Here’s this week’s installment of historic Tom pics. 1998 bridged the end of sophmore year of college and the start of my junior. I had my 20th birthday. In April, I asked Elizabeth to marry me, she said yes.

Daniel and I were roommates, but M.Cotu was more of an idea than a reality. He spent part of the year fronting a full throttle alt-rock band called Soul-Manna. They played out, even did a “tour” of sorts that spring break to Virginia and back. I still believed in our partnership. And as Soul-Manna kind of sputtered out towards the end of the school year, Daniel and I agreed to be a “studio-band.” We’d collect our best songs and record an album. At Band Jam ’98, as an acoustice guitar/bass duo, we were recieved well again and that April we recorded “Folk Medicine and Homeopathy.” We made stacks of cassette tapes and handed them out or mailed them to old friends and relations; I even remeber giving copies to people as Christmas presents later that year. It was super lo-fi, but the maturity of the songwriting belied our ages, and inspired two friends to want to make music with us. One, again, Mike Bruneau on drums wanted to “rejoin” the line up, and another, Shawn Stonesifer, a summer camp friend of my fiance’, dubbed the album into his 4-Track, laid on his own parts with keys, vocals, and horn, mailed it to me that summer as an “audition tape.”

Elizabeth followed Daniel and I around campus one day during the tracking days to get some “promo shots.”

Jamming outside Bill Hall, where we lived. (L-R) Me, Dave Mason, who cofounded the Spotted Cow festival with me the next year, Daniel, and Jason Dean – local guy, almost in the band for a minute – taught me my first blues riff.

Summer 1998, Mike made good on his promise to drum again. Daniel came down to Indiana from Rapid City, South Dakota. He had transferred to Greenville College in Illinois, to major in Music Recoring and Sound Engineering. The idea was, that though we all lived in different cities, we could record a studio project that next school year at Greenville – where Jars of Clay famously got their start (see 1999) and Daniel would have studio time. Late summer 1998, we got together to initiate the songwriting process and to goof around in general.

This blue, 1978 Buick LeSabre that I am streched across was my first car. It was my grandfather Adamson’s last car before a stroke took his driving privileges away. Maybe someday I’ll write a seperate essay about it.

Of equal importance was the summer of 98. I lived in a student apprtment with three new friends – Erik Fisher, Todd Bushong, and John Drury. This initated a life long friendship that exists to this day. These guys are the creative team behind my latter day projects. We did campus landscaping by day, and by night young men about town – sharing a love of and conversations about music, life, loss, culture, theology, philosophy, everything under the sun until the sun came up. Unfortunately, little to no pictures exist from these adventures.

Another gift from a family member was this beautiful electric guitar, “Phineas” by name. My Uncle Dan gave it to me. It was his when he was in high school. It was my pride and joy in the early years of M.Cotu, although I didn’t really know what I was doing with it. I began as an acoustic strummer.

18 months after our humble debut at Common Grounds, we were part of a college sponspored show called the “Starving Artist Series.” Up and coming student and local band showcases. The place was packed and we made a lot fans that night. We were in the middle of our first studio sessions and were riding a wave of synergy, unlike anything I’d ever experinced before in my life.

(L-R) Daniel, Sara Fenlon – who was part of the band for most of the school year, me (playing phineas) Mike, and Shawn Stonesifer – showing his multi-instrumentalist skills.

With Daniel at Greenville, Shawn was my roommate in Bill Hall. He brought a veritable music store with him, including that 4-Track Tape Recorder. (in all caps for I spent almost all of my spare time with it.) It took my abilities to a new level. I made two solo-projects that school year.

I had a lot of other things going on in my life. I was singing in the Sunday choir of Gethsemane Episcopal Church in Marion, taking friends with my to church from time to time. I was still a music eductaion major, and had a clinical placement at Mississinewa Middle School in Gas City, got real teaching and directing experience. I recived a special scholarship from the college to be in the honors string quartet. These are very happy memories for me.