I started playing guitar when I was eleven years old. My Dad thought that I was beginning to hang around with the wrong crowd, so he encouraged me to take up an instrument. I chose guitar out of my possible choices of guitar, accordion or piano. Apparently drums was a definite no no. Once I began lessons, I never had to be told to practice. This become my teaching philosophy when I began to teach others to play. If they had to be motivated to practice, then chances were good they weren't interested enough in the instrument to become accomplished with it. I took lessons at Benson's Studio of Music, owned and operated by the late Bernie Benson. My guitar teacher was Sam Messina. He was an excellent teacher and I become his protege'. I was always slated to do the toughest songs at recitals. I would take lessons on a Saturday morning, and when he was through with the balance of his pupils, he would stop over at the house for coffee and we would sit around strumming. One day I walked in to take my lesson, and there was a substitute. He said Sam was no longer teaching. Totally in shock I called Sam up and he told me that he was at a point with me where I was beginning to teach him things. It was time for me to move on to someone else. So, I gave this new teacher a shot. It didn't work out. Though I could have learned much from this man, the fact that he was insistent on the placement of my thumb turned me off to his teaching and I ended my lessons at that point..
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The original Vegas had 5 members in it and became Rochester's number one band for three years in a row. The original members besides myself were Lex Byers, vocals, Rich Fiordeliso - keyboards, Chris Defazio - bass, and Nick Russo- drums. This group had waiting lines outside the clubs to watch us perform. We performed 3 sets each night. The first two sets were devoted to current music, and the last set was devoted to a special 60's performer. Our tribute set included The Rascals, Three Dog Nite, Jay and the Americans, and of course, the Beatles. Along with the featured set, we played classics from Grand Funk, Gene Pitney, the Righteous Brothers, the list goes on. We also performed a 50's show towards the end of Rich's and my tenure. This show was funny in all respects. Never quite polishing the songs as we should have, we spent more time doing slapstick humor with alias names and delinquent behavior. What made us popular was not just the music, but the charisma both onstage and off. We never held ourselves higher than the audience. We were always a part of the audience even while we were performing. It was formed by a Kodak contract worker who continually hounded me to play guitar for him. I was currently on a musical "break" from Fever, and was quite satisfied just living my life as a non musician. This guy wouldn't let up. I won't mention his name here because I do not want to say anything bad about anyone. Life is too short for that. But after weeks and weeks of his harping, I finally called his bluff. He had already recruited Rich on organ, even though this guy said he played organ. That was a lie, and I guess I should have realized what he was then. He actually put all the members of Vegas together minus Lex. He was to be the singer. He bought all this new fancy equipment. Well then came the day of our first practice. He COULDN'T sing! But damn, the music sounded great. We even impressed the wives that came down for the practice. To make a long story short, we, as the real musicians, had to let this guy go. It wasn't an easy job... for no one really likes to hurt someone else. He had done a lot of work in bringing us together, but with him as a singer, we weren't going anywhere but the basement. He was canned, and Lex, a singer who Rich had gigged with many times before, was brought down. And so..... it went from there. After our debut, within two weeks, you couldn't even get into the club. And that isn't because I took up all the room. The band was number one in Rochester for almost three years straight. Rich and I left Vegas in 1982. It had come to the point where Lex, Chris and Nick wanted to go on the road, and Rich and I didn't. By that time I was pretty well burned out. Playing six nights a week and working fifty two hours a week in Engineering at Eastman Kodak finally took it's toll. Rich and I resigned from the group. This was akin to a divorce of type. We spent many moments together reflecting back on the toll the band took on us, and where we stood now that we no longer were a part of Vegas. Things had changed immensely for me at this point. I was separated, close to losing my job, and very close to a nervous breakdown. Rich and I never lost touch with each other. We had become close friends as we still continue to be. In the mid 1980's timeframe, Lex was putting together a new Vegas. I had redeemed myself at Kodak and after becoming one of the top CAD operators in the Facilities group, eventually moving out into Data Communications Engineering, I felt I could perform with them again as long as it didn't get to be back to the six nights a week grind. Rich and I both rejoined the group, which then at it's creation offered besides myself on guitar, Rich Fiordeliso on keyboards, Randy Wolf on percussion, Mack Kendrick on Bass, Steve Kotzin on Trombone, Rick Austin on Sax, and Lex Byers of course on vocals. This was the group that made the studio tape of which I will eventually put some wav files up on the site. The group made some changes down the line, replacing Randy with John Pascarella on drums and vocals, Mack, with Gary Terwilliger on Bass, Doc Davis replacing Steve Kotzin on Trombone, and adding Jimmy Squirrelle on trumpet to round the group out to an eight piece, dynamic sounding music extravaganza. This cranked for a couple of years and then a couple of things happened. One, Lex became the vocalist in a blues group called the Coupe Devilles. This seemed to create some mixed feelings within Vegas that he now had a conflict of interest. We lost Jimmy and replaced him with a beginner. Lost John. It kept building up until one night Lex announced at the Spur of The Moment Lounge that after New Years, we would be back for two weeks on Wednesday through Saturday. For some reason or another, that broke my camel's back and I announced into the Microphone that Vegas would be there for two weeks, but without me. I had had enough as they say.I then tendered my resignation, giving the group ample time to replace me. Since he replaced me with a dual from his Coup Devilles, he fired Rich. Nice jester on his part huh? But as Chris would say, that's the Biz. Basically, the Coupes became Vegas. Interesting... a band with two names. Now, Vegas is just a fleeting memory. Enjoy the clips, it was a great sounding band. This page was last updated on 07/12/09 |