Patsy Palombo has written a memoir focusing on his days as drummer for the legendary rock band Left End.

For 40 years, Patsy Palombo lived a double life.

By day he was the director of development and stewardship with the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

At night he was the drummer for Left End, a rock act beloved and renowned for its live show and the outrageous antics of lead singer Dennis T. Menass (real name Dennis Sesonsky).

“I could be playing with Left End for a really rowdy rock crowd at the Arcade or another club in Youngstown or Warren, get home at 3:30 in the morning and then have a 9 a.m. meeting with the bishop and a group of priests,” Palombo said. Palombo, 69, tells the music side of that double life in his book “Tenacity: The Left End Story,” which he released in late November.

He wrote the 200-page, illustrated memoir in a only a few months, had it printed at City Printing in Youngstown and is self-distributing it through his website, www.palomborocks.com. He already sold more than 400 copies in less than a month.

“Left End hasn’t played for 16 years. It’s amazing people still had an interest,” he said.

“I have a good memory. I didn’t keep a journal, but I always remembered stories. I’ve always been a storyteller, and when I’d tell them to friends and family, they’d say, ‘You gotta write a book.’ I retired from my job in June of this year and just started writing.”

The book chronicles the band’s ’70s heyday, when local radio exposure and packed clubs led to a record deal with Polydor Records, which released the album “Spoiled Rotten” in 1973. The band played major venues with acts like The J. Geils Band and George Clinton’s Parliament and was starting to get national attention when it had a falling out with its manager coupled with a regime change at the record label.

The new executives at Polydor were taking the label in a different direction, so Left End hired an attorney to get out of the contract. Changes in the marketplace made it difficult to land a new deal.

However, the band’s regional support — northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and upstate New York — never waned. Left End continued to get local radio support for its original songs until ’85, when the group broke up for the first time. Fans continued to support the band through multiple regroupings and reunions into the 21st century.

Just as entertaining as the tales of Menass’ crazy costumes and behavior is the portrait of the Mahoning Valley music scene in the 1970s, when the area spawned several bands (I Don’t Care, Mom’s Apple Pie, LAW, Brainchild) that attracted the attention of national record labels or included musicians who went on to long, successful careers in the music business.

“Youngstown and Warren was just a hub for great musicians and artists,” Palombo said. “We were working six nights a week. We owned homes, drove new cars and most of us didn’t have jobs until our early 30s. Those times are unfortunately gone.”

After that ’70s peak, the economy and the population declined. The bars no longer could sell pitchers of 3.2 beer to 18- to 20-years-olds, and there were more entertainment options at home (cable, VCRS, video games, social media, streaming sites).

“If you wanted to see some entertainment, you had to go out to one of these places,” he said.

Palombo fell in love with the drums at a young age, watching his neighbor behind the kit as his band rehearsed the early rock hits of Bill Haley & the Comets, Duane Eddy and Chuck Berry. That neighbor died of bone cancer at the age of 18, and Palombo’s parents bought his drum kit for their son. He started playing with high school kids when he was barely a teenager and played in a rock band called Cherry Paup with his classmates at Youngstown Woodrow Wilson High School.

The day after Cherry Paup played its last gig, Palombo was invited to audition for the Soulsations, the band that ultimately became Left End.

“My parents were very supportive and encouraged me,” he said. “Dad would drive me to my music lessons and sit in the room with the instructor to make sure I paid attention. That kind of drove me to be self-disciplined about it.”

And those years of playing packed bars and packed clubs also helped him in his work for the diocese.

“When I was in high school, I was a very shy guy,” Palombo said. “Needless to say, once in I got in the business in Left End, it brings this out of you. I became more open and bold about life, more outgoing and personable. I think that got me the job. I went in very brash with a lot of ideas … It took a lot of courage and there were a lot of risks I wouldn’t have taken if it wasn’t for my experience as a musician.”

Palombo, who lives in Boardman, said he still plays the drums every day. He backs singer Leanne Binder in the band Generation Rock, but like most acts, its 2020 gigs were canceled due to COVID-19.

Before the pandemic, there was talk about a reunion concert with the surviving members of Left End at the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater. Palombo and his wife, Sheila, are planning a move to Las Vegas in 2021, but Palombo said he gladly would return for the concert if it can happen.

Based on the attendance for past reunions, Left End still can draw a crowd. Palombo believes the quality and simplicity of the band’s originals — songs like “Bad Talkin’ Lady,” “Sunshine Girl” and “Cyclone Rider” — are the reason for its enduring popularity.

“All these other bands did more complex things,” Palombo said. “Brainchild, they were all superstar musicians and Dana (School of Music) graduates, but collectively they didn’t come up with original material that stood the test of time. We were simpler, basic and just groove.

“A lot of bands I hear today, they’re individually talented but don’t have a sense of groove. They don’t understand the best way to play is listening to the people around you and playing complementary to them instead of being in your own little space.”

agray@tribtoday.com