Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Remake Of The Lowell Song For The Salvation Army

The Lowell Song was recorded by The Camelots, a band that performed at the old Spear House back in the 60's. The members were Charlie Pelly on cocktail drum, Dick Dube on the organ and Walter Sarmento on Guitar. I had the pleasure to perform with them on a number of occasions in  the early 70's and thought my retirement gig would be a Camelot, but as luck would have it they tore the old Spear House down to build those high rise apartments.

Anyway as the years went by I heard the song every now and then 5 years ago I joined a band called the FunRazrs. One of the members was Rich Sarmento the nephew of Walter Sarmento . I told him I played with his uncle at the Spear House and he told me his uncle co wrote the Lowell Song.

Fast forward to this past summer. I listen to WCAP 980 am everyday a local radio station and they have a segment every Thursday with the unofficial Mayor of downtown Lowell. Ziggy Burns. He is a great guy and does a lot of good in the community and for charity's but his theme song is the old Lowell Song.

Teddy Panos the host of the programs family owes the Athenen Rest and has entertainment during the summer. I put it out to Ziggy to come out and sing his theme song the next time we played at Teddys Rest. and he did.He did a great job and they now play the live version of Ziggys performance as his theme song.

Then I had the idea....Let's redo the song with Ziggy singing it and all proceeded s go to the Salvation Army.
It is all done and the CD is on it's way to be packaged in time for the Salvation Army Radiothon. WCAP will debut it on Tuesday at 7:35 am. We will also lip sync to the track at the City of Lights parade next Sat. in Lowell in front of City Hall.

It was a lot of fun going into the studio to rerecord Richie's uncle s song for the good....
I hope you enjoy it because it was a labor of love.

Sea Ya
The Capt.
    

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Day After Election Day

It's been a long campaign season for both national and local candidates. How many times have I heard this past week " I can't wait for this to be over" but I sympathize for the candidates having run twice for local office and worked on another campaign for three years in a row.

First thing we should do is thank anyone that is willing to put there name on a ballot and be willing to serve the public. The minute you're a candidate you are open game to political pundits the media and the public.

As a candidate you lean on your family and friends and supporters to help you get your message out with door knocking and visibility and the toughest thing ( for me ) asking people for money because running a campaign is not cheap.

You are on the go everyday knocking on doors going to this event and that fundraiser. Going to the Senior Centers and meetings with unions. Going to debates and in between knocking on doors. Standing on street corners and
going to coffee shops and standing in front of supermarkets.

You are on the phone all day talking to your advisers and supporters and searching out advice from former elected officials that you admire. You hear your name on the radio and tv. Sometimes its good sometimes it's bad but you keep going and your skin gets thicker.

You lay in bed at night wondering did I do enough today and think about what to do tomorrow.........

Then election day comes. You feel you have done everything you could do to get your message out and now it's up to the voters. It's a long day going to all the polls and making sure there is visibility and all your supporters are happy and thank them for their time.  but thats all you can do. It's in the hands of the voters

Results come in if you're a winner it's the greatest feeling in the world. If you lose you wonder what more you could have done.

You have gone 100mph and then it stops. No place to go . No calls to make. No media to talk to.....Its a very very strange feeling.   Support the ones that won their races and thank those who were willing to serve.



Sea Ya

The Capt.