Flashback, writer’s, chemically-inspired, one each: The first band I was ever in. We were just beginning to cook (knew most of the notes on my Hagstrom bass, our drummer had a five-piece set of Slingerlands with two big cymbals, Farfisa Duo-Compact organ, etc.) when our guitar player broke his hand in a motorcycle wreck and had to quit.

Inquiries at the local billiard parlor led us to a guitarist from a nearby neighborhood who was supposed to be really hot. We called him up and asked if he would come over and jam with us, and he agreed. A few nights later he showed up with equipment in hand: a Fender Telecaster, a big Silvertone amp from Sears, and a funny little wedge-shaped gizmo called a “Fuzz-Tone” that none of us had ever seen.