The Musician... see you among the stars

My brother, after arriving home from the Army, was rarely around. He immediately received a job at Peerless Camera Store, in Manhattan. It was the largest camera store in the New York area. I went to visit him a couple of times to have lunch. We hardly ever saw each other, because he was hanging out with his girlfriend in Long Island. They were getting married. I thought that I was going to be with my brother all the time, but instead I hardly ever seen him. It was if he never arrived home from the Army. His new attitude was an indication of the way things were going to go. It was a shock and disappointment for me. Things are happening so fast for him, that I´m trying to block out the sudden effect it´s having on me.

Two months after he´s home, his wedding begins. It was a surprise wedding. He married so quickly; it was difficult to adjust to my brother not being around anymore. My brother and his new wife went to Florida for their honeymoon.

I was getting ready to graduate High School and my family began pressuring me to get a job. I told them that I had a job working with the band five nights a week at the Cinderella Club starting next month. They didn´t like it. My mother wanted me to get a job in a bank. That is what her best friend across the street, Zitsy Rose´s son did. My mother´s pressure was so great that when I graduated, I went to apply at a bank in Manhattan. I did not feel comfortable when I went for the interview, and therefore, they did not hire me. My mother and sisters were very forceful. I told them that banking is not for me, and they started knocking the music again. I tried to explain that music came very natural to me, and that I was very good at it. I even grabbed my guitar to play some songs for them, but they refused to listen. They would only made sly remarks and laugh at my playing.

About a month after my brother´s honeymoon, he received an offer to manage some camera stores that were located in various areas in the subway system in Manhattan. He was doing well, and my mother was telling him that she was worried about this music thing with me. My brother told my mother to tell me that I should consider working for him. My mother then pressured me to work for my brother. I wanted a car very badly, because Joey had bought this 1959 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible and it was very beautiful. I wanted so much, a car for myself. My sister Marie is a sweetheart, and the best person in the family. She had a good job on Wall Street and made me an offer. She told me that if I would go to work for my brother that she would co-sign a loan for me to get a new car. It was an offer I could not refuse, and besides, I could still do my music. If I do not like the job I will open at the Cinderella club in three-weeks and thus I could pay for the car.

I went to my brother´s main camera store located in the 50th Street subway at, Rockefeller Plaza. It was a little one-man store. My brother introduced me to the manager, and I began working, which required doing many errands. My brother told me that he would soon give me a store to run for myself. I was excited about that, but let´s see where this takes me. My first few weeks were good. I was hustling through the massive crowd going from store to store picking up supplies and relieving people. I was actually having a good time. It was interesting traveling through the subway system. I was learning all the hidden passageways, and all the shortcuts. Occasionally, my brother would take me around, and introduced me to many people. My mother and sister were very happy that I liked the job. I was also doing the band gig at the Cinderella Club, five nights a week. I was making good money between the both jobs. I told my sister that I wanted a car and I asked her to follow through with her promise. She gladly agreed.

I had been looking for the car I wanted, and it was definitely, a
1963 Chevy Impala Convertible. They were just beautiful. I went to the showroom and talked to the sales man. I picked out a Canary Yellow Impala with black leather interior. It came with all the options at a hefty price tag of $3,000.00. The payments would come to about $265.00 a month. My sister co-signed, and the contract for the car was completed. They had to special order the car, and it would take about two weeks to arrive. I was flabbergasted. I was the happiest person in the world, and my first car would be a beauty. Joey the bass player freaked out, and we would soon be both cruising around in competing cars. Aldo became very surprised, and slightly jealous. I had also learned that my brother Tom, behind my back, tried to convince my sister Marie not to co-sign the loan.

Two weeks later, the car arrived. I walked to the showroom to pick-up the car alone. As soon as I seen the canary-yellow 1963 Chevy Impala convertible with black interior, I fell in love. It was so beautiful. I put the top down and rode to everyone´s house to show it off. Then I went to my neighborhood church to have a priest bless it. Everyone had his or her cars blessed in our Italian neighborhood. I thanked my sister Marie with much love.

The band was also doing very well at the Cinderella Club five nights a week. Joey had learned to play the bass and he bought a new Fender bass and amp. Our band will improve immensely with a bass. I was now learning R&B tunes to teach to the band, and I now had a new approach in creating a new sound. I first had Aldo tune the bass drum to a low A, D, or E note depending upon the sound of the room. I would ask just the two of them to play. With only the bass and drums playing I should feel the bottom pouncing on my heart. Then we would tune-up together. When I´m doing this I´m very serious. When I´m on stage, I am also very serious. I only can smile when everything is working together in rhythm. I hear every note all the time. I know when something is out of place. With Aldo, I hear if his snare or bass drum is not loud enough or punchy, and if he´s not staying ahead of us. I apply the same to Joey´s bass. However, I had to learn the bass parts for Joey, because he is lazy. It doesn´t matter. I have to learn the songs anyway. I would learn the bass part then teach it to him.

When I´m on stage I keep them all on their toes. If someone slacks a bit they get my body language. If they don´t react quickly enough, then they will here from me verbally. I might say things like, Pick-it-up, pick-it-up, or, I can´t here you, I can´t here you. I developed dance steps watching other groups on stage and the band and I rehearsed them over and over. Basically, we all know and except each other for what we are capable, and we are good friends. Everyone would follow me. I called the songs. I counted them off and choose the tempo. I tell the band when and where to cut the songs by using my guitar neck. Everyone has to keep an eye on my neck. My guitar neck is my baton. I held the ending crescendos as long as I felt, and I did most of the announcing. Everyone followed me. When we learned a song I made sure that it was note for note with the record. This is because every single record has its own groove. There are maybe similarities with other records, but each record was already proven by being a hit, so why change it. Some bands develop a different style to present the song, but most of the time their style or arrangement isn´t as good as the original. The way it works is this: Once you play the song exactly as it is for two weeks straight, it either stays the same, or changes itself to a similar groove that the band develops itself. If it stays the same, then the groove is happening. However, if the groove changes, then that change must be better than the original or I will return it back to its original groove. That´s the way I do it, and that´s the way it works. More importantly, everyone in the band agrees with my ability to accomplish all this. Thus, The Van-Dells are now becoming more competitive. God gave me this talent so it comes natural to me. I felt compelled to do this as if I had knew it all along.

It was tough, but I am working two jobs. My brother noticed that my band was progressing, and he decided to offer me a manager position with my own store. I believed he was trying to get me as involved as possible so that I could eventually stray away from my band and the music business altogether. He gave me a store to manage in the subway of the East 42nd Street station, otherwise known as Grand Central Station. It was located in a deep passageway underground. This store was a very small, hole-in-the-ground type of store. This was not the kind of a store that my perception wanted to manage. I agreed to take it, because I really didn´t want to say no to my brother. I wanted to stay loyal to him, but the store became very boring, very fast. It is only 10 feet long by 5 feet wide. What kind of photography store is this? It was more like a big box. It only was a drop off point for developing and printing film. This sucks! It is even difficult for me to go to the bathroom, because no one would come by to relieve me. I had to close the store and lock it up in order to use the bathroom. I always listened to the radio intensely everyday. There was nothing else I could actually do. It was a meningless position

I had the radio on one day, and I heard that The Beatles were about to arrive in New York. The airport was packed with thousands of screaming girls. The Beatles arrived at Kennedy Airport and there was uttered chaos. I would remember this day for the rest of my life. The Beatle mania thing was happening all over the country and the world. The Beatles were staying at The Plaza Hotel on 57th Street and 5th Avenue. The store was very slow and the radio DJ was transmitting directly from the Plaza Hotel live. The Beatles were traveling in a motorcade of black limousines from the airport to the hotel. The excitement was building on the radio. I wanted so much to be there for their arrival. It wasn´t very far from my store. I began to think¦I could jump on the train, go one stop, and I would be there. The only way that I could be there was to close the store. Should I close the store and go? If I did, I knew my brother would flip-out if he found out. The radio is talking about all the people that were gathering at the Plaza Hotel waiting for the Beatles to arrive. I then said fuck it! I love music, and this is a one-time-event to see. This would be my opportunity to see The Beatles in person. Therefore, I purposly closed the store.

I quickly hopped on the express train one stop to 57th Street, and I arrived at the Plaza Hotel. There were massive people waiting for the Beatles. I pushed my self through the front of the crowd, and patiently waited. About a half hour later, the limousines pulled up, and the crowd went crazy. Paul McCartney got out of the limo and waved, and I was right there, just across the street. Then I saw the other Beatles exit the limos and they also wave to the crowd. What an experience! I then decided to quickly return to the store. I was away from the store for about two-hours, but as I returned it appeared that no one had noticed. Great! I reopened the store, put on the radio, and continued to listen to the excitement.

The next day, my brother had learned probably from the ajoining neighbors who had businesses nearby that I had closed the store for a few hours. He became extremely mad. He asked me why I left the store, and I told him the truth. I went to see The Beatles arrival at the Plaza Hotel. He was not thrilled, but he said nothing.

The next week, he transferred me to another store on the opposite side of town, 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. Unlike the other store, this store was extremely busy. My brother asked me to take the money at the end of the day and drop it in the same chute where the customers would drop their film to be developed overnight. He said that he would retrieve it in the morning before I arrived to work. Everything was going very smooth for about three weeks. The band was forming large crowds at the Cinderella Club, I had a new car and I was making good money. My bother paid me two hundred dollars a week off the books and I was making three hundred and fifty dollars with the band. Together I was pulling in $550.00 a week. Not bad for a 19 year old kid.

Then one afternoon my brother asked me, Where is the money you were supposed to drop in the chute last night when you closed the store? I replied that I dropped the money in the chute as usual. He said that the money was not there in morning. I told him that I put it in the chute as usual. He said well maybe you forgot to put it in the chute. I got pissed off and replied, What the fuck do you want me to say Tommy? I put the money in the chute. My brother said that the money wasn´t there. I again replied that I put where it was supposed to go¦I don´t know what happened if it´s not there. What I did not know, was that my brother called our mother, and told her that I stole the money from the store. He went on to tell her that I probably stole it because I needed to pay for my car payment. My sister Marie conveyed it to me about two weeks later.

My mother never said a word about it to me. I then purposely spoke to her, and I told her that I know that my brother told you that I stole some money, but I didn´t. I went on to tell her that I wouldn´t steal from anyone. It is not in my nature. I added that I believed that my brother stole it, and he tried to blame it on me. In fact, I am sure of it. I don´t need to steal money. I make more money with the band than I could ever make with the store. My mother confronted me about stealing the money as if she refused to believe me. That caused me to explode at her for believing only in my brother. I became very frustrated and annoyed that my own mother would not believe me. I told my mother to tell my brother that I quit! I told my mother that I didn´t need the fucking job.... I will make it with the band. From now on, I´m going to work with the band and concentrate on the music.