BIO
My Musical Journey
It began in the summer of 1966.
My mom enrolled me in a beginning guitar class at the San Lorenzo Music Center, in the little village of San Lorenzo, California. After attending group lessons, I took private lessons for six months - long enough to learn how to play the songs I was hearing on the radio.
Like other kids in the mid 60s, I wanted to be in a band like The Beatles, or The Kinks, or The Who, or The Yardbirds, or… (the list goes on forever). With my cherry red Fender Mustang electric guitar strapped over my shoulder and a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp in tow, I helped start a band with 3 other Arroyo High School classmates called Postscript. We played all the popular songs of the day like Wipe-out, Tequila, House of the Rising Sun, and of course - Louie, Louie.
By 1967, the psychedelic and hard rock music scenes were in high gear. Living in the Bay Area, I was lucky enough to get to The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco regularly to see some great shows (at $5 a show, with Bill Graham at the top of the stairs taking the tickets!) That year, I helped start a band called Albatross Landing, playing lead guitar and singing hard rock covers and original music. We played gigs at high schools, teen clubs, and parties. We also produced a strong 3rd Place finish at the 1968 Hayward Area Recreation Department Battle of the Bands. And oh yeah… we even scored a small write up in the book – Garage Bands From the 60s, Then and Now .
By fall 1969, I was at Cal Poly, working towards an electronic engineering degree. I swapped my electric guitar and distortion pedal for a Yamaha 12-string acoustic guitar and formed the folk group Nooky Boone. Now, I was performing songs by Dylan, The Byrds, James Taylor, etc. We played at coffee houses in the area; our big night was opening up for Charlie Byrd at Cal Poly. (I’ve never played before an audience that big - before or after!)
After graduating from university and marrying my college sweetheart, my musical hobby came to a halt as family and work took over my free time. It wasn’t until the mid 90s when my middle son asked me to teach him how to play some songs on the guitar, that my journey continued. I dusted off the Mustang, got him started, and he went off to form his own band. With the musical spark re-ignited in me, I started going over some of the songs I’d played decades before. They came back immediately.
Fast forward to around 2006, when a co-worker and I found out we both played in bands when we were younger – he in the UK and me in the US – and we decided to form a “geezer” rock band. The band, Fossil Farm, started out playing all our favorites from when we were younger – Beatles, Stones, Kinks, CCR, Status Quo, and moved on to Beach Boys, Moody Blues, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, and Queen. During this time, I also started playing ukulele in some of the songs. By the way, my favorite gig during my 14 years with Fossil Farm was playing at Lupin Lodge, a nudist colony in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Best Gig Ever! :)
By 2019, my wife decided she had had enough of the hot weather, terrible traffic, and humongous crowds in the South Bay and said she’d like to move to Bainbridge Island, Washington, for a slower paced, cooler temperature life. So, in August of that year, we loaded up the SUVs and headed toward the Salish Sea. The break with Fossil Farm was painful – I was now just an old geezer guitar player without a band. It took a while, but I started making connections with some of the many talented musicians on the island. I was able to start some new bands to play the island winery, brewery, and community festival scene. During this time, I also began performing on Virtual Open Mics in the US and UK on the internet. I still perform on a couple – Music Matters Showcase and Open Mic America.
In 2023, I co-founded The Harmony Wombats (www.theharmonywombats.com), the main band that I now perform in. I also perform in a side project, The Melody Meerkats (www.themelodymeerkats.com), to fill in when the Wombats are on hiatus during the winter. Both bands have an eclectic set list, including songs from classic rock, alt rock, folk, folk rock, bluegrass, and country artists. I’ve also added the mandolin to my stringed instrument arsenal to complete the sound.
I can never thank my parents enough for giving me the gift of guitar lessons. It was, and still is, a priceless gift.
Rock on!
Rich