My interest in music began at an early age, which is probably true of any musician. My first real playing was done in the school band. The school I attended had a "drill" band (to accompany the student "battalion" while marching),a "concert" band (to give concerts for the students and various other venues)and a "swing" band (to play at student dances and various other venues). I was fortunate enough to have been a part of all three, giving me a well rounded beginning.

Fresh out of high school I was looking for a local gig for the "extra money". Word got around and one night I came home from work to find a note on the door. It read something like "Pat, call this # for work-Jimmy Sharp" Jimmy Sharp was another local drummer working with two bands, which caused him a lot of scheduling conflicts, to allieviate this he left me that note. Thanks Jimmy wherever you are. This was my introduction to what I found later to be a pretty extensive musicians "network". By calling that number it was also my introduction to Ray Coleman. Ray was one of a kind, bless his soul, and I plan to write more on him in the Friends page.

So here I am all of seventeen and working in a bar band. The joints we played were all local and with a wink from the owners I worked untill I was eighteen and old enough to get an ABC card. At eighteen I was also old enough to work with the Boilermakers, and Ray and Joe had me on the road by the summer of '63. That first job was in Spartanburg, SC. Anyway we played for a few years, recorded a few tunes and pretty much had a blast. I worked with a few other groups and musicians during the time Ray's band wasn't working. There were weekend gigs weddings parties and six-nighters. In fact we were working the Glass Bowl in Glassboro, NJ when the Beatles hit big. That made us change our whole play list. Between these groups there was never a lack of work. Tommy Cosgrove joined Ray's group and ended up building tanks too. Tommy was one talented individual it's a shame he never followed through. "Wayne" (Semour) Duncan played guitar with us for a while before his parents moved and took him along. He was another youngster and not old enough for an ABC card. It's funny, Tommy pretty much started him out playing but "Wayne" shot way past his teacher. I still remember him going to the music store and buying Black Diamond Banjo Strings for the three high strings on his guitar. This was before all the light strings and unwound "G" strings were available. Wayne later went on to make his millions making guitar pickups. Yes, we're talking about that Semour Duncan.