Circular No 304

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

Caracas, 1 September 2007. No. 304
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends,
Here is the account of the reunion of two friends from the music world.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Re: Bands at Mount
Norman Smith
Friday, June 1, 2007 9:00:05 AM

Querido Ladislao,

Here are some fotos.

The ones with CheChe were taken shortly after our reunion and we had a get together to introduce him and his lovely wife Norma to our friends.

The other ones are just fotos of me, my wife Maria Candelaria, and my daughters Cayetana, Rosana and Emilia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On May 30, 2007, at 8:46 PM, ladislao kertesz wrote:

Dear Norman,

I would appreciate the photos taken with cheche.

God Bless

Ladislao
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Norman Smith <nsmith@filmsmith.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:56:13 PM
Subject: Re: Bands at Mount

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
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
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
----------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Norman Smith <nsmith@filmsmith.net>
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 10:01:27 PM
Subject: Bands at Mount

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 deBarry 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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
SAD NEWS
From: "Salvador Coscarart" salborbolla@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:48:12 -0700
From: infosanpedro@yahoo.com

Greetings Salvador

Pascall's cause of death was depressing, ( Dehydration & Hunger)

There were about 10 guys and Mrs Faria in attendance, a suggestion was made that The Abbey old boys register a NGO with a vision to assist those who fell through the crack,

In Trinidad there are available financial resources from the state and private oil companies for such humanitarian needs.

We understand that there are about 6-10 guys in dire needs.

Lets pray about it.

I met Fr Cutty at the supermarket and he sent his regards

Regards

Winston
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.Salvador Coscarart wrote:

Hello Winston,

How are you doing, long time don't hear from you.

Where are you living now?

Neil told me you were in Tobago building condos.

Any way take care and God bless .

I heard about Pascal Baralt.

Sorry to hear about but god needed him over there with him so, that’s life and we all are going there sooner or later.

Bye best wishes. Abbeyboy for ever

adios amigo.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Use the code on the photos when replying.
This is for now, keep well.
God Bless
Ladislao
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos:
04NS0004NSMFAM, Norman Smith and his girls.
07NS0003NSMGRP, At the Smiths
07NS0002NSMREC, Norman Smith and Rafael Echeverria
04NS0001NSMFAM, Norman Smith and Family

---

---

---