Playing in the Band

PT was, up to the last time I spoke to him, eternally enthusiastic and supportive of independent music, including mine. Other than my own parents, Terry and Susan were the two "grown ups" that most helped foster my love of playing music and, at one point, actually physically helping me out. When I was 13, I had saved up about $400 (adjusted for inflation, that's about $73,000), and I was planning on getting a new guitar, or at least new to me. I had looked high and low around Placerville and Sacramento, and in those pre-internet days it was word-of-mouth on where good deals were to be had. I had mentioned this to PT and he didn't hesitate with a response (paraphrasing, but something like: "Tall Toad Music in Petaluma is one of the best music stores around, and maybe the best second-hand guitar shop in Norther California." Not only that, but he drove me, all 13 years of obnoxious angst, all the way up to Sonoma and sat while we tried dozens of guitars. He explained a lot of history around particular guitars, what made them interesting, and most importantly, who he'd seen use them. Hearing people wax nostalgic about their past isn't always my favorite, but PT had stories about bands he saw in the Bay while it was still reeeeallly boho. So we're sitting in a random shop in Petaluma, and he's telling me about the Dead, Country Joe, I think Big Brother and Holding Company, among folkies and blues dudes, and of course KPIG. Always KPIG. Then one of us spotted an early 70s Gibson L6-S (a bizzarro beast of a guitar), and PT and I noodled for a long time on it. I ended up buying it for $360 after PT talked the dudes down like $20 because it my first "real guitar." Terry and Susan always love to talk music, and PT and Nick made the arduous trek to Sacramento to see my crappy band play to 4 people many times, and I went to see Dan's band with him a few times in Oakland (the weird Fascist rock motif is a bit too close to home now, Dan).

I still have the guitar, and it was my primary electric for almost 25 years. It's still a million pounds and still reminds me of PT.