Where Have You Gone, Joe LaBracio?

Aside from my sisters, brother and one longtime musician friend, no one who I now see regularly knew me at all in 1976. That year I spent several months singing & playing guitar with a show band led by the former bass player of the Four Seasons, Joe Long, nee Joe LaBracio. The band was called LaBracio, an attempt to capitalize on Joe's notoriety.

My wife recently saw "Jersey Boys". According to her, Joe gets a small mention in the play. Though he was on all Four Seasons records beginning in 1965, including their 1975 comeback hit "Who Loves You?", much of the play is built around the years the Seasons first met and their very early hits. So dramatically, Joe's small mention probably makes sense. After all, the enduring appeal of the Four Seasons is mostly about Frankie Valli's falsetto singing those wonderful pop songs written by organist Bob Gaudio. However, since my wife told me about the play, Joe has been on my mind quite a bit.

I wonder if he's seen the play. If so, I wonder what he thinks about the mention he gets. I wonder how  much he thinks about that time of his life. I wonder how many people he now regularly sees know about those ten years. He's about ten years older than me so he's in his early 70's now. It would be fairly easy to re-initiate contact with Joe, but I won't. But I do wonder what music he listens to now and if he still plays his bass.