This gives a bit of intel. on Booms' history. Very interesting!!


Local keyboardist is Pearl Jam's sixth member



HONOLULU -- Boom Gaspar knew his friend Eddie from his favorite surf spot. They talked often, surfed and hung out. But Gaspar, a local sensation playing the keyboard, says he never realized his friend Eddie was Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.

To be honest, he hadn't even heard of the band. And he never dreamed he would record two albums with them and spend four years on tour, seeing the world as Pearl Jam's unofficial sixth member.

"I didn't know really who he was in the rock world 'cause I was local playing reggae and commercial songs to make a living here," Gaspar, 53, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Now after four years, Gaspar and the band are back in Honolulu performing for the first time in front of his hometown crowd. Pearl Jam has already performed twice and will open for U2 on Saturday. A show last week raised $6,000 for Hui Malama o ke Kai, an after school program Gaspar is involved with.

Despite Gaspar's lack of knowledge of one of the bands that led the grunge era of music, Vedder had seen the keyboardist perform at a funeral where he backed up several bands.

More than six months later, they were introduced by a mutual friend while surfing, but they still never talked about their professions.

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"I knew he was some rocker but you just want to kick back and you don't want to talk music, so we never talked music, we just talked friendship. We just hung out like friends we didn't want to be nosy," Gaspar said.

Another six months went by and Gaspar finally asked Vedder his band's name.

"He said, 'Just a Seattle band.'"

"I said 'OK, well what's the name?'"

"Pearl Jam."

"And I said, 'What? Who is that?'" Gaspar recalled. "And he smiled, a big smile on his face like he had something maybe brewing inside."

Pearl Jam is considered one of the most influential bands of the 1990s and has sold more than 25 million albums.

The two later met at Vedder's hideaway home in Hawaii, where he lives part time when he's not touring. Vedder wanted to write a song to music, so Gaspar started playing a tune on his keyboard. A half hour later they had produced "Love Boat Captain," a song recorded on the 2002 "Riot Act" album.

While Vedder wrote the words, Gaspar said their conversations helped inspire the lyrics.

"We talk a lot of stories about love, about local life, and how Hawaiians just love people," he said. "It's all about loving life in general and I think that's how he kind of picked up the idea for the song."

Vedder later asked Gaspar to join Pearl Jam on tour. With permission from his wife, Pinky, who now serves as his manager, Gaspar hit the road.

Now fans chant "Boooom" in concert as he breaks into solos on his Hammond B3 organ.

After four years on tour, Gaspar said he's seen the world for the first time. He had only left the islands for a few years in the 1970s when he played funk and blues with Albert Collins.

Before that, Gaspar grew up in Waimanalo and was named after his father Kenneth. But everyone knew him as "Boom Boom," a nickname his parents gave him after reading a newspaper article about a child named Boom Boom, who died downtown after getting hit by a car in 1953.

"I grew up and thought that was my real name," he said. In grade school, he learned his real name after the teacher called attendance.

Gaspar said he started out playing drums just like his brother, but after he saw The Dave Clark Five on his black-and-white TV, he had to try the organ.

"I said, 'I want to do that,'" he said. "There were a lot of drummers in Waimanalo, a lot of bass and guitar players, there were a lot of ukulele players, but no keyboard players."

So his father bought him a $200 organ and Gaspar taught himself to play soul music. He spent most of the next few decades trying to make money playing with different bands.

After Saturday's show, Gaspar has a few months off to get back to island life. He plans to just surf, spend time with family, clean his yard and raise his pigs.

"Off the road, I totally just stay home and go to the beach and just do everything different from the road," he said. "You have to balance yourself out and it works out perfect."

cool! thanks for posting.

I met Boom in Melbourne back in November. He's the nicest guy.

what a great story. I love that he didn't even know who pearl jam was.

just a seattle band

alright so what's up with being nicknamed after a kid that died in a car accident?

One of the official pics of the honolulu show has Boom speaking on the mic. Anyone know what he said??

Great story!

it's about time a little light is shined on the big guy behind the keyboard. I always wondered what his story was.

After Saturday's show, Gaspar has a few months off to get back to island life. He plans to just surf, spend time with family, clean his yard and raise his pigs.

"Off the road, I totally just stay home and go to the beach and just do everything different from the road," he said. "You have to balance yourself out and it works out perfect."


in other words .... fuck the south
no other legs
Pearl jam failed that bad???
How do you fuckers who loved that last suck ass albums feel about it now ??
horrible

'Ya want some cheese with that whine? I feel great!!! I saw 'em twice (Albany and Hartford) when the band was fresh and the setlists were new. Thank you for your very articulate and poignant post! I love Avocado!!!

Very Brokebackish...

good read, thanks for sharing

Ummm wasn't bypassing the south a done deal before record sales were even a factor?

no arguments about the dismal failure ??

the south can go fuck itself.

I think the south got most of the "Vote For Change" tour, thats why we were skipped this time around.

Give them a break, they are just trying to spread the love!

Kissimmee and Asheville now make up the entire south? Where was I when this happened?