Its a trifecta of birthdays for friends of mine today. Two of them are in the Venn diagram circle -- people Ive done paying gigs with; Steve Haggard and Joe McManus and the third is Pat Joseph, (aka Pat Tracy) who was a professional Irishman at Nana Daleys the last time I saw him. Pat goes back the furthest, Nazareth, the Den, Trunz. If you know him you know what a great guy he is. I met Steve, for the first time at his first wedding a mutual friend brought me because she knew that both he and I were deep into country music. But a guys wedding day is not a day to make connections. So it wasnt until 1982 when I answered his ad in the Village Voice that we actually started to work together. I played with the Steve Haggard band in 1982 and 1983 and then again in Europe in 94 and 95. In 96 I recorded on his CD Make Your Move in Nashville and in 2001 I toured Sweden with Steve and the Rangers. I met Joe McManus through Willie McCabe who wanted me to meet Vinny Schaller, when Vinny brought Joe to the meet. A fabulous singer, with encyclopeiac knowledge of lyrics Joe was the front man for Brass Tacks who rocked the Glen Sunday nights for quite awhile. When Joe left Rick stepped in and we continued. Joe is also a lifeguard and because of him I twice attended Lifeguard competitions in Newport RI. So Happy Birthday you three. Thanks for enriching my life and heres hoping that I have added to yours.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 15:12:02 +0000
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