have the trumpet here in my home –
and not that I even really had the chance to hear him play more than a couple of notes years ago, because it wasn’t
his career, he didn’t keep it up. But, he never was ‘instructional’ about any of my music. He
knew that I had all of the really good help that I could – at my disposal to do. There were plenty
of opportunities, between school and the lessons I took, that I was learning all the right stuff. Plus, I had a good instinct
for it anyway.”
With Harry Kulick’s
career in a specialized and “brainy” area, I was pretty sure that he didn’t encourage Bruce to a career
in rock and roll. Maybe Bruce could become a doctor or something.
“From what I understood from my uncle, originally, they weren’t
keen that my brother had started playing guitar. But, I guess, by the time Bob started doing it and the world didn’t
end, by the time I wanted to pick up the guitar, I didn’t hear any aggravation at all. Now, I didn’t
know that. I always thought they were kind of cool about it but they WERE concerned with Bob. You’ve
got to remember that he was the oldest son so, of course, he’s going to have some of the brunt of the harder stuff.
It always happens that way.”
For
a man who was 91 years young, I was very curious what Harry Kulick’s view of the world was in the months leading up
to his passing. Before I could even finish my question, Bruce started laughing.
“Oh, I’ve got a perfect quote for you. He used
to tell my girlfriend before we’d take off – he knew that we didn’t really live that far – I live
very close to them – he would go, ‘Watch out for those crazies!’ I think he knew that
it could be a dangerous world and that things are kind of crazy out there and that you’ve got to watch yourself.”
I asked Bruce what his Dad’s reaction was to all the
changes in the world, especially in the areas of technology.
“You know, I would show him my iTouch and things like that. Although
we didn’t get into a whole lot of what things are about, he got the idea of the cell phone and I remember I was in the
car with him and, at first, he probably didn’t know what I was doing talking to myself when you have the Bluetooth on.
It certainly wasn’t a hard thing for him (to understand).
“In
some ways, in his later years, if his fingers worked better, I could have probably showed him some things on the computer
and things like that. But it was a struggle just for him to turn on the machine for his breathing treatment. That’s
what happens when you get older. Just turning a light thing on – a lamp – can be hard for older people –
arthritis and things like that. That’s what I’m saying: for the past two or the past five years, I’d be
in wonderment as to how he gets around and to be able to do everything. It was a real testament to his real strength to wanting
to live. Because, we wouldn’t think people can
