As I was reading the blog on the old, old Wayward Sun tapes, I figured it would be nice for Matt to know how I came to be a part of the Barnson.org family 🙂
Back in the day (fall ’91), I embarked on a journey to get a degree at UMBC. My degree was to be in intramural sports, however, due to a communications error, UMBC thought I was going for a Mathematics degree. The resulting snafu added 3 years to my undergraduate career.
So my freshman year, I meet this tall dude with a definite Jewish nose who I immediately disliked. He was loud and arrogant, had no respect for anyone who didn’t like the Redskins or Capitals, and carried his bass guitar around everywhere.
(Side note: All the parents out there familiar with The Wiggles…doesn’t Sam remind you of Murray Wiggle?)
However, this fellow and I had a common interest in sports, and we spent many a classtime battling over Sega NHL 91. Next thing, we’re playing hockey together, and we become friends. I remember a road trip to Towson with young Samuel to watch some high school girl in a marching band competition. Her name was Jennifer something or other and she was from Canoctin (sp?)…
So our Junior years (cronologically, not necessarily in credit years ;), we move up to the UMBC apartments with Sam’s friend Ben and some dude Mike. So we had 3 Jewish dudes and the poor Catholic boy (me) living together. I never managed to eat mahtza (sp?) ball soup that year…
Now Wayward Sun is playing gigs and having a good time. I tag along when I can ( apparently taking Justin’s place, although I was the short, stocky groupie ). Ben, Sam & I live together the next year as well, replacing Mike with Jason Smith, one of the manliest men ever to walk the planet. Captain of the rugby team, Special Forces medic, going for his masters in Mechanical Eng, and quite the ladies man. You can ask Sam about the J/K’s snafu one day. (I want my two dollars!!!) Alas, J/Ks is no more…
Not to brag, but that year we pulled off the best on-campus party UMBC has ever seen. It was the first weekend in February, it was snowing, so we threw a beach party. Put Tide on the walls and hung black lights (Try it). Had a mixed drink bar and a frozen drink bar. Put a bowl of Coppertone in front of a fan to get the aroma correct. We had one of Jason’s rugby friends as a bouncer. He was 5’9″, 350+, and in nothing but a grass skirt. Jimmy, Bob, and the Beach Boys were on the stereo.
We had a line to get into our apartment. We made over $240 that night, and only got wrote up for a fire code violation. All I remember is Jason’s brother trying to pay for drinks with a Ski Liberty card.
So after that year, Sam graduated, but we stayed friends. I still claim that “Wrong Words” is by far the best WS song ever, for it’s simplicity. Plus, Ws would have made it big if they would have incorporated a rapper into the mix, but they were down with that 😉
I actually found Barnson.org googling Wayward Sun, and found some of the old music here.
That’s how I became part of the Barnson Bunch! My $.02 Weed
Wayward Sun Disciples
As I never (to my knowledge) slept with anyone in the band, I prefer the term disciple to Groupie.
There were three distinct followings of Wayward Sun, as far as I know.
1) Up to 1991 – friends of the band, and people who attended their rare live performances. Most of these were from Gaithersburg maryland, and centered around Quince Orchard high School. I was one of the last of this bunch.
2) 1991-1993 – Tape recipients. With the release of TAFTFT, the band got a reputation of being a pop band, as promoted by the Quince Orchard newspaper.. add to this the Montgomery County Battle of the Bands (where the band got a decidedly negative reception from the majority of the crowd – but a heatedly positive reception from a distinct part). (It was just before this show that Matt played me “One Man for the first time and I said.. “That note should be a screeching octave up) This was followed up by the release of “The Right Of Way, which widened the band’s appeal. This album was a darker more emotional album that appealed to a lot of younger HS students (Note: it was released AFTER most of the band graduated) -and because I drew the cover art on that one, I was given a hundred copies to distribute. My partner in Art, Steve Sulouff lived in williamsburg, VA, and actually managed to distibute twenty copies down there.. and eventuall ran out due to demand.. and people there started dubbing.
ENTER: The Dark ages of Wayward Sun.. now, This was the point where I fell away from the band, but I think it goes something like this.. With Sam and Ben in Baltimore, Kevin still in high school, Matt in California, the band started planning another tape (Which was to be called “Forgotten but Not Dead” – which included a song that I never heard that began with “Matthew was a man on a Misiion” -) and I was to draw another album cover for that one. It never happened.. and this was the point where I went away.. (Now we’re at about 1995)
3) The renaissance of Wayward Sun (Or.. the last gasps..) (I wasn;t here for this, but this is MY understanding from the information I have gathered) Enter a new guitarist, and a whole new following now that everyone in the band was in college. From what I understand, they got quite a reputation up in Baltimore, and released a CD “No Further ?s (Questions), that was seemingly intended to be a more professional release. The following then was mainly based out of baltimore, and the Gaitherburg following fell away for the most part – (I played the CD and/or made tapes for about 20 people who LOVED “Right of Way” and for the most part, they didn’t care for it.)
Now, here is the part where I become unclear.. What happened that eventually spelled the END of the band. I know Sam want away, ben did opera, Kevin went to the army.. but at what point was the decision made.. Its over.
4) Yes, I know I said three.. but here is my .02. Thanks to the power of the internet, Could there not be one more new Wayward Sun song? I know Kevin is unavailable to drum, but a lot of the songs were synth drums anyway. Could he not be solicited to sing a note or two, write a lyric or two, and just among the four of you one more Piano Rock, heavy Harmony, with All four of you contributing a vocal line or two? If not, why not the three of you?
Yes, I believe there is still an audience.. look at the amount of reads on “The Floogie”. It doesn’t need to eb a reunion.. but I still remember hearing “The Beatles” doing “Free as a Bird”, and it was cool to hear one last tune by them.
Just a thought.
Timpane, you scare me
Justin, your memory is far too good. I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday.
OK, a few comments:
–add to this the Montgomery County Battle of the Bands (where the band got a decidedly negative reception from the majority of the crowd – but a heatedly positive reception from a distinct part).–
Did we? I know that we weren’t the favorites of the audience, but I thought it went pretty well. One thing I do remember was that the stage felt HUGE, so we spread out all the amps and stuff to fill out the stage. Unfortunately that meant that Matt and I were basically standing about 40 feet from each other, Sam and Kevin in the middle, and a whole bunch of empty space in between. To be honest, I don’t even remember what we played (For What It’s Worth, I think). Although I think my dad still has it on video somewhere.
–(Which was to be called “Forgotten but Not Dead” – which included a song that I never heard that began with “Matthew was a man on a Misiion” -)–
Oh man, I’d totally forgotten about that song. It was called “Now or Never” – we even did a demo recording of it in Sam’s room in the Susquehanna dorm. It started something like this: “Matthew was a man on a Mission/ so he moved on out to East LA/ Didn’t think nothing about it/ ’til he was gone and far away” something something.
There was a third cassette, by the way – “Don’t Try This At Home” – which Sam, Kevin, and I threw together with a number of guest guitarists. This included “Rise Over Run”, the last recording Matt made with us before moving away, as well as tracks featuring Scott McCloud and Dave Terkus on guitars, and several with my own second-rate guitar playing.
–Now, here is the part where I become unclear.. What happened that eventually spelled the END of the band. I know Sam want away, ben did opera, Kevin went to the army.. but at what point was the decision made.. Its over.–
It was a number of things. And of course, we’re talking 8 years ago, so I don’t remember a lot of details. A lot of it had to do with the fact that we simply couldn’t put in the work necessary to sell the band — Baltimore and DC clubs weren’t paying much attention to us because the music was too “light” and we insisted on playing originals, and at that point, Sam and I were concentrating on getting out of college and getting actual careers. After Kevin left for the Marines, we tried one wedding gig with my friend Russ Bowman on drums (remember that Sam?), which just totally blew. That was, I think, October of 1996, and after that, Sam went to Vanderbilt, I sunk myself into grad school, and life moved on.
I do miss it tho. It was a really good time. Now that I’m no longer pursuing an opera career (more on that later), I’ve been thinking seriously about starting another band. I’m probably a little rusty, but who knows?
— Ben Schuman Mad, Mad Tenor
Battle of the bands, etc
The problem there was that all the other bands (and their audience) were Metal/Garage band type things, and you were pop/rock.. In my (and others) opinion, you were the best on the stage, but it was the audience that was off there, not the band.
Hey.. you should digitize some of that stuff or send it to me do do so.. it would be cool to have an “Unreleased” wayward sun CD. (As in VERY cool)
And you know what.. I remember that title “Don’t try this at home” because that was the “second cover” I drew. A single guy in the spotlight playing all the instruments.
And what about the gauntlet I threw down there.. I would be ALL OVER a new WS song.
the gauntlet
–And what about the gauntlet I threw down there.. I would be ALL OVER a new WS song.–
We’ll think about it. 😉
— Ben Schuman Mad, Mad Tenor
That Was The Most Amazing Party Ever
Weed, Ben and I threw a party that no one on campus will likely ever duplicate. That night was insane.
As far as org chart goes, Weed failed to mention that before our Junior year, we lived down the hall from each other. Thus, the three of us essentially lived in the same circles for our entire collegiate career.
Bathroom Humor
Sam, Kevin, Jason Smith & I were at at Lacrosse/Sig Ep party one night. As he was wont to do, Kevin dipped mightily into the joyous, liberating substance known as beer, and before long was chatting up a lady. Unbeknownst to Kevin, Sam & I had nicknamed this same lady “Truckstop Girl” because, well, she looked like the kind of girl who would frequent just such an establishment. However, Kevin had his spectacles on and was in full flirt mode.
As anyone who has drank heavily knows, beer makes the bladder shrink, so Kevin came up to us and told us he had to relieve himself. We’re in the flow of the party, so we didn’t miss him, until he returns, limping heavily, about half an hour later.
Here’s as closeas to the actual transscript that followed
US: Dude, where have you been? Kevin: P***ing Us: For half an hour? Kevin: Well, it took me a while to walk back Us: What happened to your leg? Kevin: I sprained my ankle Us: How Kevin: p***ing Us: Say what? Kevin: There was a huge line to the bathroom, so I went outside. I climbed over this hill and went, and when I was climbing back up, I slipped and fell and sprained my ankle. Us: So you slipped and fell back right where you had just p***ed? Kevin: Uhm, yeah. Us: Ewwww…. Kevin: My ankle really hurts, so you think it’s okay? What should I do? Us: Here, have another beer. Your girl is right over there. Kevin: Guys, she’s hot, isn’t she? Us: Oh yeah, she’s smoking Kevin: Seriously, guys, I’m not goggling, am I? Us: No no no, go for it. Kevin: Thanks guys (and limps away)
So after the party, Truckstop Girl disses Kevin and leaves (probably because of the urine smell, because Kevin has pulled a lot prettier girls than that). We all but carry hiom back to the apartment, where he propmtly passes out. The next morning, we hear a loud *THUMP*, followed by a louder *OWWWWW!!!*. Mr. Graham’s ankle was about the size of a handball, and he had tried to get up and walk on it.
Needless to way, Wayward Sun didn’t play the gig they had scheduled that Friday.
My $.02, Weed
P.S. As an idea of the kinda year we had that year, we filled out a roommate agreement that UMBC’s Office of Residental Life still maintains. A rrommate agreement was something we had to fill out to help lay ground rules for a harmonious year between roommates. When were quiet hours, who did what chores, when could guests come over, etc. Residental Life still keeps our roommate agreement as the exact type of agreement NOT to accept. Apparently they felt that the Thunderdome was not an acceptible way to resolve disputes, and that thenpresident of the university would not be responsible for cleaning the kitchen. We were honestly put on warning probabtion for the year, which sounds like something straight from “Animal House”
Barnson Bunch
And Weed, as you’re one of the most colorful posters here, we’re glad to have you 🙂 You wouldn’t believe the high volume of traffic this little “blog of friends” site is getting these days. Maybe I should post some stats…
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Need a T1?
Thank you, Matt. The traffic is probably due to the ease of the website, the wildly diverse group of posters, and the fact you keep it family oriented.
I actually wrote editorials for the UMBC newspaper back in another life that people seemed to like. Unfortunately, being an IT guy, I don’t get to write a lot, so I enjoy throwing it out here when I can. You really need to ask Sam about the J/K story tho, it’s an ESPN Instant Classic 🙂
My $.02 Weed