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( Scroll Down for Band Videos... ) Mark Walters from CashFlowInstitute.com here. Up until I was 19, when I first started getting serious about my life and continuing with my family's 8 decades of investing in real estate, I was like any other teenager in California... I wanted to be a ROCK STAR! Started playing trumpet in 7th grade. By 8th grade I was soloing for our school's band at the Reno Jazz Festival...scared to death!
7th grade... Can you see the Wannabe-Rocker starting to evolve?
Played my first club in the San Francisco Bay Area during my senior year in high school. That was 1981. We played all original songs and thought we were the next big thing...which of course with a singer who could barely sing, we weren't.
Age 17 playing an outdoor concert...
With Heather Locklear... Here we are in Hollywood at age 17 right after graduating high school. Dig that moustache and Member's Only jacket! How did I get so lucky to hang out with a 19 year-young, very available and attractive Heather Locklear? This was before she was with Scott Baio, Tommy Lee and Richie Sambora...
These were some of the most popular Rock clubs of the 80's and all the aspiring rockers played there such as Ratt, Quiet Riot, and even Jimi Hendrix years prior...
BUT, every once in a while someone will say, "Hey
Mark, let's do a recording". Or better yet, "Let's get the band back
together and play a party!" How can I refuse?
Fast forward to current times... Here's the scoop. Back in California where I grew up, there was an annual 4th of July block party that was HUGE! The residents would get a permit from the city and close down the street. Bands would start playing about noon and go all day until around 10pm. Some pretty good players would play including Troy Luccketta, the drummer of Tesla. There would be a dunking booth, inflatable jumpy thing for kids, porta-potties...and LOTS of band equipment. Everyone pitched in to rent a pro sound system and the place would ROCK! I'd be in anywhere from 1 to 4 bands throughout the day either singing, playing guitar or drums. My band WDFA would usually play near the end of the day because who wants to follow classic Van Halen tunes? The members of WDFA all played in bands together back when we were teenagers and continue to be Pals to this day. The guitar player and drummer for WDFA are from my band LUST above. The guitar player is Ron Freschi. After LUST broke up, he was in a band that was personally signed by Clive Davis of Arista Records back in the 80's called Babylon A.D. Besides the occasional Babylon A.D. reunion show, Ron is currently in a band called Syrym. The drummer of WDFA is Steve Quartarola. Steve used to jam with lots of Bay Area bands including Trauma featuring bassist Cliff Burton. After Trauma, Cliff was the original bass player of Metallica. ( One of my bands played a show with Trauma and they were LOUD! Cliff was ALWAYS one of the coolest guys to be around. ) The bass player of WDFA is Craig Lyons. Craig plays every instrument you can imagine and is the best musician I know. He currently plays in 2 bands back in the Bay Area. We've been best friends since we were 9. All the guys in WDFA live in the San Francisco bay area except for me who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. So by phone and email, we would figure out the set list we wanted to play at the Big Annual 4th of July BASH. The guys would practice about 3 times together right before the party. I would practice by myself at home in AZ. On the day of the 4th of July party, I would fly in just in time to play. That's why in the videos below you'll see me holding a piece of paper with the lyrics to the songs. It's not just the words I'm paying attention to, it's also to know where we are in the song. Without the practice time
together, combined with being excited to play these great Van Halen
songs with life-long Pals, a lousy singer can lose his place you
know? One last thing...the rule at the party while we play is, if you're close to a mic and feel like singing, go for it! ( If you hear some clunkers, that may be why. All the other clunkers are mine... ;-) So
with very little rehearsal
time, WDFA... Here's a bonus video from the lead guitarist of WDFA. Below is his band Babylon A.D. performing "When The Hammer Swings Down". This was a high budget video their record label, Arista Records produced for the band. Ron is the guitarist on the left side of the stage. You'll notice he has a lot more hair than in the WDFA video above. He's wearing a jean vest over his black leather jacket playing the gold guitar... ( You look & sound very cool in this Ron! )
I sang background vocals on a couple albums for a band called Testament. The albums are "Practice What You Preach" and "Souls Of Black". Did about 4 songs on each album which together have sold millions of copies worldwide.
Testament
features guitar virtuoso Alex Skolnick, who's also a member of Here's a video of one of the songs I'm on called "Practice What You Preach". Back in the day it got extensive airplay on MTV's "Headbanger's Ball". When you hear a bunch of guys screaming "PREACH" at the top of their lungs, that would be my 15 seconds of fame...
This page would be incomplete without Troy Boyer. Troy and I have been friends since we were 14. Above is a picture I took of him when he was 24, opening a package that contained the first of many Gold Records he's received...so far. What a thrill for both of us. I couldn't have been more honored that he chose to share this incredible moment with me! It
all started for Troy when we were both seniors going to different high
schools. My band played during lunch at the high school that
Troy happened to go to. That was the start of Troy's incredible success story. He was our roadie from then on, and he joined me in other future band projects. He was and is THE WORLD'S GREATEST ROADIE! After
I quit the band to start my business, Troy moved to Hollywood and soon
after became the guitar tech for famed guitarist Paul Gilbert of Racer
X. Journey, ZZ Top, Kiss, Iron Maiden, Metallica,
Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, Brooks and Dunn, Kid Rock,
Lenny Kravitz, Testament, Ozzy Osbourne, Ratt, Slayer, Primus, Tesla,
Rob Zombie, Dream Theater, Buckcherry, Dwight Yoakam, Lita Ford, Ratt,
and as I write this he’s on tour in Japan with Whitesnake & Def Leppard.
My
Pal Troy set us up with 2nd row seats and backstage passes. After the
show we hung out with legends we idolized growing up. What a
great experience!
1. To share with my CashFlowInstitute.com subscribers of which there are over 50K, a little bit about myself outside the world of business and investing. 2. And more importantly, that life passes by whether or not you're accomplishing your dreams, so you might as well go after them. Even if you only partially reach them, you've still accomplished something and that builds momentum! Plus, you can put those accomplishments on a web page to enjoy forever. What
do you have to lose? Except for your hearing... why the heck didn't I
bring ear plugs to this concert! P.S. A while back some friends and I took a weekend Rock & Roll road trip to the Sunset Strip. While there we visited Kat Von D in her "High Voltage Tattoo" shop where she tapes her show "L.A. Ink". Back then they would let people come in and hang out. That's not the case anymore as her popularity has grown. So here's a video time capsule I shot of the up close and personal experience...
P.S.S. Hanging Out with Dee Snider of Twisted Sister...
Took this shot of Dee messing around
during his syndicated
Here are 2 old rockers striking a pose. It's safe to say one of these guys is a real rock and roller, while the other could easily be put in the "Poser" category. I'll let you decide which is which :-) P.S.S.S. ( this is getting ridiculous ) Here's footage from a concert in 2009 where we attempted to make some music...
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