"One Thousand Tons of Steel"
Their 54-year regret for having missed "The Mass" is over!
Bob & John have been bros-in-law, through sisters, for fifty-four years. But, that's not what this story is about.
Back In The Day When Bob & John "Missed Mass"
John Louise Bob Dianne
What it is about is that in 1965 while John was showing Bob a drum set in a music store, they got the "crazy" idea
-- at least back then -- of producing a rock 'n' roll Catholic Mass. That never happened. Often they would reflect upon it with regret. That is until now:
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Something unexpected has happened!
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Hughes: bobhughes421@gmail.com 410-430-8973
Sottile: jds@johndavidsottile.com 413-329-6305
Bob Hughes
aka
"The One Man Band"
John David Sottile
aka
"Johnny HiHat & His Status Cymbals"
Fast Forward to the Present... Metaphorically speaking, it would be a mortal sin to miss "Mass" a second time!
Sottile is a marketier. He became fascinated with "white-boarding" for clients. So, he bought some software.
He's also dyslexic. His reading ability "sucks" as does his comprehension because as he fights to straighten-out words, his mind wanders. It's no surprise that he would rather pound a PC keyboard than read a manual to learn.
After banging his way past the usual "explainer" stuff, he turned his attention to syncing music to the characters being drawn. To quote John, "It's not rocket science. But, there is a need to have enough of a character drawn on the next scene to make sense with the bridging lyrics. Besides lyrical context, there are nuances to every song -- changes in key, tempo or volume as example -- offer the opportunity, but not the necessity, to open a new frame and introduce a new character, images, and text."
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He doesn't tell Bob; but, from one of Bob's albums, Johnny pounds his way through one of their favorite tunes...
"Save The Last Dance For Me." The white-boarding opus is a "puppy-love" illustration of Bob and his yet-to- be wife, Dianne... obviously, Johnny's yet-to-be sister-in-law. Bob is liking the lyric illustration idea. Therefore, quickly following this video, Sottile produces another favorite from Bob's Collection..."Run Around Sue."
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Holy Smokes! White-board music videos are Johnny. Adios dry business "explainers," for which the whiteboard technique is mostly used. WBMVs are refreshingly different from MTV-type music videos costing big bucks.
John then asked Bob about recent tunes. Bob's voice and style have always been spot-on. However, his earlier synthesizer and recording work... not as robust due to learning technique and technology. So, Bob sent John to his Dropbox which featured his latest music. "Hmm... All excellent!" However, because of the rapid pace of white-board illustrating, John was looking for up-tempo. Bingo. Bob had a masterful "Tossin' 'n' Turnin'" a 1961 Bobby Lewis hit that is still on most every dance event playlist. Also, there was a fabulous "He Don't Love You
(Like I Love You)," a 1960 Jerry Butler tune that was reprised in 1975 by Tony Orlando & Dawn. Both top-pop hits.
Two monster hits, plus great arrangements and vocals by Bob. More white-board music videos were coming-up.
Wait a minute... Stop the music! Staring at John in Bob's Dropbox was "One Hundred Pounds of Clay" another Golden 1961 hit by Gene Booker McDaniels. It reached Billboard #3 and charted for 13 weeks in the Top 40.
It's about God creating women for men. OK, not a campy idea in these reinvigorating "post-feminine" times.
Nonetheless, it was very popular back in the day. The lyrics, beat, and arrangement made it a very dance-able Cha...Cha...Cha, which in 1960s' Boy's Club Dance "speak" was a "Calypso."
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Just before John queued-up the Dropbox mp3 to play, he was totally unaware of what was about to happen.
His only intent was to take a stroll down memory lane... recalling young gals and the good times of the early 60s.
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But Fate had a different plan...
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You see, politically, Bob is to the right of John, who is also conservative. And, to quote Johnny, "For anyone who is not getting enough right-wing stuff in your email box, you need to get onto Bob's contact list for future distributions." As one would expect, many of Bob's emails and Facebook posts relate to Donald Trump's Wall.
John got no further than "he knows what's missing" in the first verse of "He took 100 pounds of clay..." when he emailed Bob. "IT'S 1965 ONCE AGAIN!" "He" is not God. "He" is Trump. " And, the"100 pounds of clay" is
a metaphor for The Wall (which is mostly steel and barbed wire). Further, since Trump doesn't think in hundreds,
lose the 100 pounds... bring in 1,000 tons. Bob loved the idea. Then after looking at the photo-carousels of the wall, he said. "It's steel, not clay." The music video "ONE THOUSAND TONS OF STEEL" got their "green light."
Within an hour, John received Bob's first re-mix. Using his same backing track to 100 Pounds of Clay, Bob substituted words. BRILLIANT! By then, John had started white-boarding and had envisioned the website to support and expand the concepts of the lyrics, illustration, and photos, yet to crystallize the contentious issue.
Their goal: To "trump" the head-shaking-to-hatred with an understanding of immediately available solutions to address the American and Mexican (their southern borders are being over-run as well) INVASION dilemma.
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Oddly, for two conservative guys, "One Thousand Tons of Steel" is a non-partisan triumph!
Why? Because they take the migrant INVASION issue out of the abstract and throw it right on a person's laps. They ask challenge, "What would YOU do, were you the President?"
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The idle talk is over and the social media second-guessing is meaningless,
because as President,
A DECISION has to be made and AN ACTION has to be taken.
There is no room for second-guessing; just first-deciding.
So, President Poll-taker, "What's it going to be?"
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So...
"What would you do if you, your family, property, or way of life was being overrun? Wilt? Or Take Action?
And, if you did take action, what would that be against the thousands of migrants swarming your being or border?
Play nicely? Attempt to reason? Dogs, clubs & tear gas? water cannons and rubber bullet? Real bullets?
How about a barrier... the historical tried-and-true defense for centuries... moats, ditches, and, yes, walls.
Bob and John hope for a viral push. While they do not expect "Never Trumpers" to like him, their goal is to separate the "invasion" and the obvious need to do something about it from a continuing failed immigration policy.
Their purpose is just that simple!
BOB HUGHES... "The One Man Band"
Bob discovered that he could sing in Junior High School, at the tender age of 13. Until that point, he had no idea. Some friends had a band. They asked him to sing with them. He did. And, he was hooked. So, he bugged their guitar player to teach him basics. He did. Since then, Bob has been self-taught. From this start the rest follows:
In the early 60's when he was in his late teens, Hughes had a 5-piece rock band called "Bobby & The Galaxies." The group was the house band at a very popular Southern New England amusement park, Lincoln Park. It had a ballroom that held 3,500 people. It was often packed. Bobby & The Galaxies played there every Saturday night along with a different guest act every week. Sometimes it was a full group such as the Kingsmen, Beau Brummels or the Chartbusters. At other times it was an individual such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion, Freddy Cannon, or Lou Christie. The Group backed up the individual acts. And... on other nights Bobbie & The Galaxies would play at different locations in the area: They traveled with the guest musicians to back them up for those shows as well.
Bob can relate some interesting stories dealing with these legends, but many are still alive, so "mum" is the word.
Bobby & The Galaxies were also the house band for a local TV show called "Jamboree." It mimicked American Bandstand but with live music. Here, the band also backed up the guest acts. Moreover, the group got to do
a feature number on each show plus play the introductory and ending theme song. According to Bob, "It was a 'gas' and a great experience. Bobby & The Galaxies got to meet and work with many of the stars of the era.
Hughes played his way through college... paying tuition with his gig money.
After Bob was graduated from college, he got married and took a real job (that paid a lot less than he made as a musician). So, he continued his band part-time, until his employer, Sears, transferred him to northern New Jersey.
There, Hughes learned how to play "society dance music" and the "American Standards." He worked with the Herb Zane and Lester Lanin Orchestras for a brief time. However, he mostly played with The Don Hellerman Orchestra, which brought Bob into some of New York City's legendary venues, such as Sardis and The Empire Room of The Waldorf Hotel, and several other must-be-seen-at spots.
Again, his career caused him with family -- "The Hughes Crew" -- to move several more times; first to upstate New York, and then to Connecticut. Regardless; wherever he was transferred, Bob continued to play with local bands.
Then in 1980, The Hughes Crew was transferred to Baltimore, Md. Once again, Bob played with a trio called the Decades and had both the pride and the pleasure of having his daughter sing with the group for several years.
In 1994, Bob Hughes packed-it-in! He retired his professional career... lost the tie... and moved the now fragmented Hughes Crew (the kids were already in and out of college...Yikes!) to the eastern shore of Maryland near a resort town called Ocean City -- "OCMD" to the laid-back locals in the know. To quote Bob, "If you're not familiar with it, Ocean City has the nicest beaches on the east coast!"
It should come as no surprise that once there, Bob decided to go back and do what he loves to do most... play music. He bought a Solton synthesizer and spent a year teaching himself on this instrument while polishing-up his repertoire.
Today, with his synthesizer and guitar, which together sound like a full orchestra, plus his still-strong voice in tow,
he is "Bob Hughes... The One Man Band."
Currently, The One Man Band has a long-standing gig, playing Happy Hours, 5-8 pm, every Friday night at Duffy's Tavern OCMD... right on the beach. It's a great take. You can hear Bob live and have a great time. Bob also performs, under contract, at life and business events. His contract information is at his STORE, within this website. By the way, it's a great way to hear more of his tunes and download the ones that are your favorites
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JOHN DAVID SOTTILE... "Johnny HiHat & His Status Cymbals" tm
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John has a comprehensive career as an owner and a marketing executive. He brings his unique form of creative discipline to business-to-business and business-to-consumer development, through direct, broadcast, and digital approaches, in industries ranging from hi-tech to no-tech.
In 1983, John founded a company, which became known as Sottile's Winning Action Teams, dba S*W*A*T(SM) Tactical Marketing Agency. S*W*A*T assists enterprises, entrepreneurs, professionals, and artists in getting to market. S*W*A*T's clients have ranged from the Fortune 500 to individual talents with cell phone offices.
Since 1996, John has been aligned with media, entertainment -- Internet, Music & Film, and Hospitality. For the past five years, he has been consulting and operating TIARA EQUEST, the acronym for The Inn At Richmond And berkshire EQUESTrian center. John has decades of equine experience having bought his first horse in 1971.
John is a media pioneer in the successful application of telecom approaches for marketing big-ticket products and services. He has an empirical insight and proven expertise in deploying all forms of tele -- "remote" from the Greek language -- media communications to achieve business goals. Today, Sottile views the Internet, streaming media, websites, and e-mail / Facebook / Twitter, etc. as extensions of the "tele" process, which he first forged using online computer time-sharing, Telex, and TWX networks to "broadcast" messages in the '70s.
John helped grow a software company to an IPO, within four years, primarily accomplished via tele-approaches.
Sottile is author of the courses " The Art of Marketing the Hard Soft Sell!" (TM), "Let's Make A Deal"(TM), and numerous articles on sales and marketing. He is also the developer of "The Vector Marketing Grid"(TM) and "Integrated Tele-Conceptual Approaches"(TM), plus client brochures, websites, and campaigns.
He is a skilled negotiator of hundreds of contracts with Fortune 1,000 companies... and has international experience in direct and third party channel sales.
John is a graduate of Dartmouth College, BA, Economics, with post-grad study at universities and independent study. He has a wealth of experience through his companies, numerous & varied clients, and past employments.
Sottile specialties: Persuasion. Bottom-up Thinking. Eclectic Approaches. He dislikes "Me Too" anythings. And, he is always mentoring. One needs not to worry about knowing whether he has an opinion on any matter.
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Sottile believes in the absolute truths of insightful sayings: His personally trademarked mottos are...
"Tactics make strategies happen."(TM) and, "You can't armchair life."(TM)
Other core truths he lives by...
"Do what you can do with what you have." Theodore Roosevelt
"No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking." Voltaire
"If you are not a part of the solution... you are a part of the problem"
"When you are in a hole and want out... Step One is to stop digging!"
"To be a skilled warrior, you must first make yourself invincible." Sun Tzu
"Just as the caterpillar thought that its world was over, it became a butterfly." Unknown
"To the world, you may one person... but, to one person you may be the world." Unknown
"One person can make a difference." Unknown But, this does not diminish this or the above message.
For past fun and profit, John DJ/MC-ed under the name "Johnny HiHat & His Status Cymbals."(TM)
Currently, he is prepping for HiHat's return with his gig "Roaring Back to The Roaring Twenties"(TM)
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He has been involved with Thoroughbred horses since 1971 when he formed his Equine Equity Company...
Printed the approved Secretariat T-Shirt in 1973... Formed and operated Newport Coach & Carriage Ltd out of Hammersmith Farm (Jackie Kennedy's home and Summer White House) in Newport RI for two summers. Currently, he is attempting to assemble key information, investigated by independent researchers and veterinarians, to determine whether Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhaging EIPH is as natural as lactic acid build-up, or a threat, per se, to horses engaged in flat and barrel racing, eventing, and polo. His overall concern is horse and rider safety... from the simplicity of riding helmets to the stupidity of the Grand National Race.
For the past twenty years, he has also been the breeder of polydactyl cats and the follower of their feline behavior through his inbred clowder which once numbered 64 cats. The cat family is called "Johnny HiHat Cats," but of course. They are all black and white "tuxedo cats" reflecting the tuxedos that Johnny HiHat wore and is planning to wear again. Of interest to most people is the inbreeding of a genetically unknown foundation tom and queen. As just one example; through the random breedings. five males looked like Siamese though two had white toes.
This was due to the pairing of recessive genes.
When people ask him the typical "So... what do you do?"
John as typically replays "Anything I desire and can afford."
That cuts through the cocktail chatter to topics of substance!
Obviously, this website manifests the border's importance to him.
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Visit John's portal site for other links: http://www.johndavidsottile.com
as well as his LinkedIn.com at https://linkedin.com/in/johndavidsottile
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