Max Horowitz, Anton Schlossberg, Charlie Malone, Vladimir Petrushka.
Spud was found wandering in a potato field outside of Stepaside, Co. Dublin, Ireland, by his soon to be foster parent Brian MacConville. He spoke not a word and was assumed to be mute. He immediately took to foster brother Eamonn's cornet and was playing Irish ballades before he learned to talk. To this day he claims he has no recollection of his life before he was adopted by Brian and Lynn. They guessed his age to be about five years old and celebrate his birthday on the day they found him, 14 June,1970. He also has two foster sisters, Ruth and Maebh.
Spud hated school and often hitch-hiked into Dublin where he played ballades on the street for spare change. It must have been about this time that he acquired a taste for whiskey and ale and was recruited to play in the local R&B scene. After several disappointing engagements he formed the Dublin Soul Connection (DSC), a nine-piece soul band with himself as front man. Near the end of a gruelling fifteen weeks of one nighters across Europe he found himself in a Genoa hospital suffering from a nervous breakdown and severe exhaustion. The band broke-up and headed for home. Having stashed quite a bit of cash, Spud decided to hang in Italy and maybe learn to blow some jazz.
One evening while practicing some new licks down on the docks he met Isadora di Martini, daughter of shipping mogul Vincent di Martini, and fell madly in love. Isodora, an art collector and night club owner, insisted he come to Milan to play in one of her clubs, the Caffe Sincopata. For the first time in his life he felt at home. This is where he began his love affair with the decadent lifestyle of the metropolitan art culture.
Late one night, while jamming after hours, he was approached by Dino Dante. Dino liked his playing so much that he invited him to come down to Ritorto, Sicily, to hang with the Twisted Orchestra. After a short stint with Dutch's gang Spud decided to stay in Italy with Isadora.
Though he was living la dolce vita in Milan he had been bitten by the Falconetti bug and couldn't stop dreaming of moving to California to be with the band. By January 1994 he talked Isadora into moving to San Francisco. At that time there were no openings in the Twisted Orchestra so he kept his chops up by playing Acid Jazz and salsa gigs. It was seventeen long months before Dutch called on him to fill in for Greg Sage at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. After fulfilling his summer engagements, Spud was back in the band for good.
He finally asked Isodora to be his wife. They were married in Reno, Nevada, on 26 October, 1995, with Kitten, Dutch, Bill, and Janet as witnesses.
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