As a very lucky adult, I have toured the US and Europe many times, singing and playing guitar for people. But in my younger years – when I was the handsome young man you see in this photo – the music I made was keyboard based. 

When I was a senior in high school, I was in a synthesizer band called Pink Aftershock. We released a cassette tape of some of our originals songs on this date 35 years ago, November 17, 1986. That tape was the first release from a small indie label I operated called Slamdek which issued more than 40 releases by Louisville artists over the following decade. 

I have always loved the way all the notes are just laid out in front of you on a piano or synthesizer. It makes more visual sense to me than the way they are stacked on a guitar. You can see all the notes at once and choose the colors you’d like to blend. 

For today’s episode, I used some sounds and techniques that reminded me of the music I loved while growing up, and had a lot of fun combining them with some of the approaches I have been using in music since then. I hope you enjoy it. 

Music: “Throwback Wednesday” by Scott Ritcher 
Nov. 17th Music BMI 

Associate producer: Betsy McClimans 

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