{"id":933,"date":"2011-12-25T00:05:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-25T05:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rockwellblake.com\/blog\/?p=933"},"modified":"2014-11-27T19:14:43","modified_gmt":"2014-11-27T23:14:43","slug":"how-i-started","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/25\/how-i-started\/","title":{"rendered":"How I started."},"content":{"rendered":"

I could have been really good at the work I’m playing at in this photo.\u00a0 \u00a0I kept\u00a0my car,\u00a0 yes it is the one\u00a0that has me in it’s jaws,\u00a0 happy for about 20 years.\u00a0 I sold it in 2003\u00a0and it may still be running\u00a0around Plattsburgh for all I know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because I was blessed to meet the people I needed exactly when I needed them along the path of my life, I escaped\u00a0having to get a real job like the one implied by that Photo Opportunity. These strategic arrivals in\u00a0my life either\u00a0gave me what I needed or I stole things from them just\u00a0when\u00a0the time was right.\u00a0 I admit that it\u00a0is a bit of an exaggeration to say that I stole things.\u00a0 When a talented person had no intention of\u00a0helping me, but I could recognize the\u00a0tools that they were using to\u00a0obtain their success,\u00a0 they could not avoid my theft, and\u00a0 I\u00a0expect most of them didn’t\u00a0notice.\u00a0 I remember many opportunities for larcenies\u00a0and\u00a0I’m grateful to these artists even more than their applauding audiences.\u00a0 I still appreciate them and\u00a0know the reason for that appreciation. \u00a0 I am even more\u00a0obliged to<\/strong> those who\u00a0just handed me stuff.\u00a0 The big\u00a0blessings came from them.\u00a0\u00a0If\u00a0God keeps me here, among the living,\u00a0\u00a0long enough I might have opportunity\u00a0to mention each and every one of them but for now I will list the really important people who\u00a0just gave\u00a0me what they had to offer just when I needed it.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

It started with my dad Robert who always tolerated me and was always proud of me.\u00a0\u00a0I introduce him in \u00a0Where I come from<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I got to grade school I was scooped up by two teachers\u00a0Joanne and\u00a0Lynn Wilke at Peru Central School.\u00a0 \"Wilde<\/a>They nurtured this little Rock Eater child destined to\u00a0wear the\u00a0lesser label Tenor.\u00a0 I loved it.\u00a0 I loved them, and Lynn is still being Lynn even today.\u00a0 <\/strong>A\u00a0few years before I met the Wilkes, Lynn did a number on his back.\u00a0 The damage he did at Ausable Chasm caught up\u00a0with him just in time to bring “Red” into my life.\u00a0 Lynn went into traction and I went into training.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>Renata Carisio Booth, known to her students as “Red” because of\u00a0her flaming red hair not to mention her personality, swept into Peru Central School like a wind that\u00a0the north country had never seen before.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

She was the first of her kind that\u00a0I ever\u00a0met.\u00a0\u00a0Note that Renata is the one in the turban and that she was a true Diva.\u00a0 The framed picture just behind her head is a snap of…..\u00a0guess who?\u00a0 She had a profound effect on my future.\u00a0 The just in time character of our meeting is beyond compare.\u00a0 The future envisioned by this\u00a0little Rock Eater quickly changed into something that made keeping my teeth much more important.\u00a0 So I quit trying to knock them out.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not withstanding my efforts to eliminate from my smile those two front Buck Teeth on two occasions,\u00a0they are still in there.\u00a0 Broken, but still serving.\u00a0 How can you claim Rock Eater status and not have strong chompers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was in\u00a0Renata’s house a magnificent encounter took place that led me to eventually ask just the right question.\u00a0 My future wife took up taking lessons with Renata.\u00a0 She, for no reason apparent to this tenor, noticed me.\u00a0 That event led to a thread of pure Gold in the fabric of my personal life.\u00a0 Full disclosure\u00a0will not be part of these pages, but some\u00a0very personal history is essential to the story of Renata and Rocky. \u00a0I’ll get back to\u00a0that story\u00a0another time.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

The next\u00a0super beneficial\u00a0meeting to my future life as a tenor was in Washington, DC while I was dodging Vietnam in the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters.\u00a0 I entered a vocal competition in which I got noticed by two of the nicest talented people I ever met in the business:\u00a0Evelyn Lear\u00a0and Thomas Stewart.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

These lovely people carried stories of me to New York\u00a0City and mentioned me to their agent, Matthew Epstein,\u00a0pictured with them here:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I got noticed by other people along the way before my wife Debbie, yes, the\u00a0beautiful girl\u00a0that\u00a0Renata put in my path,\u00a0and I moved to Yonkers but they will have to wait for another time.\u00a0 It was in those first days of learning the cheapest route from Yonkers to Manhattan and how to do auditions I\u00a0got noticed by the next big influence in my career.<\/strong><\/p>\n

George London\u00a0held a cattle call audition for the National Opera Institute at Juilliard School.\u00a0 At his side in the auditorium was one of my new advocates: Evelyn Lear.\u00a0 In good tenor fashion, I did not clearly explain to the pianist where to\u00a0start the aria I was going to sing.\u00a0\u00a0 He started in\u00a0a measure I didn’t expect and egg spread across my face\u00a0when I\u00a0forgot to\u00a0start singing.\u00a0 I stopped the pianist and explained there\u00a0on the stage what I should have made clear back in the wings.\u00a0 George piped up from the auditorium: “Why don’t you lay out a board and play a few games of checkers while you’re at it?”\u00a0\u00a0 My dreams of study money\u00a0instantly vanished, but in short order\u00a0we got going again this time with this tenor using his voice for singing.\u00a0 I believe Ms. Lear was a calming influence in that audition and my best evidence is that George gave me a grant from the NOI and my operatic debut in Washington, DC.\u00a0 He even threw in a few voice lessons.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This\u00a0photo is from one of them. \u00a0 No question in my mind.\u00a0\u00a0Evelyn sitting\u00a0next to George was\u00a0just in time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matthew Epstein gave me an audition when I got to Yonkers.\u00a0 He said in a very nice way: “Don’t call me. I’ll call you, and by the way go out and buy a decent suit for auditions.\u00a0 When you look like you don’t need a job, you’re more likely to get one.”\u00a0 That advice is good for anyone.\u00a0\u00a0So\u00a0I spent\u00a0six months auditioning in my new suit, tie, shirt, shoes and socks…..\u00a0 I think I may have bought a watch too,\u00a0 who can remember these things?…\u00a0\u00a0 Anyway, with a little more experience and a dapper appearance I sang an audition that Matthew just happened to attend.\u00a0 Was that just in time?\u00a0 Very few days passed before I got the call that I had been hoping for.\u00a0 Down I drove to Manhattan to sign a CAMI management contract with Matthew Epstein.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In those days that event was big enough to be called a good start.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I could have been really good at the work I’m playing at in this photo.\u00a0 \u00a0I kept\u00a0my car,\u00a0 yes it is the one\u00a0that has me in it’s jaws,\u00a0 happy for about 20 years.\u00a0 I sold it in 2003\u00a0and it may still be running\u00a0around Plattsburgh for all I know. Because I was blessed to meet the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,4,55,52],"tags":[58,59,65],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-featured","category-living","category-personal-history","tag-personal","tag-plattsburgh","tag-renata-booth"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Rocky-and-Car.jpg?fit=3367%2C2020&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2kj1l-f3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":82,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3591,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/3591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}