Story & Lesson Highlights with Ralph Tufo

Ralph Tufo shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Ralph, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I’ve written a children’s musical based on my award-winning Seemore the Seagull Tales. Taking in the time of writing the content of the three books, the songs, the lyrics, and the script, it’s been 5 years in the making. I’m now approaching local children’s theatre groups to see if they might considering producing my play..

At this point, I can’t stop. I’ve put in too much time, effort, and money to stop now. I know it won’t be easy, and I expect the possibility that that the play will be rejected multiple times before a theater company accepts it. I have to beieve that some theater group wil eventually.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a children’s author, playwright, and a musician. I’ve benn doing all of this for over 50 years. My Seemore the Seagull books, in addition to being fun for pre-school and elementary age children, teach lessons in kindness. The illustrations and photographs in the books were done by professional artists. All of the books have received awards.. As a former teacher, I feel it’s my mission to help children develop attitudes of kindness towards each other. I do this by drawing examples, developing stories of empathy, and not being preachy.

I’ve written 5 short plays and 4 musicals. They havel been performed in the general Boston area. I’m now working at getting my Seemore the Musical produced with a local theatre group.

I play piano accordion, Cajun accordions, and keyboards with my band called the Squeezebox Stompers . We travel througout New England performing at various venues.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I started playing the accordion at age 5 and took lessons for several years. In junior high school, I taught myself how to play basic piano because “accordion playing was not cool.” I always planned on becoming a teacher and never thought about playing music professionall or writing professionally. It wasn’t until a friend asked me to join their Irish band; they needed an accordion player, that I realized how much fun it was to impact an audience with music.

From that point on, since my early 20’s until now, I’ve played in professional band, recorded 12 abums, and written over 40 songs. the songwriting lead me into writing plays and stories, especially for my children’s books and musical where everything rhymes.

Now I realize what the world told me to do.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes. I was letting the demons of self doubt take hold of me. I was questioning myself continually asking :why are you doing this, are you on an unsuccessful ego trip, why do hardly make any money, who would care if you quit?

As I was thinking this one day, in order to stop hearing myself tear myself apart, I decided to turn on the car radio to drown out the internal noise. This is the truth. I heard a song played on a local PBS station in Boston, that sounded familiar to me. Then I realized it was my own instrumental “Magnolia 2 Step” being used as the opening song for the Folk Heritage Show. That was too much of a coincidence for me, so I decided not to quit playing music.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
Truth, Ever since I was a kid at 4 years old, when I found out there was no Santa Claus, I told every kid I knew about this. I didn’t want them to be lied to. My mother got a lot of phone calls about this, and coincidentally my son did the same thing when he was at that age.

I feel that as a teacher and writer, it’s my job to spread the truth as I see it. What else is left if the truth is taken away from people?

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
At least he tried. I want to leave a legacy of my music and written materials behind me when I’m gone. I feel that I can live on (somehow) through the works I’ve created all of my lfe.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.seemoretheseagull.com and www.squeezeboxstompers.com
• Instagram: @seemoretheseagull
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ralph.tufo https://www.facebook.com/seemoretheseagull
• Youtube: @squeezeboxstompers4726

Image Credits
Jacquelyn Resendes
Nancy Tufo