June’s reminiscences of banjoist/festival director/Your Father’s Mustache founder Joel Schiavone garnered many emails and letters! I’ve left out churlish ones like “How can you eulogize a banjo player?” and “Now I’ll never get the ten bucks he owed me” to share some memories, stories and photos of this supreme showman. Buckle your safety belts!
First, a brief history of Your Father’s Mustache (from here on YFM) from cornetist—and leader of the Galvanized Jazz Band, or GJB—Fred Vigorito:
Fred Vigorito: Joel Schiavone graduated from Yale and went on to Harvard Business School, graduating in 1961. Joel believed the timing was right to get the world smiling and singing, and in 1962 he opened Red Garter Clubs in Boston and Cape Cod.
The Red Garter: just think red walls, lots of vintage pictures, peanuts on the floor, beer flowing, and a banjo band leading everyone in songs from WW1 and WW2. The bands consisted of college students with incredible musical abilities, playing in any key, any tempo, any time!
In 1964 Joel decided to part with the Red Garter and go out on his own. First, he held a national contest to name the new club. Among hundreds of suggestions (one was “Shaggy Stocking”), the winner was “Your Father’s Mustache,” an old saying that goes back to the 1930s. YFM clubs were opened in Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, New Jersey, New Orleans, England, and Belgium: 13 in all, including Boston and Cape Cod. Time Magazine called YFM THE nightclub of the day.
YFM appeared at the White House in 1965, and LBJ loved it. Then there was the Macy’s Parade and a charted album in 1967: it was a national phenomenon! Next was the Jackie Gleason Show, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, four times on Ed Sullivan. Exciting times!
By 1970 things had changed: the war in Vietnam, no one wanted to sing WWI and II songs. Patriotism was a bit shaky. One by one all of the clubs closed; New Orleans was the last as it burned to the ground.
We’ll have more from Fred, but one highlight for Joel was the series of YFM “reunion concerts,” the most illustrious of which took place in 2011 at Carnegie Hall’s 599-seat theater Zankel Hall to a sold-out crowd! Banjo phenom Bob Price recalls that concert and how he met Joel:
Bob Price: I met Joel in the spring of 1967 when I was 15 years old. I had been playing tenor banjo for a couple of years and first heard of this kind of banjo menagerie at the World’s Fair in NY back in 1964. Over time, I gleaned all the hoopla concerned a place in Greenwich Village called Your Father’s Mustache. So, I hopped a train from CT one spring afternoon in 1967, heading to NYC and on to Greenwich Village. With banjo in hand, I had to see what had stirred so much excitement. I arrived at the opportune time; somewhere around 8:00 pm.
I say “opportune” because I probably would not have been allowed entrance, but Joel happened to be outside, brought me in, and placed me on the stage to the right of Ron Beisel, who was quite a good banjoist and entertainer and really knew how to “woo” a crowd. The band featured another banjo player to Ron’s left, a tuba player, and the spectacular Joe Terra, who most likely created the zombie craze because he could have easily awakened the dead with his charismatic and brilliant (Yes! I did say brilliant—and the only one in this category) machinations on the washboard. I worked with Joe in later years and he still amazed me—and what a great guy! I played one or two sets, (most likely…poorly), and enjoyed every minute of it.
Afterwards, I played outside jobs with Mustache bands around the city and went on overnight trips to colleges with one of the groups. I also played two consecutive summers at Shea Stadium, and another some years later. Occasionally, Joel would be at the latter gigs. Around 1980, Joel brought me with him to the Yale Club in NYC for a “last gasp” of the Yale Banjo Club that had been prominent in earlier years; I was included because I had taken a few courses at Yale so I suppose that made me acceptable.
My impression of Joel Schiavone? A kinder person could never be found. Each time we met he was always gracious. One hears much on both sides of the coin concerning Joel, but each person must make his or her own assessment of another—not being swayed by others, but determining how that person affected YOU. Personally? Knowing Joel has made my life a richer one; I am so thankful not to have missed him while toiling through life. He was such a good, special person.
Finally, I was thankful he chose me to close the Carnegie Hall Concert with “Rhapsody In Blue!”
Fred Vigorito recalls his first encounter with Joel:
Fred: It was around 1965. The Easy Riders were playing a concert at the Ambassador in Hamden, CT. As we were getting ready to take the stage, there were whispers in the room. I turned to Noel Kaletsky and asked what was going on. He said, “Joel Schiavone is here.” I couldn’t believe it, THE Joel Schiavone came to see us! It was as if there was a celebrity in the room; indeed, Joel was a celebrity at that time. At the end of the concert, Joel approached the bandstand and shook hands with all of the musicians, thanking them for a good performance. It was a good concert, we played well, but having Joel there just made it very special.
Here’s banjoist and festival director Joan Dragon:
Joan Dragon: Joel was a man of many facets…he had his all-business side which was not always fun…but this was really outweighed by his bigger-than-life approach to everything else. All the pleasure he brought, the direction, the relationships, and education he gave to all his employees made it a very special time in all our lives, and it’s wonderful the connections were so strong that many continue to this day.
I was a very, very naive woman, and very, very beginner banjo player…with three very, very young children…when I first met Joel. He had me go under the stage in a small cubby to play along with the band (!) The second night I went on stage. He helped a little with the children and the clubs provided them with a family. I was blessed.
Find that picture of him at the White house—sneakers with no socks. There have got to be funny photos of him dropping drawers around…
Actually, Joan got this memory slightly mixed up. Joel had shoes (though very wrinkled trousers) on when he and the band posed with LBJ, but he neglected to wear shoes for his photo with Jackie Gleason. While this publication has wisely decided to forego presenting any (other) images of Joel Schiavone virtually nude in public (he relished his exhibitionist tendencies), a couple stories from Fred Vigorito illuminate his wild side:
Fred: I remember playing at Joel’s 2000-seat Palace Theater (in New Haven, CT) in the 1980s. The band was playing “The Sheik of Araby,” and we sounded really good, but the audience was going crazy—more so than we deserved. I turned around, and there’s Joel riding a live camel, dressed as a sheik!
On another occasion at the Palace, we were playing “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” when all of a sudden I noticed smoke coming out of Joel’s tuxedo! He collapsed on the floor, writhing in pain, shaking uncontrollably. A siren sounded, and three firemen in full gear walked down the aisle with buckets of water. They came onstage and poured 15 gallons of water on Joel. The sound crew went crazy! Those three “firemen” were members of the Fabulous Farquahr [NB: a successful New England folk/comedy crossover group]! Joel was then put in a coffin on the stage, and we played “Tiger Rag” to bring him back to life. As we played, Joel began to twitch and move about in the coffin. When he got up, the audience gave him a big round of applause. He then turned around with his back to the audience and his butt hanging out, as the tuxedo had no back!
Although Joel had his crazy side, he was always ready for hard work, as this story from Jean Hadley—long time volunteer for The Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival (the five-venue outdoor event Joel ran for years that attracted thousands of people)—illustrates:
Jean Hadley: At one festival, just before the musicians were to start arriving, no one had shown up to prepare the Sunrise cabins with linens. Pretty early one morning, Joel called me for help! I arrived and began looking for Joel; the search ended when I found him on his back near the river, surrounded by piles of linens. He had fallen off the golf cart. He quietly looked up at the sky and said “I hoped you would find me, but not on my ass!” To add to his embarrassment (and unlike Joel,) he added, “I don’t mind the fall but these linens are so old, they’ve lost their ‘cushioning.’” LOL!
May we all be able to leave such a legacy of laughter and love.
