When you create something it seems to be the norm to name your creation. Bands. Yeah, we name them. Businesses, yep, they get a name and a dot com too. Children, named. I suppose sometimes someone might create something and not name it, but then it would be like that fallen tree in the forest. Is it really anything at all?

Naming things you create is sometimes so easy, you wonder why it took so long, and sometimes it’s like a labor-intensive week of overtime. Sometimes you’re not even looking for a name, because you haven’t created anything, but one falls into your lap that needs a creation. It’s just too good to be ignored.

I played in a band that was named before it even got going. It was when I was maybe fifteen and living in Taiwan. American kids played in bands there. We played gigs at the school, at the two teen clubs, at dances at the Officer’s Club, at the NCO’s Club, sometimes even for Chinese schools or parties. We had more good gigs than our counterparts living in the states, of that I’m sure. I was in a few bands.

One time, we were riding around in our singer’s car, making plans for some music endeavors and smoking the green bud, long before our counterparts in the states even knew pot was green when it was good. There was smoke, and more smoke, with the windows rolled up, we were cruisin.’ There weren’t many of us kids who drove over there, but our singer was older and she had cool parents who let her drive the car.

The American military police there drove gray vans for the most part. They were soldier cops and they were called the PMO. Someone in the car yelled, “Is that the PMO!!” It was obvious he was waving his hands, presumably pointing in some direction, but we will never know about his hands. It was too smoky to see. And the smoke was swirling.

The answer was almost immediate when someone else said, “NO! that’s a gray bus!” And we laughed…and laughed…and more. And that was it! We had a band with a name. Agraybus. Spellcheck, apparently, doesn’t know.

This tale is subject to other memories of the event. Our accuracy in these matters is always questionable.

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