Greetings Daily Local Folks and all other visitors!
I'm Stephen DiJoseph and I'm honored to be asked to share my blog with you all. I call it " DiJoseph's Synaptic Adventure." You see, everybody's got one. No, not a DiJoseph! A Synaptic Adventure! It's what's going on in one's head: where life is REALLY lived. This then, is how it works for me: music - videos - humor - STICKING OUT in a crowd even when you don't want to - social and "private" experiences - PUBLIC EXPOSURE (Ahh!... That got your attention!) and Tourette Syndrome.
Uh huh. I have Tourette's Syndrome. Can you imagine? I find it fascinatingly bizarre to have such a "visible" uhm.."unusual-ness" and be a concert performer. But ironically, I'm driven to do so! Have you ever had the feeling you just had to do something? The question is never should you, but how will you.
Doesn't everyone have something these days? How 'bout you? Say if you want. You're in good company! I often think of the times before the "labels" came (ADD, ADHD, OCD, AUTISM, ASPERGERS to name a few) when people were just normal or "nuts". I'm glad, in some ways, for the labels.
I've personally come to experience TS as a collaborative energy over the years, but it didn't start out that way.
When I was six, a strange simultaneity occurred. Tourette's showed up and I decided my life's calling/career/purpose/vocation/must-do-this/obsessive-compulsive/tic-driven/urg-a-lomaniacal dream was to be a musician. You know your standard garden variety kiddie-type desires.
I began with drum lessons. I definitely liked it, but something else was calling. Like for instance, the Beatles! They blew my wittle mind out in a car! In my dad's car. On the radio. And I wanted to "be that" when I grew up. My "partner" Tourettes showed up 'one day' as the OCD-ish urge to "test" a Christmas ball to see how hard I could squeeze it without braking it. Hmm. My "limit" test failed and It broke. and I bled. I think that "limit" test also showed up in my music as a stand-outish quality that pushed me to experiment, explore and compose.. I think the drums were a good choice for that time, that beginning of strange uncontrollable urges and rhythmic... pulse-ations.
3 years later...
Christmas. snow-bound at Aunt Pinky (nickname: I still don't know her real name) and Uncle Joe's in South Philly. We were trading presents and my parents pulled out a big box and handed it to me. I was spellbound with anticipation as I tore into the wrapping: A Magnus air-powered Organ!! Ahhhhhhhh!
Truly I say unto you, I did not get off that thing all night (even after they unplugged it.) I found my true love.
I was in a blurting phase with TS, so the combination of the instrument and my "vocalizing" was quite a test for family ties.
3 MORE years later...
I'd been bugging Mom and Dad for a professional organ for two years and 350 days . I wanted a real one with pedals and two manuals. (took two weeks to wear out the Magnus ) I actually cried
until they believed I was serious. One day I returned home from school and headed to the basement for my after-school music-listening session. And there it was! A brand spanking new ORGAN...with p-p-pedals! a-and...t-t-two manuals! Woohoo! Once again, I don't get off it for days and play until I drop.
Enter my first "real" music lessons...
My tutor worked for Wurlitzer in Center City, Philadelphia where we bought my organ. I don't remember her name, rank or serial number, but, let me tell you,
she ruled her gestapo-inspired teaching sessions with an iron fist....and a wooden ruler! yyy-ouch!! I gotta use those hands your wackin' wit 'dat ruler, lady! Fortunately for me and just in time, along came...the DANS. (to be continued)
LIVE at the Wiffledust studio...
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