The Palers' Band

A funny thing happened after Joe Portugal's musical renaissance in One Last Hit: I had one too. A couple of months after publication - and after barely picking up a guitar since 1990 or so - I suddenly got the urge to start playing again. My timing was good: I was just in time to become a member of the Palers' Band.

Remember Procol Harum? Best known for 1967's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and for "Conquistador" in '72, they created a bunch of great albums through the '60s and '70s. I've been a huge fan since I first saw them at Fillmore East in '68 or so.

Conventions of Procol Harum fans, organized by the excellent Procol Harum website Beyond the Pale, are called Palers' Festivals. Leaving for the Coast was the first in the U.S., and took place July 25-28, 2003, in Los Angeles, coinciding with PH's July 28 L.A. tour date. It included the traditional convocation of the Palers' Band, musician/fans who get together in various combinations to play PH music. This year there were about two dozen members ... including yours truly, in my first public musical appearance since a McGovern rally in 1972. We played several sets at B.B. King's Blues Club at Universal Citywalk, one before an unsuspecting public.

(All photos except Brooker-Fisher by Jan Vincent.)

Here we are on "Toujours L'Amour." I'm second from the left, playing the 1954 Gibson ES-125 my father bought me when I was nine or so.

Note the carefully-positioned B.B. King's Blues Club sign. Note the classic eyes-closed guitar hero pose.

The daring bluegrass version of "So Far Behind."

At rehearsal with my 1967 Fender Coronado II. A couple of months before this I put strings on it for the first time in ten years. Thus began my return to musicmaking.

The Procol Harum concert on July 28 was at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. During the second song, a rare summer downpour sent the band into the wings and the audience seeking shelter. After an hour's delay, the concert resumed, only to have a second cloudburst cut the proceedings short another hour later. We Palers went back to B.B. King's to play our final set. At midnight all five members of Procol Harum showed up, and played a five-song set.

Thirty-six years after "A Whiter Shade of Pale," I took this photo of original Procol Harum members Gary Brooker (piano and vocals) and Matthew Fisher (organ).

I got the band to sign one of my One Last Hit postcards. Clockwise from bottom left: Mark Brzezicki (drums), Matt Pegg (bass), Geoff Whitehorn (guitar), Matthew Fisher (organ), Gary Brooker (piano and vocals).

After PH's set, the Palers played a few more numbers. For the finale of "Whaling Stories" those of us not playing on the song converged on stage for choir duty. I'm toward the right in the dark blue shirt. Everybody else was putting their hand to their ear, so I did too.

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Last Updated: September 2, 2011