IN
THE SUMMER OF '74, Hag, the lead guitar maestro, and Julio, one of the two
original Glass Packs sacked their bats and called it a career. We had to replace
Hag, but there was no replacing Julio. Julio has returned (see
Video of Jose and Rene), but Hag remains AWOL, and is always welcome to
return. To replace Hag, we posted "Wanted: Lead Guitarist" flyers
all over town, and we got unbelievable responses because every guy who owns
a guitar, fancies himself a lead guitarist, the next Pete Townsend, irrespective
of the job description. No, we weren't looking for the next Pete Townsend.
Our needs were simple and were stated on the ad -- "Must play solos of
'Rock Around the Clock', 'Fun Fun Fun' and 'Hello Mary Lou', note for note,
just like the record. And we mean note for note".
Seriously,
it is hard to find musicians who can play this music authentically. The band
was set up inside DE's (see Chapter 3, page 1) - Mike behind his drum kit,
Larry at the Big Fella's piano, and Bruce with his bass rig. Meanwhile, casually
drawing his own conclusions of the attitude and gait of the prospective Glass
Packs entering the rehearsal room stood Butch with baseball bat in hand hitting
against Hag pitching a tennis ball from the middle of 30th Avenue against
DE's garage door. Each prospective replacement came and went with Hag and
Butch shaking their heads in dismay.
Near
the end of the day, an early 50's Plymouth, not even a hip Plymouth, just
an old Plymouth, pulled up across the street. A kid with a full head of shiny
black waterfall hair stuck his head out and sassed "You guys Butch Whacks
& the Glass Packs?" This kid is actually talking to us. "Yeah,
who are you?" "Hey Man, I'm Rob and I'm here for the audition."
Whereupon, Rob got out of the huge Plymouth and slowly opened the trunk, pulled
out a Fender case, and confidently strode across the street toward us. He
offered his hand (No one else had done that), and walked past us into DE's
for his audition.![](images_history/chapter_4/rob_newsfly_thum2.jpg)
Without hearing a note Rob played, Hag said: "That's the guy. I don't
need to hear him. I'm free". Hag was right. Our drummer, Mike, came out
and said "You better come in here and listen to this guy." What
we heard was "Rock Around the Clock" like that hillbilly cat in
Bill Haley's band, "Fun Fun Fun", like Glen Campbell played it for
Carl Wilson, and "Hello Mary Lou" just like James Burton. We lucked
into a guitar monster, a 19 year old kid who heard this stuff for the first
time that week after he saw our flyer, dug up his older sisters' records,
practiced the material and showed up for the audition. We had just met Rob
Birsinger, an unbelievably gifted guitar player just out of high school who
looked better than he played.
Rob
too was part of the Washington High Mafia and has played every Glass Pack
show from that day to this. Check
out Rob on his first night (pictured on left) where he took the solo on "Whole
Lotta Shakin" by sliding on his knees to center stage while Larry did
his ho hum usual handstand on the piano. We opened for the Pointer Sisters
that night, and left the stage in flames. Once Rob was fully acclimated, and
Butch got the O.K. from Rob's mom, Charlatte, (before her baby could leave
home for the first time) we hit the road for our second tour of Vancouver.
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