This weekend is going to be interesting and rather sad. The Tooners’ long time drummer, Pat Meehan, is moving to Idaho. This breaks up a band, at least temporarily, that has been together for thirty-two years and a friendship that dates back to 1964.
Pat Meehan and I were in fourth grade together in Mrs. Alkire’s class at Platt Ranch Elementary School in Woodland Hills, CA. In junior high school Pat replaced my band’s drummer, neighborhood friend and fellow former fourth grade classmate, Rick Morrison, when Rick’s family moved to Texas for two years. When Rick returned he replaced Pat as he was our original drummer and neighborhood friend, something for which I don’t think Pat has ever really forgiven me.
Pat and I reformed as a band in the late 1970s along with high school classmate David Nigel Lloyd and bassist John Bugby in a proto New Wave band called Wild Oscare. I left that band to form Womanizer and when our drummer quit to join a Heavy Metal band Pat joined. All the recordings we did as Womanizer and later as The Tooners features Pat on drums although a total of ten different musicians have been in those two bands.
Womanizer started as a six piece ensemble and ended up as The Tooners, a trio with bassist and vocalist Greg Piper. Not counting the years in junior high and high school Pat and I have been in bands together for thirty-four years. I am going to miss him terribly when he leaves for Idaho on Monday as this is not just the end of a friendship but the end of a band that’s been part of my life longer than almost any other relationship.
What ever happened to our drummer Rick Morrison? I say other drummer as the first drummer I played with in a band was Randy Runyon in sixth grade. Randy was the son of television kiddie show host Charles Runyon aka Chucko The Birthday Clown. Next weekend, the very next weekend after I’m getting together with Greg, guitarist and old friend Jerry Strull (Pat’s former Brother In law) and Pat for a little going away party, I’m going to meet Rick Morrison for drinks. He’s coming into town for our high school’s 40th reunion. Weird coincidence.
I bumped into Rick once in Westwood many years ago, he’s lived in Texas and Washington state, but before that Womanizer was playing a club gig and when he heard me introduce the band he jumped up on stage from the audience, excited to see me and Pat after many, many years. It seems he was at the club to hear his sister’s band play that night. It's a small world after all.
Pat Meehan and I were in fourth grade together in Mrs. Alkire’s class at Platt Ranch Elementary School in Woodland Hills, CA. In junior high school Pat replaced my band’s drummer, neighborhood friend and fellow former fourth grade classmate, Rick Morrison, when Rick’s family moved to Texas for two years. When Rick returned he replaced Pat as he was our original drummer and neighborhood friend, something for which I don’t think Pat has ever really forgiven me.
Pat and I reformed as a band in the late 1970s along with high school classmate David Nigel Lloyd and bassist John Bugby in a proto New Wave band called Wild Oscare. I left that band to form Womanizer and when our drummer quit to join a Heavy Metal band Pat joined. All the recordings we did as Womanizer and later as The Tooners features Pat on drums although a total of ten different musicians have been in those two bands.
Womanizer started as a six piece ensemble and ended up as The Tooners, a trio with bassist and vocalist Greg Piper. Not counting the years in junior high and high school Pat and I have been in bands together for thirty-four years. I am going to miss him terribly when he leaves for Idaho on Monday as this is not just the end of a friendship but the end of a band that’s been part of my life longer than almost any other relationship.
What ever happened to our drummer Rick Morrison? I say other drummer as the first drummer I played with in a band was Randy Runyon in sixth grade. Randy was the son of television kiddie show host Charles Runyon aka Chucko The Birthday Clown. Next weekend, the very next weekend after I’m getting together with Greg, guitarist and old friend Jerry Strull (Pat’s former Brother In law) and Pat for a little going away party, I’m going to meet Rick Morrison for drinks. He’s coming into town for our high school’s 40th reunion. Weird coincidence.
I bumped into Rick once in Westwood many years ago, he’s lived in Texas and Washington state, but before that Womanizer was playing a club gig and when he heard me introduce the band he jumped up on stage from the audience, excited to see me and Pat after many, many years. It seems he was at the club to hear his sister’s band play that night. It's a small world after all.
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