Wow! What a story Sent from my iPhone
> On 14-Dec-2021, at 2:18 AM, Roland Francis <roland.fran...@gmail.com> wrote: > > An interesting first person story of Ernest Flanagan (the poet in Nelson > Lopes’ post), a Bombay musician once connected to the famous saxophonist Braz > Gonsalves whose wife Yvonne is Aldona’s Chick Chocolate’s daughter. > > “I finished school in ’74, after failing twice, once in the 9th std and once > in 11th std. I did not want to go to college. I wanted to work and had had > enough of studying. > > I used to play piano as a kid, did the first three exams, passed with 98%, > 97%, 95 %. In those days, the examiners would come down from the UK. This was > before the 5th std. > > My teachers were my grandmother Mrs Mary Flanagan, Mrs Leach from Colaba and > Arnold Saldanha from Dhobitalao. My grandmothers lessons were free of course > but I never learned with her. She could not stop me running all over the > house. Mrs Leach on the other hand had a big thick wooden ruler and was not > shy to use it. I got quite a few good whacks on my knuckles. Arnold Saldanha > was also a no nonsense guy. > > 6th std, I was sent off from St Xaviers, Dhobitalao, to St Mary’s Mount Abu, > Rajasthan. German music teacher, don’t remember his name, insisted that I > play Clarinet. I excelled at it. I remember playing ‘black is black’ which > made him very angry. Incidentally, the other clarinet player in the band was > Micky Correa’s son Mark. We used to stand up and play our solos at school > functions and I remember Micky was chief guest at one of our functions and he > came up to me and asked who my father was. He assumed my father was a > professional musician in Bombay. But even though my dad was a good pianist, > he never played professionally. > > I got thrown out from Abu in the 7th std by Brother Judge, Principal and very > strict disciplinarian and that was the end of my clarinet playing. I met > Micky very often in Mumbai later but I never saw his son Mark again. > > 8th std, I was put in St Mary’s Mazgaon, ISC section. I entered a singing > competition…….. I sang ‘Hey Jude’ and even though I felt I sang very well, I > was sent straight back to class, unselected and disappointed. Everyone else > sang “Precious Lord” !!!!! What did I know? Std 9, changed schools again. I > went off to Barnes School Deolali. I did play a bit of piano but boxing, > swimming, football, hockey, cricket and girls were more important. (it is a > Co-ed school) so music took a back seat. So, here I am in 1974 with my 2nd > class Cambridge certificate in my hand, facing the world with no skills > whatsoever. > > All the older boys in my colony in Cavel, Chira Bazaar, played guitar, > dropped Mandrax tablets, smoked Charas and I learned two or three chords and > sang CCR, Rolling stones, Beatles, all that cool stuff that I still love to > this day. > > We formed a band called “Good Neighbours” we must have sounded terrible but > we played a few gigs/weddings. > > I remember playing the wedding march on my small accordion followed by the > grand march, keeping it down, strapping on my guitar and doing the rest the > gig singing and playing rhythm guitar. I must have learned another two or > three more chords by then. > > While moonlighting as a musician, I also tried other jobs. I worked for > Ericson Richards in Ballard Pier, Cambata Aviation at Juhu airport and my > final job before I became a full time musician was a Trainee Assistant > Steward/barman at Oberoi Hotel, Nariman point. My salary at Oberoi was Rs > 175/ per month !!!! and my mum used to ask me why I needed money to “go” to > work when it should be the other way around !!! > > October 1976 I was still tending bar in the Oberoi when a bandleader “Victor > Martins” who lived down my street, asked me and my band “ Good Neighbours” to > play for his wedding………..free of charge of course. Somehow he was impressed > with me and asked me if I wanted to come with his band to Mysore. He offered > me Rs 750/ per month, which to me was an astronomical amount compared to the > Rs 175/ I was earning at Oberoi. I did not think twice. I picked up my > guitar, my little Ahuja amp and speaker and without telling my parents, > boarded the train to Mysore. > > Wrote a couple of letters to my parents of course telling them not to worry. > Now I was playing lead guitar and I sucked !!! Victor cut my salary down to > Rs 500/ but I could not complain, not after running away from home!!! I > learnt some more chords. The big song then was “Band on the Run” and I could > play the lead parts exactly!! > > I came back 7 months later from Mysore with long hair and smoking hash which > I learned to do from “Ervin Vaz” our drummer and my great friend. Mom of > course wouldn’t let me in the house till I had cut my hair. I remember > playing ‘off’ days with the Victor Martins band at Holiday Inn where the > great Mike Fay band was in residence. Then, Victor gave me a shock. He told > me that I would have to either play Bass guitar or leave the band. I sucked > at lead guitar anyway but I guess he still liked me for my singing. He said > he was getting someone called “Herman” to play Lead. > > So overnight I became a bass guitarist. Victor loaned me his ‘Paul McCartney’ > style bass guitar and we went off to Delhi to the Café Chinois in the Oberoi. > > My hash days continued cause ‘Herman Black’ as they called him was the world > champ at rolling a joint. And we got really good hash in Delhi. We roamed all > over Delhi, climbing over rooftops in the Jungpura area to score our hash. > Spent our whole salary on hash and our afternoon meals. This was now 1978. > Next job Bahrain ! Victor sold of my bass guitar. He said I could buy a new > bass guitar in Bahrain. > > Right enough, the Moon Plaza, where we played and stayed also owned Moon > Stores the best music shop in the whole of Bahrain (which was not a very big > city then, you could see the whole of Bahrain in less than two hours) So I > chose a copy of a Fender Precision called “Morris”. I paid for this bass > guitar with one weeks tips !!!!! tipping was really heavy and I was forced to > sing a couple of Arabic songs which earned us great tips every night. We also > had cabaret artists from England and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) but that’s another > story!!! Salary only 60 Dinars but who cared! the tips were better. Victor > came back from Bahrain and bought a flat in Juhu !!!! but this again is > another story ! > > Victor broke up the band and went solo. He was getting lucrative contracts in > Yemen and other gulf countries so he went off. When he came back he settled > in Bangalore in a bungalow he had built and played at the Taj Residency where > I met him years later on my honeymoon. He now lives in Canada. > > So here I was 1978. No job, no band, no money. > We had shared a huge bungalow in Delhi, in Maharani Baug where I met the > fantastic pianist Benny Rozario and Lester Rozario. It had so many rooms that > Benny’s sax player had a room with family, Benny, Lester and his mom had a > room, Herman and me had a room, Victor and his wife had a room, his father > and our drummer Abdan had a room and there was even one big room where Lester > had set up his drum kit and he banged it all day, playing for Herman and me. > > I only mention this because Benny came to see me in Mumbai. I was playing for > Tony Carr at the Abanara Restaurant at Fariyas hotel Colaba at that time and > Benny had secured a job at the Centaur Hotel, Juhu and he was looking to form > a band. > > So I joined Benny playing bass and singing. Cliffy on guitar, Lester Rozario > on drums, Jazzy Joe Pereira on sax and our singers were Debbie Fisher, > Sandhya Sanjana, Clarinda and later Cyrilla (Chinky) daughter of the great > Bismark. > > This was 1979. Then I did a short stint with Louis Banks in place of his bass > guitarist Lou Hilt and they remembered me because when Louis left the band > and Braz Gonsalves took over, Benny joined as pianist and pulled me along in > this band. > > At that time, I remember I was playing Bass guitar for Johnny Fernandes and > Ursula at the Mayfair restaurant at President Hotel and our contract was over > as they changed the restaurant from Continental to Indian, called it Gulzar > and hired a duo to play Tabla and Harmonium. Johnny Fernandes went off to Sun > n Sand and I joined the Braz Gonsalves band at Sea Rock Hotel. By now I knew > my way around the bass guitar and I could only get better with time. > > Nine years playing bass guitar with Braz Gonsalves and the lovely Yvonne. > Benny had left the band and Tony Dias, a brilliant young pianist joined. > Ashley, Yvonne and me did all the singing and we sounded great. Ashley was > and still is a fantastic singer. Lloyd Fishery was on drums. Our three part > harmony was the stuff of legend. Band leaders and musicians from all over > India would come to listen to us. > > We spent 8 years at the Neptune Restaurant in Holiday inn and we were as > close as a family then and even now. Braz was a great and patient teacher and > what I learned there still serves me in good stead today. These were the Jazz > Yatra days where the organizers put great Jazz musicians up in our hotels and > we had a chance to jam with them and they with us. We brought in enough booze > and when the restaurant closed we jammed till 4 am. We also had spot artists > from all over the world that came in with their music around Christmas time > and we learned to read music a bit. The great Shiva Mani and Ranjit Barrot > came often to jam too. > > We broke up in ’84 when a gulf job we were all supposed to go to in Sharjah > fizzled out and we formed ‘ The Nightbirds’ with Beverley in place of Yvonne > and good ol’ Cliffy in place of Braz. We gigged all over own and even went > abroad to do gigs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. > > In 1980 when I was still playing bass with Braz, I was convinced by a good > friend to take up a job teaching singing at St Joseph’s School in Colaba. So > I played piano there till I got reasonably good at it for 4 years as a > teacher. I really enjoyed that job. I quit teaching when the Sharjah job came > up and when it fizzled out I did not go back to teaching. Then in 1984, on a > chance meeting with the F&B Manager Dastoor at President Hotel, he said he > needed a pianist and bravely, I said I was. He asked me to audition and I > auditioned with my toy Yamaha Keyboard and got the job playing solo piano in > the President Lobby. > > This was great. Many evenings I played from 5 pm till 8 pm and rushed to > Churchgate station, caught a fast train to Bandra and was in time to play > bass for a gig with my band the Nightbirds. Most of our weekends were busy > playing weddings. I was married by then and had two lovely daughters. > > Then Nikhil Britto who played piano at the Library bar quit and Dastoor the > F&B manager asked me to take over in the bar after my lobby stint. I was > getting a double salary and was ecstatic. I played at the Library and the > lobby for another 8 years. I was still bunking to play bass with my band on > Friday and Saturday nights and the new F&B manager noticed and told me in no > uncertain terms to either quit my band or quit the hotel. Sadly I had to quit > the band as I now had a family and steady money was steady money !! My bass > playing days were over. I was a full time pianist now! > > It was now ’93. Completely fed up after 8 years of playing at the President > with no increase in salary, only one off day, a mean manager who would cut my > salary if I was sick, no paid leave etc, I thought to myself there has to be > more to life than this current job. As a family man, I could not take my kids > for a holiday, as I did not have paid leave, I could not even take a day off > without my salary being cut. I had reached the peak, the best bar in Mumbai, > the best salary. There was no way to rise further. I decided to quit and go > to the UK and the US. > > This was a mistake; it was also a turning point in my life. I discovered that > there were better musicians playing on the street in the US than those > playing in all the 5 star hotels in India. I knew exactly where I stood as a > musician and I have been humble ever since. I wanted to make it as a > songwriter and singer. I knew I did not stand anywhere as a musician. But I > discovered the UK was broke and the US was full of bullshit and con artists > waiting to rip you off. I also learned to my disappointment that I was > earning more money in India with my President job and my private gigs. So I > came back. > > Now I was dead broke. With a family!!! But I have been in this situation > often in my musical career so it did not worry me too much. Soon the private > gigs kept coming as all the clients from President Hotel heard I was back and > kept inviting me over. I was once again earning sufficient money. > > I began to do short contracts, 3 months each in Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, > which were basically shopping trips as I did not come back with much money > but tons of clothes, booze and chocolates for my family. These contracts are > far from easy. You have to perform every night without fail, sick or well!!! > Only one off day, Friday. But I managed somehow. Salaries were unequal. White > skins were getting more. And most of them were using back up tracks. I was > the only musician playing really “live”. > > My agent used to take 15% of my salary (may the fleas of a thousand > camels…………*&%#@) I had decided that I would never again take a 5 star hotel > job even if I was starving to death . so I continued playing “Home Concerts” > as Dee Wood calls them and I performed in almost every big shots home in > Mumbai. > > Then I landed the best job of my life. I met Mr Hari Shankaran at a house > party about 12 years ago and he invited me to play in his office, the IL&FS > building in BKC. He gave me a fantastic salary, Saturday and Sunday off > (which no musician in the world has ever got), one month paid leave per year > and my playing time was every evening Monday to Friday from 6 pm till 8 pm. I > was free to play privately for a lunch/brunch party or any private party > after 8 pm which I often did. I was in Heaven and I did this job for 9 years > till 31st Dec 2019 when the shit hit the fan. You all know what happened so I > will leave out the details. > > Since then, like all other musicians in our great city of Mumbai we are > surviving as best we can. > > God help us all. > > This is my story. Ernest Joseph Flanagan who everyone knows as Ernie. 2nd > June 2020.” > > Roland > Toronto. > > >> On Dec 13, 2021, at 1:15 AM, Nelson Lopes <lopesnelson...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> This poem just blew me away. India needs thinkers like this. >> >> TAKING SIDES >> >> When we grew up as children, >> did we even know >> Who prays standing up or who prays bending low? >> >> Did we care who scored >> the goal when India won >> Was he a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian's son? >> >> Did we care if our sweets came from the north or south >> No we did not as long as it tasted good in our mouth. >> >> We held on to each other >> and considered them friend >> With arm around shoulder, should this friendship end? >> >> We did not divide each other then, >> why should we now? >> Just ‘cause politicians value people less than a cow? >> >> Recapture those years of innocence, >> follow our own hearts >> Don't be forced to take sides, that's how the trouble starts >> >> Turn a deaf ear to their calls for war, >> turn a blind eye to their views >> Will we murder our brothers now >> like Hitler killed those Jews? >> >> God made the earth for each and everyone >> to equally share >> Does the sun shine more on you >> or on everyone who's there? >> >> Does the breeze blow only on you >> and leave others alone? >> When a good man dies doesn't everybody mourn? >> >> Does the rain fall only on one tree >> and leave the other dry? >> Doesn't everybody live under the same beautiful blue sky? >> >> Should we tell each other what to eat >> and who to pray to? >> Shouldn't we respect their traditions >> and let them continue? >> >> Can you tell the tiger >> that it should not eat the lamb? >> Then why should you force your will >> on another man? >> >> As children we shared everybody’s food >> it tasted quite all right >> As children for that last piece of cake >> did we not happily fight? >> >> Did we ask veg or non veg before grabbing the plate? >> When we were hungry children >> everything tasted great >> >> We did not make divisions then >> why do we do it now? >> Is not another human more valuable than a cow? >> >> When did we become communal >> and start taking sides? >> Who are we to differentiate between the colour of our hides? >> >> We bonded as school children >> to people of all faiths >> Now we burn their places of worship in some states ? >> >> Hold up a mirror to yourself and tell me what you see >> With our fellow Indians did we lose that camaraderie ? >> >> ~ Ernest Flanagan
