Tom makes his living as an Electrical Contractor, unspecialized, but he prefers remodels and troubleshooting. His hobbies include computers, mathematics, electronics, audio, woodworking, identifying voices on commercials and documentaries, and collecting really goony trivia questions (and, of course, barbershop singing).

For example:

1. How many parts did Frank Morgan play in the Wizard of Oz (1939, Judy Garland)?
2. What is Wimpy’s full name?
3. Who was Crusader Rabbit’s sidekick?
4. What TV series had as guest stars both Don Rickles as a Satan worshipper and Richard Pryor as a puppeteer who did not speak (even for his puppet!)?
5. Which actor played characters on both sides of the gunfight at the OK Corral?

Tom describes himself as an ‘old unreconstructed rock’n roller’, plays guitar (acoustic and electric), piano (poorly), and could play harmonica lots better approximately 30 years and 284,700 cigarettes ago. (Tony Glover, harmonica virtuoso, recommended that harp players quit smoking. As far as anyone knows, Mr. Glover himself never quit.)

One of Tom’s earliest pleasurable memories is Larry Hooper singing ‘This Old House’ on The Lawrence Welk Show. Imagine Tom’s surprise on finding that he himself IS a basso profundo, and can sing that song any time he takes the time to learn it.

Tom is a fan of the great Thurl Ravenscroft (Tony the Tiger), who sang The Grinch’s Song and (with his quartet, the Mellow Men) ‘Painting the Roses Red’ in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Shere Khan’s ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ in The Jungle Book, and probably many other unaccredited voice appearances.  Mr. Ravenscroft also did many voiceovers for Disney rides and exhibits. He now resides in Fullerton, CA according to knowledgeable sources.

Tom also admires Carl Stallings, who scored the Warner Brothers cartoons for many years. Mr. Stallings was said to know every song ever written. He had a special place in his heart for ‘The Lady in Red’ (and once ‘The Rabbit in Red’!!!), but is best known to Barbershoppers as the guy who re-popularized ‘Hello, Ma Baby’, ‘Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone’, ‘Michigan Rag’, and others sung by the Frog (Michigan J. Frog).

Tom is one of the founding members of 2 loud 4 U.

Answers to trivia questions:

1. Depends. He did the snake oil salesman, the gatekeeper to the Emerald City, the taxi driver in the City, the doorman to the Wizard, the Wizard as a ‘humbug’, and the large imposing Wizard. I count six, but your mileage may vary.
2. J. Wellington Wimpy.
3. Ragland T. Tiger (Rags the Tiger), if memory serves.
4. The Wild, Wild West (you check it – it’s true!).
5. DeForest Kelly played one of the Earp Brothers in the Burt Lancaster/Kirk Douglas flick, and one of the Clanton gang on Star Trek.

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