First Bass Pics? How U Got Here Part II

[tiffles]

ye gads! and it doesnt make it any better when every one COPIES it when the quote him...

 

[SteveB]

Thanks Chuck.. I had just recovered sufficiently from the last posting of that picture, to the point where I was finally able to hold down my lunch... no more.

 

[AnthonyD]

Awesome!

Ohhh... Great idea Ken!




Breaking out 25+ year old photos and firing up the scanner as I type this!

 

[Mobay45]

It's a good thing that Chuck already gave himself the "Psycho" name.

I don't know what we would have called him, but that's certainly appropriate.

 

[AnthonyD]

Here's Me!

Probably the first photo with me as a bassist playing my Royce SG! Picked it up a few months earlier at Bath Music in Brooklyn. The guitarist is my Cousin Michael playing his Segovia. Same guy who fronts my current band. We were playing "Rock Around the Clock". Staten Island, NY - Summer of 1977

This is one of many "photo shoot" pics prepping for an JHS "Kissamania" performance (we lip synched to Alive II). That band continued for a few years (hence my moving to a Gibson Grabber) and during one of our early "we're not lip-synching anymore" shows Mike smashes the previously pictured Segovia. Brooklyn, NY - Fall of 1977

Here's my non-Kissamania band rehearsing in a studio. The guitarist is my JHS buddy Marc and his Hondo (?) Les Paul. Brooklyn, NY - Spring of 1978

Ah, the fond memories of my youth...

 

[Alvabass]

This is one of many "photo shoot" pics prepping for an JHS "Kissamania" performance (we lip synched to Alive II). That band continued for a few years (hence my moving to a Gibson Grabber) and during one of our early "we're not lip-synching anymore" shows Mike smashes the previously pictured Segovia. Brooklyn, NY - Fall of 1977

Aahh... Kiss. I was a huge fan of them when I was in high school (still a completist of their music) but never thought of playing an instrument seriously at the time. Everybody knew me as the "Kiss boy". All of my notebooks' last page were full of drawings of their makeup characters and the Kiss logo. I even painted some friends' faces for a lip-sync contest (they did "Detroit Rock City" with my copy of the "Alive II" LP). They used white shoe cream and black oil paint (the one used for painting on canvas). After they removed the makeup, their skins were burnt because of that.

Yeah, so many fond memories.

 

[AnthonyD]

You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best...

Yep - You and me Alvabass!

Gene was the guy that got me playing the bass in the first place. Here's my cousin and I again in the Summer of 1981, Brooklyn, NY.

Note the Dimarzio Model One pup I installed, and my cousin's "we customized it in Steve's garage with a jigsaw" third pup in the guitar.

Just a couple of yo-yos, eh!?

 

[SteveB]

Anthony,

I didn't know that you were a cousin of Ralph Macchio!

 

[Alvabass]

Very cool, Anthony. Rock on!

 

[Moondog]

Awesome pics Anthony, that's good stuff!
- you even have the tongue!

I have to also thank Gene for making
me ask for a bass for Christmas. Me
and 3 friends wanted to be just like
Kiss so we picked who we wanted
to be and filled out our Christmas
list. Although we didn't look the
part, we played "Rockin in the USA"
at least twice for our grade school
when we were in 7th grade:

 

[Joe Nerve]

Anthony - great pics! I was doing the same stuff somewhere else in Brooklyn at just about the same time. If I can find and scan some pictures I will. Also bought my share of stuff at Bath Music, even though I hated the place. Mom used to ALWAYS try to sell me what I DIDN'T want. ie., ME: "Do you have any Musicman basses?" MOM: "You don't want a MM bass. Try one of these Hondos I have here, you're going to love it." And then she'd shove meatballs in my mouth or something else that she was cooking.

Earliest pic I have at the moment has no bass in it. That's me on the gold sparkle drums, and my brother on the Emenee guitar. He beat me up soon after that and took over the drums, I think that's actually the last time I ever sat behind them. Year is about 1966. God I'm so old.

 

[AnthonyD]

...Also bought my share of stuff at Bath Music, even though I hated the place. Mom used to ALWAYS try to sell me what I DIDN'T want. ie., ME: "Do you have any Musicman basses?" MOM: "You don't want a MM bass. Try one of these Hondos I have here, you're going to love it." And then she'd shove meatballs in my mouth or something else that she was cooking...

That's hysterical - 'cause that's Mom! I certainly didn't go in there looking for a "Royce" but SHE knew that was the one I was gonna buy.

I mentioned Bath Music hoping it would ring a bell for someone. Tiny Mom & Pop store-front. One big room, always a bit too dark for me. It was always packed with stuff - on the wals, on the shelves, on the floor - piled high and over-flowing. And you'd always have to climb over things...

Mom's kitchen was in the back. She'd pinch your cheeks, feed you and be all sweet with you, but she'd sell a Chevy to a blind man if she could make a buck!
I drive by when I visit my Grandparents (the last of my folks in Brooklyn) - been planning to stop in with my son to show him where it all started for me.

I am sure if you know Bath Music, you know Maggio Music, too! Maggio's is the place I referenced in another thread where they kept the Sting Rays in the glass display cases!

Back on Topic:

Ken - love the school concert shot - I have some just like it and can't wait 'til it's my son up there (maybe next year in middle school!).

Joe - great shot of you and your brother. He did you a favor - I played drums for a while and was pretty damn good too, but I hated being behind the kit and so "disconnected" from the party that was going on front-stage. Bass baby - that's where it's at!

 

[oddjob]

My first trip into the studio. Phantom bass (stock zebra stripes the babe is a cut out of a Playboy cover) modified with a Khaler tremlo and SDuncan pick ups). It was not the bass my dad and I went in to get (that honor belongs to a blue Ampeg) but it was cheap and I liked the looks. Within 6 months I learned the fine art of modding basses (adding the trem first and then the pickups about 6 months after that - it's hipshot didn't show for another few years - but at one point I did have all black hardware on it (except the bridge)).

Despite its looks it actually plays pretty good and sounds wonderful. I still have it and would never sell it (even though the white has yellowed a bit )

 

[AnthonyD]

...I still have it and would never sell it...

I let my first go and regret it now... I have a running eBay search with notification for "Royce Bass" in the hopes of finding one just like the one I started on. Just want it hanging on the wall.

Important to know where you came from!

 

[oddjob]

I let my first go and regret it now... I have a running eBay search with notification for "Royce Bass" in the hopes of finding one just like the one I started on. Just want it hanging on the wall.

Important to know where you came from!

That it is... hey, the zebra bass still actually gigs every now and then too!

 

[Joe Nerve]

I am sure if you know Bath Music, you know Maggio Music, too! Maggio's is the place I referenced in another thread where they kept the Sting Rays in the glass display cases!

Maggio's is my place. That's where I actually bought my first real instrument, a Farfisa Mini Matador keyboard. Been doing business with Mike senior and Junior all my life. The son does great work on amps and guitars and his fixin prices are really reasonable. The old man can get grumpy at times but he's funny as crap. They always gave me the most awesome deals on gear, and I don't think they ever once charged me tax.

I know I'm waay off topic but I just wanna add that while I was in HS, my drummer (the guy who wound up killing his girlfriend's lover, father, and then himself last year) and I used to cut out of school and go down Maggio's basement to recover drums for $5 a drum. Great mindless job and Maggio seemed to have an endless supply of beat up drum shells. We'd take off the hardware, strip the drums, and recover them with contact sort of paper. Ahhh... memories.... got lots of memories about Bath Music also. I'd be taking up too much space though. I wanna find some of my Kiss makeup pics, scan them, and get back on topic.

Yeah - my old drummer really did that too.