People You Should Know...
Russ Pfaff
By Christopher Hanson
Over my time here in Fargo, I've met a lot of people. I've had a lot of good times with those people. I've made a lot of good music with those people. One of those people that fits into all of those descriptions is Russ Pfaff. He has been a solid person in a lot of aspects of all of our lives over the years, and most notably to me, he really hasn't changed through it all. He's the same old dependable Russ that we've come know and enjoy time with.
Russ and I were talking about it a few days ago trying to figure out how we came to be friends and all. My first memories of him were in the marching band when I was rookie in 2001 in the sousaphone section. Russ was part of one of the last really great drumlines we ever had. I don't think I knew Russ during marching band, but I did know who he was. He also stared in jazz ensemble that year, and this is where I heard him play set for the first time. At about the same time, Jesse Braunagel and I were working on a concept to start a rock band with horns. Russ immediately went to the top of the list of players we were after. We asked him to try it out, and he said yes right away without hesitation.
After the conception of Patents Pending, Russ began to hang out a lot at the house with me and fellow bandmates, Al and Tim. The house became the regular hangout for all of us, as we joked around and sat on our porch for hours in the summer drinking beer. Russ became a good friend of all of us quickly, and it was all history from there.
Russ did the school thing and graduated from NDSU this past spring. He headed down to Denver for about a month before moving back due to some dire circumstances that I don't need to get into on this site. Since he's been back, we've tried to rotate him back into some gigs here and there and get him playing again, which is really nice.
I have long considered Russ one of the most important pieces of Patents Pending over the years of drama and more. Russ has been one of the players that always wanted to play and didn't care about anything else going on around us. He never got lazy and he never stopped caring about the music, and this is something that I've always found incredibly respectable. He's been one of the guys that has shared in the drama that we call life in Fargo circa 2000 to now. We've all shared a lot of this and that over that time, but Russ has always been around to listen and be himself. If there's anyone that I can honestly say that has been a foundation over my time here Fargo, it's Russ Pfaff.
Patents Pending has been here and there, and has nearly failed more than once. We're pretty comfortable with what we do now, which is play for special events and such, and it's good to still have Russ on board. The band has gone nearly back to it's original setup with the horns, and I can't help but think that Russ's preseverence through all of that stuff kept me on track to keep the band going despite us not playing publically in the bars. Playing with Russ is a great deal since we stay on the same page as far as groove goes, and that's hard to find with a lot of players these days.
Anyhow, Russ is back in Fargo, and we're all incredibly happy about that. It seems to us and probably to him that this is where he should be for now. Bigger and brighter things will come along in the future, but his time in Fargo wasn't up yet, and it's good to have him back. He's someone that you should all know because he's an example of a good friend who takes care of the people he knows.
I leave you with an entry he left in the guest book a year ago when he was thinking about leaving town. It has a great deal of meaning, and I probably won't forget about it for a while...
I miss the old days...
6th avenue, the REAL Patents Pending, jazz at the Doublewood, sitting in that ghetto-ass house playing Super Mario Kart and listening to Soulive in awe, talking to Pink when he was f****d out of his mind ("you are a fine specimen"), the excellent chats in the basement or porch or bedroom, passing a bottle of Nite Train, arguing over who was next to run for beer, 3am runs to the Fryin' Pan, passing out on a random couch, talking about the new hot freshman marching band chicks...
Dude what happened...
I have 7 months left in Fargo and I want it all back...
Russ
PS...I forgot the tequila shots... all those times I would show up and you would set a bottle of Cuervo and a shot glass in front of me...I hate you for that, and I love you for that...
Learn more about Russ, read his blog here...
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