Out of the Closet

September 30, 2008 in Uncategorized, Your Stories by Peggi | 3 comments

It was fun going to band practice while New Math developed their sound and songs. First at a house off Park Ave. where Gary and Mark lived. Then they moved to their first practice space in the Cox Building and later to another there. I remember the first one was huge and cavernous. The second was better sound-wise and had windows that overlooked St. Paul and the side street where the Adult Bookstore resided. An easy walk down the street to Scorgies for a beer after practice. Somewhere along the way Michelle Ford, Sue Metro, Tim Dodd (Paul’s brother) and I started jamming in the closet of their practice space. We had a really long gestation period and had trouble coming up with a name (Rhonda’s Radio?) and the music ambled all over the place but we had fun (they later formed Targets). Then Paul decided to leave New Math and we joined up to form Hi-Techs with Martin and Ned. During this time, everyone lived and breathed music, whatever they were doing, and our lives are forever intertwined. So many of us from that time still are friends and share some common history. Personal Effects evolved out of Hi-Techs when Ned left the band and Bob joined us. That was in 1981. The PE story is in itself a long, involved one like any band’s. I’ll just say that we played together through the 80’s and then after a hiatus, formed Margaret Explosion which continues to play today as an improvisational, instrumental jazz band.

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  1. Martin Edic’s avatar

    Martin Edic on September 30, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    I think I was at some of those Rhonda’s Radio ‘practices’ although my bass playing was probably so lame as to be useless. I remember being up there and having to stop because New Math was practicing…

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  2. Peggi’s avatar

    Peggi on September 30, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    Martin, that’s right, you were the bass player! These fuzzy memories keep coming more into focus. Oh yeah, I remember having to stop when New Math started their practices (we were just freeloading in their closet after all). Robert Slide commented today on the site “filling in the blanks”. He became the bass player with Michelle and Sue and Tim Roberts (Tim Dodd left the drummer post) and became the Targets. There’s a promo shot of them in and earlier post.

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  3. Sue Metro’s avatar

    Sue Metro on October 2, 2008 at 9:36 am

    Yes, of course, it all would have never gotten off the ground without our little core of jams! And that closet seemed sooo special at the time. We had a stereo receiver and some of those geometric Bose speakers for our PA. I could never hear anything! Didn’t seem to matter because some really good bands and music came out of the whole thing. It was a happening. We did move around a bit in that tiny space, didn’t we?

    Will see you all at the gig!

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