I'm not with the band (unless it's virtual)

When I was 15, I bought an electric bass guitar and an amplifier to go with it. My parents let me use the money people had given me when I was a baby. The next day, I set off for Scranton, Pennsylvania to get together with Doreen, my pen-pal with whom I had formed a band. Thus far, there was just the two of us, but we had plans for more people. The name of the band was Priestess. Our collective influences were Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Heart, the Go-Go’s, Motley Crue, the Doors, Judas Priest, Duran Duran, the Beatles, and Pete Seeger.

Yes. Well.

We wrote a few songs, got tee-shirts made up, and talked about the band during the two weeks I visited Doreen. There was one major difference between us, though: she was a serious musician, and I just wanted to be a rock and roller. I knew I didn’t have what it took to work on the development of a band, go on the road, attempt to get recording contracts, and finally open for Joan Jett. [Years later, one of my other pen-pals ended up doing all that and marrying the drummer, but that’s another story.] When the time came to make decisions about what we were going to do with the next parts of our lives, Doreen headed off to a prestigious music school and I studied English Literature at a small liberal arts college in the Midwest.

I really did not know how to teach myself to play the bass guitar. I chose bass because I had read that it was “easy.” It’s not. You actually need skill. However, I have always liked dressing up as different characters, planning carnivals and puppet-shows, dreaming up possible scenarios… in short, Playing Pretend. Now, I really do think it would be fun to be part of a local band, incorporate more music into my storytelling, but I’m not a professional musician in the making. While I wish I had done more music in college, where there was an abundance of coffee-houses in which to perform, at least I attended those coffee-houses. I’ve always been a good fan. Just ask Heather Kropf.

In the meantime, I’ve changed the name of my conceptual band from Maisie Drives the Bus to Mitzi Drives the Bus. I want to wear bright, cheery stripes without getting sued by the people who represent Lucy Cousins. “Mitzi Drives the Bus” is a combination of several stories: Tell Me a Mitzi, by Lore Segal, Maisy Drives the Bus, by Lucy Cousins, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems. My motto is "Folk rock for rebel tots."