Drumstick maker Joe Calato finds his rhythm in Lewiston
Oct. 8—The Lewiston Senior Center recently got a new regular, a 101-year-old lifelong area resident named Joe Calato.
While Joe may appear to be just like any other attendee participating in the center's activities, he changed the way drummers play their instruments by changing the drumsticks they used. The Calato family patriarch started Regal Tip, one of the most prominent drumstick brands, which is still located in Niagara Falls and is now in its third generation of family ownership.
A drum player since the age of 8, Joe was playing out professionally at the age of 13 making $2 or $3 a night. His father was also a drum player.
Joe served in the Air Force for three years during WWII, wanting to be a fighter pilot, but was three-quarters an inch too short to fly the planes and was a navigator instead. Afterward, he took jobs as a woodworker, cabinetmaker, machinist, and pattern maker while also making money as a drummer. He also started making his own drumsticks for local drummers, which would lead to him starting the J.D. Calato Manufacturing Co., now Regal Tip, in 1958.
"Back then, you couldn't buy good drum sticks," Joe said, with wooden sticks having wooden tips at the time. "They were either warped or they'd break easy, so I was looking for a way to make a better drumstick."
What Joe did for drumsticks compared to others at the time was add a nylon tip to the end of the stick, birthed out of his first attempt of putting plastic at the end of the tip. The tip would stay on, not shatter, and have a pleasant sound when played. He also put a finish on the sticks that prevented them from slipping out of drummers' hands. The company was also the first drumstick manufacturer to match the sticks by weight.
Those drumsticks are still made in Niagara Falls, with the wooden sticks made from white sapwood hickory. Joe said the sticks are sold in 60 countries around the world, with Regal Tip also being the world's largest manufacturer of drum brushes.
Some of the more well-known drummers that used Regal Tip drumsticks include Alex Van Halen, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, jazz drummer Jeff Hamilton, and many others who performed with the likes of John Mayer, Zac Brown Band, Violent Femmes, and Marilyn Manson.
Carol, one of Joe's daughters, said it was an eye-opening experience when her dad told her the Grateful Dead stopped by the factory one day to see how the sticks are made and he got some tickets for one of their concerts.
"I called it the day my dad got cool," Carol said, noting that Alex Van Halen also stopped by the factory, "because I knew I could get concert backstage passes from him."
As recognition for his work in how drumsticks are made, Joe was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society's Hall of Fame in 2001, Modern Drummer Magazine gave him an award for improving the quality of drumsticks and having his be the industry standard, and he received a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Niagara Falls Music and Art Festival in 2015.
Joe officially turned the business over to his children at the age of 80 in 2001, with his granddaughter Michelle now in charge of the business. The manufacturing facilities did move from its Hyde Park Boulevard location to one near the Niagara Falls International Airport on Niagara Falls Boulevard over the summer, with Michelle looking for a secondary facility to possibly house more machinery.
The new owner said her grandfather has always had a say in the business and they still talk to him about it.
"He was always involved in my life," Michelle said. "He essentially raised me coming from a family business. We're a tight family."
Joe's retirement has been filled with gardening, golfing and plenty of cooking. His daughters and aide tried getting him to come to the Lewiston Senior Center, but he was never interested in staying.
After he started coming to the center two months ago, he does not want to miss any events put on there.
"I've been sitting in my daughter's home, watching TV all day," Joe said. "That went on and on. Being with people in my age group, talking to them, it's wonderful. I feel like I've been here for years."
Exercise activities often bring daughters Carol and Cathy out too, with Cathy noticing that within 2-3 weeks that his agility had improved and he was able to get pullover sweaters off on his own.
"Now he won't miss it," Carol said. "He gets me up in the morning going, 'Come on!'"
Still, the legacy Joe Calato created looks to be secure, with Michelle saying that her children have small roles with Regal Tip and will soon be the fourth generation of ownership.
"I'm just lucky to have the business to carry on his legacy," Michelle said.
