Circular No 294

Newsletter for past alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.

Caracas, 23 Jun 2007. No. 294

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Dear friends,
More on BANDS, I have made a recompilation on the latest on bands.
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LONG LIVE CHAINS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: Bands at Mount
Rafael Echeverría
Monday, May 28, 2007 11:05:18 PM

Hey Norman !!!

Your brought my best memories about Mount and our band CHAINS !!!

In fact Chains was my first Rock Group, and I will never forget our guitar lessons with Jeremy De Barry.

It was heaven at Mount !

After Chains, I travelled to the U.K. and joined The Forminks in South Wales, - it was the time of "Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" and Jimmy Hendrix.

Where I went to study for two and a half years.

Then back in Venezuela I played with Los Hippies in the late 60's when I was starting my Law Studies at University.

Then finally, after a long break from music, I formed a Rock Group in Maracaibo called ZUMO, and we developed an incredible repertoire including so more daring songs from groups like Genesis, Santana and Yes.

It was an incredible experiment.

But I have to say this: you Norman are the BEST second guitar any band could have.

My best rock group partner ever !!!! ....

And a great well tuned voice !

And all thanks to Chains and Mount !!!

We must get together Norman and revive those days and perhaps ... who knows ... someday we may play at Mount again !

Un Abrazo Norman !!! What a great gift you've given me !!!!

Siempre Amigo !!!

Rafael Echeverria / CheChe
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Bands at Mount
Norman Smith
Monday, May 28, 2007 10:01:27 PM

Hola muchachos,

The recent circular about music makers at Mount missed one of the most memorable years in pop music history... the mid 60s.

Besides the scout band for which I played the bugle (which I replaced with a cornet after being seduced by the music of Herb Albert) there was a band called the Interpreters.

Jeremy de Barry and John Abraham had a band called the Interpreters that played calypso standards and did a mean "Walk-Don't Run".

I remember joining in with my cornet to play "Rose in Spanish Harlem".

Then the Beatles hit the scene and along with Rafael "CheChe" Echeverria on Bass, his brother Gustavo on Lead guitar, Henrique Gomez on drums and I on rhythm guitar formed "the Chains".

We taught ourselves to play with the help of Jeremy de Barry and played a great number of Beatles songs and sounded just like them.

"If I Fell". "Words of Love", "I Saw Her Standing There", "And I Love Her", "Michelle", "PS I Love You", "Baby it's You", and of course: "Chains" among many others.

Upon my graduation in 1966, we were invited to play at the presidential palace in Caracas.

I went back home to Colombia to join my life long friend Ivan Dario Lopez in his group Los Yetis (you can Google "Los Yetis" to find a MySpace page and a link to a compilation CD by our record label Discos Fuentes.

We made history as one of the first rock bands in Colombia and can boast to be the only band of the times to produce more than one LP (there were 4: "Los Yetis", Colombia a go-go", Los Yetis Vol2", and "Olvidate").

Jeremy de Barry visited me in Colombia and had a chance to live some of the excitement.

My interest and work with music continued after the band broke up with a duet with my pal Ivan Dario (Norman y Dario).

We recorded one LP for CBS Records and one EP (4 songs)... all of them original and mostly protest songs.

I stopped making music when I became a film maker specializing in editing, but music has always been an important part of my work.

In 1971 I went to live in New York and in the 70s and 80s was part of the birth of MTV... editing videos for the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News, Bon Jovi, Carly Simon, The Rolling Stones, Rainbow, and others.

Since 1989 I live in Miami with my second wife and three teenage daughters (I have a daughter from my first marriage who has given me a grandson).

I had the joy of reuniting with Rafael "CheChe" Echeverria after almost 40 years!

We sang and played as if no time had passed!

He has kept the music in his life despite having become a most successful lawyer.

Long live the music makers from the mount!

Norman Smith

(Any news on John Abraham??? Ed.)
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Glen Mckoy
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 3:33:17 PM

Hello Ladislao,

Thank you as always for keeping me informed.

I cannot understand why we are not reading more emails from old boys in Trinidad??

Most of the boys in Trinidad should know of or heard of the web site by now.

If not, they must be informed by the boys who do know, I think when the school closed a lot of people though that was it.

However because of you (thru blood, sweat, and tears) we are still a body in spirit, one love

Glen McKoy...........

(Most of the TT Alumni do not have a computer and those that have are too busy. Ed.)
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Glen Mckoy
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 8:34:51 AM

Hi David,

You had the first band on the mount?

That’s good history to know, as there were a few other bands after that, that I heard about.

There were some really good musicians over the years.

You have written for some of the best bands in the Caribbean.

What a life of music you are living.

As a fellow musician, I always had a job and played on the weekends, but you lived the dream.

David where are you living now??

There is another mount boy who plays bass in Venezuela, he has a band there I read in one of the news letter.

He is before my time also.

When I left Trinidad I played calypso and Soca.

Now I think we are losing some of the Latin swing in our music, swaying calypso rhythms, being taken over by American hip- pop and dance hall, heavy bass and rhythms grooves, not much singing not much guitar not much, nothing.

I am a guitar player, so if I don't hear no guitar I am surprised, you know what I mean.

You wrote in a time when the music was really sweet.

I will love to hear your cd my address is:

Glen Mckoy
80 Adelaide ave
Halifax, Nova Scotia / Canada
B3N 2N8

If you ever in eastern Canada my phone 902-443-5437.

Thanks for the email

Glen...
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From: "david decastro" thecalypsobandit@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:45:19 +0000

HI GLEN,

Thanks for answering my email.

there were some other 2 McCoy going to mount in my time between 1945- 1953.

I had the first band in mount we were called Mt Mariners.

I am a song writer and calypso singer.

I have written for the merrymen-byronlee-spice and co. and others .

If you send me your address I would be happy to send you my latest cd and compositions
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"the calypso bandit"
"Glen Mckoy" mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:37:04 +0000

Hi David,

My name is Glen McKoy my brother name is Hudson McKoy, we went to mount around 1967-1972.

However people said there were two others before us, but they spelled their names McCoy I don't think they were brothers ??

I am 51 yrs this year and Hudson will be 50, so you must know if we are in your age group, I remember most mount boys who were about 2 yrs older or 2 yrs younger than me.

Hudson and I played in the mount band Cosmic Vibes, our band was after Raymond McCartney band, with Francis on drums and also Milton on drums, bullet head on bass.

I think they had another guitar player; these guys were great players for their ages.

We still play music, Hudson and his son is working on a cd in Toronto, I played with bands on the weekends for many years, now I just jam with friends.

I play nylon, steel electric guitars and all styles of music, playing music is medicine, and it keeps me young.

David I don't know if I answered your question or not, but its good to hear from any old mount boys, what a time, take care, good to hear from you .

Glen McKoy - guitar player
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From: "david decastro" thecalypsobandit@hotmail.com
To: mckoy43glen@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:52:49 +0000

Hi,

Got your email from Ladislao,

I remember a McCoy at mount but I do not remember the first name .

Were they 2 McCoy brothers ?

My name is Dave de Castro {they called me Dougles} my brother was Delano de Castro.

Any answers?

With tax season right around the corner, make sure to follow these few simple tips.

Hi there , Tim list the name McCoy is wrong its McKoy Glen and Hudson, just to get it right because before us there were also other old boys who spelled their names McCoy,

Thank you Glen very good friend of Tim Healy, a bunch of us also went to Suriname with Tim had a great time.
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Re: Bands at Mount
Norman Smith
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:56:13 PM

I'm sorry to say that I have no photos of those days.

All the images are in my mind.

I have some photos of the reunion with CheChe.

I will find them and pass them on.

Father Bernard was the principal and Father Eugene was the dean (he was the one who would give us the lashings.)

Father Cuthbert was very special to me.

He was the Scout leader..

We were all afraid of Fr, Ildefonse's hands... it was no fun getting your ears pulled by him.

I was there when the new building (new kitchen and refectory) and the theatre hall where we saw movies and performed plays and the Chains performed and practiced, was built... the stone wall that went up at the edge of the basketball court.

I was very influenced by the bamboo structures we made.

Many, many memories.

Too bad we did not have the digital cameras kids have today.

Saludos!

Norman
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On May 29, 2007, at 7:24 PM, ladislao kertesz wrote:

Dear Norman,

Now all that is missing is the photos.

Thank you for the email, it keeps the Circular going.

How about a little memory and lines on the teachers that you had.

Who was the principal??

Bursar??

God Bless

Ladislao
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I have included the list of pictures shown in a given period. All 16mm.
Use the code of the photos when replying.
This is for now, keep well.
God Bless
Ladislao
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Photos:
81NS0001NSM, Norman Smith in New York
63NS0001NSMMSB, Norman Smith at Mount.
Class XX taken in 1960++
61UN0001PICTURES, Picture list