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Photo Album
Backstage at The Comedy Store, sometime in the eighties. I spent many years sitting backstage, waiting to be introduced. I once saw one of Richard Pryor’s bodyguards throw a guy from the top of that little staircase, through the air, and out the door to the left of frame. Note to self. Don’t get in the face of those bodyguard type guys.
After performing stand-up for so long, several years ago I wanted to explore something else onstage, so I wrote a one man show based on the character “Cowboy Tommy,” humbly magnificent champion of America. It was an unusual show, and I loved the fact that on the first night of the performance, half of the crowd walked out…and the other half brought five or six friends the next night. I’m amazed that many people still come up to me and talk about Cowboy Tommy.
The Comedy Store, sometime in the eighties. I played the tuba onstage between 1979 and maybe ‘90 or ’91. I traveled all over North America with a tuba and a guitar for many, many years, and thousands of gigs. Then I got tired. A long flight delay once in Cleveland, Ohio, where I had to take the tuba off the baggage carousel and drag it to another gate, and, well, I put it down in the middle of the airport and said, “My friend, we are done. Thank you for your service.”
Opening for a rock band in 1982. Yes, those are parachute pants. Hey, give me some credit, I was wearing them before they even got hip. It was gigs like this that gave me lots of dings on the front of my guitar — from concert-goers throwing things at me from the balcony. Nickels, pennies…a shoe.
Here, Tom is very young and very white, opening for the band “Missing Persons” in 1981. He had a lot of energy. That’s lead singer Terry Bozzio on the left, and massively talented drummer Dale Bozzio on the right. In the early eighties, I opened for lots of bands. A highlight was when I was invited onstage by the band “The Tubes,” to play the tuba with them during their encore song, “White Punks On Dope.” Yeesh.
ZZ Top. Need I say more? They’re great guys, and I loved the fact that when they got to the Back to the Future 3 set, they got out of their bus, and as everyone was making a big fuss over them, all they were saying was, “Where’s Biff? We want to meet him. He’s cool.” We got to spend some time together, and I ended up figuring prominently in their music video, “Double Back.”
I hate manure. Consult “The Question Song” on my CD for more fabulous manure information!
I grew up in Philadelphia, where you get on a horse, then you put a quarter into the slot in his neck. What an experience - trained to ride by Corky Randall, (who worked for years on horseback with John Wayne and taught director John Ford how to ride), trained to rope by my friend, stuntman, rodeo cowboy, and all around great guy Ben Scott, and trained to quick draw by western legend Arvo Ojala, the man killed by Marshall Dillon in the opening credits of every episode of Gunsmoke. This is a great photo, but don’t be fooled — I’m scared to death.
This is my favorite photograph of my entire experience in Back to the Future. Laughing between shots, shot by the fabulous photographer, my friend Ralph Nelson.
The Facts of Life (1983). Nancy McKeon was a lot of fun to work with. I was a football player, trying to use school funds to buy a new scoreboard, but “Jo” thought the money could be used in better ways. Not unlike the basic plot of many Shakespeare plays.
April Fool’s Day (1986). I’m in a stunt harness to hang me upside down from a tree, as a snake tries to bite me. This shot was taken right before they told me that the way we were going to do this stunt was to hang me upside down and have a snake actually try to bite me. Then my face changed. My face changed so much, in fact, that they got a stunt man to do it.
No, not fun at all. Consult “The Question Song” on my CD for more information!
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