johnnyjanis@starwellmusic.com
	Chapter I.  Early Years Some of my earliest and happiest memories are listening to my dad play classical, jazz, folk, and popular music on the piano, guitar and violin.  One of the most important things I've come to realize about my dad is that in spite of, or maybe I should say regardless of, all the  obstacles that came with a divorce between Mom and Dad when I was eight years old, he still managed to spend a lot of one-to-one time with me when I was growing up. We took memorable trips together, like to the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia, and a canoe trip all around Lake Michigan. Usually we hitch-hiked, as it were, that involved a whole lot of hiking (to this day I've never been too crazy about hiking, especially when I was in the Army). We worked at a YMCA camp together in the summers and spent countless hours at Lincoln Park, ice skating in the winter and watching the animals in the zoo. He introduced me to sports, music... many things, then gave me the freedom to pursue them on my own terms. Swimming, for example... he'd never show me how to move my arms, kick my feet, etc, etc, but he took me with him to the lake many, many times. Watching him  was the best lesson you could get because he was a very good swimmer  As a teenager I wound up being an expert swimmer on the high school team and a lifeguard, with a lifelong love for almost anything to do with water activities. (It might have helped that I happen to be a triple Pisces!) There were so many ways my dad helped shape my abilities and my thinking, even today. I don't have enough room on this website to describe the great dad that I had... all the feelings and the fond memories connected to him that I will cherish forever. It will have to wait until I write the book about him. I was completely overtaken by jazz guitar from about age 14 on. I used to go to this record shop, pick out my two favorite albums featuring Charlie Christian (photo on right) and Oscar Moore (left, with Nat King Cole), go into the small listening room (back then the record shops had that accommodation), and spend at least two hours in the room maybe two or three times a week, soaking up the guitar solos. The store employees never kicked me out, in spite of me never buying anything, ever. They would just look the other way. I finally managed to buy a great Epiphone jazz style guitar that I drooled over many times in the music store window. (That's it in some of the pictures below.) I put five dollars down and paid five a month for a lot of months while working as a mail boy for the Community War Fund in Chicago's downtown area. I'll never forget taking that guitar home with me. From that time on, my guitar was always by my side (including when I was inducted and processed into the Army!) My dad had surprised me one day with a Nat King Cole Trio album featuring Oscar Moore playing a lot of guitar solos and fills that I copied and played over and over and over. In the photo to the right... that's me on the left nearest the building at about age 14 with some of my neighborhood friends (L-R: LEO, who started playing tenor saxophone about the same time I started playing guitar; ROSE, who had a crush on me when we were about 10 or 11 years old. I had a serious problem with lice in my hair during my time in grammar school. I could be 10 feet away from anyone with lice and I'd wind up with a few of their lice in my hair. My mother had to fine comb my very thick hair every day, plus listen to me complain about it. She finally gave up on the fine tooth combing and shaved my head. There I was, the only kid in school with a shaved head being the subject of laughter. But Rose, she still had a crush on me. That was my first experience with true love; FRANK, who was well on his way to becoming a major league baseball player until he took a bad slide into home plate that ended his baseball career.) I'll never forget my very first gig, playing guitar with my good friend on drums, Marty Bataglia. It was on a cold winter night in my hometown Chicago. We were about 16. The gig was at one of the local neighborhood taverns. My repertoire was a bunch of Charlie Christian guitar solos I copied from some Benny Goodman Sextet records. We played these songs over and over throughout the night with a lot of drum solos mixed in. The customers, on their way to the narrow path to the restrooms kept knocking over my music stand. But we did manage to play till closing time at 3AM. Now, for the trip back home...Standing on the streetcar island at 4 AM in the middle of winter, freezing cold, with a full set of drums, guitar and amplifier, waiting for a streetcar (not a streetcar named Desire - more like a streetcar named Finally) with the yellow straw woven seats. We finally made it back home, only to do it all over again until they fired us, or... as the club manager put it, "We like to keep using different musicians, we'll have you back sometime in the future." In retrospect, it reminds me of an old showbiz joke punch line about getting a decent job: What? and quit show business?... Fond memories! The U.S. Army 1950-52... On August 30, 1950 I was drafted into the 485th combat Engineers Co. C of the U.S. Army and sent to Germany, just outside Munich. My company's assignment was to blow up bridges, if and when the Russians invaded Germany. Most of the time we didn't have much to do. I began to conclude that I would be doing a lot more good for my country if the Army utilized my many years of experience to entertain my fellow (hungry for entertainment) GIs. So I began writing and visiting Army brass everywhere. My first sergeant tried everything in his power, like keeping me on guard duty every weekend etc., to curb my pursuit... also, every time I happened to cross paths with a Lieutenant Stokes he would always ask me, "Who did you write to today, Janis?" in a joking way). About a year later I finally managed to get transferred to a Special Service entertainment outfit in Nuremburg where my assignment was to play guitar for a rising recording artist and movie star named Vic Damone and recruit musical talent for future Army shows throughout Germany. I then began feeling very useful and very grateful. In retrospect, I'd say I was a very lucky soldier compared to the many GIs who gave up a whole lot more. The above left photo is of one of my Army combos: L-R: Joe Fabor, Don Newey, me, Emerson Davis: After my stint in the army, Don Newey (piano) and I worked together many times in and around Chicago. While in the Army, I appeared in the one and only musical of my entire career. It was a very popular show and was written up in service newspapers like Stars & Stripes, The Munich American, and the Seventh Army Sentinel... I sang and danced as Pvt. Wilbur Wilkins. In real life I had been promoted to Cpl. by this time). I did a lot of black and white photography (including my own developing) of people, places, buildings, etc. throughout Europe and especially Germany... including this mirror reflection picture of myself. If you're interested in reading more... Chapter II. First recordings... Coral & Carlton labels... ABC-Paramount Records & Don Costa... national TV appearances with Jackie Gleason & Telly Savalas... Columbia Records & Mitch Miller Chapter III. Playboy years & Hef... Fred Foster & Monument Records Chapter IV. More recordings... what I'm up to these days