Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins; 209; Rick Derringer, Players Theater, Florida State Dance Board Championships

The following. Is. A special presentation of W. VDU Tampa-St. Petersburg Sarasota performers and performances. One of the great makers of music of our lives is still doing it. By. Closing. Positions. For. The great four years of our lives survives in art so it will remain in memory come across. You realize one of the latest creatures on television is old fashioned ballroom dancing. We'll find that too in this volume of a Gulf Coast Journal. This WTW production was exclusively brought to you through a generous grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice envisioning a region known for

endowed philanthropy a vital non-profit community the ability to address emerging issues. Dear Journal life is a performance of performance in which we are both the actors and the audience that thought rather sets the tone for our travels around the Gulf Coast this month starting with the realization that sometimes a performer is better known for his work than for himself and is a very good example of that. Who lives and works right here on the Gulf Coast.

And. His guitar playing is extraordinary. His hit song live extensive. You get the sense we're discussing huge things. I am enjoying them. For the past four decades Rick Geringer has been a force in the music business. Producer singer songwriter one of the most gifted guitarists. I really enjoy the. I enjoy working with other artists. I enjoy writing songs I really enjoy the process of working in a studio. I really do love to play.

Too. Often. His work is more recognizable than his name. I've always been easily identifiable in some ways. That's what's kept me from being a huge success. But on the other hand that's what's kept me busy giving me a long period of time longevity. Over the years he has teamed up with some of mainstream music most prominent artists. Alice Cooper Bette Midler Barbra Streisand Donald Fagan I played on his demos that ended up becoming Steely Dan almost Steely Dan records. He has an uncanny ability to uncover a musical talent that others overlook. Like Cyndi Lauper.

See I. I gave her the opportunity to record demos my record companies were going to drop her. So I created the demos that got her. Her. Album deal. As. Some. Parody master. Weird Al Yankovic and other Geringer discovery and the one hundred two Grammy for best comedy in 3D. It was called and it had the big hits that we owe Michael Jackson. Thanks for the. And then the next Grammy week one was for the best video that was the song that I produced called fat. And once again thank you. Not bad for a Midwestern kid from the Buckeye State. Born Rickey teams

sharing there in 1947. Rick grew up in Union City Ohio. From the beginning he loved music and even as a baby he would try the same songs you know. He dropped the bug to play guitar from his uncle when he was 8 years old. He came into our house and brought a little fire plugged in an electric guitar and started playing music. And I think I was just at the perfect age where that impact of live music and what it can do. It really is a is another language it really communicates with people in a way that's a lot different than these words were speaking and I think that had some impact on me is all I can figure. Got a guitar for his ninth birthday and never put it down. He wanted a guitar desperately so when he finally got one and he slept in. The same day. At 15 Rick formed the band with his brother Randy and a neighbor. They got their name from an instrumental song by the Ventures. The song was

on the McCoy. So we figured wow we we sound like a band doing this song didn't matter that we only knew one song but we figured if we call ourselves the McCoys we have a theme song don't you gonna lose that in the mid sixties. A new era of rock n roll was etched in vinyl bands like The Beatles inspired many all including the go it's the night the strange lives. Who were the producers of Hang on Sloopy discovered us. They were actually looking for. Four young guys who. Kind to look like the Beatles. The. Eight years after he first picked up a guitar. Rick and the McCoys would record their first number one. Summer of 65. Rick was just 17. Hang on Sloopy.

Not the Beatles song Yesterday out of the number one spot of the chart. So. Know what you. Boys record in four or five songs that were top ten records. Fever was the follow up and it was also a. Top. Two or three. But after a handful of novelty hits the McCoy's success began to fade and that was kind of because we started refusing to just be pigeonholed as kind of a bubblegum group to survive. The band changed its tune dramatically. We did manage to pull out of that bubblegum era where a lot of people died and we became the backup dancer Johnny Winter. And that got us into a whole lot more success. We did. The jump from bubble gum to rock effort Bush for his

versatility as guitarist and producer with rock albino brothers Johnny and Edgar Winter is legendary. The instant I heard Rick play. I felt an immediate. Affinity. And. We have a synergy together. One of the most memorable songs Rick collaborated on with Edgar was one with no lyrics and we were quite a while no name. Frankenstein was originally called the double drum solo. It had no title. And it was just a show off song for Edgar Winter when every play. And we worked it out that the last song and I never had any intention of recording it. We recorded it on the only come out at night album but it was long. It was very very long. Back in those days the only way to. Edit something was to physically. Cut the tape with a razor blade. And

then reassemble it with wood splices. So when you saw the analog tape you would see all these little pieces of white tape. Then radio decided that they wanted that as a single. So that meant we had to go into the studio and take this master tape. We already had lots of bandits in it and we had to edit it even further so we had the thing lying all over the control room trying to figure out how to put the thing back together. And then the drummer chopped raw mumbled the immortal words and then this tape looks like the Frankenstein monster here. So. The monster was born. The. 30 some years later the true musicians still join forces on the road when they can do that on the first anniversary of Hurricane Charley.

The two connected for a benefit concert in Port Charlotte. You know every time we play together it's it is just like a reunion and a homecoming. You see his name is sometimes overshadowed by his work. But to him ultimately it's all about the music. Today he wants fans to know Rich Geringer is content. Rick Geringer is still performing. Rick Geringer is. No. Rick Derringer. Now I remember things do tend to

slip our minds but there are some people in this world who are determined to give their lifetimes to ensuring that at least one thing we are never allowed to forget. Let's. Take a step back. A break from your work. Some final instructions from director Carole Kleinberg. After a summer of her search for her soul it's likely many actors in her cast may see the world a little differently. And maybe the audience will too. The production at the players theater in Sarasota is based on a book of children's drawings and poems from the corruption concentration camp. The book I never saw another butterfly. In the holocaust of World War II the Nazis of Adolf Hitler systematically exterminated nearly 6 million European Jews in

Czechoslovakia. The little town of corruption outside Prague was turned into a way station for victims headed to death camps like Auschwitz. Most. Of the hundred and forty thousand arrivals at. Fifteen thousand were children. At wars and just over one hundred that survived. By a girl of 14. One of them. Me. Tell. You. Since the Nazi invaders also used to fool the International Red Cross into believing they ran Mokbel camps children were allowed a small measure of freedom in the classroom and on the playground. It was from an imprisoned teacher Riah and many others found

hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. Each day we see each other for. Acting out. True life advances a daunting challenge for any performer. Johannah GR.-RE. Plays writer was born nearly 40 years after the Holocaust ended. We'll read about it research and obviously talking to the survivor was. I. The survivor is Kate freed of Sarasota. She urged the actors to speak out for humanity and against prejudice as she talked to them. She said things that they say in the play without knowing she didn't know the play so it gave the children a very strong sense of the truth of the work they're doing.

In. My. Words and drawings speak for the innocent children of. Saw. Miriam ring who plays Rayas and Vira she she's this traumatization is a testament to courage and the will to live. And not only to survive but to go on and do something else cool. And it is the most important lesson Reille learns from her teacher with the loss of her own daughter and and Cova knows about Charro too. She was. Told. From my program that we.

Want to go and to see. Those. Forty. Four 12 year old Kathryn Huxtable. The light travels one of mankind's darkest roads as. She hopes the audience joins her on that emotional journey. I want them to feel what the children and adults went through but then I want them to leave with. A warm feeling in the heart. While. The staff will find hope. To master the polls and. See that they be with the.

Mother. They are all gone. And I am alone. Decades after the war and its unspeakable atrocities a suitcase was found packed full of artwork when the bag was unlocked. So where the lives and dreams of the children of Tara. It speaks to now to this time also to the fact that you have to stand up and fight and you can't you can't accept these things going on around you. No matter what. You will reach her. You will see. Some. On the stage. A player's community theater in Sarasota. It's been a summer never to forget her audience

back. Towards you. Under the Red coupal and some services quickly growing skyline is the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and something happened there recently that counter-intention I is beginning and that life is a performance and we are all actors and audience. Well let's change it. Life is a dance. Step one. The memory the elegance of Fred and Ginger gliding across the

silver screen how they became one with music with the best of their time. Still today the whips the wish the graceful lifts the samba the foxtrot the Viennese waltz. And time the cuckoo Rico and his wife can do it all. In fact this is their first professional dance competition. The Florida state dance championships right here in Sarasota. Anton learned to dance before he could ride a bike. I was six years old. I didn't like to dance and my parents wanted me to stop.

And Tom started and never stopped. Dancing is kind of you know addiction. So it's like it drives me crazy. And really I love it. And Tom loves his dance partner to his wife Lena whom he met on the dance floor. They often spend as many as eight hours a day training and practicing. To some it may seem like a little too much together time and time says this kind of dance is good for a man. It's very very romantic. And if he feels that music it drives you you know. Larry knows a bit about dancing and a. Graceful top had a fretless is gliding across the floor when Ginger. Mom. So. Yes it was those old movies that inspired Larry to learn ballroom dancing.

And there was something or some one else. I was kind of attracted to a girl. And I was at a Tea Party in Palm Beach. You know you should take up maybe learn the walls. Larry's waltz lessons paid off. He got good enough to win the International Latin dance competition and dozens more national championships. And he did get the girl eventually a tip he learned from one of his movie idols Gene Kelly. He says you know it's the only safe way to put your arms around a pretty girl and not be slapped or embarrassed. And I said as a king way to go through life. Larry and his wife Diane had made a nice living as dancers instructors and organizers of major dance championships including this Triple Crown dance sport event. There is also a pro-am here giving amateurs a chance to feel the heat of competition and still enjoy a tango and twirl with their

professional dance partner. Happy Feet. How can you not enjoy expressing yourself. I mean how can you not enjoy that. I think people just love it you know and once they get involved in that little bit I have started coming out there they're ready to dance you know. Speaking of Pam's meet many stars who are still at the age of 80 who has plenty of spark in her step. Is. There really. A. Break out in a nursing home and find so. Many dances for fun. And she competes to proving there are no age limits to this sport. All. This other world can be intimidating just made it look

flashy and energetic. Athletes from the catsuits to the rhinestone studded gowns. These are the uniforms if you will for. The most serious sport. Still today more people are putting on their dancing. Dancing is laughter. This song you're so happy you're not thinking about anything else and I'm thinking about that bill that came out last night. Cutting the grass here this that this is your moment in time. For Anton damps open the door to his own personal freedom you see. He is from the country LaRouche a dictatorship. His shoes seemingly

mounted with wings literally lifted him out of oppression and set him free. I will dance for the rest of my life. But can be great yeah I felt. As we share farewells and closeness Montoni the Gulf Coast Journal we think of the late Daniel shields here in Sarasota. The man who had a dream and who made it come true. It was a dream of of helping injured birds. They called him the Pelican man and today at the Pelican man's sanctuary they treat 5000 orphaned injured birds reptiles and animals. That is a performance. You can order this or any other volume of a Gulf Coast journal with Jack Perkins on a high

quality DVD format for just 1999 plus shipping and handling. Call 1 800 3 5 4 9 3 3 8. Or visit our website at W edu or. This w E-D you. Production has been exclusively brought to you through a generous grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of menis envisioning a region known for endowed philanthropy a vital non-profit community. And the ability to address emerging issues.