Remembering Jeff....

[HurricaneBob]

This thread is all about everyone's best friend we lost a couple years ago..
Jeff Wallack, from driving with binoculars to driving with no headlights..post your funny stories of Jeff. Here's the old 2 vids when i had the pleasure of playing live with him in 92' at Aldos.

Jeff the Shredder Mix

Megadeth Medley

April 5th at Aldos..
Miss ya bro.

[bassist_25]

Jeff - in a roundabout way - got me into Dream Theater. I remember going into Jarrett's when I was younger with my father and he had on a Dream Theater shirt. I just thought it was a really cool band name, so of course, I had to find out what they were all about.

[redawg]

Jarretts What a great place that was. I never knew Jeff aside from working there and I was actually surprised to find out he even played an instrument even though I went to that store a lot. Sounds like he was a great player and I wish I would've gotten the chance to see him play. Real good dude.

[whitedevilone]

Ahh driving with binoculars!!!!What a trip ,great job Bob!Simple words cannot express how much i miss this dude.Even now,everyday there's something that reminds me of him.Jeff and i became tight after his"crazy" days but holy hell did i hear the stories...hood surfing down the Buckhorn ring a bell Bob LOL.He never failed to tell it like it was "your playing rocks but damn your tone sounds like shit"..."wow buddy you really don't like that do you"? I miss the hours of cruising around the lake,getting ripped up listening to Maiden,talking shit and just all around good times.It may not come to a surprise to many on RP but i don't have a buttload of friends and he was my closest.

Miss ya bro Scott.

[Team Transylvania]

I never met Jeff. I think that was before my time in PA. Anyway, it seems like he was a great dude, and from those vids, he was a great guitarist.
I wish i could have met him.
I went to the last benefit show, and ill be going to the april 5th one.

btw, who are the other dudes in the videos?

[PStl]

Jeff was absolutely one for the ages! A few years before he died, we had talked about getting something going, but for a number of reasons, it didn't happen. That is a big regret in my life. We did get together a few times thru the years, and I wish I had tapes, 'cause dude could jam!
If we weren't playing, and Rapid Fire was at Aldo's - we were there! Rapid Fire was my favorite local band!
One of the biggest laughs with Jeff and Tom Pielmeier down at Jeff's: we're watching the Rams (of course), and at the time they sucked, but they're winning. Jeff's getting fired up, and comes back into the room, his head stuffed into a very small Rams helmet (white with the blue horn like the old days, I think 1 crossbar).
A million laughs! Always!

[songsmith]

I always think of Jeff and Bobby Hurricane at Old Sab's, circa 1988 or so... they had been drinking rocket fuel, I think, which was a popular drink at the time (it was bought by the pitcher, and contained pretty much every type of alcohol known at that time). They decided to have a contest, to see if they could put their foreheads tightly enough against the rim of the glasses to seal the booze in, then stand up with the drinking glass pressed against their foreheads, upside-down. They both actually accomplished the feat, and I was crying from laughing so hard. Then Jeff sorta pulled the glass away from his head, and it drenched him, to great comedic effect. Jeff's abstract sense of humor was legendary, but I've also had some pretty deep conversations with him, he wasn't just a clown. He also told me exactly where his honey fishing hole was, which is something few real fisherman do. I keep it a secret in his memory, because he told me to.----->JMS

[BassFinger]

Jeff would always greet me with a loud, "Bill....how's it going!!!", when I would walked into Jarrett's. He always wanted to jam a little because he liked my 'slap-n-pull' bass style. He had wanted me to stop over and record a few bass lines for him to jam to. I wish I would have taken the time for that.

[CCdrums]

Jeff and I go way back to when he was just a teen. I know his older brother Scott and I knew of Jeff through him. Later I got to know him more when he became a seriously great guitarist. We always would joke with each other and he would answer with his trademark "SURE!" When I was in Riot Act, our guitarist Rick Crum was in a car accident and hurt his hand. We had a gig in Erie and Jeff sat in for him and played flawlessly. He had a crew cut then and was jumping around the stage like a kangaroo on acid! It was too funny and oh so much fun.

One night he and I were talking at Aldo's and we were talking music and some other semi-serious topics. We were talking about some of our favorite tunes and surprisingly, he told me that his all time favorite song was on the juke box. He went over and popped in a quarter, walked back over and sat down. Seconds later, "Hold on" by Kansas came on. He just looked at me with that face of his and nodded his head in approval. If you've ever heard that song and listen to it now, you can't help but get a lump in your throat. I wish we could pull that one off somehow at the benefit. That would be awesome. Jeff was a great guy and a great talent. We all miss him terribly. God bless you Jeff.

[tornandfrayed]

I never knew Jeff but so many people on here thought so highly of him he must have been something special! Sometimes a person just has that way of drawing people to them....

Awesome thread!

[Geetarzz]

I have alot of memories of Jeff. The first time I ever met him he was working in that old video store in the station mall. I don't know how we got on the topic, but we started talking about guitars. I told him that I had just started playing and he was quick to give me some tips and tricks to try. The next day I was returning the movie that I had rented and Jeff was there and said "hold on a minute" then he went in the back and came back out with a Crybaby wah pedal and gave it to me. This guy that I had only talked to 1 time before in my life had just givin me a crybaby wah pedal!!! At that time in my life that was huge. That was just Jeff being Jeff. He was one of the kindest people that I have ever met. He was so good at guitar it really intimidated me to play in front of him. But he always had a way of putiing you at ease, the whole time that I knew him I never once heard him say a bad word about anybodys playing ability. I miss him alot.

[RobTheDrummer]

It's a shame I never got to know him.... It's the good people like him that make the scene great! He lives on through all of you that were close to him.

[RamRod 1]

Special Guitar Player,.......Special Guy. I only knew him from Jarretts but it was easy to become good friends. We talked about the woods a lot.

[lonewolf]

One day I went up to Blue Knob skiing and then stopped off at the lounge to check out the Lounge Lizards. After a yard (of beer) or two, I ended up jamming with Jeff & co. and stayed a lot longer than I planned. I think I made a 1st down (of beer). When I left, my SUV started skidding on some gravel and I ended up doing a roll, landing on the drivers side in the snow. A friend of mine just happened by and we pulled it back on its tires. There were some scratches on it, the side view mirror was broken, but it still ran--sort of--think: "Walk (ride) Like A Camel".

[CCdrums]

There seems to be a little confusion about the song I was referring to that Jeff liked so much. It's my fault actually, because the name of the song is "Hold on", not "Baby hold on" and it's by Kansas. Here's a link to the song, just disregard the video that goes with it and listen to the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LscKgLXFYqI

The song isn't "Baby hold on to me" by Eddie Money. The funny thing is, Jeff hated that Eddie Money song, so that's definitely not it! LOL. Hopefully I cleared this up. Anyone who wants to see if they can pull the Kansas song off, let me know. Serious vocals in it and keys as well. Anyone???

[RobTheDrummer]

There seems to be a little confusion about the song I was referring to that Jeff liked so much. It's my fault actually, because the name of the song is "Hold on", not "Baby hold on" and it's by Kansas. Here's a link to the song being performed live, but not quite as cool as the studio version. Still, you get the drift.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS3zLUTw7CQ

The song isn't "Baby hold on to me" by Eddie Money. The funny thing is, Jeff hated that Eddie Money song, so that's definitely not it! LOL. Hopefully I cleared this up. Anyone who wants to see if they can pull the Kansas song off, let me know. Serious vocals in it and keys as well. Anyone???

Is it time for a tribute show?

[CCdrums]

There seems to be a little confusion about the song I was referring to that Jeff liked so much. It's my fault actually, because the name of the song is "Hold on", not "Baby hold on" and it's by Kansas. Here's a link to the song being performed live, but not quite as cool as the studio version. Still, you get the drift.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS3zLUTw7CQ

The song isn't "Baby hold on to me" by Eddie Money. The funny thing is, Jeff hated that Eddie Money song, so that's definitely not it! LOL. Hopefully I cleared this up. Anyone who wants to see if they can pull the Kansas song off, let me know. Serious vocals in it and keys as well. Anyone???

Is it time for a tribute show?

I just thought it would be cool to pull this off at his benefit show on April 5th since most people don't know that the song by Kansas was Jeff's favorite, plus it would be cool to do something a little more meaningful to his memory than just go up and rip on metal songs all night. But, the Kansas song is a bit involved, has great vocals in it and instrumentation that would probably require some rehearsal. That's the problem. Unless it was an "unplugged" version with just an acoustic guitar and vocals. That would work, it just requires some vocals in a pretty high register.

Anyway, it's just a thought. Whatever comes of it is cool, just thought it would be fitting.

[orangekick]

Jeff totally made going to music stores a new experience for me. I just remember going in to the store in the middle of the day on like a Tuesday and just hanging out with him. He always had stories to tell. He also used to always tell me that the music that I liked was terrible.

[HarleyRo1]

Bobbie...thanks for posting the videos of Jeff. My brother and Jeff were good friends and loved to jam together at Jarretts. I miss his laugh and amazing sense of humor.

[FBooth]

Clint , I got the bass on the Kansas song. And I think Steve O. could cover the vocals. We just need a couple guitars and a set of keys . I think it's a great idea.
Joe G.

[old Skool]

I never knew or met Jeff but from those videos holy crap! That dude could rip!!! Thanks Bobby for sharing those videos.

[mjb]

i didn't know jeff at all but after seeing that pic of him before the video i did recognize him. i walked into jarrets one time to buy an amp, a long time ago, and there was a guy sitting on a stool just playing some unbelievable guitar like it was nothing. he finished and asked if there was something he could help me with i told him i was interested in whatever it was, i think it was a bassman but not the one i have now.he was real nice and asked if i wanted to try it out and after seeing him play i was like (trying to maintain some sort of coolnes) nah, i'll just take it. pulled out a big ghetto wad of cash, paid for it and got out of town. that dude had some mad skills. at that point, i had never seen anybody play like that up close. i'm thinking that might have been 93ish maybe? it was alot of doobs ago so i don't have good recolaction of the time frame but i don't remember the long hair,(like in the vid) i remember him having short hair one thing i do remember was seeing him play like that and trying to be cool like it wasn't that big of a deal when actually it was a huge deal

RIP

[CCdrums]

Clint , I got the bass on the Kansas song. And I think Steve O. could cover the vocals. We just need a couple guitars and a set of keys . I think it's a great idea.
Joe G.

Hey Joe (hmm....sounds like a song title ), you're the man! Steve O. would be perfect! Even if it's just 1 guitar, bass and drums, the point is to get the essence of the song across. Hopefully we can pull it off. I'm up for it. Let's see if we can't make it happen.

[BassFinger]

Mmmmm.....

I could add some acoustic rhythm guitar and backup vocals.

[MY_TURNING_POINT]

Jeff was just awesome!! Bought my amp off him at Jarrets and we were freinds since.

When I first started writing the my turning point stuff I had Jeff over to the house to get his approval! I was so nervous to play guitar in front of him, knowing how great of a player he was, and I wasn't. In typical Jeff fashion, he was throwing awesome leads over my stuff, just making it sound amazing! Laughing and joking the entire time!

We had discussed a day to get together with my drummer and start jamming and well, it never happened.

What an all around great dude! I really miss him.