Joe Kirk (b. Ignacio "Nat" Curcuruto in New York, New York, October 1, 1903 - d. Los Angeles, California, April 16, 1975) was a U.S. radio, film, and television actor who was best known for playing the role of Mr. Bacciagalupe on The Abbott and Costello Show.
Joe Kirk got his professional start in vaudeville, where he worked as an master of ceremonies and a comedian during the 1930s.
Kirk was a regular voice actor on Abbott and Costello's radio show during the World War II and post-war era of the 1940s. In addition to his ongoing—and best-known role—as Mr. Bacciagalupe, the highly excitable Italian neighbor, Kirk played many other bit parts on the show as well.
As Mr. Bacciagalupe, Kirk spoke with a thick Sicilian-American accent; his surname was pronounced in the Sicilian manner, ("Bach-galoop"), not in "proper" Italian, as ("Bachia-galoop-eh"). When excited, Mr. Bacciagalupe frequently made improvised asides in Sicilian dialect, which were obviously appreciated by many in the audience. Lou Costello, who was Italian American himself, also understood these side-remarks, and sometimes could not stay in character, but laughed along as well.
Kirk Joseph (born 1961) is a jazz sousaphone player from New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of trombonist Waldren "Frog" Joseph, Kirk Joseph began playing the sousaphone while a student at Andrew Bell Middle School, and took part in his first professional gig at the age of fifteen when his brother Charles invited him to play a funeral with the Majestic Band.
In 1977 he became one of the founding members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a group which is credited with reviving the brass band tradition in New Orleans. He has played with the Treme Brass Band and Forgotten Souls Brass Band, and currently leads his own group called Kirk Joseph's Backyard Groove.
Described as a "modern sousaphone pioneer", Joseph claims inspiration from renowned New Orleans tuba player Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen. In an interview with The Times-Picayune Joseph described the effect Lacen's playing had on his own: "He was the first person I ever heard walking the sousaphone, making it sound like bass.... I took it from there." The style of playing created by Lacen and Joseph was instrumental in establishing the modern New Orleans brass band sound, which combines traditional marching band and Dixieland traditions with strong jazz and funk influences.
Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer. He began his career playing guitar in the band Bloodline, which featured the offspring of several famous musicians (such as Miles Davis, Robby Krieger and Berry Oakley of The Allman Brothers Band). He released his first solo album A New Day Yesterday in 2000, and has since released nine more solo studio albums, four live albums and three live DVDs, along with two albums with the band Black Country Communion and one album in collaboration with vocalist Beth Hart. He tours the world regularly, and has developed a large following in the U.K. especially. His most recent album, Driving Towards The Daylight, reached #2 on the U.K. Top 40 Albums Chart, and he completed an arena tour there in 2012. In 2009 he was the recipient of the Classic Rock Magazine "Breakthrough Artist of the Year" award, and The Guardian said of him: "the 32-year-old from upstate New York has consolidated a reputation as the pre-eminent blues-rock guitarist of his generation".
Jimmy Vivino (born January 10, 1955 in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American guitarist, keyboard player, singer, producer, and music director. He is best known as the leader of Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program Conan. He was also a member of The Tonight Show Band, the house band on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and its predecessor, Late Night with Conan O'Brien on NBC. Vivino has also played with many rock bands, which most recently has included being a member of Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux.
He is the younger brother of longtime New Jersey TV host Floyd Vivino, a.k.a. Uncle Floyd, and Basic Cable Band bandmate Jerry Vivino.
Vivino grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, where he attended Glen Rock High School. He had an interest in music from a young age. He began working in New York clubs in the early 1980s and in 1984 was musical director of the play Leader of the Pack. Later he led "Jimmy Vivino and the Black Italians" and worked with Al Kooper. Kooper considered Vivino to be one of his "discoveries" and had him as musical director for fifteen years. Later Vivino "took over" his "The Rekooperators" which Kooper stated made him proud. Vivino did much of the orchestration for the Max Weinberg Seven from 1993 onward. On the October 19, 2010 Vivino was named bandleader of the Conan show, replacing previous leader Max Weinberg. The group is called The Basic Cable Band.
Jimmy Earl is an American jazz musician and composer. He has released two studio albums and recorded extensively. He has toured the world with major artists. He is ranked #22 on the Digital Dream Door list of greatest fusion bassists. Since 2003, he has performed nightly on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
In 1957, James Christopher Earl was born in Boston, MA, to James and Sylvia Earl. He is the second of their four children. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to St. Paul, MN, and in 1965, to Hyattsville, MD, where he attended elementary school and Northwestern High School.
Earl began classical guitar lessons at age 10. In 1972, he picked up an electric bass guitar for $15 at the Rose Bowl flea market in Pasadena, CA, where his family was living temporarily. In 1973, along with his high school classmates Dan Hovey and Rex Wilson, he formed his first band named Cosmic Rainbow. Mark Opsasnick has described its activities in suburban Maryland.
In 1975-76, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 1981, he studied briefly at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he sits on the board of visitors. He also studied with Charlie Banacos. In 1983, he joined the group Tiger's Baku, which performed in the 1984 Newport Jazz Festival. In 1985, he joined a band led by jazz drummer Bob Moses, with whom he appeared in Boston and Cambridge. Earl began his recording career in Boston, where in 1986, he backed up David Gilden on Ancestral Voices. This album featured the Kora, which is a West African 21 string harp.