Lori's Page!
In the winter of my freshman year in college at about 2 a.m. in a tiny newspaper office, I became smitten by the idea that I could play rock-and-roll in a band. OK, I already had been a music geek for years, but only in private. I loved playing piano and guitar – everything from Bach to the Beatles. But very few people knew this or cared.
I was an assistant editor, having been conned into the position under the pretense that the job no one else wanted would be fun. Why else stay up proofing copy and writing photo captions when the rest of the school was out partying? Or sleeping – which I’m told the smarter folks did.
Our advisor, a man maybe ten years older than we were, surprised us by dropping by to see how that week’s edition was coming along. He said he had just finished band practice with the guys and was on his way home when he realized we'd probably still be working at the paper.
Woah! He said "Band Practice."
Not concert band. Not marching band. Not symphonic band. Not the school’s jazz band. He was talking about rock-and-roll! He'd just spent his evening drumming INXS, Tears for Fears, Genesis, The Doobie Brothers, the Beatles and who knows what else, and no one even asked where he’d be playing next.
Having had studied guitar a few years with teaching maestro Jim Stevens, I knew something about rock chord progressions and improvising. I knew I could play these same songs. But I had two hurdles to jump. One, they already had two guitar players, both very good. Two, I was a girl. What would my parents think if I started consorting with a bunch of loud music makers at all hours of the night? Somehow, it seemed acceptable to tell them I was up till dawn working on the newspaper, but playing in a band that hung out in bars? No way. Besides, I didn't have nearly enough money to buy a keyboard, stand, pedal, mic or any of the other stuff that went along with playing in a band.
But I didn’t let that completely deter me. Over the next few weeks, I kept asking what songs his band was working on, and then I'd sneak away, write all the lyrics with the chord progressions above the words and figured out as much as I could on the piano. Then, one day, our advisor mentioned that their lack of a keyboard was a problem when they wanted to play a lot of ‘80s music, which was heavy on synth sounds.
A cue from the gods!
I told him I played, but alas, without a keyboard, I guess I wasn't able to help. A week later, he told me that the guys had chipped in to rent a keyboard for a weekend. Would I be interested in trying to play a few songs?
Was he kidding? I went. I played. I applied for a credit card the next day. And about a month later, I owned a Korg DW8000. No case, no stand, no mic, no MIDI. But it was a start. I spent all summer at school, working to pay off my keyboard – and sneak away to band practice – and as soon as I owned the board, I did it again. I bought a Kawai K1, an Invisible stand and all the bells and whistles that went with owning a keyboard.
I played with these guys for the next several years. Our members changed and came back from time to time. But we had a blast. We were called "In the Shade," "Word of Mouth," "Section 8" and a bunch of other, shorter-lived names.
My parents, who found out when the music store called their house to check on my billing address, nearly had a heart attack when they found out. My mom called me at school, wondering what a Korg was and why I had bought one. She came around a few months later when we played at the Randloph Fair and she, my dad and my brother came to hear us. They didn't ask us for autographs, but they did get a gig list and showed up at several other places to hear us, including bars in Willoughby Hills, the Flats and in Akron. Heck, sometimes they were the only people in the audience.
I have no idea why more girls don't play in rock bands. Working with a group of musicians, especially away from an academic setting (I played for and sang in my college's choir and studied classical piano for four years), is probably one of the most empowering things anyone can do. It requires planning, cooperation, art, sales, marketing and a bunch of stuff that's not formally taught in any class - business or music. It's not always deemed acceptable for girls. And chances are, if she's got enough sense to be able to figure out Genesis solos, then she should have enough sense to do something "more constructive" with her time. At least, that's the only guess I can make.
I did make a little money playing, but truth be told, not enough to cover the cost of my equipment. But I look at it this way: playing was my recreation, my joy, the source of most of my best memories from that era in my life. I'd do it all again.
These days, I'm a mom myself. I have four kids – three girls. And I'm giving them every opportunity to play. I don't know if the day will ever come when one tells me she wants to play in a rock band. But if she does, I'll be in her audience. That is, if I’m not on stage with her. ;-)
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Yes, she still looks exactly
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