Resa's Pieces Concert Band

Mike Stone

My name is Mike Stone and I joined the band in January 2010. I play alto sax. I also play flute in the Etobicoke Community Concert Band. Resa was a substitute conductor at one of our practices in December 2009. She said she could use some saxophone players in Resa's Pieces, so I stepped up to the plate. I've been playing flute in the Etobicoke band for about 10 years. I purchased an alto sax about 5 years ago, but I get little time or opportunity to play it. I thought that by joining Resa's Pieces I would have a chance to try the sax and get better at playing it. I am a therapist by profession, working with adults who were abused as children, with families where parents are separated and with people with a wide variety of psycho-social problems. Music is my way of nurturing myself and restoring equilibrium in my own life.

Sam (Al) Fitleberg

aka Al Farrell

5 Years old; Won’t go into Kindergarten class crying.  Mother gives me few taps  with her umbrella. Teacher comes out and says, "Sammy you will be the leader of the band," and hands me a drum stick!  6 Years old, in first grade, choir needs a soloist so I did my first performance, which won first prize on a radio show.  The song we sang was Billy boy and I was Billy boy. This lead to me having the lead parts in all of the plays for the rest of my stay at Bancroft School.  7 Years old, I was handed a Violin and played Violin for several years.  They took back the Violin when I left grade school and handed me a Sax when I entered High school.  I then studied Sax and Clarinet with Arthur Romano for several years.  I did my first professional job at the age of 14 playing for the exotic dancers and doing club dates around Montreal.  One summer I was playing at a hotel in the Laurentians with a small group, and every Saturday night the drummer was drunk by 10PM.

So I would sit down at the drums and do the best I could.  It seems that the best I could was pretty good and ended up getting club dates on both Sax and drums (not together of course).  I was fortunate to get involved with a group called the Huckle Bucks and played with them in Dance Halls, Grad Dances all over the Province of Quebec and the State of Vermont.  We also backed artists like Ginette Renaud, Michel Louvain. We played an afternoon radio show called the Pepsi Cola Hour,  I played the Like Young show on CTV with Dean Morgan.

The Shaar Shalom Synagogue got a hold of me and I directed two musical shows for them.  ONCE UPON A SABBATH & BAJOUR. 1961 came along and I met my beautiful wife Silka.  That put a damper on my playing as I was also working during the day in the Plumbing industry.  I was relegated to playing Wedding, Bar Mitzvahs, etc., on drums, Sax and of course singing.  I retired from Music in 1977 as I began traveling extensively for my business. I would play Soprano Sax from time to time in Hospitals and Old age homes strolling from room to room playing Yiddish music.  Just to stay sane.

Here are a few selections of me singing some classic Sinatra-style tunes. Elvis, eat your heart out.

Impossible Dream feat. Al Fitleberg

My Way

New York, New York

We moved to Toronto in March of 2005 getting very frustrated about music as I was only singing in the Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda choir.  I met Dorian Forrester and was talking about playing music again.  She introduced me to Resa Kochberg and the rest is history.