[Dixielandjazz] Liberace and other jazz greats
Richard Broadie
richard.broadie at gte.net
Mon Aug 4 16:12:13 PDT 2003
If this isn't off topic, I'd like to mention that I attended Liberace's
funeral at Our Lady of Solitude Catholic Church here in Palm Springs. In
fact I played a vital role.
No one knew how to engergize the organ or the amplifier or where the mics
were stored in the choir loft. I saved the day because I unlocked the case
contining the mics and I flipped the switch that powered up the organ and
the amp.
Some of my critics acknowlege that this was likely my greatest contribution
to the music industry, so far. :-)
Possibly the only thing that topped it was when I loaned Rufus Ried my
upright bass so he could play a concert locally with Stan Getz. I can't
claim to have ever played with Getz but my bass has great credentials, if
you happen to like that kind of music. (The airline failed to "download"
Rufus' bass which went on to San Francisco leaving him with a bassis of
needing mine.)
Trad content: "Momma don't allow no complainin' folks 'round here!"
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: <lswain at penrose.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>; <TCASHWIGG at aol.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Better Players
> > > Remember the same mocking and disparagement's directed at Liberace.
> > > the
> > >
> > > truth is that Lib was a hell of a pianist.
>
> Before the glitz and glitter of his TV career, I heard on the radio
> his recording of "Twelfth Street Rag" as a little kid of 10 or 11,
> taking piano lessons from a guy whose teaching credentials were his
> career as a piano player in silent-movie houses. My teacher wrote it
> out at my request (in Eb, melody and chords, in fake-book fashion, as
> he would do for each weekly hour of instruction, at $1.25 per hour),
> and I wowed my fellow campers at the YMCA summer camp I attended in
> Marstons Mills, Cape Cod, with my version of it.
>
> He was in fact extraordinary, and that got lost in the glitz and
> glitter.
>
> Larry Swain
>
>
> L. R. Swain
>
> Penrose, Inc.
> Professional Real Estate and other Web presence creation
> http://www.Penrose.com
> 617 571 7885
>
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