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Topic: Does anyone remember Guy Principato? |
Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 1 Feb 2008 6:01 pm |
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Guy Principato (spelling?)... steel guitarist, guitarist from the Boston area c. 1940s though the 70’s?
I remember hearing about him, and seeing a couple of pictures, but I never met him or heard him play. He may have played at an early P.S.G.A. show, and I think he might have been featured in an early Fender catalog or some other steel guitar catalog as an endorser. He had a teaching studio in Boston and he was quite well known back in the day.
Does anyone have any info on Guy or any pictures?
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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ed packard
From:
Show Low AZ
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 7:08 am Guy Principato
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Doug;
In the mid/late 40s he had a teaching studio above Ernie Wurlitzers music store just off Washington St. (near Essex)in Boston. Guy would come down sometimes and play on the Gibson Electroharp in the store.
I was a frequenter of Ernie's shop (and Strombergs, and Vega Corp). I decided that maybe I should take some lessons re jazz guitar. I knocked on his door and said I would like to take some lessons. He asked what I wanted to learn. I told him I wanted to know how to play the stuff like Benny Goodman played. He said "kid, I am going to save you a lot of money...get a book on Solfegio". I did, and that did the trick.
Guy also had a radio show (just him) on WCOP. This was when Boston was still jazz and big band...then the Lilly Brothers and Little Don Stover came to town and the town went Hillbilly = The Villiage Barn, Izzy Orts, and the rest of the "Battle Zone" dives. |
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Jeff Garden
From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 7:55 am
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Hey Doug,
Was Guy any relation to Tom Principato? Tom was a pretty slick jazz/blues guitarist around Boston in the mid-70's/80's (Berklee College I think and then fronted George Leh's Powerhouse Blues Band, etc.). He later moved to the DC area and hooked up with Danny Gatton for a few Blazing Telecaster albums as well as some solo stuff.... |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 9:28 am
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DELETED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 26 Feb 2011 5:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jay Yuskaitis
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 9:48 am
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| The Last time I saw Robert Gear was in 1980, he arrived at my house wearing a crew cut and driving a pickup truck. He told me he finally had gotten a real job and had bought or was in the process of buying a Horse Farm in the western part of Massachusetts. Bev King told me a few years ago, that Robert had sent much printed music, articles, books, etc. to her and was out of the music business. She also told me she thought he had passed away. Yes, he did study under Guy. Robert was also very friendly with Sandy Sheehan of Sandy's Music Shop in Boston. Jay Y. |
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Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 10:04 am
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I queried Tom Principato this AM relative to his relaionship to Guy. Here is his answer and he also sent me a picture of Guy in his heyday in the Boston area:
"Hi Fred,
Thanks for your e-mail. Yes, Guy was my Father's cousin. I never met Guy but in my years I spent living in Boston, I spoke with him on the phone. Attached is a really nice picture I have of him.
Cheers,
Tom
Maybe this answers some questions. Tom did not mention that Guy played steel guitar or not.
Phred |
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Jeff Garden
From:
Center Sandwich, New Hampshire, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 10:12 am
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Phred,
Didn't mean to hijack the thread but thanks for the update on Tom...glad to know he's still alive and well. A great musician and a real nice guy...I've got plenty of great memories of my mispent youth of the Powerhouse Blues Band blowing the doors off the old Speakeasy Club in Somerville.  |
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Fred Shannon
From:
Rocking "S" Ranch, Comancheria, Texas, R.I.P.
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 10:35 am
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Jeff I don't think it was a 'hijack' at all. Folks should know that Tom is related as Michael Lee Allen had said previously. I'm almost certain the entire Principato family was musicians. Tom is a tremendous blues player, especially in the SRV vein. I knew him in a trip through New Orleans many years ago when I was playing Sax/Clarinet there. I'm sure Ed Packard can add considerable info on Guy.
phred |
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ed packard
From:
Show Low AZ
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 10:47 am mis-spent youth?
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JG; been there, done that, and in Somerville also, as well as in downtown Boston when there was a Scolly square.
Hillbilly Ranch, Mohawk Ranch, Lone Star Ranch (NH)...not the places that Guy would have been found, but fine for me then. |
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Bill Hankey
From:
Pittsfield, MA, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 11:08 am
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| Guy would have been found in unlikely places. I heard his rendition of "Misty" played on a Vega double 6 in Wallingford, Ct. It was at a steel guitar show in a small dance hall. He had cabinets built around the steel. It reminded me of cabinets around a kitchen sink. He would jump back and forth on the two necks to get all of the melody notes. |
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Eddie Cunningham
From:
Massachusetts, USA
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Posted 2 Feb 2008 12:34 pm Guy on steel
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| I first met Guy at the W M E X Boston Barn Dance radio show in 1945 or 46 . He played a 6 string Vega lap steel and I saw him again in 1953 at one of the W C O P Hayloft Jamboree shows. He was still on the Vega lap steel using the old Hawaiian A low bass tuning. He was very popular around Boston and played at a big hotel (?? forgot name ?? ) featuring Hawaiian music for years in the 40s and 50s . After that I lost track of him. I never saw him with a double neck steel but I am sure he did progress to one. He was a great musician. Eddie "C" |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 3 Feb 2008 2:45 am
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Thank you for all of the responses! Pieces of the puzzle are beginning to come together.
Bill, that show in Wallingford CT, was it one of Harry Guffee's steel shows? ...about 1981? You said it was in a "small dance hall". I played Harry's show in 1980, but it was in a hotel banquet room.
I did play some kind of a steel show in Wallingford in the 80's in a smaller club, and Ray Gantek was there. I don't remember the name of the place or even what the event was, but maybe that's the place where you saw Guy Principato? A D-6 Vega huh? That makes sense, the Vega Co. was in Boston.
Much thanks to everyone who responded.
_________________
My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Bill Hankey
From:
Pittsfield, MA, USA
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Posted 3 Feb 2008 8:12 am
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Doug,
Jim Smith, Scotty, and many key players attended both of those Connecticut shows. Jimmy Roule played Lloyd Green's "Bars Of Steel", and Ray Ganteck burned down a shot a courage before tearing up "The Orange Blossom Special". Guy Principato played the vintage dbl 6 and received good applause. He was dressed in a banker's suit, complete with tie. I can't remember at verbatim, his comments, but as I recall, it was a bit detracting to be perfectly honest. If someone has a recording (Scotty may have a copy) of that segment, I stand to be corrected, if I'm in error. Both of those shows were highly entertaining. Bobby Stanton applied his racing fingers on the Spanish, by joining Ray Ganteck's speedy version of O.B.S. I took note to see who was still playing at blistering speed, when the smoke cleared. Ray got my vote. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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