Back then I was a bartender and worked nights, so I spent alot of time at home during the day. Living in New Jersey, I was having one of the two dozen colds I would have that winter, so I was just kickin' back and making phone calls trying to get someone to cover for me at work that night. Between calls the phone rang, and thinking it was one of my fellow bartenders calling back to say they would work for me, I answered in my best nasal-I'm dying-please have pity and work for me tonight kind of voice. Well I didn't recognize the voice, but they were asking for me, so I knew it wasn't a wrong number. After I had said it was me, this strange voice says to me "Hi! this is Tommy West." Yea right! And that's exactly what I said. What the heck would Tommy West be doing calling me. I mean , being a Croce fan since I was 9 years old, he was one of my idols. But to be standing in my living room, listening to his voice coming out of my telephone receiver, this was too much to believe! My fever must be higher than I thought! He then says "No really, this is Tommy West. Your wife Christine wrote me a beautiful letter telling me what a big fan of Jim's you were, and I'd like to invite you and her over for lunch on Sunday." At this point I'm quickly going through the card catalog in my head, trying to match the voice with one of my practical-joking friends, but I couldn't come up with anyone. Maybe this really was Tommy West!

 With a quick attitude change I began stuttering into the phone about how much we'd love to come for lunch! I really wish I could remember the rest of the conversation, but I really do think I was in a state of shock! I do remember the last thing he said to me though. He said "And your wife says you play too! Why don't you bring over your guitar and maybe we could get some playing in!" You've got to be kidding me! Lunch and jammin' with Tommy West! My fever must be so high I must have died and gone to heaven! "See you at noon then" he says. "I'll be there" I said, followed by a long list of "thank you's."

 After I hung up, I immediately called my wife to tell her that I had just received her present. I couldn't thank her enough. (As you can tell I was pretty thankful that day) The next calls were to my friends who I had spent many hours with playing Croce songs growing up. No one could believe it and I still couldn't either.

 Well that Sunday couldn't come soon enough for me! My wife and I thought it would be nice if we brought something with us, and knowing that Tommy was Italian and me coming from a small Italian town, we stopped at the local Italian pastry shop and bought a dozen of their finest! Now we were off to Tommy's house. I really couldn't believe that after all these years of being a fan that he actually lived so close! It was only a 15 minute drive from my house. As we drove down the country road to his house I was getting pretty nervous. Especially when we started to pull into his driveway.

 He had a nice country farm house with a large piece of property. He had a corral with a couple of horses grazing, and a log cabin that was connected to the farm house. We found out later that the log cabin was moved from North Carolina and used as his wife Ann's office. She was a psychiatrist.

 Well we parked the car and a wave of excitement rushed through me. I think my wife was pretty excited too! She had that "deer in the headlights" kind of look on her face. To tell you the truth, I think I had the same look on my face too! I opted to leave my guitar in the car, since I really didn't know what to expect, and felt funny carrying it in with me. We grabbed the pastries and started up the walk to the door. When we reached the door, my wife and I looked at each other and smiled. I took a deep breathe and knocked on the door. In just a few seconds a man came to the door. It took me just a moment to get my bearings and realize it was Tommy. His hair was a little different and a little grayer, but that was the face that I had seen in my Croce music books since I was a kid.

 He invited us in and I gave him the pastries. He reached out and shook my hand as I looked around and realized I was standing in his kitchen. There was a woman with a large basket of clothes standing behind an ironing board ironing. Tommy introduced her as his wife Ann. This was strange to me. Here I was standing in the home of Tommy West. He's the guy who plays that infamous piano part in "Bad Bad Leroy Brown." He was Jim Croce's producer. He was co-owner of Lifesong Records. But instead of this mega-bucks, cigar chomping producer, here was a guy living this normal life with a normal family pretty much just like mine.

 Tommy introduced us to the rest of the family. There were a bunch of  his kids friends there to, so being as nervous as I was, I didn't know who was who except for his daughter Cheyenne. She must have been around 10 at the time. Tommy opened the box of pastries, grabbed a cannoli, and let the kids have the rest.

He then lead my wife and I downstairs. As we made the corner and turned left I could see his piano. And then there they were...... The Gold Albums! I couldn't believe it! I walked over and stood there in awe as I read the little gold plates at the bottom. Gold records awarded to Jim for "You Don't Mess Around With Jim," "Life and Times," and "I Got A Name!"
What a rush! Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a full wall of gold albums! Henry Gross, Dean Friedman, Ed Bruce, and more. Here was the lifework of  Tommy hanging on a wall. I wish you could see what my mind's eye sees right now! It truly is an amazing picture.

Next Tommy told us to have a seat on the couch in the middle of the room. My wife and I sat down and to the left of me,  leaning against the wall, were a couple of guitars. Tommy walked over to them,  picked one up and handed it to me. "So you play huh?" "Here, you're gonna have to tune it. It hasn't been tuned in a while." Little did I know that those words and what was to follow was going to be a memory I would carry the rest of my days! As I started to tune this guitar, Tommy starts to tell me that the guitar that I'm holding, the one in my hand that I'm tuning, is the VERY guitar Jim used to record "Time In A Bottle," "Operator," "You Don't Mess Around with Jim," and "Walking Back To Georgia." This is also the same guitar that Tommy used on his "Hometown Frolics" album...... To be continued