Art Ranney

I started out playing guitar in garage bands in the Sixties and Seventies, then eventually shifted to electric bass. We played all the stuff you'd expect, everything from "Louie, Louie" to the more challenging stuff that quickly followed. One band, known at least part of the time as The Red Dog Blues Band, included my brother Rob on drums and Mark Sams on lead guitar. We played out some, but mostly drove the neighbors crazy with enthusiastic covers of Hendrix, Cream and James Gang. Erik and I jammed with them in July 2001, and dubbed ourselves Ulysses Experience in honor of the garage band that is the subject of one of my (unpublished) novels.

In 1991-95, as a doctoral student at Ohio State, I played bass in Akademic Distortion, the communication department's semi-official party band. A/D played everything from Elvis and Buddy Holly to the Clash and Flying Lizards to accommodate the tastes of tenured professors and weirded-out grad students. In 1995, I put in a few months with a blues-rock band in Ohio that went defunct when I moved to Georgia.

I concentrated on the job while I was in Georgia, although I did play out once with a couple of students who wanted to enter the college talent show and needed a bass player. Three rehearsals, three tunes, third place in the contest.

Over the years, I've listened to most genres of music, although I've only played rock (well, I sat in with a country band one night, but that doesn't count). Among the bands and players I admire and have listened to over the years: Beatles (Lennon-McCartney), Steely Dan (Becker & Fagen), Mark Egan, Chuck Rainey, Chuck Leavell, Pink Floyd, Mozart, Lyle Lovett, Allman Bros., John Coltrane, Shawn Colvin, Joni Mitchell, Lucinda Williams, Simon & Garfunkel. And more, including Erik, who has been a tremendous influence on my music.

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