The places I've been...

Not sure what possessed me to check Tom McClung's facebook page last night. Maybe it was the new profile pix, but I was overjoyed to find this video there. I was at this party.



This has to be from at least ten years ago. I don't know the conga or the horn player but the rest of these guys were my main men back in the days I call the Lost Boy years. Ah, the parties we had and the music they played. That's Tom McClung on the piano. Patrick Lavery on the drums. Mark Herschler on the guitar. Mark Bode on the accordian. And Dave Shapiro on the stand up bass. Dave had a little crush on me for a while. We used to hang out and plot out our route to drive around the world. It's almost possible.

We partied a lot in those days, often as not in my own living room, but the Hampshire Piano parties were legendary, routinely drawing well over a hundred people. They threw two or three a year, tuning up the best piano in the shop for the festivities. Nearly every musician within 50 miles would show up for pick up jams that will never be repeated in this lifetime. Good times.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]