I thought that it would be helpful to give some background as to how what you’re reading came to be.    One day in 1984 my wife and I were out for a walk, enjoying a pleasant fall day. We started talking about bands I had been in and with whom I had played. As I related my own history I became fascinated by all the interconnections between all the different players and myself. This brought to mind an album by the Byrds which I owned. It is entitled History of the Byrds and on the inside of the double album jacket was a sort of family tree/flow chart chronicling the Byrds career. Starting with the original members, it traced the band to present day with all the peripheral connections of personnel and bands encountered by the various members of the Byrds. I was inspired to do the same thing with the local bands I knew about. I attempted to put together a poster version of the connections, but it soon got to be too unwieldly and the project was set aside.    It wasn’t until early 1995 that my idea took flight again. In February 1993 Andy Crim loaned me his old Mac Plus. An Apple program called HyperCard was on the hard drive along with other items. I had read about HyperCard in Mix magazine and was aware of the potential it presented to anyone who cared to utilize it’s abilities. I purposed in my mind to learn HyperCard, but needed a project that would motivate me to stick to learning it. After borrowing a book on HyperCard from Andy I saw where my band geneology would work well with the “stack” approach of HyperCard. I plunged in excited by the possibility of realizing my idea becoming a shareable reality. I decided to call it “Garage” since the bands I wanted to profile were referred to as garage bands.
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	I wanted to cover as many of the bands in Boone County as I could. Using the research I had already done in ’84, I started in on Garage. I decided to broaden the family tree by including more on each of the bands than just the members, start and stop dates, and who played what. That, in turn, led to interviews with many of the members of the bands being profiled. One friend, Russ Musilek, offered the suggestion of making Garage into a book. My initial reaction was to dismiss the idea as undoable.    As I continued on, the book suggestion gathered merit. My original aim for this project was to be able to make it available to those who were involved. Having Garage in the form of a HyperCard stack would not allow access to all who might like a copy. Even if I was able to do a cross platform version it would still be limiting as not everyone had a computer at that time–Apple or otherwise. So I pursued the book idea which broadened the scope of Garage further.    Eventually I found myself with another bit of software I wanted to learn which enabled the user to create web sites. Once again I needed a project to learn the software. And, once again, the band history easily fit my needs and what you’re reading is part of that project.
			What I’ve attempted to do in the “words” section of Garage is to give the reader an idea of what it was like being in a band. Many of the issues such as song selection, equipment, playing out, etc. are covered using interview excerpts along with my own personal recollection. I didn’t really want the this to be about me, but I was involved and felt some of what was personal experience should be shared in the interest of a more complete look at this subject.    The “bands” section is similar to the family tree section of the HyperCard version of Garage. I've extended the information covered there to include several aspects about each group. I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible with this information, but I’m sure there are some shortcomings. Trying to pinpoint things like dates and equipment after 58+ years was a challenge for many with whom I spoke. Also included are some “war” stories. Some things are recounted here for perhaps the first time for public consumption. Others may be familiar like remembering a shared experience from high school.    I do hope you find this project enjoyable. I’ve certainly enjoyed putting it all together.            excerpted from “Garage” - Ron Carlson/1997-2022
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