The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) Tony Mancusi Shotgun's Sound Man
One of the main concerns in a band is how good it sounds with all of it's musicians, talent, songs and presentations, but what makes it sound good is not usually recognized which is a good sound man. A sound man can make you or break you.
Tony in my opinion was one of the best. He was always there for us. He stayed with us throughout our tenure as The Shotgun Band existed. Tony not only was a great sound man but was an excellent guitarist who taught guitar lessons at the Bible Book Store in North Wilkesboro NC. If something failed during a performance he new exactly what to do to fix it. He could get the mix perfect on a set of drums and kept channel sixteen open on the mixing board for effects on the different songs that we did with repeats and echo. I guess looking back in time he stayed with us because the money was there and was a good supplement to our incomes. We performed about 45 weekends out of the 52 weeks in a year.
Years later I got to work with Tony when I performed with Jimmy Johnson at the Ashe County Civic Center when we did a Tribute to Elvis. It was too my surprise to see Tony walk in and was doing the sound for Jimmy Johnson.
Tony I believe came from New York and grew up in the Restaurant business where he worked along with teaching guitar. Here are some mentions of him from a local forum where someone was inquiring about a teacher for guitar lessons.
Definitely, call Tony Mancusi. He's very good with kids, patient, and a GREAT guitar player. He's your man. The phone book may say Anthony instead of Tony.
Tony Mancusi taught me to play guitar twenty years ago. Tony is very knowledgeable and most importantly, patient. A more laid back, down to earth guy would be hard to find.Tony has probably taught more guitar players in Wilkes than all the other instructors combined.
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