The Dixie Cups

 

When I was in high school many eons ago, I had a passion for music.  I played piano, sax and clarinet and joined whatever school bands I could.  I was a member of the orchestra, the dance band and the marching band.

But I had the most fun as a member of the Dixieland band “The Dixie Cups.”

I played clarinet and we also had a trumpet player, a trombone player and a drummer (my best friend, Brian Bell.)  Our slogan was “Save your Dixie cups.  The South will rise again.”  (What did four boys from New Jersey know?)

We played “When the Saints Go Marchin In”… “Basin Street Blues”… and so many other songs connected with New Orleans.  And we had fun doing it!!!

I can recall how the audiences reacted to our music and how pumped up we got from the response.

It wasn’t until many years later, when I learned that Louis Prima was my birth father, that I understood why I was so stoked by the music.  I had been playing the same music that my birth father was raised on… and made a name for himself with… good old Dixieland.

What are the odds that an adopted teenager would be playing his birth father’s music without ever knowing it?  I’d say the odds were pretty long.