A brief semi factual autobiography Jan 03, 2010

Bio Revised 1/2010
Vincent Quatroche was born on the eastern tip of the North Fork of Long
Island in 1955 in the balcony of the old Prudential Theatre during a matinee of
Mister Roberts" among Mr. Quatroche first memories are the smell of
cigarette smoke, the coarseness of the lodge carpet on his bare ass, the yellow
color of the popcorn, the taste of salt and an Usher who looked like Bobby
Darin shinning a flash light in his eyes, telling him to "keep it
down".
His mother baptized him on the spot
with her Coca-Cola.
His first attempted escape from Long
Island occurred in 1973. Less than twenty four hours after graduating from high
stool (sic) he found himself sitting alone on the steps of a "Savings and
Loan" three thousand miles away in San Diego. Welcome to "The Road."
He immediately took off hitchhiking up the coast (like he had seen in the
movies). Clueless and soon broke he returned home three weeks later to start
squandering his youth in earnest.
This pattern would more or less
persist for the next few years till finally he managed to go away one day
somewhere and not return. An education of sorts both in the traditional and
"school of hard knocks" was forged during Vince's twenties. Between
tragic love affairs and binge drinking, in his spare time he worked an unending
series of manual labor jobs that offered little future and less pay.
Odds were fairly good among even his
closet friends that old "Vince buddy" was going down. But hard. And
would just disappear into the barroom floor one day to permanently wait for the
iceman to "cometh". But defying those "in the know" crawled
up off the mat and finished a BA degree in English and a Masters of Education
soon followed. The big right turn occurred around thirty with marriage and fatherhood.
The teaching career began in earnest right around that time and new air of
legitimacy seemed to swirl in the air.
And this where the story changes.
Quatroche managed to latch on to a couple of adjunct teaching positions that
amounted to a full timers course load at the local State and Community Colleges.
Right about the same time his part time gig as an adult GED Instructor led to full
time incarnation (excuse me, I mean employment) at the County Jail. So
since the mid decade of the nineties there has been plenty of steady work. As
for his teaching reputation, one can go right around the horn with the scouting
reports or course evaluations. Some students swear by him, others at him, but
usually nobody who finishes a semester or stretch in the Clink fails to come
away with some benefit, grudge or definitive opinion (sic).
.
The years that have followed proved
to be productive ones. In the past decade of the 2000s Quatroche has managed to
produce four print collections of Po, Prose and Poetry. Two CDs of new sonic landscape driven Po and in addition
some past tracks digitally re-mastered CD of previously released material
complied from cassette series from the 80s and 90s has recently surfaced. He
has received some sporadic exposure on public radio formats in the US and
Canada. Quatroche has acquired a rather minor league regional reputation as a
semi-interesting side show act when he participates in public readings. The
proliferation of the internet and maintaining a web site helped bring his work
out further into the public’s eye so that it could be ignored more widely. The
last few years as seem him become an alarming frequent, disturbing presence in
the poetry scene in the northeastern part of the United States.
A key decision regarding the
publishing was to stop knocking on doors trying to get the work in print from
others, but simply do it himself. See it exist in reality and be satisfied with
at least that much for the time being. Of course the more critical appraisal
wants to dismiss this entire process/effort, writing it off as simply another
vanity press exercise in self-premonition rather than talent. Perhaps but as
the alternative of having hundreds of little brown notebooks collecting mildew
in a basement or some Prayer Tower somewhere was at least one fate escaped.
Any commercial success, wide spread exposure
or serious attention to his work eludes him most of time despite being one persistent
bastard who has insisted and endured at this just long enough that inevitably for somebody somewhere to comment if his
name surfaces in conversation, “O yeah that guy, whatzisname….think I hoid
(sic) of him” Cryptic to a fault, fiercely independent and in general
either bored or impatient with anybodies scene all he really has managed to do
is either puzzle, piss off or in general leaving some heads in the audience
being scratched or shook while growling,
“Who in hell does that fucking guy think he is ?”
My name is Vincent Quatroche.
And I don't give up, I keep up.
Take your best shot, pal.
(Following is a Straight Bio for the Squares)
Vincent Quatroche has been a member
of the Communication and English Department @ Jamestown Community College since 1997.He has BA in English and
Master of Science in Education from SUNY @ Fredonia. In addition to his adjunct
position with JCC, Vincent has been a member of the faculty in the Communication Department @ Fredonia State College since the late 80s. Mr. Quatroche is also an
Instructor in Adult Education for Erie-2 Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES @ the ChautauquaCounty Jail in Mayville NY since 1996. He is a published author of numerous
creative projects, including audio recordings and books. His poetry has been disturbed widely throughout the United States and abroad. A profile of his work appeared on PBS in 1998.
Mr. Quatroche's professional credentials and accomplishments are recognized and included in the 25th edition of the International Biographic Center's Dictionary of Who's Who in in the Field of Education, Cambridge CB2 #QP United Kingdom, England.