OK.... a "Stan Story" that can hold up to the censors...LOL:
I used to stay at Stan's house in the Bronx from time to time on rehearsal weekends or on the rare off-day on weekends.... Stan would always call her and let her know the approximate time of our arrival (it usually corresponded with the time the bars closed!) so his mom never really fussed too much when we would come in at all hours, usually half in the bag... she'd always have some food there for us and we'd sit up and shoot the breeze with her and Mr. Roche for a while.
Except for one time. One night.... late.... Stan and I stopped off for a bite to eat at a Jack-In-The-Box in his old neighborhood in the Bronx..... this neighborhood, shall we say, had seen much better days.
Anyhow.... we were sitting there having a bite to eat when several guys came running into the place, and one pulled a handgun out.... they were robbing the joint! So we kinda sat there, frozen...hoping the guys wouldn't aim the piece our way. They didn't.... but the guy with the gun shot a security guard in the shoulder, then the robbers ran out of the place.
Soooo..... now we had to stay there for a while (at least an hour or more from what I remember) while the police came and took everyone's statements.
Well... we got back to Stan's house, and his mom was LIVID. We hadn't called to tell her we would be REALLY late, and Stan didn't want to tell her what had happened at the Jack-In-The-Box, so she was worried where we were. Yikes. I mean, she lit into us... Stan in particular!!!!! LOL
I'm not sure Stan ever did get around to telling her about the incident at the fast-food place!!!!!!
???
Stan "cemented" his reputation early in his carrier (Jimmy C used to call him cement head). While walking across an open field on the way to the practice field, somewhere in deepest darkest Canada which actually means someplace just over the border. A single skinny staked tree stood in the middle of the open field not suspecting that an newly nicked-named Bronx escapee was closing in, distracted by his own particular kind of monologue. I was listening, but if you know Stan you know how he can become thoroughly engrossed in his own dialectic. As he struck the slender trunk, he encountered no other injury then his pride and his eyeglasses being knocked in an angle across his nose. To which his immediate response was, "what the fark!" Truly amazing stuff. If you read this, Stan, I hope you know I was only ever teasing.
Tom Conlon
I was there in '74 when Marty Roche joined the corps. He went into a mellophone spot that had been named "Stan". He was a little resistant to being called Stan, but soon caught on. He was one of those who became real Sunrisers within a week or so. I remember visiting his home to pick him up for various events on the way out to Long Island. His mom would meet me at the door with something like "Marty -who you call Stan- is getting his things together.." This eventually came to his mom calling out "Stan, Lenny's here!". Over the years I always marveled at the members who did not know that Stan had a name that was on all his paychecks.
I always thought it a real honor plus a real hoot to march with Stan. Never a dull moment, but he was a real serious competitor...he learned the music fast, the drill just as fast and had a reasonable expectation that the rest of us did the same. Never a problem with that. It was what we did.
One last thing...he is a true friend and one of the most dedicated members I have ever known. The Corps has been blessed through with years with his presence, and I hope he can keep on plugging in there.
Lenny Haring
It Happened Again!!!
Sometime in the mid 80's when Stan was living in Brooklyn. We were at one of the few parties the Thomson's were able to hold (I think it was Kathleen's place), and the bathroom door was broken. Stan went in, closes the broken door and is trapped. Hence the alternate "Oh Stan" song..... "Oh Stan", he locked himself in the can, he locked himself in the can, Oh Stan, Oh Stan, Oh Stan, Oh Stan, hey slap that......blank.....
Milt the Bug
I lived with Stan for 10 years, but I know that some of you have known him for MUCH longer than that!
I'll have to think of some good stories that can be said here. There's the one when Mongo ran over his horn one lunchtime. We were using horns as yard markers. When we got back from lunch we see the podium on the ground and stuff all around and this horn under the podium. People started coming over when he got out of the car. He was LIVID - UNBELIEVABLY MAD.
Billy Spiegler is Singing his new version of "Do You See What I See....a horn, a horn CRUSHED beyond repair..."
Stan wanted to kill someone - then the truth came out and Mongo (6 ft 10 or something like that - about 350 - if not more) came over with his head down scared to death of Stan. He explained what happened and was SOOOO apologetic. Stan looked up at Mongo not knowing what to say......
Everyone started cracking up and then Stan picked up the horn and it still played!
Fran - I KNOW you have more...Milton - you too! I've heard them all several times. The Double Dibbo is just one, right?
Patty Ciccino Bauer
