Buddy’s Buddies!
John Rochette and Eric Scott Anthony play Buddy’s band mates, The Crickets, in our production. I chatted with them and they blabbed! 
"I grew up in
"I’ve worked as a classical actor, and musical theatre actor, and actor/musician (Buddy Holly style), been a Blueman in NYC’s BLUEMAN GROUP, drummed in rock bands, and even worked as a professional puppeteer. I’m now also learning guitar. I’ve recently started doin’ a lot of Soap Opera stuff too."
"To be honest, I truly discovered Buddy’s music when cast in my first BUDDY production. I was always a HUGE Elvis fan, but only knew a handful of Buddy tunes. Now I’m really into Dave Matthews still, The Police, The Beatles, U2, The Who, and I love almost ALL 60’s music."
ERIC: "I grew up in St. Louis MO- in a non-musical family (my mother sang a bit) typical suburban lower-mid class stuff. I started out in the school band on the saxophone- stuck with it through freshman year of college then let it go- and in that setting, met some people that would help shape it all."
"I had a couple of friends in there that wanted to start a band- I picked up a little bass and guitar to jam with them (I was about 13). one of them had very "hippie" parents so we did alot of Greatful Dead, Jefferson Airplane type stuff- we formed my first band called "Strangers in a Strange Band" (we had just read the Robert Heinlein book of a similar name)"
"When I first heard Eric Clapton’s guitar solo on the song "Crossroads" on the Best of Cream album- I knew the guitar was for me ( I was 14). Later a woman named Karen Flaschar taught me to sing and really set me on this career path- we just lost her tragically to an ice storm accident- terrible stuff."
"I play guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, drums, sax, and some piano. The only lessons I ever took were voice lessons- they were frustrating at times but overall very helpful."
"I discovered Buddy Holly’s music around the age of 6 or 7 when I saw the Gary Busey movie. I listened to a lot of classic rock (Beatles, Stones) and a lot of hippie rock- also ska, and reggae- and let’s not forget the funk. make mine the p funk. Now i listen to about the same stuff- a lot more country bluegrass stuff- still mostly the Beatles- and I am not in a band- but soon…….."
"We are all buddies. I met Pat doing Ring of Fire in Buffalo- we discovered that we knew some of the same people (very common in guitar theater) he later recommended me for the BUDDY in Akron- which is where I met John. He and I were roomie’s there and it worked super well so we got a spot in NYC. I was not a cricket in Akron so I didn’t work tons with the other two directly- but we did have a "face-melting" Clear Lake Concert….every night. it was awesome making music with these guys- and will be awesome all over again!!" [gallery=9]
