The Potts Brothers

Hi.  My name is Larry Curtis Potts.  And I am writing a book on my mother and father’s life experiences; my life experiences and my brother Cary’s life experiences.  From poverty to music.  Today is July 29, 2004.

Today is my brother Cary’s birthday, he is 43 today.  Now since I am like most people who have written books that didn’t know what they were doing, I am just going to speak whatever comes in my mind. And when the right person is directed to help me through God, then they can put it in the right perspective.  So for this present time, whatever subject comes up that’s first in my mind, that’s what I am going to speak on. 

My mother’s maiden name is Ruth McPhaul.  And my father’s name is Hiram Deserie Potts, but everybody called him Bob.  I’m really not sure why but, they all called him Bob.  My mother was born in Plainfield, New Jersey.  My father was born in North Carolina and they met in New York City at a famous jazz club at that time called the Savoy.  It was up in Harlem around 141st Street and Lenox Avenue.  All the big bands played there and that’s where they met.  I believe they were married in New York.  I am the oldest of thirteen children.  My sister Barbara and my brother Bobby, the three of us were born in New York.  The rest of the children were born in Plainfield, New Jersey and we never went to school in New York.  My parents moved us to a place called Scotch Plains, New Jersey which is between Westfield and Plainfield, and that’s where we started school.

While I was growing up, my mother told stories that happened to her as a little girl and as a teenager, and they really got my interest because they were strange stories.  Stuff like you would see on television.  So I listened to what she had to say and when I started school and we had to give book reports, I used to write down what my mother said rather than read a book and write things down. The stories were so intriguing that the teacher called my mother into class one day and asked her why her son Larry was writing down all these lies.  My mother said,  “No, this is true; these things really happened to me.”  And my teacher was just astounded. 

My mother and father loved jazz.  Like I said earlier, they met in a jazz club called the Savoy.  And as I grew older, I don’t know, maybe about 11 or 12, I used to listen to the records that my mother and father were playing.  As a matter of fact, when I was younger, about eight years old, I used to love to listen to these instruments and these people sing and I didn’t even know what the instruments were called.  One day, I happened to listen to my mother playing a record and I asked her, “Mom, who is that and what is the instrument?”  And she said that it was a saxophone he was playing and his name was Gene Ammons.  The sound was so beautiful and he had so much feeling, that I said I really wanted to learn how to play a saxophone.  Needless to say, I took it up in school and I was still learning and listening to the records as far as the tone and stuff and it wasn’t corresponding with what the teacher was teaching me.  I found out that the teacher couldn’t even play the music himself, but he was a teacher so that was a joke in itself.  I got disgusted aft