Music Career Talk 15

This being our 15th week together I thought you should know a little more about me.
I'll leave out names to protect the innocent and guilty, but you know who you are.
My father paid his way through school (University of Pennsylvanian) as a concert violinist. He was a musical prodigy (I didn't get that gene)who got me into music at 8 or 9 years of age. I started with violin, maybe the toughest instrument to play. I received lessons from a mean Russian teacher who never once picked up a violin to show me anything, he just gave me commands, that lasted about a year and a half. My father got rid of him and enrolled me in an up scale music school in mid town Manhattan. That lasted another year or so. I loved the violin, but it didn't love me so I thought it was time to move as far away from the violin as possible. Enter the drums. Got me a pair of sticks and played beats all over the house. The walls of our apt. had little dents all over as I honed my skills with every step I took. Once I discovered I had some chops I made a pitch to my parents for a real set of drums which met with a rousing "NO"!!. I guess the thought of me playing night and day in an apt. in New York was too much. I did have friends with drums so I would hang out with them and play every time the opportunity arose. I don't remember how, but I ended up with a snare drum, high hat and ride cymbal. The ride cymbal had removable sizzles, god I loved that feature!! I really wanted a set of black pearl Ludwig drums, Ringo played that same set. Never got them, still want them!!
While in junior high I played trumpet (all the drum positions were taken, damn it!!). Hooked up with two guitar players who I met during a major snow ball fight on 79th street and York Ave. These kind of cold and wet altercations were frequent in my neighborhood and so much fun!! One of the guitar players lived in my building, and the other near by. We started to rehearse a lot. There was no bass player, just two guitars and my snare and cymbal set. We all could play and sing well so in spite of our ages (12 or 13) we sounded really good. Hmmmm who new this would turn into a life long career. That year I did my first paying gig at "Operation Head Start", an after school program for kids that still exists today. The kids loved us and we got paid $5.00 each. Soon after that, one of the guitar players left; his mother thought music was too much of a distraction from school. The remaining guitar player and I decided to move forward and get more serious about making music. I had a friend who played drums, and of course they were black pearl Ludwig so I moved to bass which I learned quickly to secure my place in the band I had started. We became "The Wishful Thinkers". Our focus was strong as was our sound. We took on a singer and rhythm guitar player. By the time we were ages 15 through 17 (singer was a little older) we were playing at top venues in New York, block parties, private parties, any and everywhere we could. Out of the original 5 "Wishful Thinkers" 3 of us became successful in the music industry, one died (still sad about that) and the other none of us can find, still looking. This band was the start for me and I still work frequently with that guitar player from the snow ball fight on East 79th street. We gigged throughout our high school years playing very hot spots in Greenwich Village, mid town clubs, proms, numerous "Battle of the Bands" contests, Church and Temple dances, and sounded great. We developed a name and following. Back in those days not everyone and his brother were in a band so we were part of a very elite and special group. As this story covers many years I will continue in my next blog complete with photos.