A question occasionally arises about talent in my family. Am I the only one with artistic talent or are there others? Not surprisingly there are many others.
I have no information that precedes my grandparents' generation but my maternal grandfather, Myer Glatt wrote two books in Yiddish, one a scholarly religious text. and the other a book of stories, poems and humour. One poem, "My Legacy," can be found in my Blog.
Among my parent's generation, there were several talented individuals. My mother's oldest brother, Manny, played the ukulele. Marty played the saxophone and often entertained at old age homes. My mother played the violin but never went far with it. My father's brother, Louis, was a fine violinist and won a scholarship to study at what I believe was McGill University. His younger brother, Arthur was a fine visual painter, studied professionally and all the Levin homes when I was growing up featured examples of his work.
In my generation, there are many talents as well. In my own family, both of my brothers played guitar. My youngest, Lewis, became quite proficient and with his friend, Steve River's, formed a folk singing duo that would perform cover songs at parties in the 60s. My brother Harold never became competent at the guitar but with our cousin, Harvey, became involved in booking entertainment acts in Ottawa, and booked some of the greatest entertainers of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, including Benny Goodman, Huey Lewis and the News, The Eagles and Russell Peters.
Our Uncle Arthur had a son, Larry who dabbled in music, but his son, Lewis-David became a very polished videographer, produced commercials for a living and song albums and spiritual music albums as well. Lewis-David recorded many of the recordings on this website- all the ones performed by Noel McRobbie. Arthur's daughter, Mindy became a doctor and internationally-known medical researcher winning many accolades for her developments in restoring function to limbs following major trauma.
My Uncle Louis's daughter, Sharon was a fine and vivacious singer but never became a professional.
On my mother's side, my Uncle Manny's son, Harvey opened up the first Ottawa store totally dedicated to records, The Treble Clef and soon after a coffee house, Le Hibou, featuring some of the emerging folk singer-songwriters of the time. Joannie Mitchel used to make sandwiches between sets. Harvey also opened a radio station, CHEZ FM and Bass Clef Productions that my brother Harold later took over bringing some of the biggest acts coming to Ottawa to the local football stadium, Landsdown Park. His sister, Esther moved to New York to pursue an acting career and was featured in several productions there, including the musical, South Pacific.
Our Aunt Ruth's son, Eugene became a fine violinist and still performs in a local amateur symphony in New Jersey.
That is a brief rundown of the talent in my family and it looks like the newest generation will continue to inspire.