The Back Story of GHZ by Scott Giambusso

"One Tuesday in June, I walk in the back room of the Half Moon, and who is on stage working the gig with Dave Kitchen, but my old pal, Dan Hovey whom I don’t think I’d seen since the early 80s. We had played a few gigs about 25 years ago, and he and John Zidar used to come to my basement apartment, and we would attempt to play Chick Corea tunes and other some such jazz . Somehow, after spending years in New York, Dan moved to Kensington, Maryland, one mile away from my home in Wheaton. Back on the DC rock scene, he quickly became the most- in-demand freelance guitar player, and now here he was, playing my local watering hole.
I joined Dave and Dan on the stage, and we proceeded to tear the blues into little pieces. The energy was great and the grooves were strong and Dan’s soloing got better with each chorus. Since we were jamming, we tried to pick tunes we all knew. Just for yuks, I think I suggested "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Cream. Dan's eyes lit up as he had learned every lick Eric Clapton ever played or even thought of playing. We kicked it off and rocked down the house. What a riot! The next week I called him and suggested we get together for grins and play a bunch of the old Cream tunes and maybe some Hendrix and Led Zepelin.
But who would be the right drummer? Dan immediately knew that John Zidar was the only choice. I did not know that John was a huge fan of Ginger Baker and had studied every beat Baker had ever played. And that was just at age 14. After getting his degree in percussion at Maryland, John Zidar made the rounds in just about every circle in the music biz. John is so into Cream that he has been trying to get his daughter, Rachel, to change her name to Ginger. He is a meticulous player and a total octopus on his immense DW drum kit with the same setup as Baker's with 2 bass drums 24” and 22,” a snare, 3 mounted toms, 3 floor toms, I don’t know how many cymbals and a cowbell. John Zidar was the only drummer that could make Gigahertz a reality."

That's an excerpt from bass player, Scott's GHZ Diary...Thanks, Scott.

See the reality rock the Out of the Way Cafe tonight in dear ole wherever it is, Derwood, MD.
( Get yer google maps fired up.)