New Column: Steven J. Athanas – Paid to be a musical fool
There’s a scene in Godfather III in which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is in the kitchen of his home, strategizing with some of his henchmen. He’s had it with all of the killing, deceiving and nastiness of the Cosa Nostra family business, and he’s trying to distance himself from it all.
He’s stressed, big time. With anger, grief and no small amount of resignation, he leans on the kitchen counter, and says, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,” gritting his teeth, with consistent peals of thunder rumbling ominously in the background.
Now, please don’t get me wrong, I would’ve been nothing in this life without my years – nay, decades, in rock’n’roll. But some 27+ years after “retirement” and the demise of The Homewreckers, I’m still asked to dip my toes again.
When I succumb, it’s rarely a bad thing. The recent Loved By Millions Reunion Concert, which I was the frontman, at Toledo School for the Arts was fun beyond all my wildest expectations. Seeing all of my former bandmates was so exhilarating! So much so that we’re talking about doing it again next summer (God willin’ and the creek don’t rise).
And there have been other impromptu musical gatherings. But I’ll confess: it ain’t as easy as it once was. Whereas I used to be able to jump up on stage and let loose, my vocal cords these days take a little simmering, some time to warm-up. It’s also not as easy to jump around, climb on top of speaker columns or bars, or make a doofus of myself. Whodda thunk?
Along comes TFP 2.0. When I first heard about the original TFP back in the 90s, I contacted them. Michael Miller, the former editor in chief, was gracious enough to run my one-panel cartoons back in the day. Seeing as how my visual art is my passion these days, I approached the current regime, Lori King, to gauge any interest, and again, to my surprise, was received warmly and enthusiastically.
Imagine my surprise, when in addition to the one-panels, and because of my past musical endeavors, there was interest from Lori to do a monthly column, regurgitating the debauchery and chicanery that went on in an attempt to be a rock star from my big-fish-small-pond days.
Believe me, after five+ decades playing in local bands, there are gobs of tales! From Jell-o (my first band) to the aforementioned Homewreckers, there are many a tale. Some may be edited by the censors, some I may have to remind myself of, and some (hopefully) you will recall having been there with me.
Let’s do this!
