THE MAN WITH TWO NAMES My given name is Stephen North Laemmel. Stephen pronounced Steven. Yet most people know me as Sandy while for others I’ve always been Steve. Depending on where and when you met me you call by one name or the other. The only exception to that would be my late wife who although she met me as Sandy always called me Stephen. The only other person that ever called me Stephen was my dad and that was only when I was in Trouble. When he called me Stephen North I knew things were about to get real. Now go back in time to when I first started playing drums. We had this console stereo that hung on the wall that played pretty loud. I kept my drums set up in front of the stereo and played along to records. That’s how I learned to play. Mel Taylor (the Ventures) was one of my early favorites until this weirdo named Ringo came along. I wanted a nick name too. Then a guy named Sandy Nelson had a hit record called “Let There Be Drums”. I learned to play along with it. I think it was Duane Waterberry that first called me Sandy. I showed him I could play the tune and that’s where it all started. I looked at it as sort of a stage name, like Ringo. Besides every Tom Dick and Harry is named Steve. By the time I was in High School all my friends and even teachers were calling me Sandy. I think I dated more girls with that name than any other. I was Sandy well into my 20’s Now fast forward to when I started working 9 to 5. I thought Steve sounded more professional than Sandy so I went back to that name. So if you met me during those years I’m Steve. People that I knew from music still called me Sandy though. Then the two worlds collided. I started running into people in the business world that I knew from playing music. They didn’t know who Steve was but it was to late to go back. I started having my business cards printed Steve “Sandy” Laemmel. Today there is a good many folks that call me Steve and always will. But most know me as Sandy. I can cash checks made out to Sandy Laemmel at my credit union and my debit card has Steve Sandy Laemmel on it. It doesn’t matter any more to me though. You can call me either. I’ve been called worse. Now if you watch this youtube video of Sandy Nelson you will see why I started playing drums to begin with. https://youtube/watch?v=Qr9D5ns3sx8&spfreload=10&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutube%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQr9D5ns3sx8%26spfreload%3D10&has_verified=1
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 22:58:25 +0000
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