User:WEMPEE/sandbox

Early childhood and education
Donald Earl Ridgeway was born on December 17, 1947 in Mobile Alabama to Mrs. and Mr. Henry Elroy, and Anna Louise (Marshall) Ridgeway. Growing up in Mobile, Don had a great childhood and was very active in music, sports and loved fishing and hunting. True to being a real Saggitarian, Don loved the outdoors and started his musical career at the age of 9 in the rhythm band for Whitley Elementary School in Mobile. After elementary school Don transferred to Mobile County Training School where he started playing trumpet and after a year was sitting on the 1st Trumpet seat. Don graduated from high school as student band leader with a music scholarship to Florida A&M in 1966. Don was an average student in school but according to him, he didn't try very hard and after graduating from high school in 1966 and attending college he realized that he had to exert myself more or fail, and that was definitely not on his agenda. Don attended junior college at American River College in Sacramento CA. and then later transferred to Sacramento State University. In Sacramento Don attended Sacramento State University where he studied art & design] and Music Composition. In 1969 during his senior year in college, Don was drafted into the U.S. Military because of the Vietnam war which he had avoided for over 3 years and had to put my studies on hold.

Military
After being drafted into the military, Don did his basic military training at Fort Ord Military Base in California. After basic training Don was transferred to Fort Dix in New Jersey and was held over there for app. 4 months, after which he received in 1970 his duty station and assignment which was in Frankfurt Germany. As a draftee and hold over Don was destined for Vietnam, which was not quite his cup of tea; so he had to figure out how he was going to get out of that, because first of all he had nothing against the Vietnamese people, so why should he kill them? In Frankfurt as a military hold over, Don had the luck to meet 2 African American soldiers who were trying to help brothers get out of going to Vietnam. So one day while Don was dining in the mess hall they approached him and they talked about the prospects of him going to Vietnam. They told him that more than likely he would be going to a small town named Kirch Göns for more training and then to Nam. And then they told him that if he could play a musical instrument that he could audition for the military 3rd Armored Division Band because there were positions open in the band and that it could possible help me get out of going to Nam. Don notes that he never had better advice in his life. Even though he never knew their names, thank those brothers until today for helping him out of a bad situation, and wish them both a happy, healthy and prosperous life. But to be honest, at first he thought that they were pulling his leg or something, but made an appointment for an interview and audition anyway. The Commanding Officer was a very cool and collected warrant officer named Cottingham. At first they talked a bit and then Don was told that they were basically looking for instruments like woodwinds or drummers...but Don was a trumpet player, what now? But fortunately for him, they did the audition. The CO gave him some notes to read... no problem; being fresh out of college as a music student. Then he asked Don if he could play Jazz and play a small solo? Dizzy Gellespie, Miles Davis, Blue Mitchell, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown, were his favorite trumpet players, so that was a breeze. 2 days later Don's orders were cut and he was given the rank of SP4 and started in the Third Herd Jazz combo and then later in the orchestra. It didn't take Don long to get into the music scene in Frankfurt, where he played in clubs such as Jazz Keller, Jazz Life Podium. Batschkapp, Sinkkasten and many more. He also worked with artist like Lee cross and Super Bad. A typical day in Don's his military duties included, reveille at 08:00, rehearsal 10:00, Lunch 12:00 and rehearse again from 14:00-17:00, that was his schedule. The Kaserne (barracks) where we lived had wall to wall carpeting and there were only 2 musician to a room. His roommate was a crazy Native American Trombone player from the crazy Navajo people named Thomas Newton. Everybody called him Fig Newton, fig for short. Don recalls that he and Fig would relax in the evening listening to Frank Sinatra on our stereo set. There were really some crazy individuals in this band. So one day the chief announced in rehearsal that we would be learning a composition from a composer named Dr. Sommer; and we were the chosen few and were suppose to perform his composition at a xmas ceremony in Frankfurt. Don notes that musician are crazy. During rehersal, the CO said that DR. Sommer thought that the sun rises and sets on the Third Herd Band. And one of my fellow trumpet players named Joe Lagamazini (crazy Italian) said "then he will see a lot of dark days". And sure enough after the concert was over Dr. Sommer was  seen in the hallway crying because we had screwed up his composition. In 1971 Don's father died, while he was still in military. That was very hard for him to take because his father helped him a lot in many situations and he appreciates that until today. He and his father spent lots of time hunting and fishing, but mostly fishing. He recalls on one particular fishing trip as he and his father was on the Mobile Bay fishing when a hurricane suddenly appeared in the distance and they had to hurry and get out of there; unfortunately his fathers boat suddenly stalled and they were stranded right in the path of a mega hurricane. Fortunately for then were towed in by caucasian fishermen who had noticed them strnded in the water. Don remembers that on that day they almost lost their lives.

Adventures
After Don received his new duty station, he wasted no time getting to know Frankfurt and the music scene there. He soon met Angela Bork a very militant and left wing German girl, that was really a Marxist Leninist. Together they made the trip to Tangier Morocco. According to Don, one of his most exciting adventurous undertaking was to drive from Frankfurt Gernamy to Tangier Morocco via France and Spain in 1971. Being the full blooded Sagittarian that he was, Don undertook this task with ease. The trip took about 8 days to include a small detour to Paris. Exactly 2521 KM (1566 miles). The trip took them through German cities like Mannheim, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, on down south to Strasbourg France. Here they stayed overnight in a very beautiful French hotel. From Strasbourg they made a detour to Paris where they stayed for 2 days with friends, and visited the Eiffel Tower, strolled along the Seine river. They visited the Louvre, and other museums in Paris. Saw many of the great artists works such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Renuar, Van Gogh, Monet and visited the Interior Garden at Petit Palais, a very beautiful place. From Paris further south along the Bay of Biscay to cities and towns like Limoges and Toulouse France. From there on to Spain... Andorra, Barcelona, Tarragona and visited a Spanish Bodega for the first time. Still in Spain going south he visited cities like Valencia, and from there to Alicante and Murcia. In Cartagena they drove along the Mediterranean Sea shore to Almeria. Further on down south to Malaga, Marbella and Gibraltar, where he personally sat foot on the famous rock. And from there on to Tangier. In Tangier they visited some road side stands, and restaurants and that evening returned to Malaga where they stayed over night in a hotel. From Malaga Don made a bee line back to Frankfurt which took app 2.5 days, and all in a VW Bug. Don's military duties took him all over Germany and Europe where he performed in parades, officers clubs, NCO clubs and basic military functions and events. Some of the countries that Don visited at that time include Holland, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg and Switzerland. In August 1972 Don's military career was over and he returned back to civilian life in California. While there Don finished his studies and returned to Germany in January 1973.

Career
Back in Germany Don returned as a bass player and met up with friends that he still have up until today. As bass player Don had the opportunity to work with groups like the Big Spenders, T.R. Richards and the group Stone Soul Assembly. In 1974 Don joined the group *The Foxhunters* featuring Moses Pelham Guitar, Bones Patterson Sax, Brad Howell (origional Milli Vanilli singer) Drums, Jimmy English Keybs. and Don Ridgeway Bass. In that same year Don also met Carlo Bolander a very prominent Jazz critic and piano player who after seeing Don, this new kid on the block trumpet player, became friends. Carlo was a bit older than Don but he asked him to read and evaluate a book that he was writing on American Jazz musicians, which Don gladly ablidged. Also in June of that year Don met his future wife, Frauke Baeumlein. 1974 proved to be a very successful year for Don in as much as he had lots of work in the music field, especially with the group the Fox Hunters where they played in military clubs like the Plantation Club and the Toppers Club. In 1975 Don left the Fox Hunters and joined up with Lou Blackburns MOMBASA, featuring Lou Blackburn Trmb., Doug Lucas trpt., Bob Reed Conga+Perc., Alan Tatham Drums and Don Ridgeway Bass. With Mombasa Don toured extensively in countries behind the Iron Curtain like East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. From behind the "Iron Curtain" Berliner Jazz Festrival, where Don crossed "Checkpoint Charlie" on his way to West Berlin; from there on to the Polish Jazz Festival and the former Yugoslavian Jazz Festival. In West Germany, they played in clubs and on festivals such as Jazz Festival Balve Höhle, Jazz Club Luzern, jazz club Das Podium, Fabrik, Kauri Club, North See Jazz Festival, Montreaux Jazz Festival and many more. Don Played with Mombasa until late 1977 and in that year recorded with the group the second LP Mombasa 2. Also in that same year his second child was born.

After leaving Mombasa in 1977, Don formed his first band "The Second Hand Band", featuring, Thomas knauer Guitar, Jerald (chief) Sherman Conga, Gerhard Schäfer Drum and Don Ridgeway bass. With this group Don recorded his first demo recording at Timewriters Studio. During this time the group played in Clubs and on open air concerts such as Batschkapp, Fechenheim e.V Open Air, Leberecht, Flöresheimer Keller, and Down By The Riverside the infamous club which was owned by Carlo Bolander, and where the two met the previous year. Here he came into contact with the Big Spenders, a very popular group of beautiful sisters, four to be exact. The popularity of the group gave them the opportunity to play in clubs such as Al Galerie 695, Fabrik, Eschborn KR, Harlekin-Optikum, Balalaika, Jazz Life Podium, Gambrinus, Troubadour and Down By The Riverside, where Don and his crew rocked the place every weekend to a no standing room crowd. People were standing outside on the side walk to hear the band. Here Don met and jammed with Alphonse Mouzon and many others who came to jam with the group. 1978 saw a change in group name as well as personell. Now the group is larger and stronger. New members like Joan Faulkner and Jo Kaufmann helped make IKWEZI (which is now the new name of the group) more popular which also help Don secured his first professional recording contract in 1979. Don's first LP "IWEZI" and was produced together with Gerlinde Engelhardt (Biton Studio) in Frankfurt Germany. All songs written, arranged and produced by Don Ridgeway. Everything was going well until one of the band members let themselves be talked by so called manager, into demanding separate pay and conditions. Needless to say for Don this was a no go, and it basically broke up the group.

Productions
July 1980 Don's 3rd child was born and finally contract negotiations were finalized, Don immediately went to work preparing his songs for recording, and in summer of 1980 Don started production on his first solo LP *IKWEZI* and finally finished in February 1981. During this time Don also managed to squeeze in time to help fellow musicians and artists. And in between producing new material, concerts and gigs, Don produced together with Bayo Martins, president of the Nigerian Music Foundation and Biton Production the LP "Rhythms And Voices Of Africa" for the African Kultur Verein (A.K.V.) which was recorded in Dec.1981. During this time many musicians were having a difficult time working in Germany because of the recession and oil crisis of 1979; but because of it's popularity the group Ikwezi was still working up until Feb. 1982, when Don decided to get a job working for Lufthansa Cargo. At that time Don had 3 kids and he had to do something fast. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Don because Lufthansa was a company that supported music and live entertainment, and Don would eventually use this to his advantage. After LH training Don started working in the freight department. After a few months, he was assigned to LH OPS (operations). Don worked at Ops for a few months and eventually came to FRSSC 41 which was Lufthansa Express Service, (LES) one on the first worldwide express freight services. And Don was one of the first LES coordinators for Lufthansa Cargo. Don quickly gained popularity in cargo because he had a band and was a real musician that invited colleagues to gigs and concerts. Because of this Don was approached in 1995 by Lufthansa Marketing and was asked if he could write a song for their "Call Waiting". Of course he could! And wrote and produced for the Lufthansa Warte Schleife the song "Calling Out Your Name". In the meantime Don still had to preform his LH duties, so he arranged it to where he could practically write his own work schedule. Between 1995 and 2001 Don and his group were playing concerts and parties for big Lufthansa bosses in schloss Vullrad in Ostrich Winkel. Don and his crew played for many LH bosses that were retiring or changing jobs within the company. 1995 Don was asked to form and manage the Lufthansa Cargo Band and in 1996 signed the first of 2 music production contracts with Lufthansa AG, and a few months later Don wrote and produced for the Lufthansa AG the song “Save The Children” for the S.O.S Kinderdorf Crans Cottage (Childrens orphanage) in Cape Town South Africa, where all proceeds from sales were donated to the Childrens Village. Don also worked actively with Lufthansa producing the S.O.S. Videotape "Lufthansa´s World", in Vienna and Cape Town. Later that year with his band, Don produced the first LH-Cargo music CD named "Rhythm & Blues Container LD3". All songs were written, arranged, recorded and produced by Don Ridgeway. Between 1996-2001 Don worked with other LH musicians on different gigs and LH festivals. Eventually because of 9/11 things faded out because of the economic impact it had on the company. Don worked in different departments throughout his LH career but mostly in Import and Export where he eventually became shift leader in LH Customs dept. Don retired from Lufthansa in 2009 and continued until today working as a music producer, musician and online marketer. In the meantime, in between time, in 1986 Bob Jackson, leader of the popular Gospel group "The Jackson Singers " asked Don Ridgeway if he would help him form a New Jackson Singers group and band after the first band basically walked out on him. Don knew many musicians and artists at that time, so it was an easy task. With Don as music director, the group quickly increased their popularity and performed Gospel and Spirituals in churches, concert halls and open air festivals. Don was also instrumental in helping Bob Jackson secure his first recording at Biton Productions, and helped Bob Jackson produce the Jackson Singers first CD called "JACKSON SINGERS". The group became very popular and was seen on television shows such as, Alle Jahre Wieder, with all the German and American stars such as Odetta, Peter Hofmann, Ado Schlier and many more. They also played shows like Alfred Biolek, Rudi Carrel Show, WDR, Holgas Waschsaloon and the film "Le Nouveau Monde" from Alain Corneau which was filmed in Paris France starring Alicia Silverstone and James Gandolfini. In 1990 Don divorced his wife of 19 years. Between 1986 and 1995 Don produced and managed the musicians for Bob Jackson until he decided to go his own way and quit the group in late 1995. While all this was going on, Don took the opportunity in 1991 to join a very popular Rock Jazz group named ″Blind Date″ who did the hit song “Your Heart Keeps Burning”. Between 1991- 2001 Don worked extensively with Emmo Reiss on concerts, Discos and open air with 50.000-60.000 fans. He later produced together with Emmo Reiss, Lothar Stadtfeld and Virgin music for Ariola Records the remake of “Your Heart Keeps Burning”. In 1998 Don helped Pat Klipp form her gospel band "The American Gospel Train", and assumed the position as bassist and music director. Since then, he has performed with Pat on concerts, Blues + Gospel Tours in churches, theaters, halls and open air concerts throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Czech Republic up to present date. And in 1996 Don asked Pat to sing background vocals for the CD ”Lufthansa Cargo LD 3” ( Don Ridgeway Production for Lufthansa ) and also in that year, Pat sang lead vocals on the single ”Save the Children” for ( R+R Music/ Emi Electola, Lufthansa and S.O.S. Kinderdorf ).

Products
In year 2000 Don started learning and working online in affiliate marketing and up until today he still market products from Clickbank and Commission Junction. In order to do affiliate marketing the right way it was necessary to learn many things which included making his own websites to use for his marketing campaigns, writing books, info ebooks, articles, making links and using the different marketing tools that were available at the time and graphic design. And of course after a while one realizes that in order to make money on the internet one must have their own product. So together with the marketing, Don started to develop his own products and writing books, and ebooks. And some of his work might appear under the name Donald Payne as well. Some of Don's works include:

In 2008 Don joined Democrats Abroad Democrats Abroad Germany during the Obama administration. Democrts Abroad is the official European arm of the Democratic party USA. DAG as it is called help elect candidates running for office and help promote the demoratic agenda, which Don is very much a part of.

In 2021 Don became one of the 5 leaders of the German Black Caucus, which promote black issues in Amreica as well as Germany.

Throughout his musical career Don has performed with such greats as Art Taylor, Alfonse Mouson, Toots Thieleman, Lou Blackburn, Gene Connor, Mustafa Tetty Adddy, George McCray, Rufus Thomas, Toots Edison and Eddy (lockjaw) Davis.

Don devotes most of his time working with entrepreneurs and small business owners through his company Ridgeway Concept Marketing Group, and The Independent And Small Business Advice Bureau, ISBAB.com

Don is now finishing up his new Gospel documentation and show “The Moors“ which he plans to introduce soon.