Albert Diroberto:  

2009 Update - The Lord has blessed me with a great life journey. After leaving UFA in 1970 I worked at Star's Department store until that closed in the 1970's recession. This time of 1970 also had me be part of the formation of the local rock band, Stone Free, as the lead guitarist with Alan Allen, Joe Barr, Doug Pearson, Fran LaPaglia and Gary Hovish-roadie. Fame and fortune was ours for the taking! Except we had no idea how to take it. We did have a great time playing together. We played UFA dances, Sylvan Beach clubs The Long Bar, The Forest Hotel, as well as many others, making an incredible $125 a show to split 5 ways! After the van rental and expenses there wasn't much left over for the college fund. We could play Light My Fire or In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida for 30+ minutes each. Bruce Springsteen went on to steal our long show idea. By the mid 70s the band broke up as we all got girlfriends/future ex-wives, who used sex to get our time. Goodby music career :-( I married Joan Mielnicki 1971 in 1975. We were way too young but we did it. We lived at her old house on Plant Street. We raised 3 beautiful children. I graduated MVCC in 1978 and took a job as a sound lab tech with Carrier Air Conditioning in Syracuse. I had a limited shot at racing sports cars with the SCCA at Watkins Glen, but quickly ran low on cash trying to compete. Plus, the wife wasn't too happy with me using the family budget to fuel my racing dreams. In 1980 my son Torrey 2, and I became involved with the Utica Aud Greater Utica Youth Hockey until 1985, when I left as President and coach for California. Also in 1980 I started doing standup comedy with Spongebob Tom Kinney and Bobcat Goldetwait in Syracuse. Around 1983 I ran a comedy club at Lily Langtrey's nightclub on Varick street with limited success. In 1984 I competed in an HBO/Showtime TV Comedy contest at Syracuse University and placed 3rd out of 70+ comedians. The judges told me that I needed to head to New York or Hollywood and pursue a comedy career. With a wife and 3 kids this wasn't going to be easy. Then it happened. I was laid off from Carrier AC in March 1985 with 3,000+ employees. They told us our jobs were gone for good, have a nice day. After a few weeks of being depressed and unemployed I did what most of displaced workers do. I sat on my porch, drinking beer and watching cars go by, waiting for the unemployment check to arrive. After drinking a half case of Bud and barely catching a buzz, I made the decision that I could move to Los Angeles and at least be warm and unemployed. On July 4th 1985, I packed up my 1980 Chevy wagon, complete with wood paneling on the side, and moved to LA in search of TV stardom as a standup comic. Upon arriving I doubled my salary to $900 a week as a appliance repair tech during the day. In the afternoon I was a ice hockey coach with my sons team in Pasadena and at night I was doing standu...Expand for more