Elton John and Richard Nixon

Today, January 12, 2014, my buddy Fred was over. We were talking about our ringing ears. We were reminiscing about 1974, when Rock and Roll died - as far as my friends and I were concerned. This new "Soft Rock" was all over the FM radio. We used to think AM radio was for the cuter top ten and the FM night time album cuts were for us hard rockers. It seemed like an overnight catastrophe, suddenly "Rock" stars were popping up on magazine covers and TV show interviews. And we blamed it all on Elton John.
I was sixteen with a driver's license, a station wagon full of drums and a bad attitude. We practiced twice a week in a basement and an empty metal shop. Brick walls and cement floors. On Fridays we were off to some high school dance. I always placed my homemade monitor box speaker 3 feet from my left ear. All the guitars, the bass, and the singing were pumped so loud at me I could only hear my snare drum rim shots. The volume was deafening. No bass drum or cymbal crashes were heard, even by me sitting amongst the drum set.
1974 was a fun year. We went to a lot of concerts. Aerosmith, Humble Pie, J. Geils Band, Queen, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Uriah Heep, Joe Walsh, Savoy Brown, The Who, a new Canadian band called Rush which everyone thought was a stupid name, and countless warm up bands, not to mention a weekly onslaught of Cream wanna-be local bands at a dance or wedding reception. Yup, the classic rock bands were there for 5 and not more than 7 bucks a ticket. Ever see an "O.D. Tent?" A big tent with about 50 cots was always standing outside the concert. After the concert the tent would always be full. I wonder if those druggies have tinnitus like me. Most of their time was spent outside with cute girls wearing red cross arm bands feeding them orange juice.
The neighborhood dads didn't know exactly what to think of our brand of music but always had 5 words of wisdom for us, "You're going to go deaf." We wouldn't go deaf. That was something old people said.
I was in history class sleepily watching news about Watergate. Nixon this and Nixon that. The whole world was sick of hearing about it. It seemed Elton John and Richard Nixon were going to drive us all totally nuts. No more TV shows, only news, and no more rock music, only crooning. Thank God the early 70's hard rock was there to save us.
Drawing pictures of guitars and drums and amplifiers on the back of my history papers was my favorite way to pass time in that horribly boring class. I'll always remember looking at the clock, it was 10:10 am. You remember things like this. I heard a sound that I thought was coming from the TV. After a few twists of my head, I realized the sound was in me. I didn't know what tinnitus was. But I knew the loud music was changing me. I didn't like it. That was the end of Rock and Roll for me. Around 1980 after the ringing settled down to a hiss I went acoustic. But for the record, it wasn't John Denver or the Carpenters. Although I think I would have been safer with them.

 

B-3 with an attitude got me.....either that or a bank of Peaveys at shoulder height and a really, really good harp player that was wailing away. One or the other or both....I was standing in the "kill zone" and came out of that session with the usual head full of cotton that would always go away in a day or so.

It did.

The dentist drill in my right ear however....has been hanging in every since; and just like that blues harp player...only knows one key.<G

The B-3 was/is me and I was having a grand ol' time making that Leslie howl along with the harp by turning those spinning horns and holding a long high note in the upper register. Anyhow...it does happen.

I play in big jazz bands now...almost always on piano format in keyboard (or acoustic piano) for jobs. I've gotten to the point in the last year that whenever we have a stage show with a grand piano on the floor (that's too big to go on the stage...or even lifted onto the stage), or the staging set up puts me in front of the orchestra (18 pieces)....it's not unlike playing an old IBM Selectric....my fingers are moving along with the chart; but every so often it would be nice to actually hear the piano to be sure I'm in the right measure...or even the same chart as everybody else.<G The sound goes up and around...but not back to me (especially with the music stand up and holding charts...further blocking the sound board & strings)....and to top it off, I've got 17 others pieces blaring away in my general direction.

Sooner or later I'm either going to need a mic & monitor just for those gigs on the job's piano....or always wheel in my junky ol' Yamaha S88 that is about 15 years old now....and no action left in the keys, but allows me to tag right into a channel with a small Orange Crate so I can tell I'm at the right spot.

OD Tents.<G If you needed Thorazine...that was the place to be.<G

 

I used to stand in the kill zone too. The singer/harp player had his amp right up even with my head. Many nights he'd blast a note and knock me dizzy. He played into one of those middy bullet mics. Ouch.