Lawrence Weintraub:  

I finished my Masters in Music Education at Old Dominion University in August of 2014. I went to school on the Post 9/11 GI Bill so I actually got paid to go to school. Currently I am an adjunct teacher at Tidewater Community College teaching saxophone lessons to music majors. I also do free lance gigs around the Norfolk, VA area and play the occasional show and faculty recital. As a matter of fact next Thursday, March 19, 2015 I am going to be part of a faculty recital at the Roper Theater in downtown Norfolk. Most of the recital will be classical music, however my part will be Jazz with a quartet of piano, bass, drums and tenor sax. It will be a lot of fun as will the St. Patty's Day gig I am doing at Little Creek NAB CPO Club on March 14th. After graduating RHS I went to Towson State as a Music Major. While there besides taking a heavy load of music and education courses I also performed in Hank Ley's Jazz Ensemble, Concert Band and Saxophone Quartet. I graduated in May of 1978 and after auditioning at Ft. Meade, MD I was accepted into the Army Band Program. However 1st I had to spend 8 lovely weeks at Ft. Dix, NJ for Basic Combat Training. This consisted of some things I had already learned in Boy Scouts. This would be things like First Aid, how to march, close order drill, how to put 2 shelter halves together to make a pup tent (minus the puppies) and how to shoot. Other than that we did a lot of physical training (PT), crawling through the mud and pretending to shoot the enemy while going on long marches through the woods. Actually the marches through the woods I found quite pleasant. Oh yes we spent a lovely afternoon in the tear gas chamber getting gassed. We put our gas mask on then we removed them in unison and had to say our SSN. One idiot did not know his SSN so we had to stand there in the gas until this brain surgeon figured it out. From lovely Ft. Dix I along w/ 7 other guys going to a band flew down to Norfolk to attend the 6 month long Armed Forces School of Music. I found this to be a vacation compared to Ft. Dix. First off we were on a Navy Base which automatically means better food. Because some of us had been to music school we were advanced out of Music Theory. By January I was placed in a really good Student Jazz Ensemble playing 1st tenor sax lead by Navy Music legend MUC (Chief) Rocky Palumbo. He told us, "you guys are no longer in the student dance bands. From now on you work for me in my band and only my band." That was great. It actually gave me more free time to practice. His co-assistant was Chief Tex Waldron, another Navy Music legend. We sight read a lot of harder charts and prepared a program for the Base Boxing Matches that were going to be held later in the spring. Most of the guys in the band were Army students because the Army had the biggest population at the school. However we did have 1 Marine tpt player whose name I forgot. Plus we had 1 Navy guy on bari who became a good friend, Pat Daily. Pat went to North Texas State and I think he told me he made it up to the 4 '0' Clock Band before he graduated. Well that was good as far as I was concerned. Our lead alto player from South Jersey near Philly was Bill Watson. He came down w/us from Ft. Dix. I was in Charlie Company 2nd Platoon, he was in 1st Platoon. Bill was a nice guy and a really good player. The thing I liked about the school was it was an easy drive to the Beach and back up to Baltimore. So in the warmer weather we got to enjoy the Beach and all it had to offer. Also we had girls who were students too and in our classes. At Ft. Dix my company, Charlie Company was the last all male company at Ft. Dix. The Drill Sgts were very "old School." At this time I was also put in the Student Wind Ensemble playing bass clarinet which was new to me but which I soon added to my list of doubles. So no more Basic Bands at all, concert or dance band. We all graduated from the school on May 4, 1978 and promptly went our separate ways. I took 17 days leave to Baltimore to see family, friends and just chill out from Army life. Then I drove straight across I-70 and down U.S. 24 to Colorado Springs and Ft. Carson which was named after Frontier great Kit Carson. This is where the 4th ID Band was located. Of course as soon as I get to the main gate and ask the guy where the band is he says, "band, what band?" This was pretty much par for the course the whole time I was in the military. Anyway I had to do a week at the Reception Center/Barracks checking in going to dental etc. Then I got good directions to the band bldg which was on the other side of the base next door to the hospital in a old bldg that was marked T 6262. The T stood for temporary. The bldg had been up since WW II and was former nurses quarters. That accounts for the "extravagant" single rooms w/a bathroom complete w/a sink and shower. However these rooms were very small. After I made Spec 5/E-5 the next year I moved out into an apt off Airport Drive in Colorado Springs. While stationed at the band I became friends w/a tpt player name Joe Howard. Joe and I would go skating at least 2x's a week. We told the command it was for exercise but it was really to meet girls as we were both in our early 20's. He meet a British girl there named Penny whom he later married. I met several girl friends there of which I married non of them. The 1st was 18 yr old Debbie and later the "older" 29 yr old Linda. There were a few others but at present I do not recall there names. Debbie was from the East Coast like me, however she was from Jersey which like MD is considered a Mid-Atlantic State. She was very nice and pretty and she attended a Catholic School and was a senior in the Upper School. Her and I had a lot of fun together bowling, going to movies (it was a big deal for her as an 18 yr old to go see "American Gigillo w/John Travolita. In the Springs you had to be 21 to go to an R-rated movie), So I bought the tickets while she stood off to the side. I would pick her up at school during her break. She would cut classes the rest of the day as we went to the only in door mall in town, Citadell Mall. We also did the usual things like go out to dinner and sometimes double dated w/Joe and Penny. After her senior year she went off to the USAF Academy Prep School to try to get into the Academy to become a USAF officer. I do not know if she made it. It wasn't a long trip for her because the Academy was right up Academy Blvd not far from her parents house. Anyway after Debbie I started dating this girl I also met while skating. Her name was Linda and she was older. She was 29 to my 23-24. With her I pretty much did the same stuff but she also wanted to do some more mature/adult activities which was fine by me as I now had an apt to do this stuff w/her. Anyway I left the Army and Colorado Springs on Sept 4, 1981. Since then I have been back to the Springs once w/my wife and daughter to visit an old Baltimore friend Bart who also went to RHS. However I have never seen Debbie or Linda since then. After the Army I headed back to Balto via CO 98, US-40 and the long stretch on I-70. I ate at Truck Stops a lot. It seemed I knew every truck stop and cheap motel between Colorado and Baltimore, MD. (I know this is starting to sound lie a Jack Keraouic novel). The whole time I was back in Balto I taught sax/clarinet lessons, played musical shows and played and toured with the 17 piece Bing Miller Big Band. In 1985 we did a week at the Park Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany. We played backup for Al Martino and Carmella Quinn. We also played festivals and society gigs around town. For example we always played the Fells Point and Highland Town Festivals. The last job I had was teaching at Arch Bishop Keough High School where I taught Band and String Ensemble from 1986 - 1987. I got laid off that job and then went back in the service, this time the Navy Bands via an audition at the USN Academy Band. When I got back to Balto, I went to Villa J...Expand for more