I’ll tell you all a secret. Most of the time I think that no one reads my blogs. Or for that matter, the thousands of articles (literally) I have written over the past ten years for HairBoutique.com, MultiMedia (101 Celebrity Hairstyles, Short Cuts, Hair Gallery), Harris or the many other publications I have free lanced for during that time.

Why do I feel that way? I guess it’s because when I’m writing it feels like I’m talking to myself and no one else is listening. Most of the time, like now, I’m writing in the wee hours of the morning (5:00 am) when there are literally no distractions, which is the constant daily struggle I encounter when trying to get some quality writing time under my belt.

I remember the very first publication I wrote for, which was the newspaper (they called it that) for my grade school - Our Lady Of Sorrows (OLS) - in St. Louis, where I grew up. It was actually more like a newsletter that our English teacher decided would be a great thing to share with the entire school. And yes, I actually still have a copy of that humble publication buried with my other thousands of papers.

One of my very first articles was about the OLS grade school band. As I mentioned before, I played the clarinet in the band and it was pretty serious business back then. Yes I know that in today’s world I would be classified as a true “band geek” but back then, we got all the attention at our school (even more than the sports programs) because we competed with other schools for music trophies and awards.

And we won a lot due to our fabulous music teachers. Of course the school management loved to display all those big trophies in the entrance hall to the school.

Not only was I thrilled to be covering the band for the newspaper/newsletter, I was required to write about my crush at the time - Joe Mantia. He played trumpet and I thought he was beyond hot even though he appeared to be unaware of my existence.

When I wrote how Joe had nailed a major trumpet solo at a band competition, it never dreamed on me at the time it would make him happy (DUH) and he would stop and thank me for what I had written about his trumpet talents. But that’s exactly what happened. I realized back then as a 7th grader, the power of the press.

Recently I blogged about my Bishop Du Bourg high school band teacher from St. Louis, Bob Kuban, and how I had recently discovered his book (My Side Of The Bandstand) about his life as a renowned musician. Bob worked with a co-author, Nancy K. Wegner, to share insights into his life and his fantastic career.

To recap my previous blog - Bob is famous as the guy who was behind gold record, The Cheater, which was a huge hit.

Today when I logged onto my blog I was surprised to receive feedback from Nancy about my Bob Kuban post (thank you Nancy). It was nice to know that Nancy and Bob know how much I really enjoyed their book. It also reminded me that my blog is not just me, talking to myself, in the wee hours of the morning, about stuff that I want to talk about.

After I finished Bob and Nancy’s fabulous book - which I just couldn’t put down - I called all of my friends from St. Louis to tell them to go buy the book. It’s still available through Barnes & Noble Online, BooksOnStlous.com and it’s a keeper.

You don’t need to be from St. Louis or even a fan of Bob’s music to enjoy the book. It’s a great, slice of life piece, that delves into the inner world of a musician and his lifetime struggles to make it to the top in the heap in the music business. Not an easy heap to ascend by any stretch of the imagination.

Bob is still playing at musical events (he told a reporter he hopes to play until the day he dies) and if you live in St. Louis or get a chance to visit, you need to go see him. He is a fantastic performer, entertainer and a music legend.

Since My Side Of The Bandstand has been out for several years, it might be interesting for Bob and Nancy to do a follow-up book or e-book (hint, hint) about all of the things that have happened as a result of the first book. Of course that’s just my wishful thinking since I enjoyed the first book so much. But hey, since I’m here talking to myself, I thought I would just throw it out there.

For more information on Bob Kuban check out his profile on Wikipedia. Or got to Goggle for lots and lots of pages about Bob, a true music legend. You can visit Bob’s website which lists his calender of performances.

And of course, don’t forget to stop by and visit me at HairBoutique.com.

Tags: band geek, Bishop Du Bourg High School, Bob Kuban, Bob Kuban - My Side Of The Bandstand, Going to high school in St. Louis, Growing Up In St. Louis, Joe Mantia, Missouri, Nancy K Wegner, OLS Grade School, Our Lady Of Sorrows in St. Louis, St. Louis, The Cheater

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Events and Nightlife, Growing Up In St. Louis, Missouri. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.