Uncle Fungus at the Willow House

Uncle Fungus:
I met Mike Twitchel when I worked out at the Air Force base in the late 80′s.  During lunch, we would go hang out at the base cantina.  They had pool tables, hamburgers, and MUSIC Rooms.  There were two music rooms, each had a piano. I would often find Mike in one of the rooms, and I would go into the other.   I would play Billy Joel Pop music, and he would be playing boogie-woogie music.  This guy could play.  He was starting a blues band after he landed a gig at the Arizona County Fair.  He asked me if I would play the drums for it.  I did.  It was pretty good.  But the band never took off.   Several years after I left the Base for Intel, we ran into each other and talked about music.  He said that he was looking to start a band.  We hooked up day for lunch to talk about getting a shows-worth of songs together.  He brought over a notebook with some songs he had written…. there were like, 1000′s of songs!!!  Amazing.  We put our duo together and hit the coffee house circuit.  We were good!  He played guitar, played harmonica on a wire holder and sang a bit Leon Redbone; in a gravelly voice.  I played djembe, harmonicas, shakers, and sang harmonies!  This was the first real chance I got to sing.  I was always in bands with such good singers, so I never got a chance. We added a drummer, violin player, and bass.  We played some shows around the coffee house circuit before we just kind of died out.  In 2008,  I got a call from Mike. “We’re getting the band back together”. Mike had informed me that he was changing his music to be more of a comedy show. He wrote a whole bunch of  satirical songs. We met at a coffee house in Glendale for an outdoor show.  We did not have time to practice, so Mike made some notes about each song… the tempo/keys etc.   The first time any of us had heard that songs was during the show. They were hysterical.  But they were fairly “Blue” as well.  We were literally crying behind him of laughter; it was hard to play when we were cracking up with laughter and embarrassment.   The audience caught on, and it made for even a funnier show.  But there was a problem…. I write Children s Music and play in Church.  So, as funny as the new band format was, I don’t think it fit my public persona. I told him after the show that I would not be able to be a part of this band.  Mike had recorded the show to use for a promo CD.   I told him to change my name on the CD.  So if you ever get a hold of a hysterical, blue comedy CD by Uncle Fungus, you can look for me under my stage name:  Dave Cognito.

My son Zach tells me to this day that this was his favorite band I even played in.