RIP Tommy

Tommy Dow passed away a couple days ago.  Tommy had many more family or friends who could talk more eloquently than me about his life.  After all, Tommy wasn't one of my close friends.  Years would pass and then once in a while I would happen to run into him or see him at the mutual home of a friend.  There was a time, however, in the mid-80's when Tommy was one of my genuine local rock-n-roll heroes.

He was the drummer for the band Bad Attitude.  Bad Attitude never made it to the big time, but boy oh boy did their music speak to me.

I came to follow Bad Attitude because I went to school with their bass player, Mark.  Soon, I was going to all their shows and rehearsals.  For several years my pal Joe and I were their unofficial roadies, sound guys, and cameramen.

I say unofficial since there was never any pay, but since we helped them move their equipment, we considered ourselves roadies.  We would put blank cassette tapes into sound boards and capture bootlegs of their live shows.  In our minds, this meant we were sound men.  I would bring a clunky VHS camera with a blinding white light to record their performances.  Of course, the fact that we had a camera made us cameramen/videographers.

A decade ago, Tommy gave Joe a cd he had burned from one of those long forgotten cassette recordings of a live Bad Attitude show.  Joe gave it to me and I converted twenty-eight live BA songs into the mp3 format.  These songs remain a treasured addition to my musical collection and a constant reminder of that time in my life.

I attended Tommy's benefit several months ago and was glad we had a few precious moments together to talk about the old days.

Click on the link to hear a live recording from the mid-80's of the Bad Attitude song, "I'm not Changing."  

http://tinyurl.com/hjd63mr

A sampling of the lyrics include the lines:

I'm not changing anything

I'm not changing a single thing

I look back at the past 30 years and although I swore by those lyrics, upon reflection, I realize I have indeed changed.  I look back at those same 30 years and can state proudly that Tommy kept right on rocking to the bitter end.

Tommy my friend, my rock-n-roll hero from so long ago, you remained true to your craft.  You rocked, you kept your terrific sense of humor, and you fought the good fight.

Thank you.  May your family and friends know that your musical talent and sense of humor spoke to countless people in the region.

Rest in peace, buddy.