Was just thinking of the last 55 plus years as a musician.

Lots of GREAT MEMORIES! What are some of yours?

I'll let you know what some of mine are later in the thread.


Who's first?


Russ (old softie) Lay

Where to start???
Singing with the HS Glee Club and playing an accordion solo at the annual concert in front of a couple of hundred people - my first such solo performance ...

Playing a concert of classical music in an accordion orchestra including a tympanist at Carnegie hall, NY ...

Playing in a band with the same great guys for 26 yrs ...

Playing a piano lounge gig while Jerry Vale was having dinner with his family ... he later stood by the piano holding his 3 yr old grandson and said "really nice job - thank you" when he left ...

The smiles on peoples faces when playing a senior/nursing home gig ...

... no doubt more to come ...

Doing a session at CBS London and Jimmy Page walking in to do the guitar parts.

My band playing a super swank private BBQ, complete with an ox roast and jousting event, before members of the royal family.

And like Tony Mads, the absolute privilege of playing with the same band members for 14 years. And again like Tony, the smiles on the faces of the folks in the seniors' homes we play nowadays.

One more ... same piano lounge ... young couple at dinner, the guy asks if I can play Unchained Melody ... I said sure, but he says wait until we come in the lounge for dessert and coffee ... they come in, I play/sing the song, he proposes to her ... she says yes ...

cool thread
In no particular order:
Playing with a traveling USO show as a teenager in and around New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Worked in a "Lull Band" at a hotel at the shore (Wildwood). It was short term because of "illicit" activities resulted in the hotel being shuttered by the law.
Played piano and drums in R'nR and country bands in W.Va in early 60's
Working several years as a pick-up drummer for 10-17 pc Big Bands in Florida
Meeting and working as a stage hand for several big names of y'or...my favorite being Victor Borge. (I stayed far away from his piano.)
Passing through several stages of my life as a keyboard player/entertainer in wedding bands, bar bands to performing at assisted living centers and NH's.
And....happy for each opportunity and person I have worked with and for.
Eddie

What's emerging is a snapshot of entire music careers, from start through today.


COOL!


Russ

I was born at a very early age, and found that when I cried for something, they gave it to me to shut me up. Still works some.
But I digress.
Best early memory was sitting beside my mother at the Hammond B3 at Church when she went to practice. She let me play on it and I was pretty much hooked. It became my job to hold the switch down while it warmed up.
DonM

Mason, if I weren't WAY YOUNGER than you, I'd have applied the SWITCH to your naked little A**!

(Actually, typical of Don. He had a fantastic couple of careers
outside the music business and is still one of the "hardest working" folks on the "zone").

Russ

My earliest memory was at age 5, when I sat down at an old upright piano my father brought home and plinked out a song I just heard on the radio, Tennessee Waltz. My fondest memory, however, was the first time I performed at an assisted living center nearly 15 years ago. I'll never forget the faces of those wonderful people sitting there in the audience, all of which have probably long since passed away. Today, at Pickersgill Retirement I performed for about 90 retirees, one of which is an old friend and fellow musician from many years ago. Jim has been living there for just over three years and was recently diagnosed with systemic neuropathy, an insidious disease for which there is no cure. He came up to me at the end of the performance and said "I'm so glad you are here. You make life a lot more bearable for those of us that don't have much to live for." There are a lot of Jim's out there, and I wish to thank all of them for making my musical career the most memorable part of my life.

Cheers,

Gary

Very memorable...

1. Playing my first song in front of anyone, anywhere, which was the First Baptist Church social, age 13... the song -- House Of The Rising Sun -- a song about a whorehouse. The Church Lady was not amused.

That's it, it went downhill ever since.