Did you know your APUSH teacher, Mr. Rush, was a rock star in his high school glory days? I bet you didn’t. After Mr. Rush mentioned this to me, I had to know more. It’s not everyday that you discover your American history teacher was really living the “American Dream”. I decided to ask him about his rockin’ past, in hopes of showing AMHS that we have a shining star in our halls.

What was the name of your band?

“We had lots of names…more names than songs. ’50 Free’, ‘Purgatory’, ‘The Road Ducks’, and ‘Teddy T-Bone & the Tenderloins’.”

What types of music did you play?

“Lil bit of everything, man!”

What instrument did you play?

“Drums, baby! You know, percussion. But sometimes I shook the little shaky thing.”

Did you write any songs?

“No, I was just eye candy. I was the lyrical Jesse James.”

Did you have any gigs?

“We played at Paige Godfrey’s birthday party and just some general jammin’.”

Where did you practice?

“Chris Thompson’s garage.”

Do you have any general stories of “stardom”?

“No, not any that I’m willing to share…”

Is there any chance of bringing back the band?

“Yeah! I’d love to get a hold of the guys for a jam sesh.”

Why did the band break up?

“MTV happened. ‘The Man’ happened. We were an 8-track band living in a digital world. Musical differences, some guys wanted to go reggae.”