Greetings from Baton Rouge,
Hi, everyone, I’m extremely pleased that the five of you musicians
on this email (plus my daughter, Maureen, who is a professional event planner
and director of business development for a major corporation based in Dallas) have
signed on to the live music party I’m arranging on Sept 11, 2015 in connection
with the 45th Reunion of my high school class, Athens High ‘70!
To get you oriented, here’s an overview of the event. Five years
ago I decided to hold a pre-party for my class’s 40th featuring a band assembled
for the occasion. This included old Athens friends James “Peanut” Lester,
Charles Burgess, and an associate of theirs on drums, vocals, bass and
keyboards, and another out of town friend, an amazingly accomplished
singer-guitarist-composer-producer and friend (Marc “Coop” Cooper http://www.coopdevillerecords.com/),
as the front man. We rehearsed minimally and it went very well overall despite limited
resources and some deficiencies in the equipment we had to work with. In fact,
people in my class said the party was better than the actual reunion, so I got
a call from a Class of 70 Reunion organizer asking if I would like to do the
same thing this year. As it happens, I've been looking for an opportunity to
put on a truly special live music event in Athens.
I began by making a wish list of musicians who are both accomplished
and pleasant to hang out with and, lo and behold, I got all of my first
choices! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Some of you know one another but for
everyone’s information, you are: Dave Stammer (former Zambo Flirt currently
living in Dallas, TX) on bass, and Athens musicians David Herndon on second
lead guitar and Cal Hale on drums and singers Dana Downs from Athens and Jerry
Hotard of Baton Rouge, with whom I play in Rockin’ Rouge, our little cover band.
The aggregated talent we have here is humbling. That includes my daughter,
Maureen Scott, who, as you will see, has a tremendous gift for events and people.
For the Sept 11 event, I have in mind a format of 3 sets in
3 hours at an upscale venue. Maureen has already identified and contacted
several promising places. The songs and set lists will be put together in consultation
with all of you with the goal of playing audience-friendly music you like and
enjoy performing. Given the significance of the date, I want to play some non-partisan
USA-themed songs such as Chuck Berry’s Back in the USA, I won’t back down (Tom
Petty), ROCK in the USA (John Mellencamp), The Star Spangled Banner a la Jimi, Livin’
in the USA (Steve Miller Band) for example. I have plans for doing it up in
style, which I’ve probably mentioned to everyone, so I won’t go into that
except to say Maureen is going to coordinate the specifics and you will all be
paid for your efforts.
I will be in Athens between next Sunday evening April 5 and
Friday afternoon, April 10 (and about once a month after that). My time will be
very flexible; and, I would like to get together with Dave Herndon and Dana
during this visit to kick song selections around and discuss how we can prepare
ahead of time so that the show can be nailed down in a few practice sessions
the week of the party. Let me know if and when you two are available. Cal would
also be welcome to join us if you wish to. I will do the same thing with Jerry
since I see him regularly; and, I’ll be getting together on it with Dave Stammer
at the end of April in Austin where we’ll be taking in a show featuring Jeff
Beck and ZZ Top! Once we’ve got a working list of songs, I will distribute
information on musical arrangements (lyrics, tabs and rough demos on mp3 as
needed). Cal will be the easiest person to work in because he’s that good and
he doesn’t have to worry what key we’re in; but, I plan to keep everyone posted
regularly by email when there is something to report.
Please stay in touch with questions, comments, concerns and creative
suggestions. The idea is to have an evening of fun entertaining ourselves and
our friends doing something we love to do and your input into the show is
important.
Keeping it rockin’,
Owen
