Way back on the very edge there was the memory of my mother joining the church, and before
I knew it I was singing in the Children's Choir. I do remember hating the giant bow we had to
wear as a kid on our choir robes.
At eight years old the trumpet came into my life. Why the trumpet? A good question with no answer.
My parents rented one for me from my elementary school. The Band teacher, to my amazement played
every instrument in the band. That's right all of the Strings, all of the Woodwinds, all of the
brass and of course all drums and percussion, and any thing else I can't remember like piano.
We did have various female music teachers as well that we had music classes with and sang
songs with through the years.
High school brought change but Mr. King the music teacher was now performing the same tasks
in the high school up the road. With trumpets all rented out other brass instruments were left.
For some reason I wound up playing a Sousaphone. That is John Philip Sousa's version of the
tuba. Only the one that wraps around you. Right... BASS... on a horn. Not my idea of fun. I could
never take it home to practice because in its case it needed a station wagon or a small truck
to move. What's more I hated having to learn new fingering and the dreaded bass clef and that
giant mouth piece were at the top of the hate list. So then there was a year of drums in the
school swing band,and the bass clef anyway. Some of my high school chums and I had various
doo wop groups that came and went.
My dear Uncle Sammy called and I went with the rest of my Marine buddies to the far east.
There we learned various things and held another doo wop group together and entertained many people.
All this time we would go to Hiroshima to visit the jazz clubs and taste a little home.
You see deep down within I harbored the heart of a jazz snob. My daily listening was Coltrane, Sun Ra,
Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and other out-jazz pioneers. After landing in North Carolina
my musical tastes widened once more and I found myself hearing a lot more Country music on the radio.
To my surprise a lot those tunes reminded me of those Hank Williams songs that seeped into my
consciousness in the formative years. Not only did the C&W come alive, but the Blues and R&B were
just bursting at the seams. My parents record collection from Muddy Waters to Duke Ellington,
from Sarah Vaughn to Billie holiday and Big Mama Thornton and more kept running through my head.
I sprouted again in Rochester N.Y. on the radio at WVOR, WBBF, and TV with WHEC. These were very
important years. I started playing guitar in the summer of 1966. Being a vocalist I had picked
up harmonica in the military because it was easily transported. But the times dictated that guitar
would be my instrument. Because I was a DJ and a TV personality as well as a player in local bands,
I had access to Many Major musicians. There was a Club called Duffy's Backstage that was run
by Dick Warner, a fellow of great insight. Various artists would play the club for a week.
I could talk to or just watch people like BB King, Albert King, Miles Davis and others.
One thing still fresh in my memory is one of my meetings with Muddy Waters. Muddy upon
hearing I was a DJ, [FM Radio WCMF] handed me Buddy Guy's first solo album and asked me to play it.
Of course I did. What about the partys and the radio stations visited with Jimi Hendrix in tow.
Around that time I was also attending Hochstein school of music.
From there I went west to Colorado for some woodsheding and jamming with Tommy Bolan and others. Then it was on to San Francisco to Blue Bear School Of Music and then acoustic slide ala Son House from days in Rochester. I guess the shifting of bands and musicians is a natural process.
Touring the west coast from Vancouver to San Diego takes a lot of time and energy. Especially with bands
like The Dead Kennedys, The Selector, Crime, Devo and even Chris Isaac and much more. Also Sonic Seranade Music BMI was formed for the first vinyl Neutrinoz LP.
Many tours and one LP later The Neutrinoz broke up and New York beckoned once more.
New York with out a band is cruel indeed. So with radio a closed circle and bit parts and voice
overs not paying the rent I started doing sound and road managing other bands just to get out of the city.
I suppose that's when I decided Boston would be my base of operations.
Boston was the New Lions a reggae band of dubious reputation and all Caribbean Islanders, except me.
Then The Happy Campers and compilation CD's and LP's along with triumph at many a battle of the bands.
Opening shows for artists as diverse as Ziggy Marley, Jeff Healy, The Radiators, Little Feat,
Billy Squire and Mutabaruka to name but a few.
A move to Harlem New York to the family brownstone was another pivotal time. The seeds for WetWorks Institute were planted. Dan Vassily one of the few that braved the wilds of Harlem, and Myself along with The Craiglodite, made the 2000 pact in 1991. We had the means at our disposal to do it all our selves.
We could play, record, produce television shows and any thing else we wanted to do. Returning to Boston
we first produced the Cable TV shows LOLLY'S REMEDIES along with 2000PLUS. The first solo album for me, MASON has been in the can since 1994 and available on line since 1996 and now available in your local record stores along with new material. Take a look at the original cover [ on line since 1996 ]
and see why we changed to the blue cover. When a certain movie came out we were quite surprised at the appearance of one of the characters. Other artists and types of music were already in the works for 2000. MASON's second solo CD FUTURE HISTORY is also available . This is a collection of various tracks from before, during and after THE HAPPY CAMPERS band.
Winter 2001 Mason completed two BAKIMONO CDs titled LITTLE MONSTER and FEED THE MACHINE. These CDs are electronic music, dance music and soundtrack and video-track music that is sample based and computer generated and guaranteed to make you move your feet.
I have just finished a new CANNIBAL KINGS CD called LOVERS ROCK, and I'm now completing tracks for another as yet unnamed CD.
The CONJURE MAN EP is still downloadable.
January 2006 The CANNIBAL KINGS released the IRON MAN maxi single mini EP with three songs. I'm still looking forward to knew musical horizons.
MUSIC IS MY LIFE.
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