Making Music (Part 1)

[Part 1]. Music must be one of the great consolations, one of the great pleasures of life. I wish that my parents had encouraged (cajoled, threatened, forced) me to take music lessons as a kid. We didn't think about making our own music in my family, alas, but I began to make music for myself junior year at St. Joe's High School in Cleveland. The inspiration was Pete Gasper, my classmate, and the music of the Beatles. Pete was also my inspiration to begin writing poetry. Pete was one strange and interesting dude, a fellow living in Eastlake, born of Portuguese heritage, who discovered that he could woo girls via poetry. Where is Pete today? Did he continue his pursuit of poetry? and girls?

Anyway, Pete set me on the path. I bought an inexpensive Hohner harmonica and began playing by ear, with absolutely no instruction and even without many musical models. Eventually, the models became the harp riffs on some Beatle songs and the harmonica parts in Bob Dylan songs. I eventually got pretty good on the harmonica, at least good enough to entertain myself.

A couple years later, I roomed with Brian Wilson (the Hilo Pediatrician, not the Beach Boy) during a Sophomore Year Abroad program in Innsbruck, Austria. Brian had a guitar and was an excellent player. He taught me to play a few chords and a few simple songs (the first being "G-L-O-R-I-A, Glo-ri-a," written, I've heard, by the great Irishman, Van Morrison). I played these songs fairly well. We had great fun in Innsbruck, banging on guitars at informal sessions at the Weisses Kreuz Gasthaus, right in the heart of Innsbruck's Altstadt. The Innsbruck guitar bangers included the late John Higgins, Mike Celizic, the MSNBC.COM sports columnist, Brian Wilson, Mike Gerrity, and myself. Other guys joined in on guitar and on harmonica, including Charlie Schaffer. [more coming]