Back in 1974 or so, I found out Tommy was playing electric guitar. I started playing bass a year or so earlier. Tommy was playing drums at the school band at Providence Middle School. I found out he had was in a rock band,playing electric guitar and asked if I could play bass with his band. He kindly said I could play in his band. We met at Evan Davies's house, who played drums. He taught me some Cream songs and 2 songs he had made up. One was a song with vocals called the Cookie Song and another was an instrumental tune he cooked up. We continued praticing together and added a friend of his, Danny Lancaster, on guitar. Later, at Manchester, Tommy continued with the drums, but his main instrument was the guitar. He and I joined the Stage Band at MHS with Evan on drums. The following year, Hal Kelly joined on drums. Hal, Tommy and I would jam rock and roll during "activities" period in the MHS band room. Tommy loved playing pranks and decided to play one on Hal. Back then, guitar and bass amps had a polarity switch on them to ground the amp to reduce hum and prevent electrical shock. He decided he wanted to shock Hal and said,"Bryan, switch the polarity on your amp, and I'll switch mine. You touch Hal with your right hand and your bass with your left. I'll touch Hal with my left hand and my guitar with my right hand." We created a circuit, and gave Hal an electrical shock, and he fell backwards off the drum stool onto the floor, resulting in a big laugh all around.
One or two weeks before Tommy died, he invited me to his apartment in Ashland for a jam session. He was manager at Harmony Hut at the time. The two of us jammed for 2 hours or so on some good ol' rock and roll. I will never forget him. At one point, after he died, I got a blonde colored Fender bass, the same color as his Fender Telecaster guitar. We had some great times playing in the MHS stage band.
Bryan Henderson
Back in 1974 or so, I found out Tommy was playing electric guitar. I started playing bass a year or so earlier. Tommy was playing drums at the school band at Providence Middle School. I found out he had was in a rock band,playing electric guitar and asked if I could play bass with his band. He kindly said I could play in his band. We met at Evan Davies's house, who played drums. He taught me some Cream songs and 2 songs he had made up. One was a song with vocals called the Cookie Song and another was an instrumental tune he cooked up. We continued praticing together and added a friend of his, Danny Lancaster, on guitar. Later, at Manchester, Tommy continued with the drums, but his main instrument was the guitar. He and I joined the Stage Band at MHS with Evan on drums. The following year, Hal Kelly joined on drums. Hal, Tommy and I would jam rock and roll during "activities" period in the MHS band room. Tommy loved playing pranks and decided to play one on Hal. Back then, guitar and bass amps had a polarity switch on them to ground the amp to reduce hum and prevent electrical shock. He decided he wanted to shock Hal and said,"Bryan, switch the polarity on your amp, and I'll switch mine. You touch Hal with your right hand and your bass with your left. I'll touch Hal with my left hand and my guitar with my right hand." We created a circuit, and gave Hal an electrical shock, and he fell backwards off the drum stool onto the floor, resulting in a big laugh all around.
One or two weeks before Tommy died, he invited me to his apartment in Ashland for a jam session. He was manager at Harmony Hut at the time. The two of us jammed for 2 hours or so on some good ol' rock and roll. I will never forget him. At one point, after he died, I got a blonde colored Fender bass, the same color as his Fender Telecaster guitar. We had some great times playing in the MHS stage band.