News of the TULSA CENTRAL 1956 Reunion
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Aline Wisher Chairman
Last updated
01/06/16
Email address: AlineWisher@olp.net
Last updated
01/06/16
We are looking forward to seeing YOU at our !
Date: September 17, 2011
Place: Tulsa Elks Lodge at 5335 South Harvard
Entertainment:
For the night the feature entertainer will be Luigi
Tulsa
crooner Luigi Balletto – CHS 1956 Class Reunion Entertainer
Balletto
likes to say y'all, but he was born in
Over
the years, Balletto played at a variety of area joints.
From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Balletto worked at an
Albertson's, where he was known as the singing deli man. Later, he did a
10-year-stint at St. Michael's Alley from 1995-2005. Then, from 2006-2008, he
played Emilio's Piano Lounge, where he was known as a singing bartender who
could croon "Mack the Knife" while mixing up a chocolate martini.
These days, when fans from his days at the Camelot see Balletto, they marvel,
"Luigi, you're still alive and you look wonderful! Why?" And Balletto
says, "Because I quit smoking. I quit drinking and I got born again."
Twenty
years ago, Balletto was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. He preferred
unfiltered Lucky Strikes and Camels. Balletto also reveled in shots of vodka.
That lifestyle, however, was killing his singing voice. Then everything changed
while he slept.
"The
Lord came to me in the night, in my sleep, I swear to you," Balletto said.
"He told my heart that if I would quit smoking, and drinking, and turned my
life around, I would get my voice back. And it happened."
A year ago, Balletto
risked his life to keep the Lord's melodic gift. See, Balletto had a minor heart
attack that called for one stent to open a clogged artery. The relatively
routine procedure isn't open-heart surgery, but the doctor warned cracking open
his chest was a possibility if the procedure went wrong. Balletto did not want
his chest opened, though. He feared it would end his singing career, so he
signed a form that basically told the doctors he would rather die than risk
losing his singing voice.
"You have to
understand," said the unmarried father of four children, "that if I
can't sing, if I can't do this what am I going to do?
I'm 73. I've lived much
longer than I should have."
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