Key West Music Memories After interviewing 142 Key West musicians, I’ve heard some great stories. I haven’t been able to squeeze many of the short stories into a musicians’ biography or even the weekly music column, so I thought I would share these three with you this week. Closing of the Full Moon Saloon For […]
Abdul Mateen aka: Maasai Originally from Harlem, New York, Abdul Mateen was born in 1954 in Women’s Hospital and lived on 115th Street. He attended school in Queens where there was a great music program. He learned to play the saxophone, cello, and violin. He brought the saxophone home and while outside with his friends […]
Steve Mellette – cat herder at Key West Musicians Festival Steven Mellette was born in Iowa in 1950 and grew up in the DC suburbs of Bethesda, Maryland. He really wanted to learn drums but his school had purchased new French horns, so he started playing the French horn in the 4th grade. He graduated […]
Ray West – the Pied Piper affect Born in California in 1967, Ray moved around a lot but calls Minneapolis, Minnesota home. He had a more difficult childhood than most, living in foster care for a number of years. He was born Monty Dean West and adopted as Raymond Blydenburg but later discovered the adoption […]
Zack Seemiller – “The consummate entertainer” From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Zack Seemiller was born in 1968 to Joe and Theresa Seemiller. He graduated from high school in 1986. He had no formal music training until 1991 when he ventured to Hollywood, California to study vocals and music at the Music Institute of Technology (MIT). Many famous […]
Ray Spence – part of the Key West music gumbo Rayfield Spencer Beazer, born to Elaine and Ralph Beazer, is originally from the Bronx, New York. His father was a huge jazz fan and would always to listen to John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Dave Brubeck with his son. Ray’s father was also a big Doo-Wop […]
RB Tolar – “It was always going to be music.” Ronald Bryan Tolar, born in 1958 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, now claims “RB” stands for Rhythm & Blues. He grew up in Gautier, Mississippi, attending school there. He started playing music at 14 and turned ‘pro’ at 15. He began gigging too much, dropping out […]
Mark Rose – a life of musical adventures Everyone knows how much I love horns and this week will include one of my favorites. Mark Rose was born and raised in front of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the son of Trudy and Forrest Rose. His mother was a piano teacher and taught […]
Remembering Mike Gillis John Michael Gillis has passed. He now performs on a much bigger stage – you know they got a helluva band. We lost a lot of music in Key West in 2022 and none more impactful than Mike Gillis. I visited Mike a dozen or so times at his Kennedy Avenue apartment […]
Pete Jarvis – Veteran of the Battle of the DMZ Pete Jarvis grew up in the Adirondack Mountains near Lake George, in Glenn Falls, New York. His grandfather had an upright piano in a small music room, and Pete would always attempt to play music whenever he visited. At age 9, his mother hired a […]
