The Guise Ride Again!

Brook had been wanting to get The Guise back together again.  The last time was at Moon Song Songwriter's Cafe in 2009.  I had invited Ron Greer to join us on bass that evening. He fit right in.   We all had a great time together.  We always look forward to the next opportunity to play together with great anticipation.

I think it was Brook that came up with the name.  When we started, our idea was to revisit and revive songs of artist friends of ours who were no longer playing.  There was a band from Centre that used to play throughout the 1970's called Psalm.  They were all great guys and played great songs.  Barry Goss and Arnie Sanford were the primary song-smiths of the group.  The group had disbanded by the eighties and no one was singing there incredible songs.  We did our own versions of some of their numbers.  

We rarely perform without playing Arnie Sanford's 'With Your Help'.   We once got to perform that song for Arnie at Skylight.   His M.S. had taken away his ability to play or sing by that time and he was very pleased that we were carrying on with his songs. We miss our dear friend and his music will always be included on The Guise's song list.

Barry Goss is one of the most prolific song writers in the area of that era.  No one can sing "Jesus Knows All About It" like he did.  Our version is different than the way Psalm did it, but we're pleased with The Guise treatment of it.  Another one of our favorite songs we do was written by my songwriter/poet brother in-law Dan Noojin.  Our version of his 'Insane Man' has an unusual feel and dynamic.  Good stuff!

The three of us are individually songwriters, so we play plenty of our original works.  We played Brook's 'How Could You Be So Good', Michael's 'Taking The Time' and my "You Remembered Me'.  We have our old standards, but we'll also be bringing new songs to share.

What to expect?  We're old friends who go back a long way.  We share a lot of the same past, love for the same kind of music.  We love being together, playing together and enjoy the comradery on and off stage.  Our voices harmonize well together and so do our lives.  There has always been a chemistry there.

So Friday evening Ron is back with us.  Every time I'd see him over the past few years he'd ask me when The Guise were going to play again.  Tim Rolfe is another dear friend who'll be on percussion.   We are each anticipating tomorrow evening.  None of us know what's going to happen.

Come join us.