How did this all get started? Several years ago at one of our infamous Tom’s Band Camps, we had a “camper” (all the musicians that attend could be called campers) who I’ll call Ron (to protect the innocent). After being told there would be a full P.A. system including floor monitors, he setup his own P.A. with his guitar rig behind him and P.A. speakers to either side of the guitar cab. I walked up, asked what he had all that for when we clearly had the P.A. setup and under control. “Well, I’m a professional and so I need my P.A. Can I ask you, are the going to be other professional musicians attending? Because I only play with professionals.” Really? All I could do was walk away. A bit later, I watched as he attempted to tune his 12 string acoustic. Again, I walked away. It was, sadly, amusing.

To make our lives easier, most of us simply ignored this guy. A late comer, also one of our regular attendees, setup and sat in. He kept looking over at Ron, shaking his head. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and, rather loudly exclaimed, “See that pedal on the left of your board? It’s called a tuner. Learn how to use it!” That brought down the house.

Ever since that night, when the gang gets together, someone inevitably lets the rest of us know that he only plays with professionals. “I only play with professionals” became the first of the series of shirts that comprise the Hankerisms collection.