Early days and Gospel Music.

My first band...it was fun and oh so naive. the year 1974,Fairbanks Alaska,,,the heart of the Jesus People Movement in the Heart of the Interior...read and enjoy...leave a comment!
"The Good Shepherd Band"
As time would have it there were some changes in the "One Way In".I continued to attend sunday services at the Assembly of God but friday nights and any other free time I had I hung out at the One Way in. The original founder ran off with this single gal that had come up with them...the jack weed left a poor woman broken hearted with two sweet babies alone to fend for her self...I could never figure how you could call yourself a Christian and do something like that. I would learn in time the concept of "sheep and wolves" "chaff and wheat"...the ministry was briefly in the hands of one military guy then shifted to an ex-Assembly of God minister from the back woods of Arkansas who could preach the paint off a wall.
This fella had a couple kids one being a guy named Monte. A prize winning school athlete who had gotten miraclessly paralyzed healed from an injury that had left nearly paralyzed . Like his daddy he could preach holy ghost fire as well. He and I became good friends and have remained so thru out the up and down times of our lives. Monte has this gift, a genuine gift of encouragement. You could find yourself neck deep in a cess pool with the guy and he would turn,look at you and say thru poo splattered lips.."Ain't Jesus GOOD!!!".
By this time I had a nice Christian girl friend,been singing in the school choir and playing bass in the school band. My poo colored Silvertone had been long replaced by a couple of up grades and I was at that time sporting a "Copy Cat" copy of a vintage Fender Tele bass. I had finally gotten an amp. This squat boxy off brand called of all things an "Olsen" seemed to fit. I think I paid 50 bucks for it at the local music store. Monte and I formed a band of sorts. He on guitar and vocals,his new wife on vocals and tambourine and this lanky banjo guy..odd as usual for me. Also at this time I had finally bought my first acoustic guitar. Another copy of an American instrument. A Yamaki. Jap copy of a Martin. I was literally playing the frets off it. I never went anywhere without that guitar...you'd see me you'd see the guitar..."There goes Steve and his guitar"...I had two friends that hung around the half way house that played far better than me and one night I sorta crossed over...this may seem trivial but it was a turning point for me. Being a bass player i had memorized the notes on the fret board,and knowing how to play chords ment I could easily follow along with anyone as long as I could watch their hand make the chords. This also led me to begin to develope my lead guitar playing...they would strum an E chord I would noodle around some e notes. Unknown to me at the time was I was really playing an abridged version of a blues scale. Except when I tried to make the run above the high g string to the b string it sounded terrible....and frustrating. Then one night watching my two friends jam out on the porch I notice my buddy was doing a similar run except when he came to that stupid string he moved his fingers up one fret....one fret...sounded cool...bluesy I went straight way to my guitar and tried the same thing with the same results...and off I went..doing that riff up and down the neck..Clapton be Dammed!!!!!!
I spent most of that year playing with Monte and it was FUN. Yeah it was alot of the KJNP stuff..southern Gospel...but it was still fun...something I found out,sometimes "playing a song" can be alot more fun than "listening to a song"......what most people miss and what most of us musicians thrive on is this...as intense your emotions are listening to great music and being caught up in it's magic...it intensifies ten fold when you are in the act of creating the music...there are hardly words to describe it...loud,soft heavy and light all at the same time...and just plain EXPLOSIVE! One other thing I recall even though the Good Shepard Band never made a dime..good full gospel people ALWAYS, fed us well! They don't call it "Full Gospel" for nothing!
Just prior to my debut with the band another point of turning had taken place. As I said by I had a nice sweet Christian girlfriend.In fact it was interesting when I first started dating her I would come over and hang out I was exposed for the first time in my life to what you could call"a normal" family. I would come over at dinner they would pray over the food...talk about their day..her Dad would sit in his easy chair reading a book as we watched tv....no drinking,no fighting,no plates or dishes flying around. No coming home to find my Dad passed out on the floor....A good Christian family...as close to "Leave it to Beaver" as I had ever seen. My Gypsy construction working Dad had moved us to Anchorage at the midway thru my sophomore year. This had put a serious hurting on my love life with my high school sweetie. And I really hated the school..But an interesting side note that would play out in my near future.While I was attending West High each year they had a state wide music fest. Bands and Choirs would come from all over the State and perform. This use to be competition until one band beat everyone so many times that they did away with the competition part...the Lathrup Malemute Concert Band...led by the band teacher one Mr Bob Boko. a band I would find my self in a year later...with out even trying to or having to audition for(there weren't to many bass players around in those days) I had come to see my girlfriend sing in the choir. a mixed show choirs and bands...come on school bands ? how white bread can you get..so I sat thru a day of dip-shit school bands playing Sousa marches and medley's of the Carpenters songs ...until the curtains parted and there sat an 80 piece orchestra dressed in purple and gold..with the band logo displayed on the side of the stage in gold as well...they started to play and the performance and choice of music was SO striking I could see clearly why they routinely trounced the state bands.
I came back that summer to see my girlfriend and unbeknownst to me she,her mom and Granny had a sit down over me. Granny lived just down the street my girlfriends mom and her were best friends. They made a deal for Granny to rent me a room dirt cheap. I had been working at the local McDonald's so I could pay the nominal fee Granny charged me..I'd live off Big Mac's and dinner with my girlfriend..so I found myself at 17 moved out...in all those years since I only returned home twice...once to care for my ill mom and again many,many years later at the break up of my second marriage...both times I didn't stay long. So I entered my 11th grade year an "independent grown up" today that may be normal but not back then...I would finish my last two years in high school working full time and living on my own...the stage was set for a moment that would forever change my life...the CALL....