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20 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Winter 2023 was collected while we were in Chicago shooting a special at Ravinia Festival, featuring Disney's Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra. Ernie Banks joined the festivities to conduct "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." I went backstage to put a lav on him. We chatted for a few minutes, then he pulled out a Sharpie and signed my credential. Do you have a favorite quote? Two come to mind. When asked by a frustrated teacher, "Don't you know anything?" Yogi Berra answered, "I don't even suspect anything." In the heat of a live TV show. Ed Greene: "I can't talk, I can't talk, I can't even listen." Name someone who influenced your career. OK, but I can't name anyone from television, that list is way too long. I stood next to Ray Grabner in the Hastings High School Choir. Ray was a senior and anchored the bass section. As a junior, I did my best. Our school put on a musical every other year alternating with a vari- ety show. 1969 was a variety show year. One day, I guess it must have been an early spring day, while we were standing next to each other at the choir rehearsal, Ray asked me if I would like to play in a group that he and Randy Sharp, a tenor, were forming for the show. They already played together in a very popular local band, but this would be a larger group made up of players from a few different bands and at least one with no experience at all. Of course, I said yes and became a member of The Baker's Dozen. Rehearsals began for the t h i r t e e n - p i e c e , brass-heavy band at the Firebird Inn, a second- floor nightclub on Burlington Avenue. Ray sang and played the tenor sax; my instrument was the trombone. We covered The I m p r e s s i o n s ' "This Is My Country," Lou Rawls' "Dead End Street," and "Somewhere" from West Side Story, an arrangement that was like the one performed by The Fabulous Flippers, easily the most famous and influential regional horn band in the Midwest. From that begin- ning, I began to play regularly. A few years later, I joined Ray in the horn section of a popular group called The Elastic Band, hitting the road in a seven-state area. A couple of years after that, I moved to California with another band. By then, the need for trombone play- ers had diminished by two-thirds. Both minor. In 1979, a decade after the Hastings High Variety Show, I began working in television. Ray and I haven't seen each other for a long time although we still correspond and share a love for bands with horns. There is no doubt in my mind that by inviting me to play in that variety show, Ray opened the door leading to a more than forty-year career. What is your longest workday (actual time, not the one that felt like it would never end)? The longest workday I've ever had was in Las Vegas at the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. I began work at 10 a.m. Sunday with Jerry's orchestra rehearsal. He sang songs and had great fun with the musicians. The show went on the air at around 6 p.m. on Sunday and ended more than twenty hours later, on Monday afternoon. After the show, we wrapped for about four hours. We worked for thirty-seven hours. After a nap, a bite to eat, and a shower, we drove to an early call at Sony Studios in Culver City and worked the next day. Oh, to be that young again. A show that lengthy must come with stories. It was exciting to work on something I watched while growing up. In my early years on the show, I worked the overnight shift where we would see the Bubble Guy, the Plate Spinner, Bobby Berosini's chimps, and the Tall Cedars who inspired an audio group we named the Tall Faders. I also have fond memories of some of the regular performers like Jack Jones who was so supportive and so talented, and Maureen McGovern who stopped the show one year with her version of "Cloudburst," backed by the show's terrific orchestra. Lou Brown was the music director in my first years, Chiz Harris was the drummer, and Don Menza held the tenor sax chair. Toward the end, Lee Muziker wielded the baton, Bernie Dresel played drums and through all the years, the incomparable Rick Baptist anchored the trumpet sec- tion. I loved seeing iconic comedians like Don Rickles, Red Buttons (who never got a dinner), Norm Crosby, and Shecky Greene. Henny Youngman performed not long before he died. He was a very old man who needed help getting on stage, then proceeded to machine gun one-liners for about five minutes until we were laughing so hard, we couldn't catch our breath. In 2000, the electronic tote board failed. We became the human version. So, you were on television. Was that the only time? The Baker's Dozen performing at Hastings High School 1969. Ray Grabner is the sax player in the grey suit. On his left is the noted Colorado photographer, Bernie Gitt.