Meet The Maltese

From left to right: Gary, Steve, Eddie, Jackie & Larry.

This was a band of local guys that played in our garage, before "garage bands" became famous , the back wall of said garage being the backdrop for this "publicity shot". I've cropped the photo, or it would show our house back door and the entire garage window. To the right was a gas scrubber that supplied the gas for our house, straight off the lease.

Looks like I should've mowed first.

I remember sitting there listening to them trying to decide on a name. I also distinctly recall a particularly vulgar one that was pretty funny. I won't mention it here, but you can email me. They thought "The Maltese", after the German cross, would be cool and it DID sound pretty cool. I had another photo of them, but was lost decades ago, sans Larry, in white turtlenecks with big ol' maltese cross necklaces.

The only trouble was, there was another band in Wheeler by the name of "Motese" (not sure on the spelling). They, according to what I remember, were a group of Hispanic guys, as was Steve, and pretty darn good, playing original tunes with something like a Santana sound, plus the usual covers of Top 40 Hits.

I'm not for sure exactly what year this was taken, but I'm thinkin' it was during the summer of '68 or maybe '69.

I'm not sure where they all are these days, except for Jackie, the drummer, who died under some suspicious circumstances many years ago. Steve, vocals, shown with the tambourine, went on to join the Navy, getting out in time to go to college with me and some of my classmates. (I majored in Pot, minored in Pinball) Eddie and Gary were classmates of my oldest sister and in fact, my nephew, her first son, was named after Gary. Larry was a year younger than those two, I believe, and was the "Pete Best" of the group, not staying very long as I recall.

Jackie was not a bad drummer and had some good equipment until I destroyed his cymbals when he made the mistake of leaving his equipment out there for far too long. The other guys would get angry with Jackie for various and sundry reasons, and they wanted to fire him and let me drum.

I hadn't a clue what they thought I could drum on, but I betcha my pop coulda fabricated me up a drum set outta various sized bbls. and drums, dope buckets, pieces of casing, whatever. He probably could've electrified it somehow.

The fact that they wanted ME to drum for them shows how desperate they were. That's how I destroyed the cymbals, trying to develop some sort of rhythm. I never could do "Wipeout" for very long, but I got pretty good at the high hat and the bass drum, doing the stripper bump 'n grind. That was about it.

Jackie loved my second oldest sister and gave her several odd presents, one being a very nice punchbowl. I recall a time when he and I were out hunting, and he was being wild with his rifle, shooting the long .22 ammo (whereas my dad always made me use shorts, we DID have a few neighbors even though they were quite aways away) at rocks and field larks and clouds. We were flagged down by a Phillips pumper who was bleeding profusely from the upper lip. "I wuz jest standin' there by the side of my truck when 'ZING' sumpthin' bit me on the mouth!"

Gary and Eddie were pretty fair on their guitars, Eddie playing lead and he wasn't a bad picker. His tastes seemed to run more towards country music, though, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash. Gary was rhythm guitar, and was very patient with me, showing the chords for my favorite songs. He even loaned me a Beatles songbook that I never returned. I did pick up quite a few chords on the guitar and can still crank out "House of the Rising Sun" but it would probably make my fingertips bleed.

I remember them giving a dance/concert/cacophany in what is now a garage on Main Street in Miami. One of their best covers was "Gloria", but they could also do pretty good on "Paint it Black" and "Wild Thing".

I also remember sitting out there on those soft Panhandle nights listening to the guys jam. As I said, they weren't "too" bad and I enjoyed the entertainment, it being mighty scarce back then. I also was the one who heard my dad hollerin' from the back door, tellin' 'em to turn down the volume. Usually, it wasn't enough and after the second warning, the guys split.