Chapter 1 continued….

My brother had a big musical influence on me. He was always bopping to the beat of swing and would find any object around the house that suggested a drum and play that object just like he was a drummer in a band. How about a tin bucket(no plastic buckets in those days) turned up-side down with swiss brooms as brushes. That was cool. I used to do my own drumming on my legs when I was sitting down. Matter-of-fact, my parents used to try to stop me from doing that, because I was always in motion to any music. When I was sitting down, I would be tapping my heels on the ground, even if there was no music playing. I think my parents thought I was hyper. Maybe I was, but I remember my dad always being in motion doing the same thing. I think we all had a lot of music in us and the beat was there. During my childhood, I got some healthy whippings from my dad for questionable things he thought I did, and later on in life as an adult, my first cousin who was like a sister to me volunteered that she thought my dad envied me for showing interest in performing. The whippings, according to her, came from that envy. I was a pretty good kid, and towed the line. Actually, one thing that got me in trouble always was a kind of look I would give somebody. I could look at someone with a certain expression and get in trouble for what they thought I was thinking. When I was in the Army in Alaska in the beginning stages of the Vietnam War, I invariably got in trouble with the Master Sergeant of our US Army Marching Band Unit at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. He was a ‘lifer” , Italian bass player in the Army Bands. That’s what we draftees called those individuals. He was also from New York, so put all of those ingredients together and you come out with a know-it-all asshole who had all of the answers. When he was commanding the band in formation and particularly at attention, he would look at me without a word spoken from me and threaten to have me sent to Vietnam. Just from an expression I had on my face. It didn’t really bother me because I knew I couldn’t be convicted for something I never said. He did read my mind though. I’m sure of it. That would have gotten me court martialed. More about the Army in another Chapter.

I mentioned earlier that my brother had a musical influence on me. One of the biggest things he did for me, and not by design, was to leave some of his record albums in the closet of the upstairs bedroom as he went off to college at University of Kentucky. At least one of those albums was Peggy Lee. I checked her out and fell in love with Peggy Lee right away. And I’m not just talking about her music! I’m a huge fan! Recently I had the pleasure of attending a performance by Stacy Sullivan, a top cabaret singer in New York who did a Peggy Lee tribute show telling stories of her life and music. Very beautiful performer!

In my family, my three siblings and my mother all played classical piano. I did not! Big mistake, but maybe not. Being the third of four kids, I tended to slip through the cracks when it came to strict discipline. I figured it out based on what happened to my older brother and sister. My parents kind of left me alone. Unfortunately, I didn’t take piano as I should have, but I found my own way musically. Singing was a gift and I always enjoyed singing anywhere, anytime. With a family of 6, we had one bathroom with a tub, no shower. Therefore, the battle was on for time in the bathroom. When I would get into the bathroom, especially in the winter, I would pour my bath, relax, kick back and sing. The plastic bathtub surround was perfect to bounce my voice off and get a nice kick back. Of course, I would get mesmerized, pour some more hot water and time passed! Someone would knock on the door and ask me to hurry up and not use all of the hot water. I was guilty of that transgression many times, but my music career saw its beginnings right in that bathroom. Yeah baby!

Since I could not play piano at that time, I would sit at our piano and sing songs with sheet music. That worked ok, but I needed an instrument to back me up. Voila! I believe I talked my dad into buying a cheap baritone ukulele and that started my first act. I played old turn of the century songs on the Uke and learned a lot of early 1900's songs. I’m going to bring out some of these old tunes and incorporate them into my act today. When I turned 12 and was ready to go into middle school, my dad bought me a used Tommy Dorsey Silvertone Bell 2B Trombone. I thought that horn was worth a million dollars because it had a silver bell! With a few lessons and a good ear, I joined the band and orchestra at Parkland Junior High School. From that point on, I felt I was in show business. Look out world! Buzzie Read is on the way to show business success! (Buzzie was my nick name growing up)

To be continued……