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A Brief History of Tom
Tom Bianchi was born. Now, he's a bit taller.
A Not So Brief History of Tom
The Early Years
Tom Bianchi was born on Long Island, New York. Moments later
three mysterious strangers gifted him with frankincense,
myrrh, and a plush bunny (mysterious strangers aren't as
rich as they used to be.)
As a youngster, Tom played music weekly at his local church.
But what he considers his first "real" musical
endeavors came in high school where he played bass in a
three-piece pit band for the musical, Really Rosie.
He quickly became the house bass player at Patchogue-Medford
High School and also wrote, produced and directed two all-original
rock operas with musical partner Michael Jude Ward-Bergeman.
They were a motley duo but secondary education at the time
was inhospitable to their love for goofing around.
Tom discovered he liked salmon, which live in salt water
and spawn in fresh water.
After high school, Tom joined a well established New York
City band called Harsh Reality, led by front man
Rick Purdy. Harsh Reality played constantly. If
they weren’t gigging, they were rehearsing; if they weren’t
rehearsing, they were recording; if they weren’t recording...well,
they were probably out getting drunk. During the nightly
grind of the band Tom’s bass skills got sharp.
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A Band of His Own
Reuniting with high school pal Michael, Tom moved back to
Long Island to head up a band of its own. There he put in
time with various local musicians and bands (Corduroy,
Jehovah’s Screaming Kitchen, Swamp Witch, Oedipus
and the Mothers.) Eventually, the band Smoking Toad
emerged from his associations, and Tom took up six-string
acoustic guitar in order to hone his singing and songwriting
skills. Smoking Toad featured five members: Michael
Bergeman (keyboards), Joe Kiernan (lead guitar), Mike Tappe
(drums), and Kevin Nelson (bass.) Smoking Toad was
a jam band and Tom got his first taste of the crazy, wacky
fun that could be had while playing live music. The band
was streamlined for success, but the college careers of
Mike and Joe stalled their rock stardom.
However, Tom’s friendship and musical connection with bandmate
Kevin Nelson was strong. Later, even after Tom moved away
from New York, they managed to form Waltzing Matilda
along with Robert Parillo, a multi-talented drummer from
Long Island, and Natasha Klauss, a keyboardist going to
school in Boston. Waltzing Matilda released one CD
called “Migration” and one EP called “Devil’s Playground,”
but the long distance relationship proved difficult and
the band eventually dissolved.
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Two Strings Too Many
After playing with Smoking Toad, the novelty of playing
with six strings was wearing thin and Tom yearned to play
some bass again. That’s when he started hanging out with
John Brozia (Johnny B. as he’s know on Long Island), a guitar
player who can and does play it all. John and Tom would
sometimes play for each others' bands, and the folks who
went to see them couldn’t ignore their on stage chemistry.
To this day they still play together occasionally on Long
Island at Johnny B.’s famous “Chowder House” open mic.
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Hub of the Universe
The few years back on Long Island that Tom had spent was
more than enough for any stalwart bassist. He ventured to
Boston in January of ’96 for a visit, smack in the middle
of one of the worst winters Boston had seen in a decade.
Still, Tom fell in love with the town. The decision to move
took him only four days.
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"The Big Burrito" Gets
Canned
Tom began tooling around Boston, playing music and making
burritos at a Mexican restaurant. He was somewhat down on
his luck in those early years in Boston and, as fate would
have it, the burrito fairy canned him two days before Christmas.
Apparently there was a very strict bean straining policy
and Tom just wasn’t getting enough goo out of the beans
before cooking them. He left the situation with some resentment,
and swore never to make a burrito for another living person.
"As God as my witness," he cried, "I'll never
make a burrito for another living soul!" It was an
oath he would never break.
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A New Beginning
Tom was broke, hungry, burritoless and without money to
visit his family in New York. Luckily, a friend loaned him
a small, battery-operated amplifier -- the kind street performers
use. Tom, determined to make enough money to seek out Momma’s
home cooking, took his raw skills down into the cold underground
of Boston’s subway system (the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority, or MBTA, or just the T.) The Christmas crowd
was tipping well and Tom made forty dollars. Momma Bianchi
got a kitchen helper for Christmas that year.
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Hey, Hey! and the Blues
Brushing off his pride and finally giving up on his dreams
of being “The Big Burrito”, “The Head Cheese,” or the one
they call “Don Guacamole,” Tom Bianchi said to himself,
“Hey!” Nevertheless, then he just sat there for a little
while.
Thinking about it some more he said, “Hey!” again, and
that’s when the thought occurred: “If I can make big bucks
like that in the subway, I can be a PROFESSIONAL SUBWAY
MUSICIAN ALL THE TIME!”
And so it had begun. Or so he thought it had begun. It
hadn't yet. No, not yet.
Alas, the remaining cold and bitter months of winter were
nothing like the pre-Christmas day Tom has spent playing
for tips. Being a professional subway musician was not as
glamorous as it seemed. Tom was not prospering, and found
himself playing the blues all the time. Every day.
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The Sauce Song
One cold winter afternoon while playing at the Hynes
Convention Center "T" stop, a man came over to
tip Tom one dollar. The man carried shopping bags and when
he leaned over to put the dollar in Tom’s hat, a glass jar
of tomato sauce slipped out his bag and crashed on the platform.
Tom and the sauce man picked up all the glass so no one
would get hurt, but a big splotch of tomato sauce remained.
Tom Bianchi, stood there behind the splotch of sauce, the
worlds most pathetic man alive.
Little did Tom know, this tomato sauce would change his
life.
He continued playing the blues until he noticed an unsuspecting
commuter walking straight for the messy sauce on the platform.
Tom made use of the microphone to warn him but the man ignored
him. Tom warned him a bit more sternly. The man looked up
at Tom with a glance that said, "Whyareyoutalkingtome-youlowlysubwaybuskerscumI’vehadaroughdayit’sMonday-andIstillhavetodealwiththerestofthedamnweekletalonetherestofmyboringmisreablelife!”
Finally, with unyielding inflexibility Tom said, “Please
don’t step in that sauce! If you do it will be YOUR loss.
Step left or step right than be on your way, safely I’ll
say, have a nice day.”
The man jumped to his left, narrowly escaping the slippery,
acidy blob of sauce and said, “Why thank you,” which was
followed by the sound of giggling from onlooking commuters.
“Well, thank you also sir, but I’d say that should be worth
a buck,” Tom courteously responded. The platform bellowed
with laughter. The man agreed, and happily walked over with
money for Tom’s hat.
Tom knew he was on to something. “Would anyone like to
join me for Italian?” Tom mused, and before the next train
came, Tom made more money than had landed in his hat all
day. With a new comic routine about spilled tomato sauce,
improvised songs to an Italian swing waltz feel and fun,
the next four hours went by like a flash. For the first
time, Tom Bianchi went home with some real subway coin in
his pocket. Not Christmas cash or burrito slave wages, but
hard earned tips from people who genuinely had a great time...when
they least expected it!
The following week Tom went back to the same spot with
a brand new song called “The Sauce Song”. It was a hit.
People laughed and sang along, and folks who happened to
witness the inspiring event...well they just thought it
was pure genius.
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Denouement
Tom Bianchi has never forgot the lesson of that day. With
every show he takes it as it comes, weaving in and out of
the moment never forgetting to play for the audience, play
with the audience, but never just play at the audience.
Most importantly, no show is ever the same, unless of course
someone happens to spill tomato sauce in the middle of the
gig.
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