It’s not every day that you go from playing guitar at home on your couch to performing for 100s of people at a really cool and historic venue. That was my unique experience in 1997. It was a special gathering, and as part of the festivities we put together a band to play at
the at the Palace Theater in Los Angeles CA. Even though I probably wasn’t the most prepared, and hadn’t practiced or performed nearly enough prior to the show, it was a really cool opportunity that I didn’t want to miss out on. I played guitar that night on only a few songs – Pink Houses by John Mellencamp, Desire by U2, and Born in Chicago by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
In all, we performed about 12 or so songs. I remember that I borrowed a guitar from Jim, and it was the Guild Starfire III that you can see me playing in the picture. If I look like I have a blank stare on my face in the picture, its probably because I was pretty nervous and I was trying not to mess up. I did my best to try and enjoy the moment, but I remember that I put a lot of pressure on myself given our crowd of friends that had come to enjoy the music.
The cool thing about the gig was that not only did we get to play at “The Palace”, but we opened for Jim Belushi and his blues band. They were the main attraction that had been brought in for the celebration. We even got to meet Jim and his band backstage before we played. I remember that we chatted with them, and then we walked out on stage, plugged in to their amps and equipment, and ran through our set. We had several guitar players and other musicians from our group of friends that performed that night. Each of us played a few songs, and then we would switch out and let the others join in on the fun.
When we were finished, we all came back out on the stage and took a bow. We were a “hit” so to speak and everyone was excited that we had pulled it off. A few minutes later, I remember settling back into the crowd of smiling friends, shaking a few hands, and watching Jim Belushi and his band bring down the house. They were great, and looking back I can honestly say that we were pretty good. All in all it was really cool! Things went well enough for us that night that we were asked to play again a year later at an event at Balboa Park in San Diego CA. This experience really rekindled my love for music and the guitar.
— Mark Salyers