What would you say if you had the chance?

[rayfallon]

I've only gone to one card show. I was doing a Hurricanes' rehearsal on a cold Spring day at Southern Connectucut State University about 25 years ago and found out that the card show whose posters were featured all over campus included one Edwin "Duke" Snider, one of the baseball heros of my childhood. Not even my youth. By the time I was a youth, his Dodgers were gone, the hated Giants were gone, and we had a laughable bunch of clowns in Flushing called the Mets. (Some things never change). But when I was a child, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges were the men. Now here I was, 30 years later with four children of my own. I had to go in.

Standing on line, a line that cost me $35 to get on, a line crowded with middle aged men and little boys, was surreal. It took almost an hour to get into the room where the honored guests were set up. I saw Reggie Jackson, minus the afro from his Oakland As days, still looking like he could hit a ball 500 ft. I forget most of the other players and former players who were in attendance. Over there at the end of a long table was an older guy who might have been a mechanic or an insurance salesman. By process of elimination I figured it out. This middle aged man with paunch, receding hairline that looked as if the color might have been touched up, and a slightly slouched posture as he signed picture after picture, was one of the people I'd grown up idolizing.

Next Tuesday my wife and I are going to Symphony Hall in Boston to hear the final lecture of Professor Joel Sheveloff, my wife's favorite teacher from grad school at Boston University. The lecture will be on Brahms but we would go if it were about bicycle maintenance. Dr. Sheveloff's distinguised career spanned over 40 years as an expert on Musicology and Music History. I once had the good fortune to have dinner with him and his wife and the dinner conversation stands in my memory as an incredible lecture on Stravinsky.The guy is brilliant. The Symphony Hall lecture auditorium will be filled with former students and admirers at $25 a pop who will listen with rapt attention while Sheveloff tells tales of Brahms, scattered certainly with sidebars about Clara and Robert Schumann and others. At $25 it will be a bargain and a pleasure.

Driving home from the airport the other night I went from looking forward to the Brahms lecture to looking back to the last time I remember talking to Jumpin' Joe Genero. Joe was sitting at a piano in a hall where the GAS Reunion dinner was to be held later that night. He had just rehearsed with Sky's Alumni Chorus after I had reharsed with Archer-Epler. Although I had known Joe for years I remember being blown away that night by how much he knew, how well he played that piano, interspersing coversation with standards from the '40s, '50s, and '60s. The guy was captivating. As I drove home the other night thinking abou it, I felt a little sad that there was no final lecture at Symphony Hall for Joe, who may not have held a Ph.D. in Music but certainly had the equivalent of several advanced degrees in Drum Corps.

Very few of our esteemed professors get a send off like Dr. Sheveloff. True, Truman Crawford was feted by the Royal-Airs Alumni Corps before he left us, but most of our greats are with us one day and gone the next. I remember getting a call from Larry Kerchner in 1984 that Hy was gone, just like that. The day before he was holding forth at Skyliners' rehearsal, the next day gone. I remember hearing from Joe that Pepe Notaro, the funniest human being ever to set foot on planet Earth was gone, again just like that. Our early heros. Our esteemed professors. No sold out lectures, no autographs at card shows. One day they're here illuminating us, entertaining us, making us fall in love with this unlikely activity. The next day there's this void that will never be filled.

Don't bother to go to Dr. Sheveloff's lecture unless you're a music history freak and live in Boston, or studied with him, or are married to someone who did. Actually it's as good a way to spend $25 as I can think of, but it won't bring you closer to this activity of ours, although the brass in the 4th Movement of Brahms' 1st Symphony will make you feel as if you're in the center of Phantom's horn arc during one of their better seasons. But if you've loved this activity as I have, I do have some advice, and it won't cost you as much as entry to a baseball card show. On April 24th head up, or down, or over to Bridgeport Connecticut to the Buglers' Hall of Fame I&E show and the induction dinner that follows. I'm going so I can sit anywhere near Tommy Martin and listen to him tell stories. I'm going to find George Delmonte and tell him how much I loved listening to him wail in front of Hawthorne for all those years. John Simpson, easily one of the greatest brass players ever to put his chops up to a valve rotor pile of chrome may show up. What a gas. Frank Dorritie? Best soprano ever? That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. If you want to argue about it, I'll sit and explain my reasoning. (I'm not wrong).

This is just a small part of the list. These are guys who should have farewell lectures or performances at Symphony Hall or Carnegie Hall, where many of them played, when the time comes. Thankfullly that won't be for a good long while as these guys looked great at Garfield. Take the day. Listen to the groups and the individuals like Ruban Ariola jam. You won't be disappointed. Then sit back and ask a question about pretty much anything. You may even get a great lecture about Stravinsky. Or Brahms. These guys know their music. But even if it doesn't go "long hair" there's going to be stories about Dreitzer, Fabrizzio, Sasso, Wolf, Adair, Crawford, Downey, Ott. The list goes on. Stravinsky and Brahms were not the only great writers of music.

Oh yeah. I finally made it to the front of the line. Duke Snider, hero of my earliest memories, looked up from the table which contained hundreds of 8X10 black and white photos of him in his Brooklyn uniform, eternally young, one of the original "boys of summer." He looked at me and asked, curiously with no Brooklyn accent, "Who do you want it made out to?" I just shook my head and said nah, no photo. "I just wanted to say thanks.' He gave me a strange look and about a half shake of his head. I doubt he looked up as I walked out satisfied. He was already signing a picture for the 40 year old guy with the 10 year old boy behind me.

If you can't think of any reason to go to Bridgeport April 24th, do what I'm going to do. Find Tommy Martin or one of your early heros and just say "Thanks."

[FPonzo]

Again......a BRILLIANT story Ray!!!!

Just like you, I too will find a seat next to Tommy Martin....he is, afterall, my Drum Corps hero, and my mentor in this activity we call Drum Corps!!!

And oh....by the way Ray.......THANKS!!!!!

Edited March 29, 2010 by FPonzo

[Jimbalaya]

Well written; well said Ray.........you always had a way with words......thanks for the introspection.........

[Skyking]

Thanks Ray, even if you did inflict "Sgt Pepper" on us.

Seeya on the 24th.

Charlie

PS Ask me about Hank Greenberg and Ed Kranepool.

[rayfallon]

Well written; well said Ray.........you always had a way with words......thanks for the introspection.........

As you know better than just about anybody, that way with words has had me in trouble most of my adult life!!!

:)

[cthurricane]

I've only gone to one card show. I was doing a Hurricanes' rehearsal on a cold Spring day at Southern Connectucut State University about 25 years ago and found out that the card show whose posters were featured all over campus included one Edwin "Duke" Snider, one of the baseball heros of my childhood. Not even my youth. By the time I was a youth, his Dodgers were gone, the hated Giants were gone, and we had a laughable bunch of clowns in Flushing called the Mets. (Some things never change). But when I was a child, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges were the men. Now here I was, 30 years later with four children of my own. I had to go in.

Standing on line, a line that cost me $35 to get on, a line crowded with middle aged men and little boys, was surreal. It took almost an hour to get into the room where the honored guests were set up. I saw Reggie Jackson, minus the afro from his Oakland As days, still looking like he could hit a ball 500 ft. I forget most of the other players and former players who were in attendance. Over there at the end of a long table was an older guy who might have been a mechanic or an insurance salesman. By process of elimination I figured it out. This middle aged man with paunch, receding hairline that looked as if the color might have been touched up, and a slightly slouched posture as he signed picture after picture, was one of the people I'd grown up idolizing.

Next Tuesday my wife and I are going to Symphony Hall in Boston to hear the final lecture of Professor Joel Sheveloff, my wife's favorite teacher from grad school at Boston University. The lecture will be on Brahms but we would go if it were about bicycle maintenance. Dr. Sheveloff's distinguised career spanned over 40 years as an expert on Musicology and Music History. I once had the good fortune to have dinner with him and his wife and the dinner conversation stands in my memory as an incredible lecture on Stravinsky.The guy is brilliant. The Symphony Hall lecture auditorium will be filled with former students and admirers at $25 a pop who will listen with rapt attention while Sheveloff tells tales of Brahms, scattered certainly with sidebars about Clara and Robert Schumann and others. At $25 it will be a bargain and a pleasure.

Driving home from the airport the other night I went from looking forward to the Brahms lecture to looking back to the last time I remember talking to Jumpin' Joe Genero. Joe was sitting at a piano in a hall where the GAS Reunion dinner was to be held later that night. He had just rehearsed with Sky's Alumni Chorus after I had reharsed with Archer-Epler. Although I had known Joe for years I remember being blown away that night by how much he knew, how well he played that piano, interspersing coversation with standards from the '40s, '50s, and '60s. The guy was captivating. As I drove home the other night thinking abou it, I felt a little sad that there was no final lecture at Symphony Hall for Joe, who may not have held a Ph.D. in Music but certainly had the equivalent of several advanced degrees in Drum Corps.

Very few of our esteemed professors get a send off like Dr. Sheveloff. True, Truman Crawford was feted by the Royal-Airs Alumni Corps before he left us, but most of our greats are with us one day and gone the next. I remember getting a call from Larry Kerchner in 1984 that Hy was gone, just like that. The day before he was holding forth at Skyliners' rehearsal, the next day gone. I remember hearing from Joe that Pepe Notaro, the funniest human being ever to set foot on planet Earth was gone, again just like that. Our early heros. Our esteemed professors. No sold out lectures, no autographs at card shows. One day they're here illuminating us, entertaining us, making us fall in love with this unlikely activity. The next day there's this void that will never be filled.

Don't bother to go to Dr. Sheveloff's lecture unless you're a music history freak and live in Boston, or studied with him, or are married to someone who did. Actually it's as good a way to spend $25 as I can think of, but it won't bring you closer to this activity of ours, although the brass in the 4th Movement of Brahms' 1st Symphony will make you feel as if you're in the center of Phantom's horn arc during one of their better seasons. But if you've loved this activity as I have, I do have some advice, and it won't cost you as much as entry to a baseball card show. On April 24th head up, or down, or over to Bridgeport Connecticut to the Buglers' Hall of Fame I&E show and the induction dinner that follows. I'm going so I can sit anywhere near Tommy Martin and listen to him tell stories. I'm going to find George Delmonte and tell him how much I loved listening to him wail in front of Hawthorne for all those years. John Simpson, easily one of the greatest brass players ever to put his chops up to a valve rotor pile of chrome may show up. What a gas. Frank Dorritie? Best soprano ever? That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. If you want to argue about it, I'll sit and explain my reasoning. (I'm not wrong).

This is just a small part of the list. These are guys who should have farewell lectures or performances at Symphony Hall or Carnegie Hall, where many of them played, when the time comes. Thankfullly that won't be for a good long while as these guys looked great at Garfield. Take the day. Listen to the groups and the individuals like Ruban Ariola jam. You won't be disappointed. Then sit back and ask a question about pretty much anything. You may even get a great lecture about Stravinsky. Or Brahms. These guys know their music. But even if it doesn't go "long hair" there's going to be stories about Dreitzer, Fabrizzio, Sasso, Wolf, Adair, Crawford, Downey, Ott. The list goes on. Stravinsky and Brahms were not the only great writers of music.

Oh yeah. I finally made it to the front of the line. Duke Snider, hero of my earliest memories, looked up from the table which contained hundreds of 8X10 black and white photos of him in his Brooklyn uniform, eternally young, one of the original "boys of summer." He looked at me and asked, curiously with no Brooklyn accent, "Who do you want it made out to?" I just shook my head and said nah, no photo. "I just wanted to say thanks.' He gave me a strange look and about a half shake of his head. I doubt he looked up as I walked out satisfied. He was already signing a picture for the 40 year old guy with the 10 year old boy behind me.

If you can't think of any reason to go to Bridgeport April 24th, do what I'm going to do. Find Tommy Martin or one of your early heros and just say "Thanks."

Ray

What a great story, you are right, just to be near the greats of DRUM & BUGLE Corps is an honor in its self, I will be flying up from Florida for the BHOF dinner to see the man who convinced me to switch from drums to playing baritone in 1963. Joe Genaro (RIP), will be inducted into the BHOF at this dinner; this honor for him is way overdue, I look forward to meeting you and other former Hurricanes who will gather for this event as well as Joe's family who I understand will be there as well.

Bill S.

CT Hurricane Alumni

SOMF

[rayfallon]

Ray

What a great story, you are right, just to be near the greats of DRUM & BUGLE Corps is an honor in its self, I will be flying up from Florida for the BHOF dinner to see the man who convinced me to switch from drums to playing baritone in 1963. Joe Genaro (RIP), will be inducted into the BHOF at this dinner; this honor for him is way overdue, I look forward to meeting you and other former Hurricanes who will gather for this event as well as Joe's family who I understand will be there as well.

Bill S.

CT Hurricane Alumni

SOMF

Bill,

Imagine how embarrassed I felt being inducted a year befor Joe!!! Crazy! But you don't turn down an honor like that just because you don't deserve it. That knock on the door may not come again.

And the honor now to be in a group that contains folks like Joe, Tommy Martin, George Rodriguez Frank Ponzo... I'm gonna stop here before I get in trouble - I already left out Frank Dorritie and Jim Centorino!!! (The memory was the sixth thing to go - I forget most of the first 5).

What a trip!

See you in 3 weeks.

Ray

[NYSkyliner]

I'm gonna stop here before I get in trouble - I already left out Frank Dorritie and Jim Centorino!!!

Ray

And Riggie Laus.

[rayfallon]

And Riggie Laus.

You're making my point...

When you try to make a list of the great ones out of your head, at least with my head... only bad things can happen...

[NYSkyliner]

You're making my point...

When you try to make a list of the great ones out of your head, at least with my head... only bad things can happen...

Well, if all things work out correctly you'll have your chance to sit in his company as well.