Dear Mom

Well, I suppose you want to hear the real story of what went on during my world tour a few years back.  This is one for the history books so pay attention.

Here it goes, and since those days are far behind us now, I guess it’s safe to tell you the truth, but keep in mind there, is a lot of hurt and heartbreak in here.  Besides, this is how I want it to be recorded for history.

OK, remember, some names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent, and whoever else may or may not be involved.

Alright, as you may or may not remember I left the crumbling state of depression that is Michigan in February of 2009.  President Obama had just been elected and we were knee deep in a pool of economic crisis.  I decided it might be better to go to California and start a band than stay in Michigan and slowly die.  So, off to Los Angeles I went to live with my friend Laura so we could start a band. We already had a manager and sound guy from some earlier stuff we had done at home in Michigan, so all we needed was a bus. 

So we played a few gigs around Los Angeles, saved up enough money for a bus and headed to Northern California.  At that point I think we were known as Gingera.  The Jethro Tull cover band that doesnt know much, or even like much Jethro Tull.  We knew we had to change our name when we left Los Angeles, because we were getting much better, and didn’t want to be known as the Jethro Tull cover band that didn’t know any Jethro Tull songs any longer. 

I think it was around that time we became The Midnight Gardner’s. The name worked for a little bit while we toured the Pacific North West. We were doing pretty good there when the fans started requesting harder songs, and the fan is always right so we often found ourselves trying to play Iron Maiden, when we are clearly much more an Oasis and Radiohead type band.  Well at that point we were anyways, we tried a lot of different styles over or musical career.  We did find a lead singer in Seattle though, she went by the name of Cher, it was right around then that we left the Pacific Norhtwest for Stockholm.  We bought the tickets and took off, with no money left, we were relying solely on our talent to get us a place to stay for a few nights.

Our manager somehow found  us a few gigs, and we stayed and hung out in Stockholm for a while.  By that time we had refined our sound a little bit.  I guess I should take a minute to explain the kind of music we played. While we had a lot of original stuff we found our fans often requesting we cover other bands music.  So I guess first and foremost we were a cover band. We prided ourselves on being able to cover anything. Except for Jethro Tull of course.  We of course had Cher on vocals and tambourine, Cher had the sound you would expect from a girl who goes by the stage name Cher.  Laura was on guitar.  I was on bass. Monty was known to sit in from time to time.  Monty contributed his knowledge of music he gained from the few years he spent in the late 80’s with a death metal band. I am not at liberty to dispose their name here, as he likes to keep that part of his life in the past.  Laura and I had a different sounds but we could agree on a lot also.  Even Bart our sound guy helped with the music as he used to direct a swing band.  

Laura’s fantasy band would have King Diamond on vocals because of his awesome falsetto and Jack White on guitar because of his blues sounds, mix in a little Jeff Mangum, for rhythm, and John Bonham on drums, with Geddy Lee on Bass and you have a winning combination in her mind.  My fantasy band would have Leonard Cohen and Jeff Mangum harmonizing on vocals, Cher on Tambourine, Dylan on harmonica, Joni Mitchell on guitar, and maybe some Grace Slick occasionally helping out here and there.  Oh, and some steel drums.  So add all that together and you get the basic gist of what we sounded like.

This is where we changed our name to Miss Not Included.  We were going for a hip and trendy name. Unfortunately our drummer who helped think of Midnight Gardners was leaving at this point in time,so we felt like it was time to redecorate the band. He said he wanted to go find himself.  We think he went to Brazil or something like that, were not sure since we never knew his real name.  He will go in the list of the fallen band members.  Not fallen in a dead way, fallen in a sense that we will no longer be jamming with them, well for right now at least.

Anyways, we left Stockholm and headed for Bucharest. Laura went and got an Afro, and I put dreads in my hair. Monty said we should look the part if we truly wanted to be internationally known musical heroes.  Miss Not Included was well received all through Eastern Europe, and we made Friends everywhere. When you tell people your a rock star, they automatically want to jam with you. We traveled through Europe playing gigs here and there, we got a new drummer, and then Cher had to take off, so we had to get a new lead singer.  We did this for months, just playing music.  Jamming as much as we could.  We were addicts and sharing the music was our drug. 

We finally made it to Paris, for a battle of the bands where we won 7th runner up, so if the winner and 6 other bands can no longer preform their duties we get to take over.  We were just about to get some t-shirts made, when we decided it was time to decide on a real official name.  We went with Positive Soda Inn and we got to make a DVD of our live show in Sydney. 

Things during this time of our world tour get fuzzy.  We didn’t have any money, Bart was giving us problems.  He was gambling all of his money away, and then he started gambling with the bands money and before we knew it someone was coming to repossess our jet.  Me and Laura were fighting over  things like wardrobes and solos.  Monty was getting fed up with all of it. We were al tired of the rock star lifestyle and started to wonder what happened to the days of making music because we loved music.  Now it was all about money, and tour dates, and band battles, and costumes. 

We decided to save just enough money to get back to the states and leave this lifestyle behind us for a while.  We played in Berlin, Rome, Moscow, and Tokyo, we saved and saved and saved and next thing you know we were on a plane back to the good old United States Of America. We touched ground in Los Angeles, and I packed to leave for Pheonix, with a stop in Denver to see some old friends, then I went up to Seattle. 

Monty and Laura have since gotten married. Bart lives with them and works on reviving his career in the up and coming big band scene.  I heard Cher has an album topping the charts in Kenya, and Slick one of our old drummers has gotten pretty big in South America.

Me, I wait for the day when we can get Positive Soda Inn back together and just jam.  A reunion tour isnt out of the question since our music has touched the lives of so many.

Well, there you have it, the early years of Landing Of The Ravens.

Your Daughter ,

Willow