I met Donnie in the second grade (Mrs. Greene at Maybeury Elem) and we fast became best buds. He lived half a block up Vassar Road in Farmington from me on Farmington Dr. Not only was he cool to hang out with, he was left-handed! I really looked up to him. All during elementry shcool at Maybeury and then Pinchbeck, we would hang out together. His older brother George and my older brother Leigh (Gray) were close as well.
His family moved to Canterbury during the Tuckahoe Jr. High years so we weren't so close for a while. But then he started learning to play acoustic guitar along with Gary Thompson, so I joined in with them. It was 1965 and shortly we were learning to play Beatles tunes and we were having a blast doing it. Then all of a sudden Donnie bought a used electric guitar - a Les Paul Gold Top - and a little Univox amplifier. Before you could turn around, Gary got a new Rickenbacker single pickup electric six-string. I decided to use all the money I had saved up from my paper route and bought a new no-name Japanese bass guitar and a beat-up used Fender Bassman amp with 4 10's. Donnie knew a drummer (Martin Bush) who also lived in Canterbury and we became "The Exceptions" (we had cards printed up and everything!). We even played a few paying gigs. We were 13 years old!
As it turned out, Donnie was much more talented with sports than I was, and there weren't many bass players around back then, so our differing interests caused a divergence of our social circles. I soon got involved with a series of other bands, including The Emotions, and Donnie was a footballer. Sadly, we were never as close again. But I don't know that I would have ever taken music so seriously if it hadn't been for Donnie (and Gary) and the fun we had learning to play. He really had a truly lasting effect on my life.
Robert Armstrong
I met Donnie in the second grade (Mrs. Greene at Maybeury Elem) and we fast became best buds. He lived half a block up Vassar Road in Farmington from me on Farmington Dr. Not only was he cool to hang out with, he was left-handed! I really looked up to him. All during elementry shcool at Maybeury and then Pinchbeck, we would hang out together. His older brother George and my older brother Leigh (Gray) were close as well.
His family moved to Canterbury during the Tuckahoe Jr. High years so we weren't so close for a while. But then he started learning to play acoustic guitar along with Gary Thompson, so I joined in with them. It was 1965 and shortly we were learning to play Beatles tunes and we were having a blast doing it. Then all of a sudden Donnie bought a used electric guitar - a Les Paul Gold Top - and a little Univox amplifier. Before you could turn around, Gary got a new Rickenbacker single pickup electric six-string. I decided to use all the money I had saved up from my paper route and bought a new no-name Japanese bass guitar and a beat-up used Fender Bassman amp with 4 10's. Donnie knew a drummer (Martin Bush) who also lived in Canterbury and we became "The Exceptions" (we had cards printed up and everything!). We even played a few paying gigs. We were 13 years old!
As it turned out, Donnie was much more talented with sports than I was, and there weren't many bass players around back then, so our differing interests caused a divergence of our social circles. I soon got involved with a series of other bands, including The Emotions, and Donnie was a footballer. Sadly, we were never as close again. But I don't know that I would have ever taken music so seriously if it hadn't been for Donnie (and Gary) and the fun we had learning to play. He really had a truly lasting effect on my life.
Ken Brockenbrough, Jr
To see that he and Gary T have both passed leaves an empty place in the world. But somehow I can't imagine one without the other.