My Mentors

My Mentors

When it comes to thinking of someone I can refer to as a mentor, one of my absolute best friends who is like a brother to me is someone I put in that place. PJ, or Philip as his real name is, has taught me VERY much about the music I know about. He is one of the most known and respected collectors of the genre to have ever lived, and his collection and knowledge is just absolutely mind blowing. To be so close to him as a friend is truly an honor to me, as I have some of the best knowledge to feed off of. He’s taught me so much about musical groups and their history - and even just the music in general. Not only does he have an AMAZING knowledge and collection - he has had and still does have tons of connections with singers and groups alike who were recording the music we collect and listen to. He has direct knowledge from these people, and has been able to immortalize some of their legacies in on air interviews. He hosts a weekly and nationally syndicated Oldies Show called “Story Untold” that originates from Woodbridge, NJ. Not only has he taught me about history, he's also taught me how to get the best sound from an old record. He is definitely what you call an audiophile - someone interested in high quality musical reproduction. PJ has taught me so much that I myself have become an audiophile and he’s taught me how to preserve and care for the records I collect. You can actually see just a smidge of PJ’s amazing work from his YouTube channel: PJDooWop. Another person I see as a mentor is my Uncle Louie, from North Carolina. He was really there for the group harmony era, as he was part of it! He played saxophone on “Before I Go” b/w “Two Hearts Fall In Love” by The Connotations. He sang backup on a record he doesn’t particularly like, “Lonely And Blue For Kathie” by Jim Kemper. Lastly him and his friends “The Brooks Four” (who sang this REALLY great song!), came together as an un-named group (which PJ calls “The Brooks Eight”) to back up a young girl named Bernice Pitocia. The song was written by Uncle Louie’s friend Bob Paladino - lead to the Brooks Four, and the song is called “Charlie, I Gotta Go.” Unfortunately the song was never released and only one copy of the record exists. Uncle Louie is a living encyclopedia of group harmony music, he knew MANY of the East Coast groups from New Jersey, and each phone conversation with him is filled with nothing but the best knowledge I could ever know about group harmony.