I wish my life was a non-stop Hollywood movie show
A fantasy world of celluloid villains and heroes
Because Celluloid Heroes never feel any pain
And Celluloid Heroes never really die
Musical influences are sometimes more than just an influence. They are life. They are inspiring. The vast majority of my musical influences can be traced to one person, my oldest brother Bob Tekampe.
Bob is 8 years older than I am and, along with my other older siblings, provided my childhood with a musical soundtrack from the 1960’s. My earliest memories are hearing The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, The Supremes, Cream, Bob Dylan, The Monkees, The Dave Clark Five, B.B. King – I could go on and on.
My brother Bob was at the forefront of my musical education. I can remember him and his friends in his room, door closed, while the sounds of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly poured out into the hallway.
Bob was 15 years old when he saw his first concert in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The artist? Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix only played for 45 minutes before leaving the stage. The promoter then appeared on stage and said “Jimi has left the building, you can catch him tomorrow night in Madison”. The crowd rioted, throwing chairs, screaming and yelling. Bob had ridden to the show with some high school classmates but was sitting alone. Needless to say he high-tailed it out of there.
Listening to my brother rattle off the artists he saw live was mind boggling – classic lineups of The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, The Band, The Grateful Dead (with Jerry playing pedal steel guitar while PigPen was still in the band), Pink Floyd on the Dark Side of The Moon tour – the list goes on and on.
In 1973 Bob and my brother Ed attended the infamous Summer Jam at Watkins Glen with 600,000 other fans. The Band, The Allman Brothers, and The Grateful Dead performed in front of the largest audience ever at the time. They had gotten access to the concert by signing up to help prepare food backstage. The day before the concert was supposed to take place they were backstage mixing salads when The Grateful Dead came out for their infamous “soundcheck” that lasted over 3 hours. Bob looked at my brother Ed, said “Let’s Go”. The two of them ran out to the field in front of the stage with the masses, the salads long forgotten. They remained there for the rest of the concerts. A few years ago I happened to meet the son of the company who catered the concert – he had been there helping his father. When I told him about what my brothers did, he said “Your brothers and about 50 other people bolted – tell them that I’m still pissed at them”.
My brother dreamed of becoming an actor and moved to New York City in the 70’s. He graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. It was there where he met his wife Lisa, also an actor. Together they pursued their dreams with varying degrees of success until they had a son. When it became apparent that their son had significant health issues they both gave up acting and moved to Dallas, where my brother got a 9-5 job in order to properly provide for their son. That was my brother – selfless, caring. He never complained.
The blog I wrote about Peter Green was written for him. He was a huge Peter Green fan and had always listed him among his favorite guitarists, along with Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Duane Allman.
Sadly we lost Bob in April after a long fight against cancer. I had visited him in February when he was still in the hospital. I was planning on seeing him again however he passed away 2 days before my visit – he died peacefully in his home. Throughout the years of treatments he never complained, and he always kept his sense of humor intact. It’s taken me a while to write as I have been dealing with the loss of my brother.
I miss being able to call him to discuss music – something that we did a lot – along with sports and other topics. But mostly I miss his humor and his kindness. He was and always will be the older brother that one could only hope for. Here is a link to one of his favorite songs by Blind Faith.
Stay tuned for more Musical Tree blogs, and make sure those in your life know that you love them.
