When I was a kid I was taught by Buddy Rich, what better influence than that...huh? Yea I was 8 years old and I loved drums then as much as I still do now ;-) and I had a teacher, he was a guitarist also his name was Hal Columbo this guy was awesome on a guitar, well anyway we have (or had) this place in Philly called the River Front Dinner Theatre well Hal loved the way I played for my age he took me to see this guy he called Buddy (I was 8 -9 and didn't know a star if it fell on my lap) which it did... I watched this guy play Hal told him he would be impressed with me..So the guy said hey kid "Lets see what ya got!" So I climbed up on his kit and remembered what he did a few moments ago and played it back, he looked at Hal and said thats unbelieveable, hey kid know wipe out? so I did the wipe out roll, he told Hal to bring me down during the week, so I went down again during the week and he had 2 drumkits set up, he led & I followed.. he did some cool rediments and I answered his leads then I opened up on him, I went so quick I looked like I was playing in slow motion, Then I played lefthanded (ambidextrous, can play a standard left or right handed kit) He jumped up and screamed he loved it. then he remembered my name Frankie Pereira. Well to me he was just my teacher (still didn't realize that this was a famous drummer) just my teacher that I thought was pretty good Hal taught me weekly but 2x's a month I went to the theatre. I met Frank Sinatra (Buddy teased, are you 2 related? cause of the baby blue eyes), and most of the Rat Pack from this guy, Played on the Jerry Lewis Telethon and all then finally he went on tour with Mr Sinatra after a couple years, So I kept the Buddy Rich drum books and rediments he gave me and I practiced at home with Hal while I played with a jazz band I played at Cozy Moorleys, Did Al Jolson with Mike Gallo, Then I met Tito Puente (excellent showmanship, remember I'm spanish, My Pop was from Espania) and got into latin rythyms, rumba, reggae, etc. I played with a band called Bourbon and did the stringband thing with Marc Ciacia his brotherinlaw John from UA stringband, so did that a couple years doing big band and dance music then at a Greater Kensington Stringband Practice my buddy Marc played 2 hand touch football, fell and died (17) so I lost interest in playing for a little while. And ya know what? I didn't realize Buddy was famoust till my mid teens (Marc pointed it out to me) when I seen a lot of stuff he was on and said hey thats my old drum teacher, the old heads would say if he took the time to teach you then you must be one hell of a drummer, I would reply with "I was his kid prodigy, he told people" He was an awesome person also, would mess with the best, a real kidder. (lol) More on Buddy Rich here Now, all this before I did Rock drumming (I fell in love with the Double Bass Concept). I continued the rock music with Bob Livingston from the age of 14 (a side project when I played with Bourbon) till nowadays we get together here and there and then I stopped for a while (bit by the computer bug, 3 yrs). I also jammed with a band named Eternity! That was a trip! packed my bags and drums told my parents I was moving, they thought I was kidding and soon found I wasn't and I moved to Long Island New York (Off & On for 5 yrs)LOL, OMG Please! that ROCKED!!! I lived with the bass player Chuck and lead/rythym gutarist Bob in Flanders (whom I met and jammed with in Philly from Bob) Oh Yo! the Partys, waking up and lightly steppin over sleepin gorgeous bodies from the jams the nights before, tryin to get a spot at the bathroom where chicks were still lined up at 9-10 am (ahhhhh! they were the days, living on the beach) We played the Boardy Barns, The Mad Hatter, Mad Mad Hatter, Hell we even opened up for Dee Snider (Twisted Sister).... Now party with these guys till 9:00 am the next day (aahhhhhh The Memorys) Dee was as crazy then as he is now (tamed a lot since 25 yrs) but can still dish it out!) I rapped with him this summer on our rock radio station WMMR, in a reminiscence of the good days of ROCK! (The days when Zebra thought they ruled the island, But Dee had it all wrapped up in my opinion! ;-) ) Now back to Bob Livingston (Oh Yea, I met Bob and Chuck from Bob Livingston) Now and then jam with him, Bob &myself jammed with Vic Loughery and Richie Doerr (been jamming a lifetime project)Bob jams with a Journey tribute band nowadays he enjoys it pretty much. Here see their web site LovinTouchinSqueezin.com and I teach drums when I can. And nowadays (2006) I am jamming with my band Great Scott, my guitarist is as awesome as Hal his name is Steve Dreisbach and we have a cool chemistry to our playing (brings back memories) I dont normally click that well with a musician (most are to opinionated), I just do my job, but this guy is cool as hell, same as the other members of my band Noel Diaz, vocals and many instruments and Leif Dunn..... well the bass is just part of his being, also an extremely talented music teacher and then we have Scott Smedsburg who is the stage tech an extremely talented Handyman/Artist. I met these guys through another drummer... Ted Madden (See my swf tribue for Ted) Ted and I used to practice together remeeting through our friend Kevin Smith , I met Ted years before through another guy I jammed with Victor Loughery but I moved from the city with Vic back to LI NY. Ted whos life came to a tragic end 2 years ago, was their drummer... who's seat I fill now. (<-- see poster I made) Also visit my bands site more here Well people these are all my influences. And like Buddy, the students of today that stand out have my backing like Tony Royster jr is one, awesome kid! Preview? click here or Visit his site!