TomPeashey Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Pepe? Oh my... Thank you for the compliment... He borrowed my horn at one show... My horn said "Thank You" "Thank You" "Thank You" all the way home.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Pepe? Oh my... Thank you for the compliment... He borrowed my horn at one show... My horn said "Thank You" "Thank You" "Thank You" all the way home.... That just gave me a huge smile. I used to accuse him of horn abuse. Most of us dinosaurs didn't know that the instrument Pepe was most comfortable on was the trumpet, which he made sound just like Harry James. If anyone has a recording of 1982 Hurricanes around, listen to the trumpet (okay in 1982 it was a soprano, but trust me - he was a trumpet guy) solo at the end of Moonlight Serenade going into Swing Swing Swing. Like so many at the time he played on a Parduba 5 Star machined by Johnny Grass. On his "french horn" he used that same mouthpiece with an adapter also specially fitted by Johnny. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsksun4 Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Early 60's Carnegie Hall, Evening With the Corps. Pepe taking center stage in front of the Sky arc, playing a solo Sunny Side of the Street. Harsh, raspy, powerful and to the point while everyone sat there amazed. I wondered how many among us could even do that. I'll always remember that and the Skyliner concert at the 63 Dream where he tore it up. Then the famous leg scratch. He was a one man GE package. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomPeashey Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 lol that wasn't his leg he was scratching... and yes, he was a great trumpeter... as Ken Mc and I found out at the hotel one DCA with Ken on piano and Pepe on trumpet... amazing sounds... which leads into a repeat of my favorite Pepe story... Late 60's I'm in Brigs at a show in upstate NY somewhere... probably Herkimer... anyway, he comes up to me and asks, "Peash can I borrow your horn, mine just broke." to which the smart alec kid I was responded "Sure Pepe but we just cut all these horns to G/F and the figuring is different." and of course the classic nasal response that sounded like the Godfather "That's ok kid... I don't use the F...................g valves anyway." My horn was never the same and he sounded better than ever... still laughing over 40 years later... and really, it's the kind of story you just couldn't make up... reality drum corps at its best... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 (edited) lol that wasn't his leg he was scratching... and yes, he was a great trumpeter... as Ken Mc and I found out at the hotel one DCA with Ken on piano and Pepe on trumpet... amazing sounds... which leads into a repeat of my favorite Pepe story... Late 60's I'm in Brigs at a show in upstate NY somewhere... probably Herkimer... anyway, he comes up to me and asks, "Peash can I borrow your horn, mine just broke." to which the smart alec kid I was responded "Sure Pepe but we just cut all these horns to G/F and the figuring is different." and of course the classic nasal response that sounded like the Godfather "That's ok kid... I don't use the F...................g valves anyway." My horn was never the same and he sounded better than ever... still laughing over 40 years later... and really, it's the kind of story you just couldn't make up... reality drum corps at its best... Still laughing - I thought I had heard every Pepe story in history, which of course is absurd. What a book they would make! I'm glad we took this unintentional stroll down memory lane. I still miss the big guy, and sort of like the Kennedy assassination I'll always remember when Joe Genero called me to inform me of Pepe's passing as if it happened an hour ago. These guys (which Tom as a writer appreciates more than most of us) were almost literally "bigger than life" and their like will not pass this way again. Dreitzer, Genero, Pepe, Corky, Truman, Sasso Brothers, Luedee, Bobby Thompson, Tommy Martin, Swan, Hightower, Simpson, Dorritie, both Hurley Brothers, Cobham, Gadd, Gaff, Baby John, Ruben, Butch, Russo, George Parks, Jim & Bonnie Ott, Sal Ferrara, Wayne, Gail Royer, Bobby Hoffman, Delucia. There's more, (and don't get angry that I missed someone really important from this list - I'm old and my memory is shot) but these guys (and girls) were the Pantheon of our activity and too big to fit in any Hall of Fame. All we can do is hijack the occasional thread with stories that make us laugh and/or shake our heads. Sort of the way legends are built. Maybe Mr Peashey can play the role of Homer at some point and put these stories down for future generations. Like Hercules, when future folks read these stories they'll doubt they could be true. And be glad for the contact, however much we had. Absolutely the best. Edited December 20, 2013 by rayfallon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Ray ... there's a website somewhere that has "Pepe Stories" ... I think Ron Allard runs it ... there are a few "Pepeisms" on it ... one of my favorites: "There are two kinds of judges - those that can hurt ya - and those that can harm ya" ... take it from a guy who carpooled with him for five years ... he was a comic genius ... always looking for a character flaw or mannerism that could be exploited into a more than humorous soliloquy ... and he never forgot to acknowledge all the "little people" ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Pepe-ism: Spectator: "Pep, what do you know? The show ended in a tie." Pepe: "Tie? Jeez, I thought it was a lot closer than that!" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Pepe-ism: Spectator: "Pep, what do you know? The show ended in a tie." Pepe: "Tie? Jeez, I thought it was a lot closer than that!" Pepe in Oil City PA at a show when one of the big DCA GE judges tied Hurcs and Westshore during a tight competition: "You can't have a tie! You C A N ' T! - If you can't hear no difference look at their shoes - if their shoes are the same - look at their Buses! Something (pronounced "Sum - T'in" of course) has to be different! You can't tie them! You just can't!" Never forgot it. Always remembered it when I judged too. I might be the older guy you see walking around looking at buses during the intermission. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 Ray ... there's a website somewhere that has "Pepe Stories" ... I think Ron Allard runs it ... there are a few "Pepeisms" on it ... one of my favorites: "There are two kinds of judges - those that can hurt ya - and those that can harm ya" ... take it from a guy who carpooled with him for five years ... he was a comic genius ... always looking for a character flaw or mannerism that could be exploited into a more than humorous soliloquy ... and he never forgot to acknowledge all the "little people" ... :-) Honest to god, I very much doubt that Robin Williams (generally acknowledged as the funniest living human being, or at least the quickest and most spontaneous) was any funnier than Pepe. I'm sure you heard the story of the translator when he was teaching a (French) Canadian corps. I still cry thinking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted December 20, 2013 Share Posted December 20, 2013 ... so one of Pepe's favorite lines was "Who'd ju ever march wit"? ... and during a judges meeting somewhere, sometime in that past, he poses this question to a rookie DCA horn judge ... the young stud proudly answers "The Dundalk Cadets" ... to which Pepe unimpressedly responds: "Who and what is a Dundalk"????? :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.