FRANK PELLEGRINO:
I knew Junior ever since I was a little kid, but the thing that always stands out most in my mind was, one night Junior was playin' down here--I think it was a Saturday night--and my wife Debbie was six months pregnant with our first child. Junior came back...just slight of a stupor, and puts his hands on Debbie's belly and says, "You've got a boy child coming." She looks at him and says, "Nope. It's gonna be a girl." He goes, "You've got a boy child." And they argued about this for a good twenty minutes and finally they bet a bottle of cognac, which Junior eventually lost--because our first child was a girl. But he was absolutely positive it was gonna be a boy. It was kind of funny watching the two of them arguing back and forth over it.
Another one of my favorite Junior stories is that Junior was here and it was his birthday. And he had no idea that we were gonna do anything for his birthday, so we had a cake brought up at the end of the set. And everybody in the club, at the end of that set and the beginning of the following two sets, sang "Happy Birthday" to Junior...and it had him in tears. He was so overwhelmed by the fact that so many people would sing that loud in tribute to his just being born. Junior, as much as he was flamboyant, was a very humble man, and looked at himself as being just a part of the whole. A large part of the whole--but part of the whole just the same. Not some independent thing that the world revolved around. And that was kind of a neat thing. But Junior would tell you what was on his mind straight away and always had a flair for the dramatic, as it were, when he would express himself. He was never afraid of using big words.
The only other story that came to mind was when...Junior's mother was sitting in the living room of their home on the south side. She's watching TV and Junior was getting ready to go out. Junior was always very meticulous and fastidious about how he dressed, even if he was just going out to hang out with the guys. So, he heard what he thought was like a backfire or a firecracker pop. All of a sudden he heard Mama Lena callin', "Brother! Brother! Come in here!" He explained to me that 'brother' was her nickname for him. So, he comes in and says, "Why are you botherin' me, woman, I gotta get ready to leave." She says, "Brother, I think I've been shot." And so he looked over and...the whole front of her dress was just covered in blood. Really hard for her. She pulled through it, but...you don't expect that kind of thing to happen to ya and Junior was just, he was almost in tears when he was tellin' me the story. It was very hard to watch him tell it. Just an example of how close people that Junior held to him were, and how important they were in his life and, I think, how important he was in their lives. (7/30/00 AE)
previous / next
I knew Junior ever since I was a little kid, but the thing that always stands out most in my mind was, one night Junior was playin' down here--I think it was a Saturday night--and my wife Debbie was six months pregnant with our first child. Junior came back...just slight of a stupor, and puts his hands on Debbie's belly and says, "You've got a boy child coming." She looks at him and says, "Nope. It's gonna be a girl." He goes, "You've got a boy child." And they argued about this for a good twenty minutes and finally they bet a bottle of cognac, which Junior eventually lost--because our first child was a girl. But he was absolutely positive it was gonna be a boy. It was kind of funny watching the two of them arguing back and forth over it.
Another one of my favorite Junior stories is that Junior was here and it was his birthday. And he had no idea that we were gonna do anything for his birthday, so we had a cake brought up at the end of the set. And everybody in the club, at the end of that set and the beginning of the following two sets, sang "Happy Birthday" to Junior...and it had him in tears. He was so overwhelmed by the fact that so many people would sing that loud in tribute to his just being born. Junior, as much as he was flamboyant, was a very humble man, and looked at himself as being just a part of the whole. A large part of the whole--but part of the whole just the same. Not some independent thing that the world revolved around. And that was kind of a neat thing. But Junior would tell you what was on his mind straight away and always had a flair for the dramatic, as it were, when he would express himself. He was never afraid of using big words.
The only other story that came to mind was when...Junior's mother was sitting in the living room of their home on the south side. She's watching TV and Junior was getting ready to go out. Junior was always very meticulous and fastidious about how he dressed, even if he was just going out to hang out with the guys. So, he heard what he thought was like a backfire or a firecracker pop. All of a sudden he heard Mama Lena callin', "Brother! Brother! Come in here!" He explained to me that 'brother' was her nickname for him. So, he comes in and says, "Why are you botherin' me, woman, I gotta get ready to leave." She says, "Brother, I think I've been shot." And so he looked over and...the whole front of her dress was just covered in blood. Really hard for her. She pulled through it, but...you don't expect that kind of thing to happen to ya and Junior was just, he was almost in tears when he was tellin' me the story. It was very hard to watch him tell it. Just an example of how close people that Junior held to him were, and how important they were in his life and, I think, how important he was in their lives. (7/30/00 AE)
previous / next