I put an ad on an online hiring service to find an experienced, reliable limousine driver when my wife, Pepper and I first opened, our company called...
I put an ad on an online hiring service to find an experienced, reliable limousine driver when my wife, Pepper and I first opened, our company called, “On Time Limousine Service“.
I received quite a few calls, but one particular call came from a man who was both, a musician and an experienced limousine driver. He was originally from South Philadelphia, moved to New York and then came to Southwest Florida. He had a way about him which I found to be unusual. He seemed to be a “take-charge” guy. He had an unusual life up to then and, as a musician, he was able to read music charts, perfectly and had a good ‘feel’ for drums. He played with some really big names as well. His experience was as a performer rather than myself, a studio-only musician.
He had a way about him which reminded me (and others) as James Cagney .. (he did then and still does today). Our music background was about ten years apart. At a young age, he needed to get away from the city of many famous gangsters, drugs and generally bad people lived all over his neighborhood.
TJ had some really interesting true-to-life stories about growing up in that tough neighborhood. He did just about anything to avoid all the bad influential people in his area and grew up an honest, hard-working person with a real backbone. Like the character of Cagney, he didn’t take any guff from anyone, whether a night club customer or a limo client. He was a real experience for me.
I don’t remember meeting anyone, like “T.J.”.
He told me that he worked in the very same hotel in San Juan Puerto Rico, on the strip just across the hotel where, I had first frequented/. It was a hotel casino called, the Flamboyan Casino/Hotel. That was where the leader of the “Great Wallenda’s” Karl Wallenda, fell to his death on March 25th, 1978 when attempting to walk a tightrope from the Condado Hotel to the Hotel Flamboyan.
T.J. worked as a drummer for a number of years with a “review” including dancers, the band and MC, hosts.
He married one of the dancers and they are married for many years now. T.J. is one of my most loyal friends and we have both traded stories about our years in the music business and limousine driver stories. He’s one of the only drivers who, I know, drove a Rolls Royce Limousine in New York City. He drove to Atlantic City, New Jersey and return quite often. His clients hired him not only as a driver, but as a bodyguard. When they got lucky, he got lucky and there were times when his gratuities amounted to $1,000.00 or more!
He spent some years playing at a Jazz Club in Sanibel Island called, “Ellington’s”. Many famous name artists appeared there, such as Dave Brubeck, Dave “Fathead” Newman plus many other jazz greats. T.J. was with the ‘house band’ and accompanying each star group.
You can see from his photo above, he is a character … and he DOES resemble the late, “James Cagney”!
Thanks again, “My Friend, T.J.”!