This was on the FRONT PAGE of THE REPORTER in Tavernier, Florida Keys, FL
LAWRENCE SEIDMAN, 51: 'Fiddlin' Red' leaves legacy of music
The Keys lost a local music star last week with the passing of an artist who'll likely be remembered as much for his genuine smile and enthusiasm onstage as for his tremendous talent on the fiddle.
Lawrence Aaron Seidman, known to musicians and fans as "Fiddlin' Red," died unexpectedly of natural causes on Friday, Nov. 30, his wife, Diane said. He was 51 years old.
Red was a favorite on the Keys music circuit and played frequently at the Pilot House and Sharkey's Pub in Key Largo and the Island Grille in Islamorada. He often appeared, billed as "Grateful Ted and Fiddlin' Red," with musician and friend Ted Hyde.
The two were known for dazzling audiences with lively Grateful Dead tunes, bluegrass, country and rock classics.
He was also a staff musician at the Hog's Breath Saloon in Key West, where he played 10 to 15 days a month with singer-songwriter and friend Bruce Isaacson.
"It was large," Isaacson said of Red's impact on music in the Keys. "Within the musical community he will be missed a lot, but he will also be missed by a lot of people who were his friends. We had a very symbiotic approach to playing music; we had great chemistry. If truth were to be known, we never rehearsed. People said it was the best live act they've ever seen."
"I will miss him a lot," Isaacson said. "Fifty-one is way too young"
Red's family and friends said he always lived life to the fullest, in accordance with one of his favorite sayings "Everything in moderation, even excess!"
In addition to being a gifted musician, Red was an avid fisherman and sailor, and also loved flying airplanes, playing golf and riding horses.
Two celebrations in honor of Red's life are planned in the Keys next week. The first will begin at sunset on Thursday, Dec. 13 at Sharkey's, 522 Caribbean Blvd. in Key Largo. A musical celebration featuring Red's fellow artists and friends will follow.
A second celebration will take place at 3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14 at Hog's Breath Saloon. Isaacson said 50 to 60 musicians are expected to attend and play a song in memory of Red.
Born and raised in Wantagh, N.Y., Red learned to play the fiddle as a child in the back of his parents' station wagon during a road trip to South Florida. He left the Northeast as soon as he finished school and traveled across the country making music.
He settled in Montana briefly before moving to the Ft. Lauderdale area in 1978.
Red's talent as a musician made him a barroom staple in the Keys, and also took him around the world playing fiddle, mandolin, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass across Europe, South America, Russia and Cuba.
During his 35+year career he shared the stage with many popular artists and bands, including Alabama, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, John Anderson, The Captain & Tenille, The Hot Walker Band, John Hall, Jonathan Edwards and others.
"He was loved by so many people around the world," his wife, Diane Jackman-Seidman, said.
In 1996 Red took a break from music and settled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Georgia, where he worked at Gold City Corral, driving carriages, leading trail rides and being a cowboy.
He began building guitars in 2007 and left behind two beautiful, unfinished instruments.
He and Diane traveled and worked in the Florida Keys and also spent time at their home in Talking Rock, Georgia, and at a lake home on the Suwannee River in Old Town, Fla.
Red is survived by his parents, Robert and Norma Seidman of Ocala; his wife, Diane Jackman-Seidman of Old Town, Fla.; two stepsons, Joshua Childers of Orlando and Jason Childers, a graduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.; brother Nathan Seidman of Ft. Lauderdale, and Sister Jeri Russo of Long Island, N.Y.
Copyright (c) 2007, Reporter, The (Tavernier, FL)
Rock On Red
K. Burnie - The Reporter, Tavernier, Florida Keys (Dec 6, 2007)
This article appeared on the front page of the entertainment section of The Free Press in Key Largo, FL
PSYCHEDELIC HILLBILLIES
Grateful Ted and Fiddlin' Red on a 7 mile tour.
KEY LARGO-Guided by magic fingers, the music from two electric string instruments draws true music lovers like wet bluegrass draws barefoot children.
No one could hold still. Everyone's feet were moving. More and more people showed up this past Friday evening , no doubt drawn by "Grateful Ted and Fiddlin' Red" troubadours whose diverse musical backgrounds combine to create a sound like no other.
For the next several hours, happy groups of locals and visitors crowded the patio at the Pilot House restaurant and, between pitchers of beer and jello shooters, listened to a blend of voices and stringed sounds that made the evening a festival.
Born a year apart and a couple of hundred miles away, separately, Larry "Red" Seidman and "Grateful" Ted Hyde migrated from New York to Key Largo where a love for bluegrass music brought them together three years ago.
Now they entertain, mostly on the weekends. along what they call the "Seven Mile Tour".
"None of our gigs are more than seven miles apart, says Seidman, 47, as he tuned up his fiddle and guitar.
Guitarist and singer Hyde, 46, describes their music as "psychedelic hillbilly".
On Saturday evenings they bring their blend of bluegrass, Cajun, Island music, jazz and country to Snappers Restaurant at mile marker 94.5, and then on Sunday they entertain at the Caribbean Club on the bay at mile marker 104.
Their math is not perfect, but their music is. It's perfect for folks who want to dance, sip an adult beverage, listen to great music and enjoy balmy Key Largo nights outdoors.
Seidman, like a lot of his fellow Long Islanders, played in a garage band as a youth. The difference? His dad owned a wholesale musical warehouse. Think of it. He grew up with access to an entire warehouse full of guitars, fiddles and other instruments.
Like Hyde, Seidman has never taken a lesson - "and it sounds like it" jokes Hyde - but Seidman plays a tidy electric fiddle and mandolin that blends with Hyde's fine voice and easy country guitar sound.
Last Friday at the Pilot House, they started with a Bob Marley tune, "Roots, Rock, Reggae" with Hyde on guitar and Seidman making his electric fiddle sing.
It didn't take more than a few songs to realize these two musicians with smooth clear voices have a total command of their instruments. The instinct was to look fot the other four musicians hiding somewhere down the dock.
When they sang "Take Me Back to Tulsa" a classic by Bob Willis and the Texas Playboys, people were looking for square dance partners. The crowd was filing in and the deck overlooking the marina was filling with toe-tappping music lovers.
That was followed by "Diggy Liggy Li" and "Ol' Rocky Top". Hyde switched to harmonica when they played "Boat" by Lyle Lovett:
"If I had a boat, I'd go out on the ocean,
If I had a pony, I'd ride him on my boat..."
Both men have been around. Seidman says his travels have had a hand in molding his music.
"I went from New York to Montana, around the world then to Ft. Lauderdale and here," he said.
Hyde grew up in South Jersey with his four brothers and two sisters.
"I started singing in a local band and playing harmonica in South Jersey at 15," he said. "I picked up a guitar and started playing." He plays a skilled guitar, harmonica and percussion.
"I came out of the Grateful Dead camp," he admits.
The two musicians hooked up three years ago at a landmark watering hole.
"We play Sundays at the Caribbean Club. That's where we first got together and we're still playing there," Hyde said.
Their impressive play list defies categorization, including favorites from JImmy Buffet to Miles Davis, from Grand Ole Opry to the Rolling Stones.
In simple terms, they play fun, foot-tapping, get-up-and-move, let's-go-out-and-have-some-fun music.
But it was John Anderson's "Seminole Wind" that brought down the house. They made the song live and everyone roared their approval when they were finsihed.
"Grateful Ted and Fiddlin Red" have blended into a smooth musical gem whose art can be enjoyed right in our own backyard.
Steve Gibbs - Staff Writer - Keys Cruisin' - Free Press-Islamorada, FL-Keys Cruisin' (Aug 26, 2003)