Ghost Town: Tonya, Doug and Chris

Around the turn of the last decade of the last century, I finally got the notion to form my own band. So with Tonya Jaynes, the drummer I served with in Half Panic, and her neighbor, Chris Cartwright, on bass. we formed Ghost Town. We got together a few new tunes, and a few old ones, and started gigging around the Hollywood club scene.

Here's a selection from our set list...

Flash Player is required to play this feature

After about a year, a lawyerly-looking young lady came up to me at a club and told to cease and desist using the name "Ghost Town." Apparently, there was a defunct hair band in town that had the rights to the name, or so she said, and they weren't willing to give it up just yet. Thinking a change might be a good thing, and a lawsuit not, we switched to Full of Holes.

About this time, we added Eddie Fields on electric violin to help me with the melodic load. Then we went into an actual 16-track recording studio and recorded seven tunes. Here are those...

Flash Player is required to play this feature

Full of Holes with Eddie Fields

In those days, gigging in Hollywood was usually a pay-to-play situation. It may be that way still, I don't know. The clubs were so dead, that not only did you have to buy the gear, write and rehearse the material, paying for rehearsal space as well, mind you, schlepp all your gear to the venue, set it up, play, tear it down and take it home, but you had to bring your audience, too. There sure wasn't going to be anyone else there to see you. And the club owners would gladly sell you the tickets to sell to your fans. Meaning you had to buy them ALL, or you wouldn't be playing there. Kind of a rent-a-club deal. That way, you would be on the hook for any unsold tickets, and the club owner could relax, knowing that he had already recouped his operating costs for the evening from you, if not more.

After a couple of years of this nonsense, as well as myself playing in maybe 4 other groups at one time for a while, Full of Holes disbanded. Alas, I think we weren't half bad.

Then I didn't touch a guitar for around 5 years, had a kid, bought a house, helped my wife start a web design business, started fooling around with a guitar again, started recording, digitally this time, set up a small project studio in my bedroom, and after all these years, reconnected with Tom Penrod, and we are recording again. To check out the Dirty Chaps, click here...

Once We Were Rock Stars
(and thin)