Published Monday, March 3, 2003
Ty Longley's father, Pat, and Ty's girlfriend, Heidi Peralta, center, greet friends and family of the Great White guitarist and sharon native. A musical memorial was held for him Sunday a the Yankee Lake Ballroom.(Suzanne Bobosky/Herald)
Ty Longley is remembered for personality, musicianship
By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer
Pat Longley said he wanted to shake the hand of every person who came to a tribute for his son, Ty, whose memorial service preceded the tribute Sunday.
Longley said he had no idea if he accomplished his goal.
"I don't even know how many people are here," he said, adding that there were many people among the hundreds of well-wishers he didn't know.
"It just keeps coming and coming and coming -- it's overwhelming," Ty Longley's mother, Mary Pat Frederickson, said of the line of people. "It gives me inner peace. It is so calming to receive all the people. It's such a powerful tribute to Ty, such love."
Yankee Lake Ballroom, where the tribute was held, was packed with family members and friends saying their goodbyes to Ty Longley, who died Feb. 20 in a nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I.
Longley, a Sharon native and Brookfield Local High School graduate, was a guitarist for the rock band Jack Russell's Great White, which had just hit the stage when the band's pyrotechnic sparklers started the fire.
Ms. Frederickson, of Valdosta, Ga., called the memorial service, held at Cornerhouse Christian Church in Hubbard Township, "absolutely gorgeous from beginning to end; peaceful, sad, fun, it was everything."
Troy Allshouse of Greenville, a friend of Ty Longley's, said the turnout reflected Ty's personality.
"Ty was going to make friends wherever he went, so it's not a shock to see this many people," Allshouse said.
Many friends and family members wore black ribbons that read "Rock On Ty." Pat Longley sported a necklace that featured one of his son's guitar picks.
 Kevin Alex and his new tattoo of a guitar-playing Bart Simpson with Ty Longley's signature below. (Suzanne Bobosky/Herald) |
Ty Longley's guitar technician, Kevin Alex of Salt Lake City, displayed a week-old forearm tattoo showing Bart Simpson playing a guitar and had Longley's signature beneath it.
Ty Longley was a fan of the television show "The Simpsons."
"He really was that kind of a guy, made that much of an impact," Alex said of getting the tattoo.
Alex, who had known Ty Longley only since September, described Ty as "always wanting to lend a hand and say 'Hi' to everybody. He always took care of me and vice versa."
Alex, who was not in Rhode Island the day of the fire, said the remaining members of Great White wanted to attend Sunday's festivities, but were unable to leave Rhode Island.
Allshouse called Ty Longley "probably one of the best you'll ever meet; great person and just so happened he was a great guitar player."
"Anybody that knew him, I wish they would have seen him play because he was the best guitarist I've ever seen," Pat Longley said, adding that he was not the only person to state that opinion.
"These are the words of the people he played with," Pat Longley, of Hartford, said. "Mark Kendall couldn't believe how good he was."
Ty Longley replaced Kendall in Great White, and the two played together in Jack Russell's Great White.
"We lived a Monty Python life, but he was (a) very serious (musician)," said Maestro Alex Gregory, a musical and personal friend and running buddy of Ty Longley's.
Gregory described his music orchestral and composed. He created a line of seven- and five-string guitar-like instruments that are tuned unlike the guitar.
Ty Longley, who played on Gregory's PentaOrchestra's recording "Another Millennium?" became one of the best Celloblaster players in the world, Gregory said.
"He had to learn a whole new instrument," Gregory said. "He was extremely serious."
Pat Longley said he hoped people would remember his son as a straight-laced musician who did not fit any musical stereotypes.
Ms. Frederickson said she most wanted people to know "the size of his heart."
