My Music (part 1)

The first thing I remember, I was lying in my bed
I couldn’t’ve been no more than one or two
And I remember there’s a radio, coming from the room next door
My mother laughed the way some ladies’ do
Well it’s late in the evening, and the music’s seeping through
(Late in the Evening by Paul Simon)



As most things in a child’s life, it all starts with Mom & Dad. Dad was a simple hobby guitarist – as was his father before him. Dad knew all sorts of inappropriate lyrics (aka: made up) to all sorts of ditties. Mom played both piano and guitar extremely well – evidently she was a natural who’s childhood piano instructor told Grammy to stop wasting money on lessons because Edna was not reading the music, but was in fact playing much more (aka: better) than was written (I don’t know when or how she picked up the guitar – maybe I should ask her someday). Grandfather Wesley died long before my time so I have no idea how proficient he may have been. Grammy was known as an aspiring artist (after retiring she rented an apartment in Rockland Maine and studied at the Farnsworth museum) but she also tried her hand at music after retiring and took flute lessons for a year. After she passed away I got her flute, learned a few songs, passed it on to my Mary in 4th grade, eventually passed it on to my Nikki who plays it to this day. As early as I can remember, listening to and playing music was a natural part of everyday life. To this day I can clearly remember Mom playing “Sentimental Journey”, “Navajo Trail”, “When the Moon Comes Over The Mountain” and other such selections. Dad played “A Peanut Was Sittin” and “When the Moon Comes Over The Outhouse”.



Saturday night and my Pappy’s up late picking with my uncle Bill
The neighbors don’t mind ‘cause they’re havin a time sippin’ off’a Pappy’s still
Ol’ brother Dan got a fiddle in his hand, Mamma’s on the mandolin
When the music is right and the band gets tight you aughta see them pick and grin
Ol’ sheriff Brown who never comes around knockin on the old front door
As a matter of fact you can find him out back pickin on his old banjo
2nd cousin Jack sneaks up from the back tryin to get to sister Sue
well she throws him on the ground without a’turnin around because she knows a lot of Ju Jitzsu
(Listen to a Country Song by Loggins and Messina)



Our house possessed a piano, an organ, a guitar, a Ukulele, and an accordion. All children (family and friends) were welcome to test out any of the instruments (although you were always reminded “Not too heavy on the piano”). Somewhere around the mid-sixties we acquired an electric Les Paul Junior and an amplifier. While Mom preferred the sweat melodies and harmonies of the classic pop singers of the 40’s & 50’s (think Lennon Sisters or Andy Williams) Dad took a liking to the raw roots sounds of the 50’s and 60’s. 30 Phillips Street was always a place where friends, relatives and neighbors simply dropped in for an unannounced but always welcomed visit. Often sing-alongs would occur. But during the early/mid 60’s the Friday Night Hootananny was a planned event. Dad was the senior member, while Pete, Sonny, and Billy – younger than Dad but older than my older brother Wes – would show up with guitars and record albums in hand, ready to play. Pete was the hotshot who went on to play in local bands – after recovering from a car accident in which he destroyed our amp (he had borrowed it) and nearly killed himself. He was the local 18 year old rebel legend to us much younger ones, and was at least partially responsible for my thinking that playing in a band was feasible. Another was the discovery that Mr.Urann’s grandsons were in a REAL band (The Esquires - I still have the 45 record to prove it, and they were played on the radio for about one month) and rehearsed two houses over. But we were young and had no public place to play – until Wes came through.



Rooster hits the washboard and people just got to smile,
Blinky, thumps the gut bass and solos for a while.
Poorboy twangs the rhythm out on his kalamazoo.
Willy goes into a dance and doubles on kazoo.
(Down on the Corner by Creedence Clearwater Revival)



Wes – although able to strum a guitar and play piano - was artistic and theatrical but also with limited opportunity to express it. So where opportunity didn’t exist, he created it – and so began the Blauss Family Back Yard Carnival. There were games and skits and Mary-Lou Hannigan brought her horse and gave rides, and we got to be a band and play for a paid (25 cents admission) audience. So middle-schoolers Laurie on acoustic, cousin Tom on drum (singular, not plural) and I on the Les Paul Jr – which was a problem standing on damp ground with an electric guitar (a sheet of plywood solved that problem) – played our three Beatles songs to polite applause. This happened for 2 or 3 summers, and Marlene and Eric probably got their chance in the spotlight along the way.


I live in a silver mine and I call it beggar’s tomb;
I got me a violin and I beg you call the tune,
Anybody’s choice, I can hear your voice.
Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go?
(Uncle John’s Band by the Grateful Dead)


Eric (and maybe David after him) briefly played trumpet at school, I started to learn some lead guitar, Marlene learned bass guitar – then Eric (who had already displayed fondness for being non-mainstream and a talent for imitating famous lead guitar riffs and tones) discovered Bluegrass and banjo and mandolin, showing an ability to quickly learn whatever instrument was put in his hands. At one birthday party, Wes decided to impress us by playing “Happy Birthday” on the violin (he had been taking lessons for a year). After scratching his way through, Eric (unimpressed) chided Wes for having wasted his money. Wes (the eldest sibling), not appreciating getting razzed by Eric (the 5th sibling down in the pecking order) made the challenge “I suppose you could do better?” Eric took the violin in his hands for the first time, went upstairs, and five minutes later came down and played “Happy Birthday” – not perfectly, but well enough to discourage Wes and amuse the rest of us no-end. Music was a family affair - but with me, the predominant nucleus was Laurie, Marlene, and cousin Tommy Tobin. With this many performers, variety and balance had to be reached so harmony parts and multiple guitar pieces had to be discerned, dissected, imitated and assigned. Mom being a harmony perfectionist must have helped us out here and although I don’t specifically recall her coaching us, she often times would sing along with songs we learned. She could pick them up quickly, and could invent harmonies where they didn’t actually exist on the recordings. We learned from listening to records – 78’s, 45’s, LP’s. Birthday money was often spent on obtaining a favorite hit song on a 45rpm record (one song per side and only $1 or so). As we got older and had babysitting money to burn, we bought entire albums. Beatles, Monkees, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and WRKO AM dominated our 60’s listening. James Taylor, Crosby-Stills-Nash-Young, America, Simon & Garfunkle, ZZ Top, Dan Fogelberg, and WBCN FM took us through the 70’s. To this day, these comprise the bulk of our combined repertoires, and to this day members of the Blauss/Tobin clan can sit down, recall and play these songs at will – subconsciously and instinctively knowing who will take which part as it goes along.

There are places I remember all my life 'though some have changed
some forever, not for better. Some are gone and some remain
(In My Life by The Beatles)