“The home where it all started”

This is a website celebrating both the history and the current lives of all the generations that originate from 304 South Washington Street in Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Joe Sweeney the Musician

Joseph A. Sweeney (1903-1967) deserves multiple website blogs for his most interesting – and much too short – life. This first one looks at his piano playing. There is no clear record of how his musicianship came to be. But by 1922 at the age of 19, he was playing in Saylor’s Orchestra at a “Get on and Ride” concert at the Edmore, Michigan Coliseum. We have two photographs of early bands where he appears to be in his 20s.

After graduating from Central Michigan Normal in 1923, he entered the University of Michigan Dental School. Realize this was “THE ROARING 20s”. He obviously paid enough attention to his studies to get his DDS degree in 1927. But there are lots of letters documenting his extensive piano playing during his dental school years. In the summers, he played on Great Lakes cruise ships that made the circuit between Detroit and Chicago. There were often stops on Mackinac Island where he would meet his family and friends. In Lake Huron, the ship would cruise over the international border to allow onboard drinking.

He played regularly in Ann Arbor during the school year. In his 1923 letter home reporting on the U of M / Ohio State football game, he had a gig on Saturday night that prevented his joining his sisters at a party.

Among the more interesting pieces of history are his 1920s weekend travels to Detroit and Chicago. There are several letters reporting his playing at Chicago area country clubs where he somehow managed to get back to Ann Arbor in time for Monday classes.

His playing continued the rest of his life but mostly as solo pianist where he played all over the Mount Pleasant area. A regular highlight was the Central Michigan Homecoming float that featured him playing in a jazz band on top of an 18 wheeler flatbed truck.

One of his many hobbies was cutting 78 RPM records that featured family discussions and messages that were sent to distant relatives. He also recorded a number of his piano favorites that we have converted to CDs. In the “You Tube Movies” tab on the first page of of the website, you can hear his piano as background to the “1942 Big Sweeney Family Picnic” entry. He filmed this event and everything else in the YouTube Movies. Another post will cover  remarkable hobbies of taking 8mm movies and cutting 78 rpm records.

 

At 19, Joe Sweeney was playing piano big time.

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