It was an ordinary day. Singing along to some of my favorite Ricky Nelson songs as I put frames together and stuff them in boxes for shipping at the gallery where I work part-time. I have listened to the same songs over and over again, since someone bought me "Ricky's Favorite Hits" as a Christmas gift years ago. I know which one follows which one and have everyone of the songs' lyrics memorized. "I'm a Travelin' Man, made a lot of stops, all over the World....", then a five second pause and...."I went to a Garden Party, to reminisce with my old friends..." There are twelve songs on the CD and when it reaches the last song, I hit the play button one more time and..."I'm a Travelin' Man...all over again. Boy, I should have been a musician I keep telling myself. A Rock'n'Roll musician. That's what I wanted to be when I was in high school. But, doesn't everyone want that? I even bought a 6 string guitar and taught myself how to play a few chords. One of my favorite guitarists was Duane Eddy. Boy could he play that guitar. Still can hear "Rebel Rouser" in my head. Even painted across the body of my guitar..."Little Twanger". Made a few people laugh, nah...make that a lotto people laugh...but I was on my way to becoming a rock star. As you may know, I never made I as a Rock'n'Roll star. Probably wouldn't be sitting here typing about it if I had. But, that's OK, since I do enjoy sharing my stories with you. My first brush with music fame came when I was the back-up for the lead in "Amahl and the Night Visitors" which was the retelling of the story of the Magi from the point fo view of a young disabled boy named Amahl, who lives in poverty with his widowed mother near Bethlehem. My friend was the lead and both of us sang in St. James Church boy's choir at the time. He never became ill or lost his voice during the Christmas season, so I had no chance to get onstage. Shortly after that I decided I wanted to play the accordion. My dad had a good friend by the name of Mickey Sinopoli who gave lessons on the accordion. Started with a 12-bass accordion which was perfect for a young boy. In about a year I graduated to the 120 base accordion which I could barely lift. I did OK, but eventually realized I was never going to be a Rock'n'Roll musician playing and singing with an accordion. So, after my final accordion concert with all the other students, where I performed "Lady of Spain, I adore you," I packed up the accordion. I guess I never did like the thing since there was no place to paint anything on it! And, that's when I bought the "Little Twanger" guitar. Well, I still have hopes of becoming a Rock'n'Roll musician and always sing along when Carol and I go to outdoor concerts in the summer to hear traveling groups who play all the oldies. Oh, yeah...and I still sing along with Ricky every day I work, "all over the World." And, it is all summed up in my final sentence! It was another extraordinary day in life of an ordinary guy.
PS - And, now...after reading my latest issue of "Saturday Evening Post", I have come to the conclusion that I should become a ukulele musician just like Arthur Godfrey. He could really play his ukulele, but couldn't sing that well. He became a star, so being that I can sing better than him, I still could be a ukulele star! Just thinking...so I am!
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