Aimee is a “Maineac” (pronounced maniac), and proud of it. This is how the real people of Maine like to refer to themselves… and Aimee is a card carrying member of the club. I’ve only known one other woman, personally, who turned every head when she entered any space filled with men and women… a very tall, beautiful, blonde younger sister of my friend (a tall, beautiful redhead), and then I met Aimee. A very tall, blonde, keyboard playing woman who had just the right amount of pomp, a crazy laugh, and could match drink for drink with all the boys in the band.
I met Aimee after a search for someone to play a duo gig with me for a political event. I had never worked with a female instrumentalist. It was awesome, she was awesome. And what a hard poundin’, honky-tonkin’, R&B-in’ tinkler of the whites she was, ala Marcia Ball. Aimee didn’t sing, but her statuesque swaying presence and great soloing skill was more than I could have ever hoped for when she agreed to put a rock band together with me. It was also a gas to have another funky outfit and makeup partner on stage. Aimee didn’t like rehearsing as much as she likes to jam, which is really not a lead singer’s fave. Every time we would rehearse, she would instigate a jam, and depending on the mood, it could go on and on. The other players loved her as much as I did.
We became really tight friends and hung out a bunch. I sang at her wedding…an acoustic arrangement of “In Your Eyes”, by Peter Gabriel. She left the band to play full time with her new husband, a lead singer with a southern rock sound.
