Thursday, May 16, 2019

My Life Part Six

I am still practicing 28 days of The Magic - gratitude training - it's going ok. I am grateful that I've had such a long life that it's taking me forever, it seems, to document it here - however sketchily I'm doing it. Getting a bit bored with it, but I want to finish.

So, I am now in my early twenties, working on air as a traffic reporter and singing in a band with my future husband. I've got a cute one bedroom on Edgewater Dr and I paint the living room walls salmon pink and have an old black upright piano in the living room. I thought it was very Parisian. Prior to The Leisure Set (our band) I'd been lead singer for The Fondells - motown! Horns and great music, I was in heaven. We were 'ahead' of our time, this was before James Brown's music was used in a laxative commercial, way before The Blues Brothers.  We were extremely popular but eventually I left to pursue (rather half assidly) a career in an original music band. Leisure Set did pretty well but Jim, our main songwriter, left for some stupid reason (we didn't love the name of the band) and we found another guitar player and became Separate Checks. Again with some popularity, recording etc. At some point we became disenchanted, our jobs were better and so we couldn't/wouldn't take it on the road and our music careers stalled.

After dating for five years(!!) we got married. Had a pretty cool reception at J's Aunt's mansion in Bratenahl - outside on a gorgeous day, catered by CLE high society caterer Hough in one of Charlie Pyle's last weddings/events before closing. All the high society stuff was on my husband's families side,  mine was 'new' cleveland BTW.  J and I found a super cool condo in Tremont, downtown and becoming gentrified, in an old building. We own it to this day. Neglected to mention we bought a triplex in Lakewood while dating which we still own. Landlording has been our salvation, financially. He's willing to get dirty and learn how to fix stuff - I've cleaned up lots of crap myself many times after tenants vacate, give me some thick rubber gloves and..... and I've handled finding/vetting tenants. Teamwork. And it's paid off.  We've been together 36 years.

stuck like glue?
L

7 comments:

Brian Rosegger said...

My Dad Tom Rosegger was a horn player in the Fondells. Do you remember him?

la said...

Brian, Not only do I remember Tom I think of him often. I just found a great photo of the band and had it framed. He was super cool with his trumpet and one of the nicest guys I ever knew. If you'd like a copy of this photo let me know! La

Brian Rosegger said...

He would love that. My mom (Leslie) has a bunch of old scrapbooks that have newspaper clippings from that era. I'll have to dig through them and have them scanned to share.

la said...

I remember your Mom too. Hello to her! Let me know how to contact you. La

la said...

Brian I won't publish your comment with your address, but I'll get a copy of that photo to you. Tell Tommy that it's Laura Farrell (La) - the original lead singer of The Fondells and I send my best regards and love to him! Some of the best times of my life happened in that band, great memories. Thanks

Brian Rosegger said...

Oops, privacy sure is hard to come by these days! I will send your love and you will be happy to know he still regularly plays the horn in bands. He still has his Bach Flugelhorn, one of his most prized possessions!

la said...

Brian, you are 100% correct: it makes me super happy to hear that he's still playing. Show him www.the-poptarts.com. That's my current project - we're no Fondells, but we do pretty well!
La