Beginning

Gil Polanco was stationed at the Navy's Personnel Support Activity Detachment Minneapolis in the early nineties. Needing to supplement his income, he took a part time job at Stanley Steemer where he met Shawn Clark. Since Gil played drums and Shawn was a guitarist they decided to get together and jam.

Shawn brought his close friend, Brian Annett (bass) to Gil's basement where the three musicians began to play covers by Hendrix, Metallica, and Nirvana. Even though the music wasn't polished, they all felt a great vibe and decided to keep playing together. Shawn and Brian already had a name for the band: LEGACY. Thankfully, the boys found out that there was another band with the name. During a band meeting, where they were coming up with names, Shawn's sister Tanya suggested that since the band consisted of two white guys and a Latino the name should be The Whitinos. Everyone agreed it was a cool name.

They were soon joined by Jeff Nordquist (keyboards) and a guy named Eric who knew only the first stanza of each song. Since Eric only showed up for three rehearsals and never did learn all of the lyrics, Gil wound up taking over on vocals.

The Whitinos' first paid show was at Fernando's on Lakes Street and they followed that up by getting a monthly show at The 21 Club. During this time, they remained a cover band playing songs by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Savoy Brown, Van Morrison, Cream, and Traffic. They had a blast. It was said that what they lacked in experience, they made up for in enthusiasm.

In early 1993, Gil received orders to report to the USS CARL VINSON in Alameda, CA. Everyone in the band was bummed out. Gil saw it as a chance to repair a marriage that was in very deep trouble. The guys knew their friend and drummer had gone through a tough time and they wished him the best.

The final show at The 21 Club was done without Jeff who had to leave the band earlier. Shawn, Brian, and Gil took the stage and played their hearts out. The audience watched in slack-jawed amazement as The Whitinos began to trash Gil's drumset at the end of the last song.

The cheers were loud and long for The Whitinos as they walked off the stage. Gil had cut his hand on a cymbal durig the last number and had blood on his shirt and pants. Shawn grabbed him by the shoulders and said, "That was beautiful, man."

Since Gil was going back to San Antonio on leave, Shawn and Brian thought it would be a good idea to go down there as well and have one last Whitino show. In June '93, The Whitinos opened for Eddie & The Allniters at Tycoon Flats. They played well and the manager asked if they could play some more shows there. Alas, The Whitinos were going their separate ways. Shawn and Brian would return to Minnesota and Gil was heading to California and an uncertain future.

The boys didn't know if they would ever see each other again.