It's been nearly three decades since his Crosstown Traffic days, but Tom Alteen is looking forward to jamming with the band once again.

There will be a special cameo appearance when the revived version of Crosstown Traffic's second coming takes to the stage for a reunion show Friday night.

The band was quite popular when it was first conceived and played gigs in and around the Corner Brook area back in the mid 1970s.

Though he was the only original member still around Corner Brook, frontman Brian Dicks revived the name and much of the old band's classic rock set list in the early 1990s.

The reuniting members of Crosstown Traffic are, from left (front) Eugene Mercier, Jim Solo, and Tom Daniels; (back) Paul O'Brien, Brian Dicks, and Jim Coleman.

It's the second edition of the group that will be getting back together this time around, but they will be joined at some point by Tom Alteen, Crosstown Traffic's original drummer.

Alteen, now 53, currently lives in St. John's with his wife Caroline and their daughter Hilary, 20, and son Simon, 16. He works there as a project manager with the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information.

There was an effort to try and get all of the original band members together, but with Dicks and Alteen being the only ones still living in Newfoundland and Labrador, that never panned out.

"I'm really looking forward to this, it's going to be a lot of fun," Alteen said in a phone interview. "I've been going through the songs we're going to be doing and, hopefully, we're going to be able to get to run through them Thursday night."

Alteen became more of a basement musician since moving to St. John's in 1983, but frequently jams with his son, who is developing into a talented guitar player in his own right.

Recently, Alteen created a Crosstown Traffic website -- http://alteen.homeip.net/crosstown/ -- which he said was "more of a memorial" to the original band. Little did he know, the band's playing days aren't quite over.

He was home in Corner Brook not too long ago and went to watch Dicks playing with his current band, The Electric Jam Band. Much to his surprise, Don Ryan, who played bass with Crosstown Traffic in the '70s, showed up and they both got up on stage and jammed out "Mustang Sally."

Alteen will be playing about a half dozen songs when he temporarily sits in for the current drummer Jim Solo at The Bar Room Friday.

"Brian told me there will be some percussion onstage and that I could stay up there if I want, but we'll see what songs they're doing and if they call for more percussion," he said.

He may never get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but Alteen hasn't given up that dream of playing more live shows just yet.

"I'm not far off from retirement and the kids are growing up, so maybe I will be able to find more time to do more playing in my later years," he said.

gkean@thewesternstar.com

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