Read on if you want to know way more about Tony than anyone should.

I have been playing drums since I was 10 years old. I had my first band by the time I was 11. And while the talented styling’s of drummers like Dave Weckl, Steve Smith and Mike Stephans will probably never find their way to my hands and feet, I have continually strived to be a better drummer.

Even though my life’s endeavors have taken me in different directions over the years, I have always remained a musician at my core. My musical history is not unique. Many of you have gone down similar paths; playing in one band after another always looking for the one that’s right…the one with the right players, the right music and the right gigs.

In the early ‘70’s, while I was still in high school, I joined my first band in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. Lead by organ player Jimmy Uccio, we would play at places like the VFW and some local weddings. The band was made up of mostly teenagers and it was with this band that I went on my first road trip to the exotic city of Harrisburg. Not, terribly inspiring, the trip taught me one thing; never share a hotel room with the entire band.

It wasn’t until I was in college where I met a guitar player with similar tastes in music living in my dorm. He and I started playing at some fraternity parties and eventually answered an ad looking for a drummer and guitar player to back an Elvis impersonator. Keep in mind that Elvis was still alive at this time so the demand for someone to impersonate a famous person who is still around wasn’t’ that big of a deal.

This band, however, gave me the opportunity to travel across the country and into Canada. Now, I’m not talking about the parts of Canada we are all familiar with (or populated for that matter) like Montreal or Vancouver. No, we got booked in Saskatchewan. Look it up. In the dictionary under “the middle of nowhere” you’ll find Saskatchewan. Miles and miles of nothing.

We were so far north that the sun stayed out until 2 am and rose again at about 4 am. You haven’t lived until you finish an all night gig and the sun is still shining! TV stations (all 2 of them) stopped broadcasting around 11 pm and WE were the hottest attraction in each town we stopped at. (That says a lot about the entertainment these towns were used to) On the plus side, I got to see the Aurora Borealis while I was there and the biggest locust I’ve ever seen to this day.

The last few years of college are mostly a blur except for one summer when I came home to the Poconos and joined Virgil Singer’s square-dance band. It was me, Virgil, and Marty. Virgil was an older gentleman who played guitar and called the square dance. Marty, same age as Virgil was the piano player. I was “the kid”. The music was mind numbing, but the money was good as long as I could ignore the fact that Marty started EVERY song with the same intro… in the same key no matter what key the song was in! Come to think of it, that was a long summer.

After college I still had no real direction in life, so I did what made me happy… I joined a band. This was probably my first real, professional band. With Joe Travis (Horton) at the helm, Phase-4 nested at the Fernwood Resort as one of two house bands.

This was a real band. We played 5-nights per week, got a paycheck and got to leave our instruments on stage. Our band was in the, once called, Gaslight room while the “big room” housed the very talented Tom (Sto) Rudeski, Mark Hamza and Grant Jarrett. We played contemporary dance music and they played jazz and backed the acts that would appear there. It was great fun having all those musicians in one place every night.

Grant actually went on to write a book about his escapades as a musician. (“More Towels” – you can find it at Amazon) While not very popular with ordinary people, its a hilarious tale for anyone who’s been on the road. And if you look closely at the cover, that’s me playing the drums behind him. He says it isn’t, but what does he know.

That gig lasted for more than a year until, you guessed it, we broke up. I then found Steve Braunstein and his band playing at Stricklands and his own club. You read it right, a musician who owned his own club! Unfortunately for me, it was an afterhour’s club. We would play Stricklands until 2 am then start at his club at 3 am! Again, I’m getting home when the sun is coming up! But the money was good and the band was fun.

After that I did a short run with a band called Genesis… hey, it was the ‘80’s. The talented Donnie Mayer was playing guitar and we played a lot of disco. That band lasted from New York state to Georgia (about 5 months) before we all got sick of disco and, that’s right, broke up.

My next venture was when I moved to D.C. to attend The Catholic University to get my masters in biology. It was there that I joined one of the two top rock bands in D.C. at the time. It was a big band by my standards. We had a light man, sound man, roadies (the light and sound man), a girl singer, guitar, bass, organ and sax. During the day I was studying amoeba and at night I was playing in this band at the hottest clubs in and around D.C.

Well… that band broke up. What a surprise. So I moved on to weddings with a little 3-piece band composed of me, a bass player and piano. We all sang and it actually sounded pretty good for 3 goofy guys.

The wedding band lasted a little while until the band broke up. Starting to see a pattern here? I moved to Philadelphia to become an optometrist. Don’t ask. I don’t know where in the brain the relationship between healthcare and music is, but after being in healthcare for more than 30 years, I can tell you that there are many people in this industry that are also accomplished musicians. During those 4 years I actually didn’t play much music. It just wasn’t possible with the intense studying needed at the time.

Fast forward to my wedding day, where I had my old wedding band play for MY wedding. It was cool being on the other side for a change.

Ok, so, wedding, graduation, moved back to Poconos, kids, work, build practice, community and one day, I found my drums again. Well, I found a set of Roland V-Drums and just HAD to have them. I wasn’t playing much here, but these gave me the opportunity to play in the basement and do some home recording.

At this time, I was sitting in with my brother’s band in Harrisburg (remember Harrisburg from the beginning?) Every year for 5 or 6 years we would record a CD full of Christmas tunes he arranged with a “rock twist”. My sister would sing the less gritty tunes. He would find a deserving charity and we would sell the CD’s and donate the proceeds to that charity. In December he would get us a live gig somewhere in Harrisburg and we would play “the Christmas gig”. We would fill the place with family and friends and play rock versions of Christmas standards all night long. It usually snowed for this gig … very sentimental, kind of a warped Norman Rockwell Christmas.

Ok we’re coming to the end now. A number of years ago I met a singer. He was a tall guy and is a great front man and singer. Well he and I had plans to put together a band. It never really happened, but we still sit in with each other’s band from time to time. We are still talking.

In the summer of 2006, while flipping burgers at the St. Luke’s Summer Festival, I was listening to the band on the stage at the time. Jazz great, Dave Liebman was in the audience enjoying his hot dog when I went up to him and said, “Dave, we should play here next year.” Imagine, a guy like me using the word “we” in a sentence to Dave about music. Of course I expected him to reply with something like “who are you again?” or “can you bring me some more fries?” But, being the gracious and kind person that he is, he replied “sure, give me a call in the spring”. And that was all it took to make of the greatest days in my musical career happen.

That next summer and the summer after that I got the opportunity to play with not only Dave, but Tony Marino and other jazz greats in and around the area. Now, to set the record straight… they went easy on me. They could have destroyed me with real jazz and left me for dead in 4 measures or less if they wanted to. But they are all great people and have respect for every musician regardless of how presumptuous he can be.

It was through Dave that I met Mike Stephans, an accomplished drummer and musical talent. If there is a drummer that can truly make music with his drums, its Mike. He’s taught me a great deal.

Which brings me to Smooth … the next band. Calvin Blount, Reggie Woodside, Ken Barry, Don Mayer and Diane Taitt make up Smooth. We played mostly smooth jazz, thus the name (Yeah, I know its not very original). We had a great run at Mt. Airy Casino, but smooth jazz is a tough sell anywhere buy in cities.

Before Smooth broke up, a talented writer decided to write a book about jazz in the Poconos, “The Poconos In B Flat”. You can find it at Amazon if you’re interested. She needed a chapter on smooth-jazz and since I had the only smooth jazz band in the area…. I got my own chapter!

From there I started gigging with many talented musicians covering pop, rock, jazz and blues in any venue that would have us. And I continued to play festivals, formed a “big band” and even hosted my own jazz-jam for a while.

At the same time I volunteered to participate in the Eye Rock Concerts for charity at the HardRock in NYC. Here, 5 bands, all part of the eye care industry, join forces for a 1-night event with all the proceeds going to charity. Its loads of fun and for a good cause.

The next chapter of my life took me to Florida where one of my long time friends and guitar virtuoso Donnie Mayer happened to live. We started playing some jazz gigs and morphed into a pop band that was doing very well until COVID hit and the band split up. But, another band scooped me up and I’m playing again.

We’re at the end of the article …. So what’s the take-home? Its just this: if you’re reading this, you’re probably a musician and no matter what path has lead you to this day, we all have one thing in common: the love of playing music. Whether it be in the basement, garage or on stage, its something we have to do. And the best part is that we can share our music with others and allow them to experience our joy.