ALBANY – Greg Haymes flipped through the memories in his brain of the earliest days of the band Blotto. Their recording of the tongue-in-cheek song "I Wanna Be A Lifeguard" had been picked up by legendary DJ Vin Scelsa of WNEW-FM, was played on the Dr. Demento Show, and the song’s accompanying video was shown by MTV on its first day of broadcast in 1981.
“The Blotto concept was always about the party,” he remembered in the days preceding the band’s return to Saratoga Springs in 2015 for a New Year’s Eve gig at the City Center.
“Back in our heyday we would have beach parties, pajama parties, and those Halloween parties which were called Blottoween.” He had performed onstage as everything from Dracula to Alfred E. Newman and a rhinestone-studded Elvis, to donning a blue dress with white polka dots and a blonde wig and taking the stage at a roller rink that would later become JB Scott’s Theater.
“That year we went dressed as the Go-Go’s and I went as Belinda Carlisle,” he said. “If you’re not enjoying yourself on stage, how can you expect anyone in the audience to have fun?”
Haymes will be remembered by some in the MTV video logs as Sarge Blotto – the stage name the adopted with the band Blotto in the 1980s, and recalled by many others - particularly those in this region’s music community - as Greg Haymes: writer, poet, musician, artist.
His bands included Blotto, the Star Spangled Washboard Band, Ramblin’ Jug Stompers, and others; His artwork was displayed across the Capital Region - Firlefanz Gallery, Albany Center Gallery and Spectrum 8 Theatres, among them, and for several decades his words graced the printed pages and websites of the Albany Times Union, the Daily Gazette, Metroland, and most recently Nippertown.com.
Born in Buffalo in 1951, Haymes died April 10 from complications of metastatic lung cancer. He was 68.
A remembrance and celebration of his life will be held 4-6 p.m. Sunday, May 19 at The Egg, at Empire State Plaza. Those wishing to attend are requested to RSVP with name and the number of people attending at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
