A Lifetime of Memories Part One
Where to begin with a lifetime of memories from Japan?
There are the funny things that happen…dropping a hotel key as I was getting on the elevator and having it drop through the small gap into the elevator shaft. What are the chances? Well, a few days later it happened again…I may never live that down…there was the special dinner in Kyoto that first visit where lobster was served…he started moving toward me just after he arrived…a 22 year old from Spokane had seen nothing like that before…the ID card to get through the gates of Expo 70 in Osaka. Mine had me listed as a 40 something year old…I told our road manager that everyone could see I was not that old…he paused before saying “You all look the same.”…funnier now than at the time…there was the time that I stopped by the safety deposit box-a room about the size of a phone booth-the lock broke and I was stuck inside for what felt to someone with claustrophobia like a lifetime…there was the time I got on the train before anyone else…doors closed…train’s moving…wrong train…hmmm…there was the time I stopped by a batting cage-again-22 years old-the whole building appeared to stop as this foreign kids steps up to take his swings…20 pitches…20 misses…I could not slink out of that place fast enough…
Lots of first impressions…only time I ever had shirts tailor made…that first trip in 1969…with monogrammed cuffs…not quite my style in the long run…phoning home at that time meant calling an overseas operator who would call back after connecting with the party I was trying to reach…
In so many ways and on so many levels I am fortunate to have become one of The Brothers Four and to still be traveling the world together nearly 50 years later.
I learned so much from the original guys-Bob Flick, John Paine, and Dick Foley. They taught me about being a professional on so many levels. I learned how little it takes to be nice to everyone and what a big difference it makes. They helped me develop my sense of humor that gets more important as I get older.
The pictures here include one with my first tailored shirt...one with the four of us side by side for 10 hours...I had a new pair of shoes I bought for the tour...taking them off was a lot easier than putting them back on...we performed in tuxedoes for 15 years or more...here is a backstage shot...
The audio is the group's first recording of "Sakura." We are singing it this tour in conjunction with "Lady Greensleeves." Old Japanese and Old English melodies together.
