Could he still do it? Could he still hit that vocal and emotional peak? We continued to wait. And then… Wow! He could still deliver. Roger Waters finished off the set that included several “Pink Floyd” favorites.

Whether or not Desert Trip was the greatest concert event of all time is debatable. What is not debatable, however, is that it was, and will probably remain a unique music experience. Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time List ranks The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones as the top four. That means that during Desert Trip three of the top four were represented: The Beatles (in the form of Paul McCartney,Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones,

It is unlikely that such an event will ever happen again. I was there. And I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Blue Finger Days

Blue Finger Days

Like millions of people these days in the U.S. and around the world, my wife and I are taking a lot of walks. With our gym shuttered during the lockdown, it’s a great way to exercise and get out of the house.

We are fortunate to live in an area where the weather is predictably sunny and warm. During our walk we are surrounded on all sides by manicured landscaping and, in the distance, snowcapped mountains.

Since we’re not in a bustling city, we actually need to press the crosswalk button at intersections if we want to get a “Walk” sign. It occurred to me early on that there must be a lot of fingers pressing that button. That sounded like an activity to avoid.

My wife is practical, ingenious and focused on keeping us both healthy. Recognizing this COVID-19 Hazard, she immediately remedied the situation in a stylish manner. She cut off the finger tops of a kitchen glove.

So every morning before we go for our walk, I put on the blue finger, ready to boldly press any Crosswalk button with confidence.

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