Dick Hammergren, leader of the band at The Moulin Rouge Showroom at the Fairmont, and Co-Producer of Centerstage..
Why put my faith in a guy wearing a fruit basket for a hat? Don't ask me. All I knew was, a) I had a 6 night a week gig with great musicians that allowed me to meet and hang out with artists like Joe Williams and George Shearing, and b) I was on TV once a week. This was a lot better than living in Oregon teaching high school band, that's for sure!

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for me.

One day we heard a rumor the Moulin Rouge was going to close. We did mediocre business at best, and the model of a nightclub/dinner room/showroom was a thing of the past. Most of you reading this have no idea what it is, but that's the way people used to go out, kind of like Ricky Ricardo at the Copacabana. Dick, of course, had all his eggs in this basket, so he gave big speeches about how it wasn't true. Anytime someone gives big speeches, it's BS. The next thing I knew, the show was cancelled! Yikes! THEN, the local producers in the studios around Denver started using MIDI synthesizers instead of real horns (remember, this was the 80's). In about a month, I was unemployed. My girlfriend dumped me. The Broncos got stomped by the Giants in the Super Bowl. Bummer.

Me at the end of my youth. The lovely and talented Lainie Kazan told me "Sweetheart, we all get a few miles on us and our looks go to hell. Have pictures taken now." Great advice for anyone in the entertainment business. This is what I look like, no matter what I look like now :-)

So, I started working as an agent for MST Productions in Denver, booking gigs by day, and playing events by night. Events means weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Bat Mitzvahs, corporate events, etc. Lots of pop music, no jazz. I did OK, but life was not as much fun because I had to give private lessons to kids, which is just as bad as teaching high school, maybe worse. I learned a lot about the real workings of the music business, and it is indeed a long plastic hallway, a cruel and shallow money trench where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs, to quote Dr. Hunter Thompson.

I learned a ton in Denver - I played with great musicians, I got to understand the music business, I started writing music, I climbed mountains, went skiing in Vail, you name it! It wasn't the high point of my life, that's today, but hell, if a logger kid from Oregon can do stuff like this, anyone can! You have to give opportunity a chance by being ready for it, you know?

I was soon to embark on my journey back to the West Coast, where I imagine I will spend the rest of my life, because it's home, but man, what a great ride.