Over the last few days I have been thinking, as I’m sure all of you have,
about the injustice of Tom’s passing. All I can figure out is God must have
needed a keyboard player in Heaven.
Someone once said “it’s the experiences in life that give us the experience
of life”. Given that, Tom Ouellette was a pro at living life! I would like to
share with you just a few of those experiences.
The beginning
I vividly recall the day I met Tom. At the urging of my friend Marc Breton I
had called Tom to set up an audition because Tom’s band “Brandy” needed
a drummer and I happened to be looking for a band. When I pulled up at
Sawyer Street, Tom, who was 20 at the time but didn’t look a day over 16,
bounded out of his house like the Energizer Bunny, grinning, with curly hair
on his head and arm outstretched to shake hands, His first words to me are
probably familiar to many of you: “Hey! How’s it going?” He was then, and
remained throughout his life, the most energetic person I ever knew.
Suffice it to say that I passed the audition and Tom hired me for Brandy,
which became the nucleus of what would be Exit 5. From those humble
beginnings in the fall of 1977, Exit 5 grew, developed and played until early
1986. For a bunch of local musicians, all with full time careers, we had
quite a run.
The interesting thing is, as we look back on those years, we couldn’t have
done any of it without Tommy. Keyboards, and synthesizers in particular,
were the emerging instrument of the day. To learn a song by The Tubes,
The Cars, Styx, Men at Work, Billy Idol, Loverboy, or Van Halen meant
Tom needed to find the exact sound that gave the song its signature.
There were many trips to Carroll’s Music, weren’t there Cindy? One week
Tom might pick up a new some new sound samples or patches, or a mini
Leslie amp or some other gadget he’d found. And every now and then, a
brand new synthesizer with the latest and greatest preset sounds would
show up.
Tom and I spoke at length last summer and he shared that this was a
frustrating time for him. The technology was changing so fast that it made
his head spin.
He said to me “No offense, Kenny, but drums are drums, the guys were
playing 1967 era guitars, and I was buying 2 or 3 keyboards a year.” But I
don’t recall frustration in Tom, all I remember is the excitement of the next
new gadget, leading to that perfect sound for the next new song.
There was an upside to this new technology. The lightweight keyboards
meant we no longer had to lug Tommy’s Baldwin electric piano to gigs. We
all remember carrying the Baldwin up and down the fire escape at the
Drydock Restaurant in Portland, praying that the steel stairway stayed
bolted to the brick exterior.
We wouldn’t even all get on the fire escape at the same time, fearing a
catastrophe. To this day when I drive by the Drydock, I can picture Tommy
and the Baldwin inching up that stairway.
I read a quote by Andy Rooney the other day that said “Death is a distant
rumor to the young”. How fitting, I thought, as I recalled driving to many
gigs with Tom and the guys, all in our early or mid 20’s, laughing and
wondering if we would still be playing Rock n’ Roll when we hit 40 years
old. Well, keep on playing we did!
Tom made many people happy and he comforted many as well. Even when
he wasn’t playing in a band, Tom played for church services and played at
uncountable weddings and funerals. At least a dozen people in the last few
days have said to me “Tommy played at our wedding!”.
Hunting and Fishing
Tom’s other love besides music was his love of the outdoors and he went
on numerous hunting and fishing trips with his brother Bob and continued
after Bob’s death. While I was not along for those adventures I know that
many of you in this room, Tom’s friends and family, were with him and I can
only imagine the stories you have to tell. Because, if you knew Tom
Ouellette, you know there was always a tale to tell and something to laugh
about.
Tommy O’
Tom was very fortunate in the last few years to have the friendship of Al
Smith and the duo they called Tommy O’. I realized yesterday as I listened
to the sounds of Tommy’s keyboards and Al’s singing that I will remember
Tom more for this phase of his musical career than any other. What a fitting tribute to Tom that his last band would carry the name “Tommy O".
The 9 lives of Tommy 'O
We all know that Tom had a life threatening scare 7 or 8 years ago. I
remember going to visit Tom in the Cardiac ICU and as I announced my
arrival at the desk the nurse handed me a newspaper and said “He’s
sleeping but you can sit quietly in his room.”
About ten minutes later as I flipped pages I heard “What are you doing
here, don’t you have better things to do?” That was SO Tommy. “I could
ask you the same!” I replied.
He continued on by saying “Yesterday was a heckuva day…” and he told
me his story.
But, there is another, less well known close call that Tom had years ago
while en route to an Exit 5 gig. We were driving in our converted school bus
in the middle of a blizzard headed up north and Tom was standing in the
door-well of the bus, waiting for it to stop.
Because of the white-out conditions outside, Tom thought we were stopped
and he opened the bus doors and stepped out…but unfortunately we were
still going about 20 MPH!!
The fact that the ground adjacent to the road sloped downward probably
saved Tom’s life. He tumbled off the bus, down the embankment doing
somersaults, arms flailing. We were all watching in horror and jumped out
as soon as the bus came to a stop. There was Tom, standing spreadlegged,
holding 2 thumbs up, grinning from ear to ear, looking more like a
snowman than a keyboard player.
The show WOULD go on for yet another day.
Cancer
Tom’s toughest challenge, of course, would be his cancer. We found out
just a little over a year ago that Tom would be tested once again.
Not long after the diagnosis, Cindy conveyed to the Band that Tom’s
greatest wish was to get Exit 5 back together for one last reunion. Luckily, we were actually able to find a mutually agreeable date between
the 5 inter-related bands that the 8 various musicians played in.
Practice dates were scheduled and since we had last reunited in August of
2001 for a Thornton Academy reunion, the tunes weren’t too rusty and we
made great progress. As the evening of August 23rd approached we knew
it would be a special event indeed.
Throughout the evening of the Reunion, Tom simply beamed. He was so
happy to be surrounded by his friends on stage and his friends in the
audience. Many bottles of Tom’s beloved ‘pudding’ were consumed, photos
were taken and there were handshakes and hugs for everyone.
The music was beyond great and we had the time of our lives. Cindy, I
know that you feel thankful to us for having pulled off this event, but in truth
it is all of us that are thankful to you for making sure that this reunion took
place. We are indebted to you forever
The reunion raised over $5,500 in proceeds that were donated to the Maine
Cancer Foundation on behalf of Mary’s Walk. On Sunday March 15 during
the Mary’s Walk opening ceremony at Thornton Academy we will be
presenting a ceremonial check to Maine Cancer Foundation in a tribute to
Tom and I hope you can all be there.
What Tom taught us
I feel confident that everyone in this room will agree that Tom Ouellette
taught us a lot about life. Personally, from Tom I learned the art of positive
thinking, humility, and how to laugh out loud. Tom never said a negative
word even when he had every right to. Tom taught us to face our
challenges, to love our families, and to trust our friends.
I’d like to close with a message to the ladies in Tom’s life… To Pat his
mom, to Cindy his wife, and to Abby his daughter, please know that our
collective arms are around you as you move forward. There will be tough
times, of course, the ‘year of firsts’ as I call it, when you will experience
special days or events for the first time without Tom.
But don’t despair! Tom had a wonderful and fulfilling life and he lived it HIS
way. None of us enjoyed seeing the energy zapped from the Energizer
Bunny as in the last few months, so consider the blessing of this day, that
Tom’s pain and suffering are over.
Your Son, your Husband, your Father, and your friend would not want you
to be sad, he would want you to smile, to laugh as hard as you can, to raise
a glass of pudding, and to celebrate the good times you had together.
I have received many calls and emails from friends in the last 2 days that
simply said “Tom was a good man’…and that he was….Tom was a good
man!
God must have needed a keyboard player in Heaven.
