DONNIE BLACK

It was X-mas day, he opened a prezent from hiz couzin. It wuz KISS' Love Gun, and from that moment on, life had changed for little Donnie Black. Halloween became a night to dress up az Ace Frehley, and the only thing that wuz missing, wuz the smokin' guitar. The thought began there, and it never left hiz mind

Trying to stay awake for thoze late night KISS television specialz wuz a re-occuring theme for this little rock and roller. There also wuz an old T.V. show: 'Friday Night', which had The Motor City Madman Ted Nugent performing 'Scream Dream' live. That too had a major impact on hiz young impressionable mind. "What's that noizy shit?!" hiz Father asked. But even at a young age Donnie knew what wuz going on, "That izn't shit Dad, that's rock n' roll."

School band came into the picture in grade six, and man, did he wanna learn them drumz. An Uncle'z old drum kit had alwayz been at the house, and this young Black wanted a relationship with it oh-so bad. (a lover at an early age) When signing up for band he choze the drumz, and what did they assigne him with? The Trombone. What wuz up with that? "To many drummers," the teacher said, "may be next year." Four yearz later, Donnie finally put hiz foot down and said, "Next year my ass! See ya man!"

All the while at home he wuz teaching himself while playin' along with the starz on his Radio Shack Boom box. There wuz even a dream he had one night; He wuz to play a concert with Judas Priest on the 'Defenderz of the Faith' tour, but he had to use hiz own drum kit. The stage wuz big & bright, and man did he play hiz heart out. But what a shitty lookin' set of drumz!

Highschool: "I got this friend who teaches drums," an aquantance tellz the now adolescent Donnie. "Cool," I'll give him a call. The phone ringz and Donnie answerz excitedly, "Hey! Yeah, I wanna learn the drumz properly. Saturday at ten? Sure! No, I won't forget. Honest, I won't forget!" So Saturday morning rolled around... and the other guy forgot. "Screw 'em all," Donnie told himself, "I'll do it myself!"

A letter came in the mail in 1985. It had a five hundred dollar cheque for him from hiz Great Aunty Phyllis. She wuz beyond great, and it wuzn't just becuz of the money.
A white Roger's drum kit would move into hiz parents basement soon after that, and the old set of drumz wuz retired. It wuz such a rare old drumset... probably worth a bazillion dollarz now.

Two yearz later the same dude that introduced him to the 'No-show drum teacher' took Donnie aside and told him, "I know this guy you can jam with. He likes the same stuff az you. I'll bring him over after school." It wuz a date. The longest date that Donnie would go on. A date with Tommy Black.

Prior to them playing that day, Donnie had jammed with a coupla other guyz just starting out on their instruments also. One of 'em wuz a big Zepplin fan and the other, a diehard AC*DC fan. Twuz cool at first, but the tastes were just not similar enough for Donnie's recipe to make the right muzick together.

Donnie and Tommy got together. They learned. They conquered the school'z Talent Show one year later. They graduated, and then they went their separate wayz, with separate bandz.

April of 1990, Donnie formed Relic's Tooque with two long haired heavy metal ladz he had met through an ad he had placed in the local music shop, "looking for serious dudez to make serious muzic". A week later, they changed the band name to Conviction.

In October of that same year, Donnie entered the studio az a recording virgin, and experienced for the first time, what a recording wuzn't suppozed to sound like when it wuz done. ...And unfortunately, this wouldn't be hiz last time being a part of a shitty sounding recording!

March of 1991 featured Donnie'z first live public performance playing hiz own muzick. He had, prior to that, once performed with a Led Zepplin / Stonez coverband in a coffee house gig, (completely destroying Bonzo's 'Rock n' Roll'), but that wuzn't really a show. This March gig however, wuz the real deal, for this wasn't a cover band... no f*@kin' way.

During the summer of '92, hiz long awaited dream of buying a monsterous Tama drum kit came true. And oh how sweet it wuz. The sexiest kit in town wuz now located in hiz parent's basement.

More showz were played, and different bandz were joined. Other demos were recorded, and merchandise wuz even sold to willing buyerz on the otherside of the World. Malevolence, Purge, Rollie Fingers and Punish, were teamz Mr. Black had loaned hiz handz to. Experience wuz gained, and knowledge wuz accumulated... and we can't forget, more shitty recordingz were created too.

On a dark January night, the 8th day, of the 94th year, Donnie and hiz good buddy Dan learned that speeding wuzn't a very smart or safe thing to do. At 12:45 am travelling at over 100 mph, the pick up truck they were racing in, decided on it'z own, without driver input or passenger suggestion, to take on a telephone pole on the right hand side of the road, with the left hand side of the truck. Two and a half months later, Dan wuz almost walking outta the Hospital on hiz own two broken legz, and Donnie'z newly scrambled eggz for a memory, were never the same.

The heavy metal dayz became numbered, az the wizer Donnie Black had revellationz: "No, I'm not az angry az this muzick soundz," he tought, "Then why am I playing it?" (A leading cauze to theze feelingz, wuz him meeting hiz hero David Lee Roth, the happiest guy in hiz world)

Undercover brother Tommy, had had thoze same revellationz long before Donnie. There wuz even a time when the two of 'em put together a Dragster Rock n' Roll machine called Rollie Fingers in 1996. The only flaw with 'The Fingers' wuz that they were wearing their drinking shoez for two yearz straight, and before they knew it, they didn't know what happened.

Late in the year of 1998, Donnie wuz invited back to join one of hiz heavy metal monsterz, and for lack of better thingz to do, he accepted the invitation. They performed a small handful of live gigz for a modest amount of spectatorz, and wrote a small amount of tunez along the way.

Az the New Millenium, with a New Yearz celebraton hosted by hiz childhood heroez KISS approached, Donnie wuz reminded of hiz dream of Rock n' Roll dreamz...

When the new year began az the new millenium, Donnie Black wuz good to go. Then on one drunken night in a stranger'z living room, with less-than a stranger sitting beside him (Tommy)... the light came out of the Black. The Brotherz from other Motherz knew that this wuz how it wuz alwayz suppozed to be. The seed wuz planted in the rock n' roll garden, and after a few (to many) drinks, ZAPPNIN BLACK wuz born.