Music has always been intertwined in our lives. Patty and I met and fell in love because of music. Stephanie sang on key from day one and is currently directing the youth choir in our parish.
My musical interest started with the Peace, Love and Friendship (how's that for a '60s name), the Notre Dame of Bethlehem folk group. Harry Litsch (the only adult), directed 8 or so girls and me through the budding days of Vatican II. Its probably a good thing we were relegated to the 11:00 basement Mass. I learned to play guitar in that group. I got my first one in '70 for $10. It was a second hand (at least) stratocaster knockoff that I played through an old tube amp donated by, Walt Weaver, a friend of my dads -- it looked like a '40s radio. We eventually played together in the Hanover Township Volunteer Fire Department big band, along with Harry Litsch on sax. That was good stuff. Most of those guys saw the real big bands that originated the charts we did at the VFD dances. Playing with that band got me in the Freedom High stage band senior year. I also did a talent show stint as Elvis. People were amazed at how I got his moves down. The reason was I had a windbreaker with a metal zipper down the front, no shirt, a microphone looped around my neck, the $10 guitar and free amp, and mismatched ground polarity between the guitar, amp and mike. Every time I leaned back I got 120V down the the front and through my fingertips. So it was front and back again for the whole performance. Good thing I didn't use an acoustic like E, or I would have bombed. Alas, there's no pictures or audio from that.
Recently I've been working on a Mass setting for the 2010 translation. More info on that at missaexcorde.com.
Recently I've been working on a Mass setting for the 2010 translation. More info on that at missaexcorde.com.
Check the links below for more info and some mp3s. Its pretty esoteric, but neat if you were part of it. Special thanks to jellicat at at&t Research for help in digitizing the old cassettes.