North Palm Beach's 'Mr. Everything'
Related Story: Listen to Joe and Mary Lou talk about
his book on yachting customs and courtesies in a podcast.
his book on yachting customs and courtesies in a podcast.
By PAMELA BARKER Community Reporter/Social Media Editor North Palm Beach Life/ northpalmlife@gmail.com Once upon a time, in a land of palm trees, warm breezes and tall, iced drinks, there lived a man -- a lawyer, author, literary publisher, inventor of North Palm Beach Heritage Day, musical producer, yachting commodore, former council member and mayor of North Palm Beach, civic volunteer, and...card-carrying magician/illusionist. Yes, one man, all these things and more. This magical man, with the booming baritone voice, Joseph Tringali and his beautiful heroine, Mary Lou, live and work within the kingdom that is called, Village of North Palm Beach. Obviously, just looking at the cover of Harbor of Refuge, a fictional romance novel by Tringali, inspired me. However, visit Amazon and you will discover his quite serious, non-fiction ebooks, including The Sundown Ceremony, and You, Your Club and The Law. Plus, coming soon is the fourth edition and leather-bound, Yachting Customs and Courtesies. Naturally, when someone has worn or currently wears so many hats, there are stories galore. Their Florida adventure began when he was Assistant State Attorney in West Palm Beach. "We came to Florida in 1973. Actually, we've had a rather checkered Florida life. But, we went back to Buffalo after three years," Tringali said. "I wanted our children to grow up in an atmosphere of extended family and be able to have a much more grounded life there. I wanted the children to have the kind of upbringing that I had. Our daughter is now a doctor, and our son is a pilot, retired from the Air Force. He now flies for Delta. I think it all worked out." Daughter Elizabeth Tringali is owner of Elizabeth Vibrant Health in West Palm Beach. Son John is married to Kelly; they have two children -- Connor and Alexa. The lure of the peninsula brought them back in 1990, after he had a serious heart attack at the age of 39. Although Tringali wrote a fictional novel, his real life has the makings of a fast-paced movie. Starting with the fascinating tale of his search, as an adult, for his biological mother back in Buffalo, New York. "My mother (who was living with him here in Florida) was coming to the end of her life," he recalled. "One day, we were sitting next to the pool and she said, out of the clear blue sky, you know I tried to find your real mother once." That could have been a devastating shock, even to an adult. In this case, it was not. "I found out I was adopted when I was about 10. I was snooping around in my mother's bureau drawer. My birth name, last name, was Bradley." Although he never discussed his adoption with his mother, after her death, he would press on to discover more about himself and his birth mother. With details of his birth in his hands, he wrote about it in a book entitled, I Am That Baby. Unfortunately, the book is no longer in print, but the author generously allowed me to bring his last copy home for a read and return. Oh, the pressure. Sadly, he never got to meet the woman who gave him up, as she had already passed away before his search began. "She had a rough early life." he said. But happily, he discovered three siblings he never knew existed, and he came to learn that his birth mother, who had been raised by a foster family in a small farming town in upstate New York, had a much happier adult life. Photos and videos shared by the foster mother (who was 84, and standing on a ladder to wash the windows on her house when the Tringalis arrived at her home) and his newly found siblings, show a striking resemblance between his birth mother and his son, John. "Even his gait, the way he walks," Ms. Tringali said. The search, and subsequent find of genetically connected family reaffirmed something Tringali wanted to share with his children. Things he learned in life and believed, like: "When you are on the right path, the doors open in front of you. If not on the right path, you will find a lot of them closed." Being on the path, leading him to people who knew people connected to him...seemed to mean he was on the right path. One such path lead to the creation of his fictional novel. "I have always been interested in boats, and it (the book) would be about people living in boats in southwest Florida. Harbor of Refuge was supposed to be called Bonita Republic, which is now in my back room about 2/3 finished. I do know how it ends." Completing a novel is quite an accomplishment, but finding an agent for the written word is not so simple. "Trying to get an agent is virtually impossible. I went to writers conferences, and someone said, as a first time author it is easier to get published in non-fiction. I had spent so much time in yacht clubs, very active with the Buffalo Yacht club, we were creating one here in North Palm Beach, so I thought I would write about yachting customs and courtesies. It came out in 2000." After giving away copies, and selling some, out of 1,500 books printed, he had only one left when a yacht club in Iceland badgered him to sell it to them. After repeated refusals, he relented. "They sent me American cash, so I sent them my book, thinking I could get another copy." Not so easy, or cheap. He did find a copy at a local retailer, but he had to pay $79.95 for the signed-by-the-author volume. The irony was not lost on him. Although that book is out of print, the next edition will be published by Tringali's own publishing company, Calkins Harbor Publishing, around Sept. 1, and the volume will be extensive. In addition to a massive amount of text, it will include images of over 1,200 yacht club flags, and 400 insignia. "Retailers want it by September, for Christmas. It will be $200 retail price, roughly," Mr. Tringali said. Giving back to his community has been a big part of his life in various forms, including being mayor and being a part of various events. Coming on April 2, the Village of North Palm Beach will celebrate Heritage Day. It is a day for family fun, so if you see Joe, give him a thumbs-up because, "I invented Heritage Day," he shared. It was all a part of a plan to have a community holiday for families, where kids could participate and win prizes. The Village leaders supported his idea, when he said, "I would really like to see us have a community holiday. We could have a community parade, with kids riding bikes, pulling wagons." An outdoor event sounds peachy, but what about his musicals? "The musical?" he laughed loudly, "I was on drugs." "Heart medication," Ms. Tringali quickly clarified. "There were seven cardiac bypasses...they give you powerful stuff," he said. Was this how the rock opera, "Tommy" came to be, I wondered silently? "So I am laying in bed, developed pneumonia, they were giving me powerful antibiotics intravenously, and did so at 3 o'clock in the morning. The nurse would say, you will feel some discomfort. It was awful, and just to sort of keep myself sane, I started thinking up new lyrics to old show tunes." The mind really is a curious thing, I thought. "I could not write because of tubes. I was writing left-handed, so then I got home and they don't let you leave the house, you have almost no energy. I put this together and made it into something. It was not all that good." Still, he shared it with others, and one encouraged him to do the musical. "I gave out a number of copies and then gave away the laptop where this was written and forgot about it. Then Diane (Diane Finch of BEAUTYWORKS) says, "When are we going to do it?" "She still had a copy. I ramped it up and added more plot. So we put that show on. It was called, "Give My Regards to North Palm Beach." Once you dabble in the world of musicals, it gets in your blood it seems. "Then they said let's do something else. I am still a card-carrying magician." "He is the Order of Merlin", said Ms. Tringali. The basis for the second musical, "Do You Believe in Magic," was about a boy magician who was not that good, and the encouraging muse he falls in love with. During the course of rehearsals, Ms. Tringali was drafted for a dance number when someone dropped out. Even though she had only agreed to do a read, she carried on. "She became the star of the show," Mr. Tringali said, smiling. "While that (musical) was going on, literally, I got a great idea for a song." Called "Goodbye to Snowbirds," he sang it for me, right there at their dining room table. Through all this I wondered what they do to relax. "Staying home is a luxury," Ms. Tringali offered. "We live in North Palm Beach, that is where people go when they travel," Tringali said. "We travel so much, but we never do anything by ourselves," Ms. Tringali laughed. As with any good novel (or, in this case this feature story) there is always something unusual that happens. This is no different. The John Schneider Movie Studio. "My wife became a big fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, and John Schneider. Well, she is on the Internet with him -- Team Ripped Duke, it's a healthy thing and you do all this exercise. John put out a call that he was doing a movie called, Smothered, in Baton Rouge. He wanted a background actor ( what an extra used to be). So, they were filming this thing about five old washed up horror movie actors on their last legs selling autographed pictures. A crazy lady wants them to haunt her trailer park, but one-by-one they get killed off. It is a spoof, and they wanted people to be in costume. A bunch of goofy people showed up. So, Mary Lou, and I don't mean this in a bad way, never does anything half way, not a criticism. Oh, it was filmed in a place called the 13th Gate, the world's biggest haunted house. It is open all year." "They do private parties," Ms. Tringali said. "So, Mary Lou goes to Northlake Eurotique, and buys a big fancy outfit, so they said wow you..." "I was going for an, Interview of the Vampire look," Ms. Tringali said. "They wanted her right up front. I was not in costume, just wearing a blazer, panama hat, carrying a camera," Tringali said. "But, they liked it and wanted me to stand behind her, like a tourist." "They actually had a spot for a tourist," Ms. Tringali offered. "It should be out March 29 on DVD and on demand. It was just for fun. We are are in a crowd scene, no dialogue," But, there was more to the John Schneider story than the movie in Louisiana. "All this time my dear wife has been saying my friend, John, and I told her, you are not his friend. When he comes to our house for dinner, when he buys us dinner, then you can say we are friends." Next, the Tringalis head to North Carolina. "We went to Charlotte, NC for the movie screening, and somehow I got to be the..." Tringali trailed off. "He (John) loved talking to Joe," Ms. Tringali said. "We went to a restaurant late at night and I went to the manager, and requested a relatively quiet table so John would not be swarmed, and somehow I became the producer," Tringali joked. "They did give us a nice quiet table," Ms. Tringali said. "John picked up the tab, so now he's your friend," Tringali laughed. "We ended up at his house, then did a four-day cruise. He loves talking about legal stuff, he keeps seeking me out." "He will say (to Mr. Tringali), tell me about what you did in your criminal law career," Ms. Tringali said. "He is a very nice guy, very talented, but he has too much going on. He got so tired of being in Hollywood. He has had four number one records, he was in Smallville, on Broadway, all kinds of things that you recognize. But, he did not want to live in New York, so he found this place in Louisiana, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He started an independent studio. About 19 movies have been made there. Joe is his favorite go-to guy." She is a fan, can the same be said for Joe? "I told him, let's get something straight, I am not a fan, I will be friends, I am not anybody's fan." Well, I am a fan. Both, of Joe and Mary Lou Tringali. With his commanding voice, her engaging laugh, and their endearing camaraderie, I think they should co-host a radio show on Sirius. I mentioned radio, and oddly they seemed to think they had too much going on! And ... they lived happily ever after. For more information (and there is plenty) on Joe and Mary Lou Tringali, visit their publishing company Website: http://www.calkinsharbor.com/ Amazon (for his ebooks), or his personal Website: http://josephatringali.com |
"When you are on the right path, the doors open in front of you. If not on the right path, you will find a lot of them closed." Movie extra ...
Their latest claim to fame is working as movie extras in the upcoming John Schneider horror flick, Smothered.
Romance writer ...
Originated 'Heritage Day'...
Commodore ...
Publisher ...
Comments ...Pamela,
Thank you for all the kind words and a beautifully written article. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope we can do it again sometime soon. Best to you and your exciting, journalistic career. -- Mary Lou Tringali |