My father was seventeen years old when he got a chance to play trumpet with Rudy Vallee at the Brooklyn Paramount, just as The Great Depression was, well, depressing. My lovely mother a mere lass of fifteen waited at the stage door to meet this handsome talented Brooklyn-born new member of the Connecticut Yankees. Morris (Larry) and Sophie (Sonnie) loved music, they loved each other, and rumor has it they loved me. As a youngster I was told that if I practiced diligently I could get to Carnegie Hall. Well the old joke aside, I got to Carnegie Hall, usually to listen to performers and friends I knew or wrote about... so technically, the old saw came to pass. Tom Goodkind of the Washington Squares did announce from the venerable stage that I taught him a "great new banjo lick" which he played as the crowd applauded. My first ovation at Carnegie Hall. And my last ovation at Carnegie Hall. They were opening for Richie Havens a year or two before I had that opportunity. On national television John McEuen of The Dirt Band (while recounting a story of our meeting) mentioned me on Nashville Now, not by name, but as "the guy from the magazine." All of this is close enough for folk. I have performed for crowds as large as ten thousand and written articles and columns for "audiences" at least as large. Through it all, I made it a point to dissuade any and all fifteen-year-old groupies hanging out at the stage door. Still - I write, I perform. And, yes, I play accordion. Few know the sound of that particular treat. Welcome to this web site. I hope you enjoy. Mom and Dad would have been proud, Lawrence Welk somewhat less so. In the words of Rudy Vallee, "My Time Is Your Time."

Be well,
The guy from the magazine; Roger Deitz

 

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