| THE BIG BEAT |
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Do you remember your first band? My first group was called Umatilla Sidewalk. I was only eleven years old at the time, and all of the other members in the band were about seventeen. We played for high school dances and private parties. We took first place in a Battle of the Bands contest and also won a trip to a recording studio where I did some of my first recordings with a band. Check out -- My First Band. |
| My First Band |
Do you remember the first band you ever worked with? I was only eleven years old when I started. All of the other players in the band were about seventeen or eighteen. They were all in their last couple of years of high school, while I was only in the seventh grade. I seemed to have two different groups of friends back then. There were my musician friends. The people I hung out with and played music with, and there were my school buddies. Most of my friends had interests in the arts, we used to sit around a draw cartoons, and do little bits of theater, pretending to be this or that, we used to pretend to be radio interviewers and all kinds of different characters. We got into a lot of trouble. From time to time we'd stage fake fights just to get people worked up. We'd do anything to get people excited. Most of the time I'd just hang back and make suggestions for some of the other kids to do some kind of daring thing, and then I'd sit back and watch while the others would get into trouble with the teachers and other authority figures. I enjoyed directing things from a safe distance. I thought that was pretty cool, I had all the fun, and all the other kids had all the trouble. Yeah, I was a trouble maker, but I managed to stay out of trouble. Music saved my life on numerous occasions. |
". . . we worked real hard on our music, and were considered, at the time, to be one of the best bands in the Southern Oregon area."
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| On the music side, those friends, the older kids I hung out with, would practice, and practice, and practice. We started playing for teen night clubs, school proms, high school after game dances during the football and basketball season, and a few private parties for adults as well. I was making very good money for a young kid. Playing the music was a kick, and running with those older kids was a real education of sorts. I was exposed to all kinds of different social situations at an early age. So, we worked real hard on our music, and were considered at the time to be one of the best bands in the Southern Oregon area. In those days, one of the places we played at frequently was call the Rollerdrome. This was a skating rink that doubled as a dance hall after the skating was over. This was still way back in the late 1960's when some of the big hits were tunes like "Incense and Peppermint" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock and "Windy" by the Association, and one of my favorites, "Little Bit o' Soul" by the Music Explosion."
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I had a five piece red sparkle Pearl Drumset. This was my first kit. My parents had just separated and in an effort to help me through that crisis, my dad bought me that first drum kit, and my mom bought an electric guitar. Because my parents had split up, I was left with lots of time on my hands to practice and learn how to play. So I went back and forth between playing the guitar, and the drums. Ultimately, I spent more time playing the drums and eventually settled on that as my main instrument. |
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We had this group we called Umatilla Sidewalk. We came up with the name, just because we needed a name, and nobody knew what a Umatilla was. There is a small town in Northern Oregon, called Umatilla, I think it is some kind of Indian name, although I'm not certain. So somebody suggested the name Umatilla Sidewalk, and we kind of liked it, and it stuck. About that time, an opportunity came up to play in the local Battle of the Bands at the Rollerdrome. This was a big deal back then, there were over ten bands on two alternating stages. It was the place to be, anyone with any degree of hipness was there. And with that many bands from all over the Southern Oregon Valley, the place was rockin' . . .
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| There were so many different kinds of bands, I would learn as much as I could about what they were doing, no matter what kind of music it was.
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| We played in more than one Battle of the Bands back then. In fact we played live somewhere, anywhere, anyone would give us the chance to play. In one Battle of the Bands, we won second place. There were a lot of great groups. This is part of what gave me a love for all different kinds of music. There were so many different kinds of bands, I would learn as much as I could about what they were doing, no matter what kind of music it was. This affected my playing and made it possible to fit into just about any kind of musical situation. I had a love for all kinds of musical artforms, no matter what form the art took, I could appreciate the technical skill and the artistry needed to play any kind of music. |
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In another one of the Battle of the Bands -- this one sponsored by a local music store -- our group took first prize and won an all expenses paid trip to a recording studio. Back in those days, this was a big deal. Not like now, when your average musician has his own home recording set up. But back then, we had to travel a long way to find a good recording studio. We did some covers of some tunes that were popular at the time, I think we did some tune by The Doors, and another by Creedence Clearwater Revival. This was all quite an experience for me at the time. Remember, I was still only eleven or twelve years old while all this was going on.
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We continued on for a couple more years until some of the members reached some turning point in their lives, and then we all went through some changes. And I was on to the next band . . .
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| And the Beat goes On . . . |
| Song Writing | |
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Song Writer Jimmy Webb has been one of the most successful and popular song writers ever to influence the course of popular music. Jimmy Webb's tunes have been recorded or performed by the likes of R.E.M, Glen Campbell, Liza Minnelli, The 5th Demension, Willie Nelson, Richard Harris, Dionne Warwick, Linda Ronstadt, Tony Bennet, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Barbara Streisand, Roberta Flack, Johnny Cash, Johnny Mathis, Carly Simon, Peggy Lee, and Bob Dylan.
Jimmy Webb has literally written the book on Song Writing.
His book TUNESMITH is about as good as it gets when it comes to explaining, teaching, and showing how to carefully and artfully craft a piece magic known as the Song. He goes into great detail and depth in discussing the forms of rhyme, meter and song structure. He shows the reader how layer upon layer of emotional meaning works to form powerful and meaningful songs. The song is what its all about. TUNESMITH can be ordered directly from amazon.com |
| In Studio | |
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Brothers Chris and Will Large at work on one of Will's tunes based on the biblical story of the Prodigal Son. More new songs are still in the development stage. Will lives in the Seattle area and writes in a Hip Hop/Gospel style all his own. Chris and Will laid down some tracks to a new tune for a future release. Chris also continues to write and record. |
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Jeff T. Patterson Copyright 2008 |
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