The Musician... see you among the stars

The church, Our Lady of Grace, was holding a dance in July, and they were looking for a band to play a few songs at the dance. I called Ritchie the trumpet player and asked him if he still had access to the other guitarist and drummer. He said he had the drummer but not the guitarist. I told him no problem, because I wanted Savario to play with us anyway. We then arranged to hold practice in Ritchie´s basement. We all got together to rehearse a few days later one evening at Ritchie´s house. We were going to learn some of the Ventures tunes like Walk Don´t Run, Perfidia, and a Santo & Johnny tune, Sleepwalk. I was very excited to play for an audience for the first time. I had great enthusiasm in seeing this performance get off to a great start. We practiced and practiced. Savario was a good player and performer. He moved about during performance as if he was Elvis. He inspired me to move all with the music. Since the songs we were playing were all instrumentals, I decided to sing a vocal, LaBamba.

The evening had arrived and Ritchie´s father took all the instruments and us to the church. We met the pastor and set up the instruments. The crowd started pilling in, but we could not see them because we were busy setting up on stage behind the curtain. About 40 minutes later the pastor asked us if we were ready, and we plugged in our instruments and proceeded to tune-up. We were ready. The pastor introduced us as the Boys from Lafayette High School. As the pumped-up crowd began their applause, the curtain opened. I saw the crowd and all the people looking at me and I went into shock and froze. The other guys were looking at me to start the count-off, and I had to try to gain my composure. Then Bobby the drummer started the intro to Walk Don´t Run under Savario´s suggestion, and we began to finally play. We all kicked into the groove and I now returned back to normal. I was playing the lead part therefore; I had to force my mind into concentration. Once I was concentrating in what I was playing, the crowd no longer mattered. After the song ended, we received a good applause that made me and the guys feel much more comfortable. Then Ritchie took the solo on Perfidia and the crowd enjoyed it. We then slowed the pace down with Sleepwalk, so everyone would cuddle close with one another. It was beautiful to watch from on stage all the kids dancing close with one another. Then as the slow song ended, I sang the up tempo song LaBamba. The crowd became surprised and went nuts over my vocal of LaBamba. After we finished LaBamba, we received a fantastic applause as the stage curtain closed. The Pastor congratulated us and invited us back again. What a night!

Savario´s father knew some people at a VFW post on 86th Street who would not mind paying two guitarists playing live music on Friday and Saturday nights. They did not want a drummer because then they would have to obtain a Cabaret License. Savario and I were very interested. We thought that it would be a great place to practice and get paid at the same time. The people at the VFW were an older crowd so we had to learn some older music that they would enjoy. We went to the music store to shop for some sheet music. There was so much music to obtain that we did not have enough money to buy it all. Savario´s father came across a Fake Book, which was a black market book of all the old standards. Hundreds of songs in one book for $10.00! We bought the book and started learning all the songs. Misty, Beer Barrel Polka, Peg of my Heart, The Breeze and I, Talk of the Town, Sentimental Journey, etc.

It did not take us long to get it together and we opened at the VFW post two weeks later. The people really enjoyed us and they told us that we could play their every weekend. It was a very mellow job. We could play as long as we liked.... We could take a break as long as we like ... the people just enjoyed having us around. We even threw in a few Italian songs we had learned from our fathers. Savario and I received $10.00 each for an evening. I immediately told my mother that I had a paying gig at the VFW post, and she said, Why are you wasting your life with that guitar? I got very pissed off and stormed out of the house.