I was born in Detroit, Michigan. I attended Precious Blood Elementary School through the beginning of 7th grade. That's when my family moved to Long Beach, California. There, we lived in an apartment building on the beach, right next to Belmont Pier. What fun! And I learned so much at school that year.
In time for 8th grade, my family moved to Midland, Michigan. I was already an accomplished trombone player, but in Midland my opportunities expanded, and so did my talent. I also became interested in photography and photo processing.
When it was time for 11th grade, my family moved to Greenville, South Carolina, where I attended Wade Hampton High School. I played in the Crescent Youth Symphony, and in a commercial band named The Tikis. We played almost every Friday and Saturday night in some country club or community center, all up and down I-85, from Birmingham, Alabama to Raleigh, North Carolina. That summer, we played at beach clubs throughout the Southeast, including at Myrtle Beach's Pavillion, where we set an attendance record every night during the week of the 4th of July. I had a lot of fun playing in The Tikis, and I earned a lot of money, too.
When I graduated from high school, I went on a musical tour with America's Youth In Concert. We rehearsed for a few days at Princeton University, then we played our first concert in New York City at Carnegie Hall. The next night we played at what was then the brand new Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. After that, we went to London, England; Brussells, Belgium; Paris, France; Strassburg, France; Ulm, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Venice, Italy; Florence, Italy; and Rome, Italy. What a wondeful summer!
After that, I took a job in a metal plating factory, and began taking flying lessons. A few months later, in January, I started my musical studies at Furman University. My first week of university in South Carolina was snowed out! I was there, but the professors couldn't get to school! So to pass the time, I taught myself how to operate the university's mainframe computer, and began teaching myself about radio engineering. Within a couple of weeks I was tutoring math majors and computer science majors, and I was the chief engineer at the college radio station.
In February, while continuing my musical studies at Furman, I started working at Carowinds, before it ever opened. I took photos of various places in the Carolinas, and copied music (that means by hand, not with a copying machine) for the musicians. When the park opened, I conducted the Magic Theater Orchestra, a 22-piece group. On stage was a master magician named Michael Christian, and more than a dozen assistants. I got to watch many great illusions hundreds of times each, and even though I learned some secrets, I still delight in seeing magic acts.
(more soon)
Here are some historical photos:
