The sweetest music this side of The Culver Hotel, in the opinion of numerous listeners last evening, emanated from the bass guitar of Scott Wyant
The same Scott Wyant who is running for one of the three open seats on the City Council in the April 12 election.
The budding bass guitarist’s timing was at bullseye level. He broke through on the occasion of the major fundraiser for his campaign.
“This was my first time performing, either standing up or in front of a group,” said the candidate.
In the tradition of certain music makers, Mr. Wyant was sufficiently show business-educated to don dark glasses. This distinguished him from his fellow musicians, Valda Hammick, his teacher at Boulevard Music, and Jim Solomon, his longtime fishing pal.
“I have been taking lessons for a year and a half,” Mr. Wyant said, on the bandstand for a single song.
“I gracefully bowed out because I was playing with a couple musicians who were just extraordinary.
“I am doing this because I always wanted to. When I was a kid I wanted to. But my parents insisted that I play the clarinet,” he said with a chuckle.
Why clarinet?
“My dad was a huge Benny Goodman fan.”
To his regret down to this morning, 71 days out from the election, Mr. Wyant recalls with regret that his clarinetting talents did not convert him into a Stockton sex symbol for the young women of the day.
“I can tell you that in the late ‘60s,” Mr. Wyant said, “the demand, amongst high school women, for clarinet players was pretty small.”
