Hi, my name is Sam Gindin and I’m from Brooklyn. 

One of the memories I have, which definitely turned my life around, was when I went to a local party. And I went there with a belt which had a hunting horn from a French horn. And all of a sudden one guy sitting down says to me, “Are you a musician?” 

I went, “Uh, yeah, I am”. 

He says, “Oh, have you heard of the the gay band of New York?” 

And I said, “Uh, definitely.” 

And he said, “We need a conductor.” 

I said, “When’s your rehearsal?”

“It’s every Tuesday night And Chinatown.”

I went, “Okay, I can handle that.” 

And I walk in, there were like nine or 10 people and I sat down and I played, you know, about 20 minutes. And people were hearing me. You know, I’m a professional. And then Trudy gets up and she says, “Would you mind conducting the band?”

I went, “No, I don’t mind.” 

And she gives me the baton and I go, “Woo… B flat tune to that.” I said, “Let’s start with something that you love and something that I hope I know. Of course, it was a sousa march and it was really nice, 

And I said, “You know something, you can improve this greatly if you did this rhythm. And if you got a little – so I know we’re only 10 people. Just play softer and you come out and it’ll… the balance will be wonderful. And if you play in tune, you’ll sound like 40 people. 

And we did it again and it was really sweet. Well, I think it was the second rehearsal that I = in Chinatown that the board decided that we were gonna change our name from the gay community, New York City gay Community Marching Band to the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps.

And then in another week we did Christmas carols all around the bars in Christopher Street in the West Village. And I just became like… you know, I got my shoes off, I jumped on the bar and I said, “Come on! Everybody sing along!” You know, roll out the…

And then that was so funny. And then I handed out the tambourine. I said, “Okay, you queens. Toss it in.” And you know, we came up with like $40, $50, which is pretty good. And that was the first year I was with the band. 

Then we did a concert April 17th, 1984. I invited my sister because I came out to her. She came from New Jersey and, and it was… a few hundred people were there. We played some wonderful music and well. It was like a 35, 40 piece band. We started to get, you know, guest singers and my husband, I think sang once, and we started to do dances and we got invited out to Fire Island. The Pines, I think it was The Pines. And I had very little knowledge of Fire Island, that part of Fire Island.

And we did more things. And did an outside concert on a sort of open truck. So we went out to Elmhurst, Queens. Our flag was on the – in the back. Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps. I started conducting one piece and then boom, I felt something hit me. An egg, scrambled practically, all over me. And then, the second piece, The second egg came and I said, “That’s it.” The second egg missed me and went right to the first clarinet player. He got up and he left. His partner moved up, and then the next piece was a Glen Miller thing that we did. Boom, he got hit. 

Well, that was it. We did the whole concert. We did, and go through it and I just… I just never felt so on purpose in my life and so determined. Never did I think that was in me to channel all that stuff. And the band, you know, Yay Sam, you know, really tightened up the core, the heart of the band.

And then we were in the Post the next day – and I mean, like the fourth page, not the 40th page. Well, that helped a lot too. It made New York City know that not only that park should be cleaned up, but this might be what people are thinking in general. They wish they could throw an egg. 

I was with the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps for five years and then I took five years off. I needed the break. And my assistant conductor took the band over and she was very competent and the lesbians loved that there was a woman back on the podium again. And then I came back five years later. And I played a conductor again.

The best time that we could make possibly during these tragic days was that we could still keep marching.

The best time that we could make possibly during these tragic days was that we could still keep marching and keeping the band together. We had already lost several members of the band. That was the worst time… was facing… facing that time when we had had to overcome. There was very little medications out at that time. So it was just bad feeling and you had to put your best face forward. 

Music can change… at least soothe us through all the agonies that we’re personally going through, each and every one of us. And… keep the clarinet up and your chin up and carry on, and that’s all the best I could do at the time. 

The gift of music in me was used and shared by myself to the world around me, which alone made me feel proud. And I thank God for that, that I’m… that I’m healthy and I can do it, and that I wish I could keep doing it. I’m 79 and I feel like I’m 55, so that’s pretty good. I wanna do it again. I do.