Hello Brooklyn Session

By Chaz

Pooch and I met in High School. In an academic surge of brilliance I decided to join the debate club. This would be my next step to becoming an intellectual. I walked into the after school room, and there sitting at the helm as President was Michael Puccio (Note from Pooch: Yes I was always cool). My first thought was, “I didn’t sign up for this!” Then Dr. Russo reminded me, “Ahem. . . actually you did.”

Then Pooch and I were roommates in college, spending most of our time arguing who was better: Paul McCartney or John Lennon. Pooch was super creative back then as he is today. We did a high school recording and Pooch named our merry band: The Plastic Longo Band. Mike recorded it on a four track reel to reel. Later in college he wrote songs like “Nuke the World and Start All Over Again.” (Not one of his better ideas). We also did videos of Starting Over by John Lennon and All Those Years Ago by George Harrison. We recorded in The Fine Arts Center. When asked why that location. Pooch replied,”Because I like The Fine Arts Center!”

Now Fast Forward forty years later (Shout out to Rip Van Winkle), he asked me to lay the rhythm track on a brilliant song that he co-wrote with Nancy. It was such a pleasant experience working with

Vinny and the gang, as they were very tolerant of my rusty guitar skills. In short, I was honored to be asked, and it was an amazing way to start off my New York vacation.

The Hello Brooklyn project honors Michael’s roots. This is the biggest thing coming out of Brooklyn, since Carol King and Maurice Sendak teamed up to record the animated classic Chicken Soup With Rice. When asked why he wanted to record the Hello, Brooklyn project, Pooch replied, “Because I like chicken soup with rice!” And so it goes! One does not question the motivation of a genius. (Note from Pooch: Charlie omitted he was the one that started me off on the guitar; without that initial influence none of this would have been possible!)