Bobby Asher, Storyteller

BOBBY ASHER, Associate Director of Artistic Initiatives, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

When I was five years old, a man joined the church where I went with my parents. He played the trumpet during services, and as soon as I heard that sound I knew that I wanted to play. A couple of weeks later I cut up an old water hose and made a trumpet. A few months after that, my parents bought me a used cornet from a pawn shop. I was on my way.

All of the experiences in my life…can in some way be traced back to that moment.

All of the experiences in my life: my college education, my career in the arts, where I've travelled, who I've met, can in some way be traced back to that moment, when a five-year-old kid in a church pew heard a trumpet for the first time.