starts rather clumsy, but later has it's moments. Hope to remix oneday. Tony on vocal and guitar, myself on harp. Dubbed bass next, then all other instruments, including drums on a Yamaha keyboard. All mixed on my Fostex X-554 track at Tackle Bar
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Story behind the song
I used to share lunch with Tony at Eddie's Market. He lived in Riverside but came to play Retirement Homes in the Pasadena area, often living in his converted 1972 Dodge van (which had seen its years and was often in disrepair). He was a huge man, maybe 325 pounds, full hair dyed jet black, usually sweating, and wearing a Hawaiian print shirt.
He worked hard all of his life, always keeping true to his call towards music as best he could. He'd been married, but lost his wife some time ago. He never remarried, but filled his loss with music and friends. I was fortunate to be of his friends.
When he retired Tony was determined to focus on music. He worked part time at a music store, and played gigs, mostly retirement homes and the like. I played 3 gigs with him, one at the Pasadena Library. He'd say (off mike)- "Blue Moon, key of A". I'd grab a couple of harps and off we'd go, playing songs I'd never played before.
Those were wonderful musical learning experiences for me! Tony was, for all intents and purpose, poor. He lived off Social Security, gigs, and some part time cash paying music store and industry jobs. He so much wanted a "demo" album to sell at gigs.
What you hear on this site is all that I could do to help him with that goal. We worked on it over the course of 2 weekends (excepting the live part which I recorded at a retirement gig. Considering the constraints we had, it came out well. Tony was happy with it.
I don't know how well they sold. Shortly afterword he stopped showing up at Eddie's Market. He wasn't answering his phone. I know he was Diabetic, and his health less than mine. I didn't know where he lived in riverside, and had no contact with his other friends.
God bless you Tony, wherever you are. I realize more than ever what you taught me.
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