Tuesday, December 03, 2002 - 10:21 PM
"Gimme a cigarette." hahaha! How I'd love to hear Costello say that again!I was trying to be a bit tactful to Donovan, but you asked the questions that I really had. THANK YOU!
So, there were really 28 stairs? I never bothered to count. But it was Sept. 1961 when I walked up those stairs with my dad. I remember Don Warren's office. His secretary was sitting in there too, and there he was at the back desk, puffing a cigar, looking EXACTLY like Al Capone. Or at least that was my first impression.
Then I met Mitch Markovich, who put me at ease right away. He took me back to where the drummers practiced and taught me THE RIFF SONG, ONE FLOWER, and FRENCH MARCH. It was incredible.
That was my audition. After we rehearsed those songs (oh, and also, LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING), we went out with the full corps at the end and played through the 1961 routine.
After rehearsal, Mitch gave the thumbs up (since they'd lost 2 of the 3 M's), and Don wanted me to sign on the dotted line. Well, my mother balked. I'd just started high school, and I lived in Rockford, a whopping 90 miles west of Chicago.
28 stairs, eh? Wow. And 40 years ago? Even more wow! Back then I couldn't even run a block, let alone 6.2 miles (10K). But I could play drums and march with a 30-lb. drum tied around me.
Curt (still the New Guy)
