Brian and Lumpy; Michigan Rock and Rollers!!
When you’re bouncing around the country in a rock and roll band or I should say ricocheting around the county you end up in places you’ve never been before and meet people who will remain part of the memory you keep forever of your vagabond traveling days. I did it for a few years with my musical friends and to this day it’s amazing how many memories we talk about, even those different memories of the same events. The memories are mostly character driven and two of the more interesting characters we met in Michigan are coming right up next!
Like the old 1950’s hit song by the Teddy Bears “To know him is to love him”, Brian and Lumpy were the kind of guys that we traveling rock and rollers loved! Now we weren’t the kind of band that had deluxe accommodations or tour buses, we were a van band. We crammed all of our stuff into two vans. Most of the motels we stayed in were efficiency units with a kitchen unit so we could save a bit of cash and cook our own food.
Most of the times we played rock clubs six nights a week. We’d play a week in one place, the next week somewhere else. Nope, no high flying rockers here, just guys on the road wishing for the best! One thing about being a traveling bar band was that we usually had enough time at each job to get to know people and the place.
One night jobs don’t allow for that; no time to hang out, just do the show, pack up and go. Bar bands; turn the stuff off at night grab your instruments and head for the restaurant or coffee shop or hangout that was open at 2:30 am!