MARIA TRIOLA (Peter's Sister)

Pete was my brother, and he was also my good friend.

When we were young we had our share of sibling squabbles, as brother and sister sometimes do, but we were always close. My big brother was always there for me and we always had fun together. When we were teenagers we hung out a lot and shared many of the same friends, especially in Florida. From as far back as I can remember, he always made me laugh and brought music into my life. 

Pete was three years older than me and, at the time, I was about 7 when he got his first record player. The top opened up, and it had a clasp on the outside to close it. It was white and green and there were stickers of the Beatles on the inside cover. We would be in the basement of the house in Massapequa and he would play his 45's on that record player all the time.

He had some collection of 45's! 

One day, (out of boredom I can only guess to remember) we spent the afternoon “flinging” those 45's against the basement walls just to see them crash!! (Of course it was his idea, as I was just the little sister following what big brother did!) Oh what fun it was!! Our cousin Sharon would baby sit us and Pete would ask her to bring over her Beatle albums and we would sit in the living room playing them and singing. When the movie “A Hard Days Night' came out he couldn't wait to see it. The Beatles rocked our world back then. 

We always referred to our grandparents as “Grandpa & Grandma from Freeport” (Triola side) and “Grandpa & Grandma from Elmont” (Accardi side). We spent a lot of time at both sets of grandparents. On a visit to the “Freeport” grandparent's house, we were in the basement (again!) poking around through all the stuff and came across grandpa's old Italian 33 records. 

Those records were priceless and after Pete bugged grandpa for a while, he let us listen to them. From them came a song that we continued singing well into adulthood….. They call-a me Tony, Tony, Tony the ice-a man, the people they know me, know me, as Tony the ice-a man.. Oh how Pete loved singing that song with an Italian accent! He would sing the whole song word for word Italian accent and all! Every time he sang it we would crack up laughing!!

Fast forward a few years and Pete discovered the Guitar and the Allman Brothers Band. My induction into the world of the Allman Brothers started with the song “Blue Skys”. Pete stayed in his room for weeks and played that song over and over and over again until he learned it on the guitar. 

I can remember thinking that if I ever heard that song again I would go crazy! Now, when I hear it I can only smile and feel lucky that my brother had such great taste in music! 

Our house burned down on Palm Sunday 1973 and two months later my father moved us down to Florida. Pete was very unhappy and did not want to leave his friends. It wasn't until we moved to a little town called “Greenacres” about 6 months after we got down there that Pete started making friends again. As much as we missed Long Island, we had some great times in Florida. Pete and his guitar became very popular and he quickly Made lots of friends in the park where we lived. There were about 30 or so kids our age and we all sometimes hung out in the woods in a field we called the “pits”.

One night Pete was playing his guitar and he got the whole gang singing BTO's “Taking care of business”…….get up every mornin from alarm clock's warnin take the 8:15 into the city………there's a whistle up above and people pushin people shoving……everyone was clapping and singing, it was great! I was so proud that he was MY brother! 

Eventually, he got a band together (I do not remember how that came to be) and every weekend they would rent a generator and go out to a place in the woods we called Blanchett trail and Jam. Those parties became infamous. As the word got out, over 100 people would show up. It became the ‘in” thing to do. After a while, the cops got wind of it and one night a helicopter flew over us and shined the lights down and it lit up the whole place! (We were out in the middle of nowhere and it was very dark except for the lights from the generators). They let us stay because we really weren't doing anything wrong, just listening to the band play.

We went to the West Palm Beach Auditorium and saw so many concerts there; I can't even begin to remember them all. On Monday nights, the whole gang would go there and fill up the first two rows of seats and watch the wrestling matches. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant & Rowdy Roddy Piper, we were really into it! Pete and a guy we called “Dee” were always the loudest and rowdiest. They used to pick fights with the wrestlers as they were going back in the locker rooms.

We finally moved back in the summer of 1977, we lived in New Jersey, but Pete got his own place on Long Island. That's when he was in “Railroad”. I don't remember much from that time in his life. He would often come to visit us though. He and I would go to the Drive In movies all the time. My dad had a 1973 red Caddy with a white vinyl roof. When the Blues Brother's movie came out, he couldn't wait to hear the music from the movie through the car's stereo. That car had an awesome stereo system …. It was always about the music!

In 1980, our parents bought a house in Bayshore and we were all together again and it was great. After our dad passed in May of 1982, Pete & Pat got married. When his daughter Jesse was born, he came barging in to the house turning on lights waking everyone up at 3:00AM yelling “It's a Girl!! He came into my room and pounced on the bed yelling and whooping, I had never ever seen him so happy!!

The morning I walked away from my marriage, I went to Pete's apt in Islip Terrace. I was a complete wreck and a mess and totally stressed out. Leave it to Pete to sooth my soul with music. There he sat with his Acoustic guitar, playing and singing Beatle songs to me. I'll never forget that, because him singing to me had such a calming effect, it gave me strength. I loved when he played the Acoustic. It was never more that an arms length away from where ever he was sitting and he would just pick it up on a whim and start playing. He would say to me “Hey Maria, remember this” and start playing a tune from our childhood or whenever and we would just start singing. 

After I got divorced, the whole family moved into a big house Nesconset. Soon after that, Pete started playing with different bands again. They would always practice at our house, in the garage or basement. He played Country, or Oldies or Blues and everything in between. During those years we all lived together and his daughter's were small, Halloween was a big deal. Pat and I would get dressed up in costume and take the kids out. 

One year Pete spent an hour painting his face like a happy clown just so I could take his picture. Then he washed it off just to start all over again for another hour and change the face to a sad clown and take another picture! 

It's very hard to pick and choose the memories to share with everyone. There are so many; all of them happy. He had a way of seeing the humor in almost every situation, and had a very big heart. He loved being surrounded by his friends and family and always wanted people around him. Pete touched so many lives with his warmth. 

They say that the people you love live in your heart forever……. They do, they really do. I would love to hear from anyone who is reading these family and friends pages, Please feel free to E-Mail me at reash127@aol.com.