Lost soul finds home in music

-Erie Times-News, Dave Richards (May 6, 2005)

He's got the dark, good looks of a GQ model, the soul of an artist and the brains for working in the corporate world.

No wonder Bobby Fingeroth was confused after he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 and returned home to New York City.

What to do?

He got it all wrong for a while. First, he took acting classes. He got a line in a soap opera, and a part in an off-Broadway play.

"But, soon, I saw it wasn't what I wanted," Fingeroth said. "When I decided to stop doing that, I was lost. Most of my friends were at law school or in other cities. I was living at home with my parents, so it wasn't a particularly good time."

He took solace in the music he listened to in college, particularly the Dave Matthews Band.

"I started listening closely to all the different instruments and what they were playing, and how it all fit together," he said. "I'd never really done that before. It kind of inspired me to want to learn how to play guitar."

He took lessons. Within six months, he'd written his first song. But Fingeroth figured he still needed a "real" career.

"Most nice Jewish boys don't become musicians," he said, with a laugh.

So, he took one corporate job after another at assorted companies, including Showtime, though he never stuck with one too long. He wrote strategy briefs, he sold sponsorships, he did accounting. None of it thrilled him.

Fingeroth can put his finger on the precise moment when the boardroom nearly bored him to death. Thinking he just needed a more creative job, he took a position selling sponsorships in New Jersey. That meant a 90-minute commute.

"I lasted six months," he said.

That was his last job. He plunged into music -- writing songs, befriending musicians, playing gigs. The result: "Dilettante," his stylish 2004 debut, which isn't entirely folky or guitar-driven. It's laced with strings, including mandolin, as well as keyboards, banjos, tablas and some resonator guitar.

"I felt the songs were good enough -- and I had a talented enough producer -- that we ought to do the best we could, and not shortchange them,"Fingeroth said.

He's earned airplay on more than 50 radio stations, and assorted Starbucks are featuring his tunes. Now he's on the road -- playing solo -- including a free gig at Erie's Borders tonight at 7.

Playing at Borders sure beats working a boardroom. Even his folks have come around.

"I don't think this is the life they imagined for me. They would have liked me to have a more stable career,"Fingeroth said. "But, at the same time, they want me to be happy." And he is.