Story
Big On The Bar Scene
I had graduated Ellsworth Community College just before Iowa Falls JAM 2 and I had become quite popular in town so I was able to start playing shows for the college in September of 1988. That same year the Tenderfoot Lounge in Eldora changed owners and went from a strictly country only bar to Rascal’s, a bar that let me play all kinds of music. I went from playing there once a month to becoming a weekly attraction and sometimes when I didn’t have a Saturday night wedding even playing there both Friday and Saturday nights. Ingy’s in Iowa Falls (until it burned down in 1988), the Mountain Top bar in Iowa Falls, the Circle A in Ackley, and Sables Lounge in Newton also became regular bars I rotated through, playing every Friday and Saturday night at one bar or the other. I weened away from the college house parties, only playing during the week once or twice a month.
The Iowa Falls JAM Tour 3 Idea
In college I had started watching a lot of professional wrestling and enjoyed the weekly broadcasts of WWF. My favorite wrestler at the time was the Ultimate Warrior and I had followed his debut in the WWF in 1987. I painted my face and dyed my long hair almost a bright white-yellow so I would look like him. I cut a fake guitar out of wood, covered it in cloth, airbrushed crazy colors on it, cut silver fur from my old car seats and put some on the headstock, and made strings out of yarn. (This guitar would later become my now famous Light Machine Guitar). Dressed in ripped jeans and a T-shirt also airbrushed with wild colors, I strapped the fake guitar around my neck and went as a character I called the “Sound Wave Warrior” when I DJ’d the 1989 Halloween Party at Rascal’s Lounge in Eldora. Dan Bennett helped as my road crew and I took my girlfriend Ann at the time.
That night at the party, talking to Dan and Ann, I came up with the idea that the Iowa Falls JAM 3 should be another tour and be called the “Sound Wave Warrior Tour”. I immediately went home and started planning.
One of my favorite rock groups was Iron Maiden and I loved the Eddie character drawn by Derek Riggs. I came up with a character called Billy Jam and decided to use him for the artwork of my T-shirts, inventing a storyline that would represent a sort of mirror of my life becoming a DJ. In the story Billy was a teenager who couldn’t get enough heavy metal music, hounded by the police for playing too loud, he eventually grafted speakers onto his hands to have music playing constantly. I drew the picture of Billy Jam as the Sound Wave Warrior with speakers for hands smashing a rock with one of them (‘rocking,’ play on words). I cut airbrush templates and started painting T-shirts from November of 1989 to January of 1990. 
On December 15, 1989 I bought 2 Numark M330C 200W Speakers for $1,281.73. On February 5, 1990 I bought the NAD 2600A 400W Amp/Preamp set for $1,137.15.
The Second Tour
The Sound Wave Warrior Tour was as follows:
Saturday March 3, 1990 7:00pm at the American Legion Hall in Denver $3 admission 
Friday March 16, 1990 7:00pm at the Armory in Oelwein $3 admission 
Friday March 30, 1990 7:00pm at the Gates Hall in Nevada $3 admission 
Before this show I finished building my now famous “White Amp Box.” I had gotten tired of taking each piece of stereo equipment out of cardboard boxes and wiring them together for every show so I bought a set of metal shelving, covered it with plywood, added handles, and wired together all the main pieces, amps, and tape players in this monstrous box. I painted it white to reflect sunlight and only left a hole in the back for the speaker wires. Unfortunately, not only did it weigh probably 100 pounds, the box was not vented enough and during this show in Nevada and it overheated, causing the protection system in the amps to kick on, killing the sound. I put a fan in front of it, but there was no air flow through the box. When I panicked and grabbed a fire axe off the wall and started chopping the back of the box to make a hole and get the sound to stay on, the crowd went crazy and thought it was part of the show. Shouts of “He’s got an axe! He’s smashing the stereo! That’s so heavy metal!” were coming from in front of the stage. By the end of the show, we had cemented a ‘beyond cool’ status in Nevada.
On April 1, 1990 I watched the Ultimate Warrior defeat Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI becoming the new WWF Champion and the first person to hold the WWF Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championship simultaneously. This added to the tour as kind of a ‘cherry on top’ of my whole idea. 
Friday April 6, 1990 7:00pm at Lincoln Valley Golf Club in State Center $3 admission
Friday April 20, 1990 8:00pm at Greenwood Park in Eagle Grove $3 admission
Saturday April 28, 1990 9:00pm at the Convention Center in Hampton $3 admission
Friday May 4, 1990 8:00pm at the Country Club in Eldora $3 admission 
Friday May 11, 1990 9:00pm at the Convention Center in Hampton $3 admission
Friday May 25, 1990 6:00pm at Estes Park Bandshell in Iowa Falls Free admission
Also, as for the previous tour, two weeks before each show the crew and I put up flyer copies surrounding each town within 30 miles in all businesses, on all cars in school and grocery store parking lots. The State Center and Eagle Grove shows were relatively small with maybe 25 to 50 people each and the Hampton shows were pulling in at least 500 to 600 people.
At the Iowa Falls JAM 3 show we estimated around 700 people. I gave the immediate core crew that had helped to advertise (Cris and Dan Bennett, Dan Peet, Jared Knott, Aaron Widmann, Shawn Brockway, and Darrell Danger) white Tour shirts with all dates and venues on the back and I may have sold maybe 2 or 3 more for $10 each during the night.
The stage was set about the same as the previous year except for the 2 new Numark speakers, the new NAD amplifier set, and the White Amp Box. I had placed the red-blue-yellow flood lights into 2 smaller boxes with short plugs and then replaced the regular light switches that ran them with some flat rocker type switches that lit up. By the time we packed up, there were a total of 25 people that had become crew members, me, and various girlfriends and family members. A large drinking party at my house followed the show with plans for the next year already beginning.
Music
This compilation was actually put together in 2024 only on Spotify. The playlist is here: Sound Wave Warrior 3 There was no CD release of this album. The T-Shirt drawings were remastered in 2024 on black backgrounds.
01 – Warrior – “FIGHTING FOR THE EARTH“
This cassette was part of my original tape collection and I had copied the album on a blank and custom drawn the cassette cover. The song was a favorite video from the Friday Night Video show. Plus it has the ‘Warrior’ band name to match the year theme.
02 – Scandal – “WARRIOR“
Again the song goes with the “Warrior” theme of the album. I chose this song specifically because Jon Bon Jovi was a guitarist first for the group Scandal. Also in 1987 I drew some pictures for the Iowa Jam at the state fairgrounds and used the bands logo. I took some photos of the picture and made small posters that I decided to sell before the concert to help pay for the tickets. I was arrested for trademark infringement for the selling of the logo within a mile of the concert without permission. I then had a court date set in Des Moines later that year where it ended up being John Francis Bongiovi Jr. vs me and about 5 other vendors arrested for the same charges. When it got to my case I explained I had drawn the pictures and was not trying to mass produce them for profit, only to pay for the tickets. ‘Jon’ listened to my story and decided to dismiss the case since all the posters were confiscated and I didn’t sell a single one.
03 – Alice In Chains – “MAN IN THE BOX“
This song was released in 1990 and I played it many times at shows that year. The group played in Des Moines in 1993 and I was able to run into them at the Runway bar practicing on a Sunday after their show. I was able to sing this song with Layne Staley on stage before his death and it’s a highlight I will never forget.
04 – White Lion – “LADY OF THE VALLEY“
This song came out 3 years earlier and was not one of the more popular songs by White Lion. It had very little radio play, but I was told by Chris Bennett that it was his favorite song. He told me it reminded him of the girl he was dating at the time. After Chris’ untimely death in 1994 I played it quite often in his memory.
05 – Pantera – “COWBOYS FROM HELL“
This song was also popular in 1990 and I played it quite a few times that year as well.
06 – Steelheart – “I’LL NEVER LET YOU GO“
This song was new also in 1990 and the lead singer Miljenko Matijevic was noted as having the world record highest note hit in a heavy metal song. It is an amazing ballad and recognized by almost everyone.
07 -AC/DC – “MONEYTALKS“
This song also debuted in 1990 and it resonated with me because I struggled with finances quite a bit in these first few years.
08 – Firehouse – “DON’T TREAT ME BAD“
Another 1990 song reminded me of all the failed relationships I seemed to go through.
09 – Warrant – “I SAW RED“
A 1990 song by Warrant that was again not the most popular on their album this year but I liked to play the obscure ones.
10 – TOTO – “HOLD THE LINE“
A favorite song played at the early roller rink I loved to skate at.
11 – Ratt – “LOVIN’ YOU IS A DIRTY JOB“
Another 1990 song from a group I’d seen live that year in concert. A little more obscure than their mainstream hits.
12 – Huey Lewis & The News – “I WANT A NEW DRUG“
I did drink quite a bit in the early JAM years, but I never did any drugs or smoked. I love how the guitars in this song stand out and I believe it to be Huey Lewis’ best song ever and that it really is an ‘anti-drug’ song.
13 – Alice Cooper – “POISON“
Also an ‘anti-drug’ song that came out in 1990. It kind of made me think of women as a sort of drug I was addicted to.
14 – Blue Murder – “JELLY ROLL“
This song came out the year before by a group not as well known at the time, but I really loved how the song pumps hard through most of it and then end kind of a ballad with the line “Love can break your heart.” It’s a window into the history of my heart.
15 – Queensryche – “EMPIRE“
Another 1990 song that just really rocks. I’m not really a political motivated person, but I liked this song and the message.
16 – Skid Row – “I REMEMBER YOU“
I like to end an album with a ballad of some kind. This song came out the year before and I played this one quite a bit as well. I see it as sort of a line I’m saying to all the girls I ever dated. You may be gone but I remember you.
Extra Photos
