Hi Larry,
So you lived in Paterson? The memories I have of that city will be etched in my mind for the rest of my life. For instance... Our agent messed up our road dates and we found ourselves out of work for 3 weeks after our gig in Paterson. We did not want to tell our wives because they would have made us come home. So we agreed on a scheme. We had very little money and we decided to stay in Paterson and pool our money so we could survive. We bought a 5 gallon carton of cheap wine and, a greasy spoon next to the hotel advertised "Hot Texas Wieners" for 25 cents. I'll never forget that sign. We ate hot Texas wieners for breakfast and dinner every day for 3 weeks and skipped lunch. The timing was really wonderful because Thanksgiving fell into that period. We could only imagine what we were missing out on at home. We found a bar that was offering free Thanksgiving turkey dinners. So we stood in line at least a block long and waited for our free dinner along with all the homeless people. Can you imagine the feeling standing there in Italian silk suits (with holes in our socks and underwear) and being stared at by everybody in line? We didn't care. We were actually starving. We ate like pigs. It's funny now, but it took us a while to laugh at that predicament.
Anyway, I am having a lot of fun with your piece. I took your 6/8 section and added bass and drums with a jazz waltz beat. It looks like it will be a good while before I can finish it but if I can put it together, I might also add guitar. I'm having trouble with the meter so I might have to double time the the drum part or speed up the tempo. It's not yet coming out like my mind hears it, but I'm persistent. I hope you don't mind my messing up your creation. I'm just having some fun and it's a challenge.Thanks!
Fred