Page 169 - Been There… Done That!

Been There... Done That!
but in the end, he took a chance and to this day I am grateful. I observed, worked hard and learned a lot from him, among which was how to organize a good show, how to lead a group and how to be careful whom to trust. We lost touch but remained friends when the group broke up and I went on to open for name entertainers in big showrooms across the nation.
~ Beverley Berlin Mas
I’ve known Gary for a lot of years, mainly because music has long been my way of earning a living, as well as my way of living life. And in a business like ours, people tend to cross each other’s paths. Although we never worked together, we had an acquaintanceship for many years and mutual respect. We worked many of the same venues, often booked through the same agencies and we both had a connection to Missouri, particularly to Sedalia, the “Queen City of the Prairie.”
There is one incident I’d like to relate because I think it tells a lot about the man. Some years back, I suffered a severe back injury that took me off the road and I found myself again in Sedalia, trying to heal up, unable to get back to the work I loved, the work that put food on my table, unable to go back on the road, where I lived my life. I was tied to a chair, looking out the window at the snow one day, when I heard a knock at my door. When I hobbled over and opened it, I found Gary Graham standing there smiling, holding an evergreen. I was a bit surprised because I hadn’t seen him for years and then he said, “I thought you might like to have a Christmas tree,” and set it inside my door.
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