Suburban Blues Al Pauly is a veteran of the '60's garage band era and has parlayed his experiences into his first mystery novel.  A member of true-life group The Phogg, Pauly utilized his teen band's name - and several of their experiences - when creating the backstory for fictional hero Jake Strong.  In order to get a better understanding for the events that Strong faces, and for the real-life events that may have inspired them, we asked Pauly some questions specific to the genesis of Suburban Blues. Al Pauly Click on the Cover to Order Al Pauly and the Suburban Blues   60sgaragebands.com (60s): What is your musical background? Al Pauly (AP):  I guess I was about twelve years old in 1961.  It was the summer prior to my first year of junior high school when my parents promised me that if I diligently pursued a "legitimate" instrument for a specified length of time, then I could get a guitar.  So I spent one or two years with the cornet in junior high band. I don't exactly remember why I chose the cornet but it may be that my father had some influence there.  He'd played the trumpet in high school.  Band taught me the basics of reading music, but reading music seemed like a waste of time to me back then.  I did my time and eventually got the guitar.   As I remember, by the time The Beatles made their Ed Sullivan debut in 1964, I was in the ninth grade and already practicing away on my Epiphone Sorrento Double, mostly picking up songs by ear.  Then came the band and after high school I gave up guitar when I went to college, sold my Fender Tremolux and Super Reverb but kept my Epiphone.  I got back into playing about five or six years ago but am not in a band.  I'm still pretty rusty. 60s: What were the names of the bands you played with in the ‘60's? AP: The first band was the GTs. I believe the name came from the letters you might see following the name of a car.  I think it meant "Grand Touring".  I do remember a few of our so-called fans speculating that the GT stood for Grand Trunk.  Where I lived (just north of Pontiac, Michigan) the Grand Trunk Railroad employed lots of our parents.  It was the main train company that hauled all the cars made by GM, Ford and Chrysler.  It seemed like GM, Ford and Chrysler employed the rest of our parents.  The Phogg was the next band, but it was really only a name change to the same band.  Our manager, Steve Ritter, thought we had to change the name in order to keep up with the times, I guess.  We played most of the popular music on the radio at the time, and what with bands like the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Donovan, Electric Prunes and even The Beatles going psychedelic, he thought a name change was in order.  We thought The Phogg was as psychedelic a name as we could stand because we still played Top 40, which wasn't all psychedelic. The GTs were: Darryl Bowden (lead guitar and lead vocals); me, Al Pauly (rhythm guitar and back up vocals); Dave Smith (bass guitar, lead and backup vocals); and Rex Hamel (drums, lead and back up vocals).  We didn't want to, but we replaced Dave Smith.  I'm just going to leave it at that because we were all sad to see him go.  He was really good.  Mickey Simmons replaced Dave on bass, lead and back up vocals.  Later we replaced Rex Hamel (sad to see him go, too) with Tom Balkwell (drums, lead and back up vocals). This is about the time we changed the name to The Phogg.  Somewhere along the way we added, for a short time, Tom Schultz on keyboards.  The next change in personnel was Mike Secan who replaced Mickey Simmons on bass.  He sang some backup but I don't remember him doing any lead vocals. 60s: How long did you play in bands? AP: I played from about 1964 to the summer of 1967. 60s: How popular did your bands become? AP:  I may have a tendency to over state this just because; the memory gets more grandiose with age.  I wonder if I'm the only one who has this problem?  Anyway, I'd say that we did okay.  We never recorded any records but we played places like the Fire Place, Elizabeth Lake Estates Pavilion, Mount Holly, The Silverbell Hideout and many more.  These were all popular teen nightclubs in the Northern suburbs of Detroit that would host name bands like Bob Seger And the Last Heard (we all know how he did and how he's doing today), Terry Knight and The Pack (who became Grand Funk Railroad), The Rationals (who recorded a song called "Respect" that was done a year later by Aretha Franklin), Scott Richard Case, and a lot more.  We also played the high schools and junior high schools and a place or two up North in Michigan (I think one was called the Music Box in Prudenville and there was another one in Caseville, I believe.)  We were paid to appear, so I guess that's one way to gauge popularity. 60s: What was your impetus for writing Suburban Blues? AP: I got the idea for the story Suburban Blues after watching a couple of movies: Rudy and The Rookie.  As you might know, these movies were the "feel good"-style that depicted some unlikely individual achieving something unexpected.  With Rudy it was a little guy who wanted to play for the Notre Dame football team.  He had a lot to overcome in order to reach his goal.  But, he persevered and made it. The Rookie was about a high school baseball coach who had missed his chance to be a professional ball player.  However, he achieved his dream at 40 something when he tried out for the team and made it.  I've been a real estate broker for over 35 years.  I love it and it's my living.  But there has always been something inside me, telling me that I missed the boat with the music thing.  I got to thinking that there's probably a lot of guys out there like me feeling the same way and would like to see a Rudy or Rookie-type story about a guy who, after thirty years, went back to what he loved—rock and roll.  So thus was born the idea for the movie Suburban Blues.  I started writing scenes for the movie.  I got up to about 38 scenes and decided to write the story as a fiction novel (instead).  It's a mystery about a burned out real estate broker who longs for his old Detroit area garage band days of the sixties. The following is from the back cover: “Jake Strong is stuck in a rut.  Over a period of time, he's gradually grown tired of his job.  He can't help feeling that, long ago, he might have taken the wrong turn somewhere on life's path.  Jake regrets having heeded the advice of authority when he was young and is now longing for the good old days.” At fifty-three years old, Jake is a moderately successful—but completely burned out—real estate broker who is badly in need of a change.  When an old high school friend, now a washed-up rock star, comes to town, it reminds him that songwriting was his natural talent and his first passion.  Apprehensive but inspired, Jake embarks on a quest to find out if he has the moxie to be a songwriter.  Along the way, he learns the truth about his old flame, Lizzie Turner, he rights some wrongs, and he combines his youthful passion for songwriting with a seasoned work ethic.  There's more but that should give you the idea. 60s: How large a role does the band play? AP: The band and the places we played are a huge part (70%) of the story.  Although the book is fiction, I used the real name of our band The Phogg.  Most of it revolves around the many flashbacks to the venues we really did play in the sixties.  In fact there was one winter night we played the Silver Bell Hideout (One of the many ‘60's teen haunts owned by Punch Andrews, the current manager of Bob Seger and Kid Rock) and got snowed in.  The band and many of the patrons had to spend the night.  It was a very memorable night for me and thus I made it a pivotal part of the plot.  60s: When was the book published? AP: It was published in September of 2005 by iUniverse.  It can be ordered on Amazon.com, Bordersstores.com or iUniverse.com. It's $15.95 for a soft cover. 60s: Are you planning any other books? AP:   Hopefully.  I have one started but it's way too soon to discuss it here.  There may be many alterations ahead for it. 60s: How do you best summarize your experiences playing in a ‘60's rock band? AP: I've had some pretty good times in my life but playing in the band is very close to the top of the list.  The Phoggs at Pierce Jr. High School Dance in Waterford, MI L-R: Al Pauly, Mike Secan, Darryl Bowden, Tom Balkwell and Tom Schultz Al and Darryl Outside The Garage The GTs at Practice, L-R: Al Pauly, Mickey Simmons, Rex Hamel and Darryl Bowden