Cape Breton's Magazine

So when I got out of the Army, then I fair? ly quickly landed back in Cape Breton. I got out the 26th day of July. And on July the 27th, I left for Cape Breton. Didn't . lose any time. I went down home then, back to White Point, just in time for swordfish? ing. I fished with my brother (Bob). I was married then. And moved to Sydney. I went cooking at the Isle Royale. So I cooked there for about a year, year and a half, assistant chef. And then I got sick of that. And I went out doing carpentry work. So I worked carpentry work for 4% years. Then I went with another fellow, he was in the aluminum business. And I worked with him for 4% years. And I left them, and Stott Aluminum got after me--they gave me that plaque there. I stayed with him un? til I retired. Twenty-eight years with him, same company. So that's about the size of it. (Let's back up. Where does your fiddle come into it? You've left the Army, come back to Cape Breton.) I formed a band, soon as I came back to Cape Breton: the Radio Entertainers. (Winston Fitzgerald--) And his Radio Entertainers. That's when I came back again to the music. (And that group is--) Just Estwood (Davidson) and I and Beatty Wallace. We were on the radio. And that's what we called ourselves. But when I got known better around Sydney, and when we got playing for bigger dances, I had, like, maybe 6. Professor Jim MacDon? ald played sax in my band. Chickie MacDon? ald. Murph Stagg, a taxi driver in North Sydney, he played with me. Oh, we used to use about 6. We'd be anywhere from Antigonish to Ingon? ish. Pick out various places. Of course they'd send for me and I'd get ahold of the boys. And I used to play at the High? land Games, then. (And the Venetian Gar? dens.) Oh, I played there 4 or 5 years. At the Navy League, too, which is not there now. I played the Ashby Legion. I played at the Carpenters' Hall. Oh God, I don't know how many halls. The Winston Fitzgerald Orchestra at the Venetian Gar? dens. Lt to rt: Eddie Pastoni, Tupper MacAskill, Wes Pretty, Beattie Wallace, Jean Dixon (not a bandmember), Estwood Davidson and Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald. (When I think of Cape Breton fiddling, I don't think of saxophones.) No, no, no. (I never think of 6 men together.) No. (So what was it you were trying for, at that point?) I was trying to make a living! Damn hard one, too! What I was aiming for, my goal. I was trying to make a name for myself. You know, trying to get known. I was reading music then, see, and I was picking out my own style of music, that I thought would suit the people. (Friend vis? iting: You were playing things like "The Sunny Side of the Street," "Sweet Georgia Brown.") Yeah, stuff like that, too. Just Beattie Wallace and myself played at the French Club for a couple of years. And I played all round dancing, with the piano. Modem dancing--it was called round danc? ing. Round and square dancing--that's what it was advertised at that time. (Were you listening to any of the big dance bands, like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey?) Yeah, I listened to them. I never learned much from them. But I learned the timing. That is the big thing in dancing. WE HAVE INFORMATiON ON YOUR PROPERTY - AND YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT IT iS! We have over 20 pieces of information on eyery number you see on this map, and we have a number on every property in Cape Breton, Richmond, Victoria, and Inverness Counties. That means we have a number on e/ery property in Cape Breton Island. - A SERVICE WORTH INVESTIGATING - Land Registration / and Information Service /Property Mapping and Records Division 66 Wentworth Street, Sydney, N. S. BIP 614 CONTROL SYSTEM of concrete monuments for surveying BASE MAPS: Orthophoto for rural areas. Line Maps for cities, town, villages PROPERTY MAPS with boundary infonnation and ownership information REGISTRY ASSISTANCE for government and private users Your Property Is Our Business • Ask Us About It TELEPHONE (902) 539-2011 or (902) 539-2622 An Agency of the Council of Maritime Premiers (13)