From 1971 to 1977 The DeliLama owned & operated the Big D Luncheonette on N Broad St., in Philadelphia. The hours were M-F 7:00 AM till 2:00 PM. This allowed his alter-being to be very active in the sound business. By 1976 he built & installed sound systems for Frank Sinatra, local Discos, IM Fried, Music & Sound, Ltd., & The Bi-Centennial. In 1977, The DeliLama sold the Big D and went on the road with a spin-off of the Allman Brothers Band-Capricorn Records Artists Chuck Leavel & Sea Level. In 1978 he moved to NYC and started up a live sound company operation doing all the Jazz concert mixing at Carnegie Hall, Town Theater, Avery Fisher, & Beacon Thater. By 1980 he had already mixed live sound for Flora Purim & Airto, Stan Getz,  Dave Brubeck, Don Cherry, Charlie Hayden, Herbie Hancock, Grover Washngton Jr., Angela Bofil, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Galespie, The Crusaders, Dave Valintine, and the 1980 European Tour with the Brecker Brothers featuring Barry Finnerty, Mark Grey, and the up & coming soon to be great Richie Morales. Later The DeliLama worked on the Brecker Brother’s last album with this band as the technical advisor and is very proud to say that he convinced Michael & Randy to have Richie play drums on all of the record date.

For more info, click here for the latest bio/brochure

The DeliLama was born on a chicken farm in Vineland New Jersey. His Deli roots, however, date to 1959 upon his father’s purchase of the Wynnefield Delicatessen—nu vu den—in the old country Wynnefield section of Philadelphia. Well with a changing neighborhood and times, The Wynnefield Delicatessen ceased operations by 1965. Delicatessens in those days were full-service grocery stores with complete meat, cheese, dairy, and canned goods. The supermarkets really changed the classic old-world delicatessen era.

After the closing of the delicatessen, the new frontier, The Bid D Luncheonette on North Broad Street across from the Philadelphia Traffic Court. The DeliLama’s father retired in 1972, by which time the DeliLama took over all control of the operations. Some of the original Big D menu boards are in the Klapholz’s Planetary Headquarters. Of note is, “Nova Scotia Lox with Cream Cheese: 85 cents!”