Editing Max Weinberg (section)

==Early life==
Weinberg was born on April 13, 1951, to a [[Jewish]] family in [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]], New Jersey,<ref name="santelli">{{cite book | last=Santelli | first=Robert | title=Greetings From E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | publisher=[[Chronicle Books]] | year=2006 | location=San Francisco | isbn=0-8118-5348-9}} p. 33.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/jersey-boy/|title=Mighty Max Weinberg|last=Leichman|first=Joey|date=October 30, 2015|website=[[Jewish Standard]]|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-10}}</ref> to parents Bertram Weinberg, an [[Attorneys in the United States|attorney]], and Ruth Weinberg,<ref name="benarde-238">{{cite book | last=Benarde | first=Scott R. | title=Stars of David: Rock 'n' roll's Jewish Stories | publisher=[[University Press of New England]] | year=2003 | isbn=1-58465-303-5 | page=238}}</ref> a high school [[physical education]] teacher.<ref name="schleier"/> He has three sisters, Patty, Nancy and Abby. He grew up in Newark as well as in the neighboring suburban towns of [[South Orange, New Jersey|South Orange]] and [[Maplewood, New Jersey|Maplewood]].<ref>Radio interview by Sherry Ross of Max Weinberg during second intermission of New Jersey Devils/Phoenix Coyotes game on Thursday March 12, 2009.</ref>

Weinberg was exposed to music early on, attending [[Broadway theatre|Broadway shows]] weekly from the age of two and liking the big sound put forth by the [[pit orchestra]]s.<ref name="nsl-int-2"/> He then liked the rhythms of [[country and western music]].<ref name="nsl-int-2"/> He knew he wanted to be a drummer from the age of five, when he saw [[Elvis Presley]] and his drummer, [[D. J. Fontana]], appear on ''[[The Milton Berle Show]]'' in April 1956.<ref name="nsl-int-2"/><ref name="benarde"/> Decades later, Weinberg said, "I think anybody who wanted to develop a life in rock 'n' roll music had a moment. That was my moment,"<ref name="nsl-int-2"/> and Fontana became a major influence on him.<ref name="benarde">Benarde, ''Stars of David'', p. 237.</ref> Weinberg received a child's [[conga]] drum from his father after he watched a TV show featuring bandleader [[Xavier Cugat]]. In a 2020 article in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', Weinberg described the drum as having a "... a real calfskin head and a white strap.  I played it all over the house."<ref name="WSJ">{{cite news |last1=Weinberg |first1=Max |title=Between Rock and A Family Hard Place |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/max-weinberg-was-born-to-drum-11595341883?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 |website=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=July 21, 2020 }}</ref>

Weinberg has also acknowledged [[the Ventures]] as a major influence on him in a TV interview in 1988 to celebrate that band's 30th anniversary and he actually sat in on drums during the performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxT5sfhP_Y0| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211116/MxT5sfhP_Y0| archive-date=2021-11-16 | url-status=live|title=Hawaii Five-O - Ventures 30th Anniversary with Max Weinberg|date=September 3, 2011|access-date=March 30, 2019|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Weinberg started playing at the age of six.<ref name="schleier"/> His first public appearance came at the age of seven when he sat in on a [[bar mitzvah]] band playing "[[When the Saints Go Marching In]]".<ref name="benarde-238"/><ref name="schleier"/><ref name="WSJ"/> The bandleader, Herbie Zane, was the leading act for bar mitzvahs and weddings in the area; he was impressed with young Weinberg and brought him along on other engagements as a kind of novelty act.<ref name="schleier">{{cite news | title=E Street to Conan, Max Weinberg keeps on drumming | author=Schleier, Curt | newspaper=[[Jewish Bulletin of Northern California]] | date=February 6, 1998}}</ref><ref name="nsl-int-2"/> Weinberg thus became a local child star, drumming in a three-piece mohair suit.<ref name="nyt062900"/> He gained an appreciation for [[Showmanship (performing)|showmanship]] and was a fan of [[Liberace]] and [[Sammy Davis, Jr.]]<ref name="nyt062900"/><ref name="hilburn">{{cite book | last=Hilburn | first=Robert | author-link=Robert Hilburn | title=Springsteen | publisher=[[Rolling Stone Press]] | year=1985 | isbn=0-684-18456-7 | pages=74, 77}}</ref> He grew to idolize drummer [[Buddy Rich]]<ref name="nyt062900"/> and become a fan of [[Gene Krupa]]<ref name="rs-max-bb">{{cite news | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/113564 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613031107/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/113564 | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 13, 2010 | title=Max Weinberg on His Future With Conan and Bruce | author=Greene, Andy | magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] | date=June 10, 2010 | access-date=June 13, 2010}}</ref> and saw drummer [[Ed Shaughnessy]] of [[Doc Severinsen]]'s band on ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson]]'' as having an ideal job<ref name="nyt112893"/><ref name="nsl081309"/> as well as admiring the level of playing and serious sartorial style of the Tonight Show musicians.<ref name="nola-prof"/> Weinberg stayed with Zane until junior high school and learned rhythms such as [[Cha-cha-cha (music)|cha-chas]], [[Merengue music|merengues]], [[polka]]s, and [[Hora (dance)|the hora]] and playing everything from [[Dixieland jazz]] to [[Acker Bilk]]'s "[[Stranger on the Shore]]".<ref name="nsl-int-2"/>

Weinberg attended Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel, a [[Reform Judaism]] congregation in South Orange, where he was inspired by a local rabbi and had what he later described as "a wonderful Jewish background."<ref name="benarde-238"/> He would later say that the Jewish concept of <!-- this dablink should stay-->[[seder (disambiguation)|seder]], meaning order, became key to his vision of how a good drummer serves his band's music.<ref name="benarde"/> Witnessing his father lose two summer camps in [[Pocono Mountains|The Poconos]] impressed upon him the fragility of economic success and led to a strong [[work ethic]].<ref name="nyt062900"/> His father's financial setbacks also provided a reason for Weinberg to find steady work as a drummer, while still in his teens and attending high school, to help his family pay bills.<ref name="WSJ"/>

When the [[British Invasion]] hit in 1964, [[the Beatles]] and their drummer, [[Ringo Starr]], became a major influence on Weinberg.<ref name="santelli"/><ref name="benarde-238" /><ref name="nsl-int-2"/> He began playing in local New Jersey rock bands, playing the music of [[The Rolling Stones]], [[Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels]], and [[The Young Rascals]].<ref name="santelli"/> While a member of the Epsilons, he played at the [[1964 New York World's Fair]].<ref name="santelli"/> He attended [[Columbia High School (New Jersey)|Columbia High School]] in Maplewood;<ref name="chs"/> there he knew [[Leigh Howard Stevens]], who would become a famous percussionist in his own right.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pas.org/experience/halloffame/StevensLeighHoward.aspx | title=PAS Hall of Fame: Leigh Howard Stevens | author=Weiss, Lauren Vogel | publisher=[[Percussive Arts Society]] | access-date=November 8, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126214621/http://www.pas.org/experience/halloffame/StevensLeighHoward.aspx | archive-date=November 26, 2010 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Weinberg graduated from Columbia High in 1969.<ref name="chs">{{cite web | url=http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/53053 | title=Columbia Senior High School | date=April 27, 2023 | publisher=Public School Review}}</ref> Another band he was in, Blackstone, recorded an eponymous album for [[Epic Records]] in 1970.<ref name="santelli"/>

Weinberg first attended [[Adelphi University]], and later [[Seton Hall University]], majoring in [[film studies]].<ref name="appel">{{cite book | last1=Appel | first1=Mike | author-link=Mike Appel |first2=Marc |last2=Eliot | title=Down Thunder Road | publisher=[[Fireside Books]] | year=1992 | isbn=0-671-86898-5}} p. 117–118.</ref> His general goal was to become a lawyer,<ref name="mdm-int"/> but he was still most viscerally interested in a music career and kept his drum set in his car in case any chances to play arose.<ref name="appel"/> He performed at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and bars,<ref name="schleier"/> then landed a job in the pit band for the [[Broadway musical]] ''[[Godspell]]''.<ref name="santelli"/><ref name="nyt062900"/>