Skip's Music — Tony Galioto

After years of success with his Stairway To Stardom program for young and upcoming musicians, in September of 1993, Skip Maggiora asked me to set into motion his idea for a new music program, one strictly with adults in mind. To this day, the Weekend Warriors program remains another ‘music-meets-marketing’ success for Skip. Although it encompassed lots of work and organization, I loved that assignment. Wanting a genuine success for WWs, Skip directed the store’s terrific staff to deliver on every last request I made to achieve that goal. I had a blast! I met countless musicians, many of whom to this day remain musical associates. There were pros, those who thought they were pros, novices, and some alcoholics. Yes, I had the coolest job at Skip’s.

Skip's Xmas 2.jpg — So in between organizing and directing as many as seven bands per week, I found time to produce two holiday staff recordings. I set up a tiny space somewhere inside the **Weekend Warriors** studio and went to work. I recorded the vocals onto a **Yamaha 4-track cassette recorder**, then brought those tracks home and synchronized them to tracks I made using a **Roland D-10** keyboard. The ‘D’ stood for dinosaur. The final production would debut at the annual end-of-year holiday bash.

**UP ON THE HOUSETOP**: The list you see identifies all the vocalists, in the order they appear on the first recording, which I think was 1994. Unfortunately I’m unable to find any information regarding the recording from the following year. Although several of the same singers appear on **RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER**, there are others who I am unable to document at this time. I know for certain **Lance Taber** played the guitar solo.
RIP: **Gary Cooper** **Erik Klevin**

WW 3.jpg — WEEKEND WARRIORS: Supervisor, director, coach, engineer, drummer when needed, and bank.

NAMM Limo 2.jpg — As it was called then, the **NAMM Convention**,1997, Anaheim, CA.

My Cousin Vini provided the limo. For real!

WW 2.jpg — 1997, **NAMM Convention**, Nashville, TE.

Bob Mariano, Skip Maggiora, and myself.

WW Vets 1 2.jpg — California Department of Veterans Affairs

Thank you so much!

Sac Bee WWS [II] copy 2.jpg — **David Barton**, in the **Sacramento Bee**, March 7, 1997.

WWs [Couch potatoes] copy.jpg — December 5, 1993, the premier **WEEKEND WARRIORS** concert.

NAMM copy.jpg — Yep, that was me, “coach guru” …