Duane Maracin & Richard Cox Performed this year in unison with the FLCCA
Duane Maracin & Richard Cox Performed this year in unison with the FLCCA at the following places and dates:
Elite Day Care – February 2, 2017, March 17, 2017, & March 19, 2017
Mr. Maracin has always had a proclivity to give back to the community and spread the wondrous joy of music. We at the FLCCA wanted to start to invite you to get more familiar as to who we are as an organization, and spread some light on the work we do outside of bringing concerts and shows to the Harris Center. Mr. Maracin exhibits our values at the FLCCA to the highest degree. It is a great honor and privilege to introduce you to Duane Maracin. The post will begin with a short word and short biography of how Duane found his way toward music.
“DP Maracin, lead singer (bass-baritone) has been trying to figure out how a guitar works since he was a small child. Growing up, his family had no TV so he and his siblings would sit at dad’s knee and listen while he played an old Harmony arch-top guitar with his limited chord vocabulary and sang old cowboy tunes from the 20’s to the ’40’s. DP’s mother gave him a plastic ukulele when he was about 7 years-old and taught him how to play, You Are My Sunshine. He got his first guitar at age 11 – an inexpensive and nearly unplayable Sears Roebuck model that cost about $12. About a year or two later, his father gave him the old, scratched-up Harmony arch-top as a Christmas present. Needless to say, DP cried tears of joy and gratitude.
With little family money, music lessons were out of the question, so DP taught himself bass, guitar, and harmonica with heavy influences from Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, and of course, from the old tunes his father played. He also tried 5-string banjo, but gave up the endeavor for the ‘good of all’.
DP does not read music, but plays ‘”by ear”, adding his baritone voice to an eclectic mix of Folk, Country, Broadway, Blues, Doo-Wop, Oldies, and ’60s to 80’s Classic Rock.”
It was also fantastic to get to know Duane outside of his service. These are responses for what is like helping Senior Centers, his favorite songs are, the difference in performing for Seniors and Schools, and what he likes to do in his spare time.
“Playing for seniors is very rewarding. It’s reminiscent of singing to my parents when they were still around. Many of the older folks who suffer from various degrees of dementia, may not remember their children’s names, yet they tap their feet and mouth the words to an old, Elvis Presley tune. Such experiences put a lump in my throat and make me thankful that, at 76 years-old, I still have something to contribute.
It’s difficult to pick a favorite song – you see, if it’s not a song that I (we) like, we don’t do it! Personally, especially when doing ‘solo’ gigs, I prefer songs that were written for a ‘big voice’ such as Unchained Melody, You’ll Never Walk Alone, O Sole Mio, Danny Boy, They Call The Wind Mariah, The Impossible Dream, and others. Otherwise, I’m especially fond of popular music from the 50-70’s
We don’t change our repertoire to suit our audiences since we don’t solicit younger (18-30 year-olds) audiences. However, when those younger folks attend one of our gigs, they always enjoy our sound and love the fact that our music is so ‘danceable’.
In my spare time (I retired in 2011), I enjoy maintaining my vintage ’64 Porsche, trout fishing in the eastern Sierra, writing (I’ve written a full-length young readers’ novel but haven’t yet found a publisher), drawing and cartooning, and keeping up my house and yard.”Duane Maracin
-Duane Maracin