(This is part of a series showing Synchronicity in my life)

I never thought that a teenage friend that I sang with would eventually follow the same path when choosing the profession that we would practice the rest of our life.

Joe Cleary and I went to the same grade school at St. Ludwig’s Church school in Brewerytown, a section of North Philadelphia. He appeared in the front of our 8^th-grade class and sang a song by Pat Boone. I too had just begun to focus on Rock & Roll songs, particularly “Mack the Knife,” by Bobby Darin, but I sang it to myself.

Some five years later I hooked up with Joe and we formed a Doo Wop group called the “Five Jaunts.” Joe sang the lead, while I sang bass along with Carl Disler on baritone, Bill Kane as second tenor and Jim Hubmaster the lead tenor.

TV Singing Appearance so Memorable

One of the most memorable moments of my entire life occurred when we had auditioned for a dance show host who got us to sing before a life audience on television. We sang two songs and got cheered at the station as well as our homes when we appeared on TV a week later!

Joe went on to lead another singing group and recorded several songs that appeared on the old vinyl 45 RPM records. We drifted apart but I was rewarded with a recording of our television performance when Joe’s girlfriend and soon-to-be wife provided each group member a copy of the recording she made while watching us on TV.

Fast forward now by some 20 years when Joe and I hooked up again. It occurred after I had served in the Vietnam War, went to college, worked as a newspaper reporter and then a union organizer.

Changing from Labor Lawyer to Criminal Attorney

I chose to go to law school to become a labor lawyer but changed my career choice to become a criminal attorney after getting a D+ grade in a labor class.

It was in Temple Law School of Philadelphia that I received another surprising lift-up from my old singing buddy. Joe Cleary had also chosen to be a lawyer and I bumped into him on my third year of classes.  

One of us chose to work for the working man while the other for his brother in trouble with the law. Joe went to work as a lawyer for the UAW, United Auto Workers, while I chose to serve as a public defender at the Defender Association Philadelphia.

Now if that our contact together wasn’t a form of synchronicity, I don’t know what it is or who might have been guiding us all those years.