David Lucas, Pepsi Cola, and me

I've been walking down memory lane lately, bumping into faces from the late 70’s and 80's.

You know that experience when memories pop up out of nowhere, images slide by, in front of your eyes. 3D?  Hah!  Better than 3D.  Names, faces, attitudes, remarks, buildings.  I was lucky. I was at the right place, right time.

Like when Morris agency put me in touch with producer David Lucas, who won Clio awards for his Pepsi Cola ads. Lucas studios contracted me to work as a session drummer, at the tender age of 15.

I worked on jingles like PERT SHAMPOO, that was a great money spinner. I was over the moon to receive my first pay cheque.  It was the sweet, honeysuckle taste of success!  It seemed like a hell of a lot of money. I raced to deposit the money, all full of excitement!  Standing on my toes, I could barely reach the counter to slide the fat cheque across to the teller. She looked down at me in surprise, she said, 'and how old are you?'

David wanted me full time on jingles but I wanted to go on the road.  At age 13, Mercer Ellington had invited me to go on tour with his band but my Mom put a stop to it. She wanted me to finish school.  Little did she know, school meant nothing to me but coping with bullies in the classrooms!  Drumming was my world, and still is today!

So here I am, this cheeky ragazza from New Jersey, full of the eye of the tiger, thinking I can conquer Everest if I put my mind to it!  Sometimes, I still feel that way.  Although, I'm wiser these days, because I know what it feels like hearing 'no' once too often, or waiting for things that never happen. I still tell myself, guess what! Believe in yourself! If you can dream it, you can be it!

David Lucas was a great influence on me. He would say, 'you know what Jo, you're a natural' and that was good enough for me. He called me his 'little miss Steve Gadd'.  Cut a long story short, my drumming went up several notches during this periodd. He is a genius in his profession and helped me along, the only obstacle to my confidence was that - because of my dyslexia - I had problems reading music scores.  Hence, David advised me to get some training in this area.

 One day, family friend Jo Panullo turned up and said to my dad, "hey Bill, I got the telephone number of Sinatras drummer. He's based in West Orange. Tell him I sent you. He'll teach your daughter. No problem." (The Italian connection at work!).

Next thing I knew, badda bing, badda boom I'm going like clockwork. Once a week after school, my dad drove me out to West Orange. He would grill me with enthusiasm, before each lesson. Bless my dad, he would sit in the car whilst I was having my lesson, in all weathers.  True dedication?  You bet.

Later on, Jo Panullo was pleased to hear from my dad that things were working out between me and the tutor.  He then let the cat out of the bag, and said, 'oh by the way, he plays with a friend of mine, Frankie Valli.  Whaaaaa????  Talk about keeping it in the family!  Soon after I began music lessons, I got my first call to work with Chuck Berry!

More about this, on my podcast! Stay tuned, same channel. Love ya!


Time Traveler