Here's where it all begins. In Pete's Grandma's garage, a structure now long-since replaced by the on-ramp connecting SR-84 and 441 in west Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It was December, 1978. I'm not sure how long I'd been a member of Stonehenge (soon to be Stormbringer and, later, Chaos), but I do know I played with these guys at least three times a week for the next three years. And with some of them, over a decade beyond that. Angelo (Flash) Pillitteri on vocals, Mike Hasson on lead guitar, Fritz Nonemacher on rhythm guitar, Pete (Moss) Murtha on drums. These are the people who taught me how to play. Nightstand was Burt Carnevale's band, big ego, an OK guitarist/singer/ songwriter and Mike Mangos, a great heart and an decent drummer. We usually rehearsed if Burt heard about a party he could play at. Not everyone understood why I played with Burt, but it was pretty simple: 1) Bert played at lots of parties which, shy as I was,I wouldn't have known about or been invited to, and 2) as a three piece band without virtuoso players, I had to work really hard to hold the rhythm section together. It was good practice, and free beer. DC10 was, uh... well, another band I was in. The guitarist was named Scott Shapiro. I remember his name because he's the guitarist on "Nobody's Heroes," my first "solo" recording. The rest of the band I've pretty much forgotten (I think the singer's name was George). I hooked up with Cyndi Steele (Cindy Smith) thru Lee Barrie, a local management-type person in the So. Fla. original music scene. These recordings were made at the earliest period of our association. We never recorded anything after these tracks but we played together for a year or so. The drummer was Lou Diana, who appears on "Nobody's Heroes." Cindy died tragically from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It took years to accept it. I'll never really understand it. The Spanish Dogs. Whatta concept. The songs here were from our first-ever show at the Underground Lounge on Ft. Lauderdale Beach. It was reviewed quite favorably by Cameron Cohick of the Ft. Lauderdale News. It was the first press ever for any band I'd been in. And his brief reference to me ("the looming presence of Mike Chatham") provided me with an alias I would utilize from them on: Lou Ming.