To the Editor:
My tribute to the best Elvis tribute artist I will ever have known, Eddy O’Rourke. I first met Eddy 10 or 11 years ago, when Santa brought me my first guitar. In searching for a guitar teacher, I knew from the first visit to the Edfor Music Studio, and meeting Eddy, that this was going to be more than a teacher-student relationship. Right from the start I knew I’d made a new friend. This then became a student-and-friend relationship. I studied with Eddy for some six years, a long time, he said, for an adult student to stay on. But with Eddy it was easy. He was a talented musician and had the patience of a saint, and a great personality. Over the years, we shared many laughs over dinner, or just out having a glass of wine. At times his brother Gary or his wife Susie would join us. My rewards for studying with Eddy are such that I now play guitar at Sunday services, and wedding services, Christmas parties, and special events. I owe all that I have achieved in playing the guitar to Eddy O’Rourke. He once said to me that I play the guitar, and not at the guitar. I am very honored and proud to have known, and studied with him, and to have called him my friend. I know that all the heavens are enjoying his music, and sharing the joy I encountered knowing him.
God bless you, Eddy, always,
SAL SPALTRO
Friend and student