MEMORIES OF LEROY SILVA

Leroy Silva lived in an area of San Leandro we called Oakie (spelling?) Hill. When I first met him, I was about 19 years old. He was in a band either called Oakland or Skin Tight. I know Skin Tight was also a song they did. I know the chords and it’s a great song to do at a jam night. The band consisted of: Dave Meniketti from Y&T (this was during the two Daves era), Arthur J. Finney on bass, Dwayne Parker (died of a heart attack) on rhythm guitar, and Leroy Silva on drums. He was the first double bass drummer I had ever seen, and sitting behind him, like I did at all the practices was a treat. Back then when we were all kids at 19 and 20, he amazed me….a short guy with long hair that was an absolute monster on drums. After a number of gigs, Dave left and went into the original lineup of Yesterday and Today…a trio consisting of Dave on guitar, Bob Gardner on bass, and Leonard Haze on drums. Dave always got great drummers and it is interesting the first two were Leonard / Leroy.

Most people that knew Leroy Silva in the later years knew him as the blues guitarist, Leroy Brown, because Lee (those of us close could call him that) was a gifted musician. I knew him as a drummer because we played together in 3 bands. He would just sit there and grin at you while blowing you away with his abilities. While most drummers played drums to the music, Leroy played music with his drums. I called him a percussionist, because he was more than a drummer. His style was like jazz, funk, and rock blended together with a very progressive attitude. If I could use only one word to describe Lee’s drumming it would be “flowing”. Leroy was like a liquid drummer who flowed over the musical terrain of a song. And his fills, licks, and solos were outstanding. You’d tell him what a great job he did and he’d look at you and shrug as if to say “ain’t that what it’s supposed to be”? He liked Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and while you could hear the influence, but Lee was unique with his own style. If I remember most of his learning was self-taught, which is why there was some much heart in his playing…a natural no doubt in my mind.

During our wilder days, I used to do spins and steps that would put me behind Lee and we’d get crazy back to back, leaning on one another. We had fun and he always seemed to know exactly, if not better what drum work needed to be on each song. On stage there was definitely a link between us….rhythm guitar and drums always seemed to lock in together. We were like brothers on and off the stage, which is why we were in three bands together.

To show you the kind of person Leroy was, I was on the verge of being homeless, and he took me in. He shared his house with me in the San Leandro Marina area, with his wife, Sandy (sadly they later divorced), his daughter, Gwen, and his son Stephen. One thing his wife made that was interesting was biscuits and chocolate gravy. His children were precious and I looked at them as part of my family. On one occasion, we took a walk around Lake Chabot and I have pictures of Stephen holding hands with my youngest daughter, Sara. In another picture are all the kids at Christmas time, with all these cool wood carvings, done by Lee’s dad. Lee’s dad was totally gifted when it came to wood. He did these cool little wood figures with paddleboards that they would dance on. There was and probably is a lot of talent in the Silva family…I’m not sure what Gwen and Stephen have explored…but I believe the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

After the bands, Lee and I would run into each other at jam nights or jam up at the old house on Oakie Hill and it was always good. I remember when he announced to me, he was going to start playing guitar. That tripped me out, because why would such a great drummer/percussionist change instruments and start all over? He bought a SRV (Stevie Ray) Strat and Fender half stack and started attacking the blues….He got good enough for me to notice and for a number of others to recognize him as an accomplished blues guitarist.

I moved out to Manteca, CA and heard through the grapevine that Lee had cancer of the tongue. I remember calling him and calling him, but due to chemo and how much it takes out of you, his mother buffered my calls. I was able to talk with him later as his health had dramatically improved. We talked one more time before he left the Oakie Hill address and it was a great conversation. We talked about music, church, and health. It sounded like the same old Lee I knew. He moved to the Dublin/Pleasanton area and I had no way to contact him, and because I moved and not many people knew how to contact me. Recently another old friend contacted me for the first time in 15+ years and in his email told me of Lee’s passing. What saddens me is that no one let me know and that I didn’t get the opportunity to spend some time with him before he passed. GOD is good and when I called the number I was given, spoke with Lee’s daughter Gwen, now all grown up and a mom herself. I did tell her I knew where her dad went, as a brother in the Lord, and with GOD’s grace, we’ll do some playing in heaven…unfortunately I will have to miss him here and wait until I get there.

Because of the places I play, churches, coffee shops, and where I live which is not far from Gwen and her family (the Kevins)

EUPHORIA GIGS

As I said in the last blog, Curtis would pull out his phone books and call everyone. This was Skyline High in 1975. There was a senior that I saw a number of our gigs. We never talked and I don’t know why. I was never full of myself and didn’t really put on airs about who I “thought” I was (I‘ll share an example of that in one of the memorable gigs). Years later someone showed me his picture with his name, and of course I remember seeing Tom Hanks at our gigs. Whether he remembers Euphoria is a different story…maybe I’ll get to ask him one day.

In 1975, some of the seniors at Skyline didn’t approve of the bands for the school’s senior ball…so these people got together and formulated the Skyline High Senior Toast which became a tradition for a few years (I played two of them). This first one was at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall in Berkeley, CA. The opening act was Mile High (later 415 and part of the Eric Martin Band). We were second bill, and the headliner was a band called Mainstream. Second Bill proved to be a great spot for us. Up until this time, I was the reluctant guitarist, scared to death on stage. But the 500+ audience recognized me from all the playing I had done for them on a more intimate level in the parks one on one as I practiced (7days a week,10 hours a day…I was dedicated). The crowd went crazy and so did I, thus the birth of Krazy Dave. The crowd roared from the beginning, and I was changed that day from mouse to manic!!! Everything we played was golden that day. They ran out of alcohol and asked us to announce they were taking up a collection for more booze. We did the songs Fire and Water by Free and Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers by ZZ Top, and they raised $300.00 for more beer. We came out and did an encore, and had to do another, which is a song I still get great responses from the crowd when I do it, Too Rolling Stoned by Robin Trower. The headline band wanted their time on stage and the crowd wasn’t letting us off. I stepped out from behind that lead curtain to a deafening roar of a great audience…the natural high lasted for longer than I had lost my voice (which was 2 weeks for the voice). I thanked them and told them while we would have loved playing all night for them, there was one more band. That night inspired a Euphoria song called Sea of Faces. An exert of that song is:

“Looking down from upon this stage, the lion roars from within its cage,
Smile on us as we do on you, for you have made us do what we could never do,”

The next gig was up in a district of the Oakland Hills called Montclair, off a street called Estates. We were playing a house party that packed out quick. We had roped off a nice sized area in the back yard, because the Senior Toast gig had done something to us….like I said we got wild. I was a dark summer night and I had a new visual effect I was trying out in the song Burn. I had been working with the brother of Phil Kennemore (friend and bass player for Y&T), Jeff Kennemore (who was a magician and great makeup artist that later worked in Hollywood). He was teaching me how to shoot flames from my fingers. I couldn’t coordinate the flashgun (tube with a hammer and cap), so I decided to do it with a lit cigarette. Well….I had too much flash paper and because of the length of the song, my cigarette had burned pretty low. This is not to mention I had long frizzy hair. Right before my solo, I touched the flash paper to the end of the cigarette and threw the paper. I saw a big flash, figured everything was okay, and started my solo. The band was messing up so I looked over to see why. Here is Perry almost falling off his drums laughing and Ned and Bob are pointing at me laughing as well. I don’t understand what is going on until I realize there is a light on my right side that seems to be following me around. It was then I realized, MY HAIR IS ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I slapped it out quickly, put my head down and “blazed” a solo faster than anything I had ever done. The crowd thought it was so cool they wanted me to do it again. I later worked with a guy who was at that gig. He nicknamed me “Flame”. Later on the cops came and broke up the party. It was a three paddy wagon night.

The last one takes us back to the Finnish Brotherhood Hall. I am in one of the bands playing the gig. One of the people comes up to me and asks who the bands are. I told him that I was in one of the bands. He asked me if I was any good. I replied that I could play like a ringing-a-bell, but if he didn’t like our style he wouldn’t like us. I went on to ask him to give us a listen and at the end of our set to give us his opinion and if there was anything he felt we needed to change or do better to let me know. At the end of our performance, he came up ranting and raving of how great we were and I am not one for having someone put me on a pedestal. So I asked him what he did for a living. He told me he was a carpenter building track homes one of the local towns. I looked him in the eyes and said so you build things and get to see the fruits of your labor? He replied yes, so I told him that I wish I could do that. I wanted him to see how valuable he was and that we were no different from one another and to look at me eye to eye not above him. Humble things like that from a 23 year old rocker is how I now know GOD was there with me keeping me teachable and reachable. And no…I didn’t tell him that I was building custom homes in a wealthy part of the Bay Area as a day gig.

And now as I play for GOD, I can’t be His vessel if I am full of myself (thought taken from a Mother Theresa quote).

EUPHORIA - THE FIRST BAND

We had some great people in skilled positions, Perry Dreiman on drums, Ned Lovig on bass, Bob Charboneau on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, myself on lead guitar and background vocals, Paul Goveia on light show, Curtis Soward as manager, and Reid Ashby, who produced our first demo. (we did have a version of the band prior with Richard Wold on drums, who is also a good drummer, but we really didn’t get this band off the ground).

Perry Dreiman was 6’7” and only 17 at the time the band formed. Perry and I were the only classically trained musicians at the time and he would have me come over on our time off and work on music for his theory class, which I was humbly honored to be a part of. Perry has been a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for some time and I know they enjoy having him. He is by far and away the best drummer I have ever played with. Excuse me….it is an insult to call Perry a drummer. Perry is a musician and a percussionist. Even his playing at 17 is superior to all others I have played with. He is the only person I have ever played with that looked normal behind a 28” bass drum.

Ned Lovig is probably still one of my favorite bass players. He was very melodic and had a great sense of what he was doing. Ned was a natural, gifted musician and would do some interesting things. We had an original Song called Burn. In one spot Ned did a polyrhythm, while we were all doing triplets, Ned was doing quads. Ned turned me onto two groups back then, and we did obscure songs by them that were pretty good. They bands were ZZ Top (Tres Hombres is still my favorite album) and Peter Frampton (who’s lyrics confused me). We also had a cool instrumental that all of us wrote, that featured Perry on drums. The song was called Strawberry Jam, named for Ned’s girlfriend at the time. Ned and Perry were a formidable rhythm section indeed.

Bob Charboneau….what can I say about Bob? The voice of the band. Bob’s the reason why all the little girls went crazy. He had that look and a great voice. Because of Bob, we could do Zep, Bad Company, and Free. I remember a gig at Jerry’s Stop Sign in Berkeley. We did one of those songs I don’t like to play anymore…unless someone tips generously…Stairway to Heaven (the other two are Rock and Roll by Zep and Freebird by you all know who). The crowd got into an enormous circle and slow danced arm and arm…those are some of the cool things you remember. Bob sang with an incredible voice, played great rhythm guitar, and lead harmonies. On his rhythm playing, he had a feel that was somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page (between the Jims). One obscure band Bob and I really liked was a band called Bee Bop Deluxe (I saw them 3 times).

Paul Goveia was an interesting character. He was introduced to the band by Ned. Paul was the second natural genius I had met. He could work on cars, build things, which is how his light show came into being. He told me once that his fingers were blistered for the first few gigs because he would change the lights at the speed I played guitar (I’ve always been kinda on the fast side). He did so many great light shows for us…both indoors and out. It saddened me to find out he was found in a chair in his house dead apparently from a drug overdose.

Curtis Soward was our manager and like another brother to me. I spent a lot of time at his house as well. The way I met Curtis’ parents was they came home after being out of town and into the middle of a party Curtis had going at his/their house and yes we were still allowed to party, music and all (at 20 I had gone through GOD’s one step program and didn’t drink or do drugs). His parents were some really great people. Most of the gigs we played were for the Skyline High crowd. Curtis was Mr. Popularity and once the party was on, he would pull out his 3 phone books, call everybody and their brother. The houses were always so packed, we had to rope off an area for the band to move and put on a show. After the band broke up, Curtis put on some shows with local talent like the Tommy D Band and Rubicon. Because of his way with people he met many famous people and had books with pictures of these rock stars and all. I know, because when he died (which hit me like two tons of bricks), his parents gave me those books. It’s hard to lose a brother….

Genius number three, Reid Ashby. Back in the day when most bands used PA’s that were two column speakers and a 4, 6, or 8 channeled powered mixer, I was visiting Reid. While we were talking, He was making a 200’ 16 or 24 channel snake, because the largest one at the time was only 100’. He was working of Freeway Studios at the time and that was where Y&T was doing a demo….there was one song on the demo called Mars Venus I wish Dave would find…I loved that song. Reid did our demo for us. First we did the music with the leads live at our studio in this cool basement at Perry’s parents house in Piedmont. We did all the vocals at Reid’s parent’s house up in the Oakland Hills. We were in the basement, where they had a lane to a bowling alley installed. Wild. Reid and I mixed it at some studio in Walnut Creek, which was my first experience as to how anal and time consuming mixing down is. Reid was so good he went on to do sound for a number of the popular underground clubs in San Francisco, CA, especially one called the Mabuhay Gardens, frequented by bands like the Dead Kennedys. Unfortunately, though I have heard more than one story, Reid was shot in the face and suffered, brain damage. Years later, I found out where he was and tried to talk to him. Sadly it was short, with very few words.

I was just a maniac, trying to play as wild and to the best I could play, and with these guys I was honored to play with and know all of the people listed above. Bob Charboneau aka Charby and I still stay in touch.

My First Guitar/Music Teachers

At 18, since I had decided not to pursue my education in classical music, I picked up a guitar. I had an old Silvertone arch top I paid $10.00 for. I wish I still had it; it was a great playing guitar. I dabbled at bass for a couple of years prior, but got bitten once a guitar was put in my hands. I was bitten so badly by the passion to play guitar, I practiced 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. For the first month my fingers bleed on the fret board.

Part of my playing/practicing time was spent at a beautiful rose garden off of Oakland Ave. in Oakland, CA. I would sit there learning from my friend, Tim Garcia from San Antonio, TX. He was in the Navy and stationed at Alameda Naval Base. He taught me that really cool flat picking that Neil Young does on an acoustic. We’d play tunes like Old Man, Needle and the Damage Done, Cowgirl In the Sand, etc… We played other stuff as well.

The other part of my time was spent with a guy I had met during my senior year in high school. Because of our passion for music, we hit it off immediately. I moved, well sort of left shall we say under a cloud to Minnesota, where I completed high school. Upon returning to California our friendship fired back up and we spent a great deal of the time together. I virtually lived at his house for about 2 plus years. Those of you who know the band Y&T (Yesterday and Today), know who Dave Menniketti is. Whenever someone save Dave they knew I was nearby. He taught me the pentatonic 3 octave scale that goes from open E on the 6th string to E on the 12th fret of the 1st string. And all the time I roadied for them, I watched and learned….watched and learned.

We would sit in Dave’s room and listen to The Allman Bros, King Crimson, Edgar Winter, Uriah Heep, Stanley Turentine, Lenny White, Jimi Hendrix (Dave’s fav). We listened to a wide assortment of music…Dave was into broadening both our musical horizons, and he had a great collection of vinyl, yes albums. This was before cassettes even.

Here is where I’m going to stray away a little and pay some honor to Dave’s family. His father is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His mother was a very classy lady. She used to take time to educate me on a variety of things. The most memorable, probably because if she had been the one to introduce this to the world, she would have made millions….She used to make pizza on french bread all the time. She used to explain to me that this was the pizza of Italy, but not with meat, because they weren’t rich like us Americans. This was back around 1971-73. What a classy lady. His sister was a real nice girl and very supportive of Dave. Last time I saw his father and sister, they were still supporting Dave’s career. What a wonderful family to have touch my life back then. I hope they read this and give me a chance to say thanks to some people who blessed me.

Dave was in a band before Y&T either called Oakland or Skin Tight. Dave was on guitar with his wall of sound, a Baldwin amp, Duane Parker on guitar, Arthur J. Finney, and Leroy Silva. Later Dave started talking with Leonard Haze and Bob Gardner and the first generation of Yesterday and Today was born. Leonard and I used to joke that we could set up his drum set faster than the others could set up their amps and the PA which was an amp and two column speakers. The original band played top 40 at the Navy Bases and EM clubs, a story in itself. Later Bob Gardner left the band and they started heading into the direction of the Y&T that started doing albums and touring.

Bob ended up being “instrumental” in more musical growth for me. He was attending Cal State Hayward, where, if I remember correctly, he got a degree in music. Bob liked the fact that I was the only “rock” player he knew who appreciated his wide taste in music, which incorporated classical. Bob and I talked about doing music together and worked on some “Chicago” tunes, which were progressive at that time. Bob was the one that helped develop my ear training at that time. He would have me turn my back and hit 2 notes on the piano. I had to guess the interval between the 2 notes. Try it sometime…it is a great exercise.
These were the first people in my life that were responsible for music training after school was over. Humble beginnings that marked the aggressive learning curve I still have today…I love to learn, which is why I still carry a learner’s permit, though I teach as well.

As for the other training, by learning from the pros on the albums…the first “hard” song with lots of chords I learned on my own was: I’d Love To Change the World - Alvin Lee and Ten Years After. The first album? Paranoid - Black Sabbath…my wife hates the fact that I can sing like Ozzie. I have re-written the lyrics to 3 songs on this album (I call it Christianizing or GOD glorifying). JESUS Gathers for War Pigs, Savior Man for Iron Man and Not Paranoid for Paranoid.

The Madness Begins….

With his mother outside tending to her garden and flowers, a boy of three prepares for the task ahead. Placed on the kitchen counter are a dozen eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a half gallon of milk next to the blender. Before him are all the ingredients his little mind thinks are necessary to make his favorite drink, eggnog (yuk! where were my taste buds back then???). He climbs the chair he had placed before the counter earlier and cracks three eggs into the blender, puts in more cinnamon than would be necessary, dumps a generous portion of nutmeg into the mixture, and reaches for the milk. Suddenly the radio on the counter comes alive with some rock-n-roll. The king is singing his newest hit, “All Shook Up”. The toddler starts singing and dancing to the music with the milk in his hands (warning Will Robinson…danger…danger). You guessed it. The kitchen floor got a really good milk bath. Mom was okay with it, because after the song was over, I went out and told her…I mean you didn’t expect me to walk out on the king when I spilt the milk in the first verse. And I still have respect for the king. That was my first music memory.

My mother told me she used to listen to opera when I was in the womb, and the closest I ever got to opera was the rock opera Tommy by the Who…I used to play the French Horn parts in the Overture to warm up before Orchestra class. I have written about 5 rock operas in my time…with a copyright on Gothic Tales, the Songs of A Warrior. I was also told my grandfather was a pretty good violinist back the old country of Finland, but when he came to America, he just fiddled around, but was still pretty good at it.

At 8, I found piano, and got competent enough to play that little tune we all learned how to play, but none of us remember the name. I could play either part, chords or melody. The progression is part of Crocodile Rock from Elton John (C - Am - F - G). Then I found that wonderful tune from Chopin, Chopsticks. I’m not certain what piece it is from.

At 9, we were given a hearing test in school…nobody told us why. We just listened to pitches of notes (is that pitching notes at us?). Don’t remember why or how the test went other than pitches being played. I ended up being one of four that got an opportunity to start playing musical instruments in the fourth grade; everyone else had to wait until the sixth grade. We were given a choice to play what we wanted, I wanted a trumpet and got stuck playing a clarinet. Later on I got used to it. It was a cool clarinet and I still have it, though it needs new pads. It is a Paris Standard from 1906, made out of rosewood with a beautiful tone.

At 12, I entered a school talent contest, where I gave everyone a good laugh. It seems my octave pad fell out of the key. Every time I tried to hit a low “C“, the note that came out was a mid ”G”. I had a new reed so I soaked it thinking I was squeaking with the new reed. After the second time, we inspected the instrument and saw the missing pad. We put my mouth piece on some else’s clarinet and I went out to the honks and chuckles to do it all again. To embarrassed to make a mistake, I played it flawlessly to good applause, but still received so teasing from my class mates.

At 13, I entered junior high school to be blessed by having my favorite teacher period of all time Mr. Caviglia. He took a mediocre clarinet player, and made me a first class bass clarinet player by saying he needed a bass clarinet player and felt I could be a great one. From that point on my gpa in music at any rate was 4.0. The highlight was playing in a junior high band that was so good, we blew most of the high schools away. Our jazz/stage band went off to a competition as the only junior high in a high school competition…and we won! I learned to play tenor sax but wasn’t a part of the stage band. Every time they tried to get me to improvise, I was a note reader and too shy or afraid. Boy if they could see me now, I’m a jammer.

Sight-reading was a strength in all my music endeavors, and when I’m reading charts today that is an asset. From the beginning until the end of my freshmen year, I attended summer school music classes. My last year saw me in three classes playing 5 instruments, bass clarinet and contra-bass clarinet in band, percussion/timpani and French Horn in orchestra, and Tenor Sax in stage band.

From 10 to 14, I played in a drum and bugle corps in San Leandro, CA called the Royalaires. We marched in parades and competitions. My first two years were on 3rd part soprano bugle and two years on French Horn, where I ended up 1st horn. They even gave me the most important solo…in concert position. We had great instructors and our horn instructor Cy Udall arranged some great pieces as well as was one of my summer school instructors.

In high school, I went to too many of them. Most were mediocre programs. One was excellent. The teacher didn’t give us the normal music written for high schools or even colleges…we played the real stuff the symphonic orchestras played. Talk about your greater expectations. He believed in us and we rose to the occasion. My final school was a modest one in the country, in Northern Minnesota. I still remember walking into the music class and having the teacher say, what instrument do you play and I responded back with what do you need? This small school had no French Horn player, so that was where I settled in. With very little required classes needed to be completed and having some of my classes agree to allow me to complete my homework and show up for tests, my homework was done for all of the classes on Monday and Tuesday. Music classes were held on Wednesdays thru Fridays. At one point the Music teacher, Mr. Levine, needed a drummer for the senior dinner. I agreed to do it and the drum set I played most drummers would die for…it was an old Ludwig four piece with a 28” bass drum. I used to take it home and beat on it in outside in back of the house (who cares…our nearest neighbor was ¼ mile down the road).

Wednesday thru Friday I stayed in the music room, devouring knowledge on all the instruments. I only came out for lunch, which was a great feast. When you are only cooking for a school of about 230 kids and that covered grades 7-12, these ladies did a fantastic job and I let them know it. This great food was 10 cents a day and all you could eat.

Each week, a different instrument was picked up. On one particular occasion, Mr. Levine was teaching me about chord inversions on a piano. I caught on to what he was saying so much of the time, he finally looked at me and said that I was like a sponge and music was like water, he had never seen someone pick it up so quickly. He gave me opportunities to mentor some of the junior high band, and at one point talked to me about music scholarships….possibly anywhere in the world. Because of my childhood, I wasn’t interested in school or being told what to. So I turned it down (ouch?). Because of my hunger, I don’t feel any pains of regret at turning away a music scholarship. What has been gained from “street” knowledge has far surpassed what I would have learned. I know too many who make theory law, but the truly great players I have been blessed to hear, like Phil Keaggy, know nothing of theory, just how to play from the heart.

And here ends the beginning of the madness at 18.