The way a band gets its players is as way out sometimes as the music it plays. The Playboys, a local teenage band, grew out of a friendship, formed in a Cub Scout pack.
Tommy Burns, a Wakefield senior, and Johnny Jackson, a Catholic University freshman, were Cub Scouts together and both were 12 when they first reached for guitars. They began playing together in USO clubs and varsity shows.
The Playboy's drummer is Lowell Schiff, a Wakefield senior who saw Tommy performing at Kenmore Junior High. Lowell thought it looked cool to be up on stage so he learned to play the drums. Three years later he looked Tommy up and got a spot in the band.
Joe Owens, the bass guitar player, goes to Wakefield, so he became incorporated. Johnny knew Tommy Bowman, who plays sax and is a freshman at Maryland University. "Sax" says Tommy Burns, "is the hardest instrument you can find. So we worked Tommy in."
The boys were playing at a downtown club last year when one of the customers asked the Playboys if he could sing a couple of numbers. The waitress said he was good. "As a matter of fact, he was great", says Tommy, "and he's been with us since".
