The band still needed a drummer, and the choice was both clearly and painfully obvious. In our minds there was one, and only one choice that both appealed to us and met or exceeded our “minimum standards”; Howard Latham.

“The option here Mr. Bill is a “no-brainer”. “Clearly it should be Howard” Bruce offered, and I agreed.

Howard was an awesome drummer and like Tom and Jeff an easy going guy that would fit right in with the rest of us.

Since our Ravens days, as I was “resting up”, Howard had only gotten better; much better, taking lessons and playing out with some very good musicians.  I recall one night I went out to catch his act. As he started playing “Wipe Out” I stood in amazement as the whole room stopped dancing and crowded around the stage to watch him play his solos. Impressive. We had to get Howard.

So, while the clearly obvious part of adding Howard to our wish list was complete, the painfully obvious part was “why would anyone of Howard’s talent want to play with a bunch of guys who not only didn’t own equipment but largely had never played out before?

We needed a plan to elevate Howard’s perception of our worth. So Bruce, Tom, Jeff and I secretly practiced for more than a month before inviting him to join us. I guess it wasn’t nearly as successful as we thought because Howard later confided to Bruce, after a few gigs, that he didn’t realize how bad we really were when he agreed to be part of the group, but after thinking it over had decided to stay because “he had never before had such a good time sounding like shit”!

While Howard’s remarks represented some deviant form of testimonial that perhaps was best left unexplained, we all got focused and productive fearing he might leave; and Jeff offer to switch to drums.

In our State of Mind days when we performed “Wipe Out” Jeff, Bruce and I would leave Howard at the beginning of his drum solos; departing the stage and sometimes even the room, allowing him to enjoy the spotlight but compelling him to carry the moment. Even though we thought it was pretty neat giving him center stage, I have to admit we also found a bit of humor in our actions: like the smug sense of satisfaction you get from doing something wrong, knowing that while you could get caught you probably wouldn’t, and there was little or no downside if you did….so what the heck.

So leaving the stage during “Wipe Out” was our modus operandi, until one time we stayed out a really long time and got back to find Howard “sorta” still playing his solo but now at almost half tempo, the people still left on the dance floor are slow dancing to “Wipe Out”, which I believe was a historic first; and poor Howard…he is soaking wet, slinging sweat all over the place, puddles forming on the floor, gasping for air like he had just run the Boston Marathon on one leg, and…well…pissed off. Yeah, I believe “pissed off” would be a fair assessment of the look on his face when we nonchalantly wandered back in. Though Howard was consistently a pretty laid back guy, this time it was painfully obvious we had carried our prank a bit too far.

After the gig the band got together and talked about what had happened. Jeff, Bruce and I expressed regret for our actions and agreed that going forward perhaps 10 minutes was a bit too long to be gone, and that we would do our very best to try to get back on stage in say… five. Howard apologized for being upset and we accepted his apology but told him, and in jest, he knew what he could do if he couldn’t take a joke. We all laughed. Sorry Howard…tea leaves suggest the whole thing was Jeff’s fault.

I am uncertain what it ultimately took to persuade Howard to join us. Maybe it was the “money for nothing and chicks for free” carrot that Bruce had conceived and dangled, or perhaps it was the lure of the 7th green, but he did, and has been a member of the group and life long friend ever since; for which we are all eternally grateful.

Professionally, Howard now goes by the name of Jesse Latham [due to a credit problem with the mob :)] and performs regularly with local bands.