Plan B From Outer Space by Johnny Barnes

it’s hard to imagine rochester police officer johnny barnes being intimidated by anything. but he wasn’t always a law enforcer. far from it, in fact.

some 20-odd years ago, he was a highly successful guitarist on the boston music scene, performing in the same circles with such now-classic acts as the cars, boston, and aerosmith. he was getting airplay on boston’s two biggest rock stations, wbcn and wcoz, as well as stations around the world that were playing cutting-edge music.

and then digital came along.

when the world of sound recording went from tape to digital, johnny barnes was a little put off.

“i was afraid of the digital era,” mr. barnes says. “i didn’t know anything about it. computers in general intimidated me.”

with the switch of formats, mr. barnes was suddenly out in the cold, fearful of trying his hand at the new technology. so he reluctantly dropped out of the music scene to pursue other interests.

he drove a boston taxi and worked as a private investigator, eventually parleying that experience into a police job — and a side career writing murder mysteries.

but he never lost his love for music. and when he finally overcame his dread of computers, he went back to the recording studio. today, the 54-year-old johnny barnes has released a 17-song cd, “known offenders,” and has followed up with “plan b from outer space”, both on his own label, nightcrawler records.

these cds are paired with two murder mysteries that mr. barnes has released in the last five years, “dead men talk” (2001) and “sleep when i’m dead” (2005), both published by author house.

mr. barnes is currently working on “dead on the internet,” another murder mystery to be released within a year. “i’m as inspired as i’ve ever been,” mr. barnes says. “i really feel thrilled again to be working on these projects. “i was doing a lot fewer musical gigs when i got married and raised my sons, (jimi and jett), but now that i’ve moved back to this area and my kids are grown up, i want to run it up the flag pole one more time and see who salutes it.” and that flag had little time left to fly when mr. barnes made a significant discovery in november 2004 — the tape recordings of more than 100 of his songs. he realized they would soon be disintegrating and gone forever. taking the advice of a friend, he realized these tapes would have to be transferred to digital immediately.

he had only one choice, to confront his digital demons and record his songs on computer — a format that would make them last forever.

“i discovered that the world of digital was quick and easy,” mr. barnes says. “the capabilities were much greater than going into an old-fashioned audio studio.

“everything could be stored in a computer. i had more than 100 songs stored away and i could also put additional tracks of other instruments on the existing songs.”

as a result of this discovery, mr. barnes found himself in the rock world again.

and sounding better than ever.

both “known offenders” and “plan b from outer space” were taken from this collection of songs.

mr. barnes is in the process of forming a new band that will play regularly and has had offers to perform at an array of bay state showcases, including upn 38’s morning show in boston.

the story that has come full circle began back at smu (now umass dartmouth), where the teen-age johnny barnes completed three semesters and then took some time off to ponder what life course he should take.

“i wanted to decide what i wanted to do and be good at it,” mr. barnes recalls.

in the meantime, mr. barnes was lugging his guitar and amplifier to new bedford area clubs to make some spare change. “i kept playing guitar and learning songs. but by the end of the summer, i was still wondering what i was going to do. finally some of my friends said, ‘well, johnny, you’re getting pretty good at that guitar.’ ”

that was it. mr. barnes was bound for beantown.

at the age of 19, he enrolled in the berklee college of music, attended the harvard extension school at night to study zen buddhism, and drove a cab in his spare time.

“i got more of an education from a taxi cab than i did at harvard or berklee,” mr. barnes says with a laugh.

early in his career, mr. barnes put out two vinyl albums, “the johnny barnes story,” in 1981 and “oddballs” in 1986, along with six 45s, and appearances on four compilation records.

after the digital revolution, mr. barnes’ musical odyssey carried him behind the scenes, managing one of boston’s most popular nightclubs, the channel.

but he soon took on a new adventure — working as a private investigator in boston. he worked this gig until 1991 when he took on a full-time job as a police officer in sanford, maine, that lasted for 10 years. during this stint, mr. barnes kept his musical chops honed by hosting an open mic blues night every sunday, and getting visits from his boston buddies. in 2001, mr. barnes returned to his original stomping grounds when he took a job with the rochester police force. today he’s not only a patrol man but an fbi-trained hostage negotiator.

but if you think that being a policeman might staunch the creative juices, mr. barnes’ experience is just the opposite. both of his books are based upon his experiences in the boston music scene and in the law enforcement world.

and the memories of his past seem similar to mr. barnes’ take on the modern music world.

“the boston music scene is a lot like it was before the big music boom,” he says. “radio stations don’t know what to play and there’s no clear-cut style of music dominating the charts.

“i think that a lot of people have a need for that real guitar-driven, back-beat rebellious rock ‘n’ roll.”

to find any of mr. barnes’ music, you can reach him at www.johnnybarnes.com or at cdbaby or bev’s books in rochester. you can find his books on amazon.com or www.barnes&noble.com or his website.

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