On Jan 10, 2009, at 8:29 PM, IcemanLE@xxxxxxx wrote:
You speak of doing so many things that sometimes it seems you are like Kevin Spacey as Kaiser Soje in that interview room in The Usual Suspects.
The Iceman (part of that Barbershop Quartet from Skokie, IL.)
You have me at a disadvantage oh prince of the frozen drinkable liquid when you mention the barbershop quartet from Skokie? I promised you an answer and 'was' going to go offlist, but others may find some humor herein.
I shall dispense with the first 17 3/4 years of my life which were basically traveling between N.Y.C. and Europe. So, after having gone to 1 nursery school, 11 grade schools, 3 high schools, a trade school, I found myself frustrated because my father wouldn't let me get a driver's license. I had joined local 802. That's the 'transient' musician's union for those who don't have a permanent address, but was missing appointments. leads, and opportunities. It turns out that you can't use subways, busses, streetcars, for everything.
It finally came to a head when one night in June, after graduating high school, and at the dinner table I mentioned that I would be 18 in 3 months and then wouldn't need EITHER parent to sign for me. My father was quick to advise me that in the state of New York, HE was my boss until I was 21. The next morning they woke up and I was gone. I became a hobo for 9+ months. Making my way down the eastern seaboard, I found work cleaning bricks, picking peaches, picking cotton. In Mobile, I unloaded a coffee ship. Settling in New Orleans, I lived in the rear 2 rooms of a 'shotgun' on Costello st. and found work as a tack welder at the Dravo ship repair yard. I got to see a lot of the old blues legends.
By Mar of 61, I joined the navy and while at Gt. Lakes boot camp, I got to see a couple more blues greats. Unfortunately, I wasn't as in to blues as I was jass. Especially 'trad' (you call it dixieland). After 3 years in the navy (seebees) as a salvage diver, I left because my unit was going to Viet Nam. Since my Polish/Jewish mother didn't drop any of us on our heads, I didn't see the 'romance' of getting slaughtered over people I didn't know. Returning to Pgh in 1964, I worked at (how Ironic) another Dravo ship yard where I did 'marine' wiring on towboats. I learned a lot. I also worked all other forms of construction depending on how steady work was.
In 1969 (age 27), I got a job with Pennsylvania. Most of my 27 1/2 years I was a field instructor, but every couple years I would surface and play harmonica somewhere. These would be (but not limited TO):
1.... Belonging to the jazz society and sitting in with visiting musicians who breezed through town. (Burrell, Holmes, McGriff, etc)
2.... Mr Roger's Neighborhood
3.... Sitting in with the Royal Canadians
4.... With the Manhattan Transfer
5.... Press old newsboy's telethon for crippled children
6.... Pgh Children's hospt. telethon (We had a daughter in that hospt at the time)
7.... Jerry lewis telethon for muscular dystrophy
8.... Ralston Purina, American Motors and Old Spice commercials (national)
9.... A number of local commercials
While working for the state, I was in a total state of education. Chemistry..because I was an Intoxilyzer instructor and court laison, Psychology..because I was on the governor's council on mental health. Firearms..obvious reasons. I also had many hobbies including building my owns bows and crossbows. (I once wrote a book on crossbows). Building boats. I even built a tiny airplane (Cricket..look see).
I retired in Nov 96, moved to Fla Feb 97 and immediately got my private pilots lic. Then I got my captain's papers (coast guard certified for 100 tons). I have been diving since I was 9, so I have those papers too. So Lawrence of the large mountanous Titanic killers, all it takes to do what I have done is to have lived 66 years. It's as simple as that.
In a message dated 1/10/2009 8:14:23 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, leone@xxxxxxxx writes:
Back when I worked for a living, I was an electrician with a company
who wired all the furnaces at 2 of the better foundries in
Pittsburgh.
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