Five Firsts: Louis Apicello of Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned

NAME: Louis Apicello
BAND AFFILIATION: Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned and the rest of the B3nson Family
INSTRUMENT: Trumpet

1. THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS … Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue.” I didn’t have my own tape player for a long time. I remember when I first got my personal walkman, my parents gave me a tape of “Louis Armstrong’s Greatest Hits” and the soundtrack to the movie “The Big Chill.” I played those tapes over and over and pretended I was playing along until I wore them out. When I finally went to buy my first tape, my sister said I should get “Kind of Blue.” I bought it from the chain store The Wall. I still remember the blue “lifetime guarantee” sticker on the case, and I probably still have it.

2. THE FIRST CONCERT THAT I EVER SAW WAS … Not counting school concerts for my siblings, the first real concert I can remember attending was Maynard Ferguson back in the winter of 1994. It was at one of the ski resorts in the Catskills. I went with my friend’s dad, who was also my trumpet teacher at the time. Maynard completely blew my mind, and after the show I got to shake his hand.

3. THE FIRST MUSICAL INSTRUMENT I EVER OWNED OR PLAYED WAS … I actually started to play the baritone horn when I was eight years old. I played it for about two weeks before I decided that it was not for me, and I picked up the trumpet. I have stuck with that ever since. My parents bought me my first horn at a garage sale for $100 when I was in the fourth grade. I bought a used trumpet and flugelhorn when was in the eighth grade, and I still play the same horns.

4. THE FIRST SONG THAT I EVER PERFORMED IN PUBLIC WAS … I was in the school band and orchestra since the third grade, so I was playing lots of school concerts, parades, city events and the like for a long time. I had also done lots of open mics with Dunbar back in 2004. The first real show that I played with Dunbar was when I re-joined the band on July 3, 2007 at the Trash Bar in Brooklyn. If I had to guess, the opening song was probably “Passing Time.”

5. THE FIRST BAND I WAS EVER IN WAS … Again, not counting school bands, the first band I was in was a ska band called Sproket in high school. My fellow band mate, Alex Muro, was also in that band… though, we never played any gigs.

Louis Apicello and the rest of Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned will gather together at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy on Saturday (December 3), as part of the Sanctuary’s Live From Lock One series. A benefit for the Youth Media Sanctuary, the concert is slated to begin at 8pm. Suggested donation is $10; student/low-income $5.