BEFORE DINO KNEW MY NAME
Chapter One — Pretty Baby
Long before I ever stood backstage with Dean Martin, I knew his voice. I was a kid at St. Anthony High School in Long Beach when Dino was already part of the soundtrack of my life. My mother surprised me one day with his album Pretty Baby. I played those 33 RPM records until it seemed I might wear the grooves completely smooth. Back then Dean Martin belonged to another universe. Hollywood. Las Vegas. Movies. Television. I belonged to Long Beach. A decade later I would be standing only a few feet from him on The Dean Martin Show. Whenever I think about that journey, I think first about my mother. She bought the record. She couldn't possibly have known where it would lead. Neither could I.Sometimes the smallest gifts become the first page of a much larger story.
