San Francisco (long time Richmond District boy)
When did you begin seriously listening to Top 40 radio?
Did I really ?
What station and where?
Jeeeez - I guess I listened to KYA for a while before
KMPX (far out man !) came along
For better or worse, earliest songs etched in your memory?
Satin Doll from a Chico Hamilton record my mom used
to listen to
If stranded in the jungle, ten songs you would take:
man this is going to sound like Timothy Ferris on acid (aka
the Voyager disk with apologies to Chuck Berry) - sorry
but you asked - Tamuke by Katsuya Yokoyama, Soul Eyes by
Coltrane, Purple Haze by Hendrix, The Rite of Spring, Hoochie
Coochie Man by Muddy, Musetta's Waltz from La Boheme sung
by Victoria de los Angeles (oops she sang Mimi on that record
- well whoever the hell the soprano was that sang Musetta
on that one - she was great), Emmie by Laura Nyro, In the
Wee Small Hours of the Morning by Sinatra, Joy Spring by
Clifford Brown, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, King Kong by
Zappa (oops, 12 you say ? how am I supposed to count in
this stupid little box - I'm not giving up any of them !)
First few records owned and why:
I bought Paul Revere and the Raider's Here They Come
to research in detail what it was about Mark Lindsay that
caused all those women to watch him so intently on Where
The Action Is. I recall buying and wearing out Jr. Walker's
Shotgun pretty early on.
One Song, a Hit the first time you heard it and why:
Due to some strange combination of neurons More Today Than
Yesterday by the Spiral Starecase really knocked me out
when I first heard it
First trace of show business in your blood:
When my mom bought a tape recorder some friends and
I snuck off and recorded ourselves passing gas (I decline
to state my age at the time) - I knew from that point on
I'd be a recording star
First performance in front of a captive audience:
The first real one was probably playing the alto solo
on Take Five with the Stage Band in Jr. High (I hammered
my way through some piano recitals as a kid)
Between the ages of 6 and 16 what was your favorite
radio station:
KJAZ, and since you made it up to 16 I gotta say KMPX (which
I started listening to at around 15)
Between the ages of 6 and 16 your average daily exposure
to music?
a ton
Ulterior uses of music (this one's for Julio but if
you can answer it too):
duh indeed (i.e. see Rob's bio) !
Name of first band?
early on some friends and I tried to hack out some
jazz but didn't
Musical repertoire of first band?
First band tried to play standard jazz tunes. First
top 40 band was called the 5th Dimension (we had it first,
I swear !) IMPORTANT TIP for Farfisa organ players (especially
if you borrowed the organ - also thanks to Butch for reminding
me to include this) - If you need to reproduce the thunder
sound in 7 and 7 is by Love bang on the bottom of the organ
where the reverb unit is.
Earliest musical influences and why:
Chico Hamilton, Brubreck, Benny Goodman, Cal Tjader...
basically the stuff my mom listened to when I was a kid
Between ages of 6 and 16 favorite comedians?
Mort Sahl, the Comittee, Richard Pryor
Punch line of earliest joke you can recall:
".. so his good hand curled up like the deformed one" ditty
boom
Who or what influenced your sense of humor?
didn't recall ever having one
How did you first hear the name BWGP?
a friend, Bob Corridan, kept saying "hey you should
go hear these guys..."
When and why did you join BWGP?
I was playing with some of Laz's old North Beach buddies,
Joe Tarantino and Carl Carreri, in a club band down the
street from a BWGP gig. Laz came down and recruited me -
there were more people in the house at the BWGP gig so I
figured that was my entree to fame and fortune and signed
up.
Earliest recollection of performing with BWGP?
don't know if I recall anything very clearly from those
days ! I vaguely remember some gigs at the Mother Load on
Union Street.
Most desperate BWGP moment:
playing a gig at Kent State with bronchial pneumonia
Most embarrassing moment performing with BWGP:
I've missed so many cues over the years none of them
really stands out but I'm sure they were all pretty embarassing
Fondest recollection of BWGP:
some of Hag's solos
Finest sketches:
Hmmm, I always thought Rizzo as Gandi in the Elvis Camp
sketch was a classic; though it's not really a sketch you
gotta like the Plums
Not so finest sketches:
Hey, I resmble that remark; they're all good !
Weirdest BWGP moment (on or of stage):
rolling in to Alpena, Michigan after a delerious all
night drive in a packed station wagon and glancing at the
mileage to other cities sign - the last entry was the mileage
to Mars. We had to pull over; as I recall it took about
a half hour to recover.
How do you explain your role in BWGP the 19th Annual
Farwell Performance to new friends or colleagues who have
never heard of BWGP and didn't know you have a secret closet
life?
what's BWGP ?
