In junior high and high school I was in one gar(b)age band after another. We figured if we were loud enough, no one would notice that we didn't play very well. We were a staple at the community center student dances because we worked cheap (uh - free.) After we were "evicted" from practicing within city limits, we moved to a shack way, way out in the country. The subsequent suicide of various livestock was attributed to UFO's. (Sighting UFO's was a craze during high school.)
At UT there was a "fine arts elective" requirement. So - I tried to sign up for the beginning piano pass/fail class at the music department. That was the only class open to non-music department students. The problem was that they had 20 openings a semester and there were 50,000 students on campus - and I've never been lucky at lotteries.
I had previously used "credit by examination" to build hours but the music department wasn't buying that. However, one of my thermodynamic profs was also University Provost and "convinced" them to play by the university's rules. Since I was registered in computer science AND engineering, I was doubly beneath contempt in their eyes, but they (very) reluctantly gave me a passing grade in beginning piano. (The obnoxious brat had grown up to be a manipulative teenager. That might be an oxymoron.)
I spent a lot of free time at Strait Music on Lamar (they moved after getting flooded twice) hustling everyone that came in for a keyboard gig. A few of the more naive ones actually let me play in some of their bar bands. A bar band gets paid (maybe) in cheeseburgers and free drinks.
During those days, the touring "real" bands rented a lot of equipment rather than haul it from town to town. Strait was a major supplier so I became a volunteer "roadie" hauling stuff from the warehouse to wherever the bands were playing hoping to meet some of them. Mostly I met the real roadies which convinced me I didn't want to do that. I did sometimes get some free concert tickets out of the deal, so it wasn't a complete waste of time and effort.
Reeves
PS The album cover was created in Corel Draw and Corel Photo‑Paint, my graphic suite of choice. The "leather" is actually created with a fractal script.
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