Some of my earliest memories are dreaming of being a musician.I remember one Christmas the only thing I wanted Santa to bring me was a drum set --  no toys -- just drums.Unfortunately for my parents,  Santa came through.My career as a drummer was short-lived but music was still my passion. I told my parents that I wanted to play the first instrument that they would teach me at school.The earliest I could take an instrument was third grade and the only instrument they would teach was the violin. So I began my musical career in earnest as a violinist. I progressed through public school music programs to become the Concertmaster for both my junior and senior high school orchestras.

In junior high my love of top-forty music spawned an interest in learning guitar. My parents bought my first guitar for my birthday. Immediately I took the little money that I had and bought a Mel Bay chord book, America’s Greatest Hits and The Eagles Greatest Hits song books. I played that guitar until I wore the finger prints completely off of my left hand. Shortly after that my friend Jim Dorsey told me that he was in a band and asked if I wanted to join in. I jumped at the offer. I was finally in a band.

My experience with teaching myself to play guitar lead to my desire to learn other instruments as well. In high school I taught myself to play tenor sax and went on to play in the concert band and stage band. Learning different instruments exposed me to many different types of music.  By age 14,  I was a card carrying, dues paying member of the Baltimore Musicians Union. I was registered with the union playing violin, guitar, sax, recorder, flute and harmonica. I also loved to sing.

In high school I played and sang professionally in a wedding band, rock band and polka band. It was great to be able to make money playing music instead of pumping gas or flipping burgers. By the time I got to college the demands of school, a real job and a girlfriend left no time for music. I had to retire.

I am happily married now with two incredibly wonderful children. My wife Debbie deserves all the credit for getting the band back together. She planned a fantastic surprise party for my 40^th birthday and asked my old friends if they would consider playing for the party. When I arrived after playing golf and drinking, the band was set up on my deck and the yard was full of friends and family members.Ken Myers came up to me, wished me "Happy Birthday" and informed me that "we" were on in 30 minutes. Thank God I had been drinking because I never would have been able to get up play guitar and sing after an 18-20 year hiatus if I were sober.

Since then, the band has decided to really come out of retirement. I thank my wife for her patience and support in encouraging my musical hobby and for getting my old friends back together to play. The music is great and playing again is a lot of fun. The best thing to come out of all of this has been rekindling old friendships and making new ones. I consider myself a very fortunate person and I cite my friends as proof. Band practice has been so much fun it’s unbelievable to me how much we have accomplished learning new songs.

As far as gear, I play whatever guitars Kenny is willing to let me play and my vintage (1971) custom Univox Hi-Flier (U1802) solid body. I prefer DiMarzio Super Tuner hum bucking pickups, Di’Addario Strings and Boss Super Over Drive effects.

You can email me at Irv@MLCrisis.net