The world was different in 1983. Ronald Reagan was President, "M*A*S*H" was the top TV show, shoulder pads for women were in, men's ties were thin, hair was big, and the Police had the No. 1 hit with "Every Breath You Take."

And in Boise, Idaho, a band called the Hi-Tops were changing the Valley's music scene.

The group was fresh and hard to pin down stylistically. They mixed English-Beat ska with old school R&B, rock 'n' roll with reggae and a touch of jazz. They dazzled audiences with their humor, musical creativity and entertainment factor.

"The whole idea was just to be high energy and fun. Not just a party band. We wanted to be smart about it, and we were," said singer John Laufenburger, who co-founded the group with guitarist Craig Sofaly in 1983.

Now, shoulder pads (thankfully smaller) are back, and so are the Hi-Tops.

The band will perform in its near-final lineup for the first time in 18 years: Laufenburger, Sofaly, keyboardist and guitarist Steve Fulton, bassist Ancel "Andy" Schoberg, saxophonist Sandon Mayhew, and guest drummer Tim Willis. They'll perform two concerts at Visual Arts Collective in Garden City Saturday and Monday.

When the word got out, Saturday sold out. Now, they added a Monday show that will include former Hi-Top and international jazz artist Curtis Stigers, who returns from Europe on Sunday.

The reunion is happening because Sofaly, who now lives in France, will be in Boise for a visit. The Boise contingent has been rehearsing for a few weeks. Sofaly will dive in on Friday when he gets into Boise.

"Fortunately, he's still that good," Fulton said.

Sofaly, who writes, performs and produces music online as CrOcKMiSter, will open the shows with Fulton and a few special guests, including the first Hi-Tops bassist, John Bistline.

TUNING UP

For the past three Sunday nights, the reunited Hi-Tops, sans Sofaly, have met at Fulton's Audio Lab Recording Studio to get back into the groove and rekindle the joy they felt playing together.

The guys sipped coffee on a break, laughing and talking about the old days as they pieced together their set lists for the concert. The years and the mileage began to slip away as they jammed on their old tunes.

The musical alchemy started to stir, and suddenly the place was rockin' just like the old days.

"Some nights we would play one song for the whole first set," Schoberg said. "Things were always changing. As we played together, we would get to a place where you didn't know where it was going. It was an adventure with every song. It was liberating musically."

The audience ate it up, Mayhew said.

"We would get requests to 'please make stuff up.' And that's what we would do," he said.

It started with Laufenburger's ability to improvise lyrics and manipulate his voice from blues riffs to jazz scat.

"We would make songs around whatever gibberish he made up," Fulton said.

All the guys say that this band was one of the most important musical experiences in their lives. Time does make a difference, but that's not a bad thing.

"We've matured as musicians and as people," Fulton said. "We're more grounded. When we started playing again, it was solid, like we've been playing together all this time."

HI-TOPS HISTORY

The band's original 1983 lineup was Laufenburger on vocals, Sofaly on guitar, Bistline on bass and Dave Browne on drums. (Browne lives in San Diego and is the only Hi-Top who is not planning on being at the reunion.)

Over the years, the group lost and added a few members. Stigers joined in 1985 but left later that year with Bistline. Schoberg stepped in for Bistline and Fulton took over Stiger's spot. A year later Mayhew joined and by the end of 1986 the lineup was set.

The group became a fixture at the Bouquet and legendary in Boise. Their concerts were musical adventures for them and for their fans, said Tim Willis, who was then a fan, and Fulton's roommate.

"You never really knew what they were going to do. They really connected and engaged the audience in different ways every time," he said.

The Hi-Tops were at the heart of the local music scene, remembers Rocci Johnson, who, at the time, fronted a band called The Secret Agents.

"When they were playing we were worried, because we knew that where they went, the fans went," she said. "The Hi-Tops' free-spirited approach to music was so engaging, it electrified. Your feet couldn't help it, they just had to get up and dance."

The Hi-Tops recorded several albums, and played six nights a week for years. Bolstered by their Boise following, the band set off for Southern California in 1988 to try their luck in the L. A. music scene. It was not all roses.

They lived in San Diego, where rent was cheaper, worked day jobs and played gigs in Los Angles. Their lives were filled with little sleep, grueling late nights and long drives. It wore on them, Mayhew said.

"Near the end, it got pretty heavy. We had the weight of the world on our shoulders," he said.

Adding to the stress, Mayhew and Laufenburger both had young families. That became the deciding factor, Laufenburger said.

"It scared me that the more successful I was with this venture (the band), the more I might have a long-distance relationship with my family. The better the struggle went, the more I would be dug in there. It woke me up and I left the next day," he said.

Laufenburger's departure broke up the band.

"I thought we were going to make it," Fulton said. "When the band broke up, I felt lost. I kept saying, 'That's not the way it was supposed to happen.' I couldn't imagine what I would do next."

Laufenburger retreated to northern Idaho for a few years before returning to Boise and picking up singing again. Mayhew returned to Boise to pursue jazz. Browne stayed in San Diego and eventually gave up music.

Schoberg, who struggled with a drug and alcohol problem, moved to Los Angeles and got sober before returning to Boise. Sofaly, who also is an artist, moved to Paris to pursue music and art. Fulton stayed in San Diego and started his own band, House of Hoi-Polloi, before moving it to Boise.

MUSICAL CHEMISTRY

Trying to put your finger on what made the group work is like trying to figure out why blue is blue. It just is.

"The four guys who started the group arrived at, by design or by accident, a formula of personality and energy that was wonderful to be around, not just for the musicians but for the audience, too," Mayhew said. "What each person brought to the group was unique, but the total was more than anyone could define or any of us could do on their own."

For Sofaly, it was the mix of experienced musicianship and a flare for abject silliness that helped these guys click for life. The echoes of his Hi-Tops days continue to inspire him, Sofaly wrote in an e-mail interview from his home in Clisson, France.

"Musically, I was influenced to always play music from the heart, simple songs that try to touch people," he wrote. "Personally, I learned what it meant to have real friends. The Hi-Tops were more of a family than a band and 18 years later they still are."

Dana Oland: 377-6442