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Sal Giorlando, III
Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Sal Three started playing drums along with The Partridge Family records when he was in the fourth grade. He used oatmeal boxes and plastic food bins as his first drum set. He currently plays an olive ash, natural finish, five piece set from Drum Workshop.
Sal has played percussion for theater productions in the valley since 1979. Whether in the pit of the Herberger Theater Center playing "West Side Story" or on stage playing rock, there isn't a song written that Sal doesn't think sounds better when slowly played faster.
He is owner of the recording studio "San Miguel Studios" where he can be heard telling clients: "No, of course it won't sound anything like you. Do you want to sell these CD's or not?"
The loves of Sal's life are his beautiful wife, Mary and wonderful kids, Sal and Jennfer.
Sal loves all styles of music. When not performing with Cosmic Shindig he can be found playing his warped Ovation guitar or sticky valved trumpet in his living room accompanied by Mary on piano.
Sal would like to thank Brian Watkins for all the hard work that he puts in for the band - couldn't do it without you man!
Oh, and Sal's favorite band is, of course, Cosmic Shindig!
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Sal Giorlando, IV
Bass Guitar, Vocals
Sal Four, known the world over simply as "Ivy", was a child prodigy violinist starting the Suzuki method at the age of two. His proficiency grew even more rapidly after learning that it didn't involve a motorcycle. After touring the Borscht Belt on a motorcycle, he soon fell in with the jet-set elite and gigged around Europe on the Stravinsky circuit at the ripe old age of eleven.
As he grew, so did his instrument.
In his teens he took up the cello and also founded his own seasonal a'capella quintet, The Little Dickens, whose premature demise came just as his voice began to change.
At eighteen he teamed with his brother and sister, Sal and Sal, to produce their own off-off-Broadway offering, "The Nearly Fatal Illness of a Salesman".
After hitchhiking across the eastern seaboard he picked up a used jazz bass, and a new career opened up in the greater Phoenix area. Ivy plays a wickedly soulful maple Schecter bass, continues to teach fresh-faced, aspiring cellists, and gives blood to support his habit.
In-between Cosmic Shindig performances, he rehearses with the rest of the band.
Ivy's taste in music ranges from Kansas to Boston, 3 Dog Night to 3rd Eye Blind, Sum41 to U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers to Korn, The Everly Brothers to the Pointer Sisters, Bread to Limp Biskit, Linkin Park to The Dead Kennedys, Yes to No Doubt, Pink Floyd to The Black Crowes, America to Europe to Asia, CSN&Y to BS&T, and from Prince to Queen.
"Four", as he is referred to by "Two" and "Three", would like to thank the little people who helped inspire him: Mickey Rooney, Gary Coleman, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman and Herve Villachez.
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Brian Watkins
Lead Guitar, Vocals
Brian has been playing guitar since the age of sixteen when he started teaching himself on a Sears acoustic guitar that he painted red. Not long thereafter, he teamed up with Jesse Winters (Cosmic Shindig) to tour the talent show circuit in and around Conway Springs, Kansas.
Oblivious and undaunted they continued their musical partnership on and off during their time at KU, where they offered acoustic renditions of Dan Fogelberg and Neil Young songs to their friends and unsuspecting bar patrons.
In the 80's Brian found, in the computer and MIDI revolution, an unlimited source of expensive gadgetry which continues as a drain on his finances to this day.
Brian also plays piano and is working on a CD of his own jazz-rock compositions which, due to his involvement with Cosmic Shindig, is scheduled to be out in the summer of 2012.
Thankfully, both equipment and talent levels have risen significantly since the early days, but Brian's guitars are still red, and his passion for and enjoyment of music remain apparent in his vocals and guitar work in Cosmic Shindig.
Brian's favorite artists are Steely Dan, The Crusaders, The Beatles (neener, neener, Jesse) and Chicago, with some Jeff Lorber, Tower of Power, and Earth, Wind and Fire thrown in just for the funk of it.
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Jesse Winters
Keyboard, Guitar, Vocals
Jesse, aka "Shindoggie", plays rhythm guitar on a Mossman Flint Hills dreadnought that was hand-made in '74 in Winfield Kansas, and covers keys on a Yamaha S90 made last year in his favorite home-away-from-home, Tokyo, Japan.
After painstakingly learning Seals and Crofts duets with Brian Watkins (Cosmic Shindig) on mandolin, the duo was eventually forced to acknowledge that Seals and Crofts were no longer on the charts or even playing together.
More recently Jesse played guitar in Valley Youth Theatre productions of "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Charlotte's Web", and inflicted orchestral percussion on several other VYT productions, including "the Wiz" and "West Side Story".
During the Christmas season, Jesse sings acapella tenor with "Dickens Carolers", occasionally in the same quartet as Sal Giorlando III (Cosmic Shindig) or Sal Giorlando IV (Cosmic Shindig), but not with both at the same time.
Jesse's favorite bands are Steely Dan, The Crusaders, and The Beatles. His favorite solo artists include James Taylor, Paul Simon, Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, and the inimitable Joe Jackson. For duos, Jesse likes Simon and Garfunkel, Seals and Crofts, the Smothers Brothers, and Lieber and Stoller. His favorite trios are Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. (There - if that doesn't include enough key words for the search engines, then I don't know what will!) |
