THE UNSUNG HERO

NATE TSUSHIHASHI

Personality-wise, Nate's extremely shy.  He has a strong sense of honor and stands by his friends. Yet he's also a pacifist, who would far rather prefer any non-violent solution is used to end a conflict -- but he's realist enough to know sometimes violent action is necessary, though not desirable.

In junior high, given his interest in music, his parents arranged to get him in the LA Unified schools geared more towards the arts. Nate soon found he didn't have much aptitude for playing music, but did have a knack for setting up sound boards and speaker systems.  He continues to get mediocre grades in order to hang with his friends and be around the music, though he might gain more advantages at a technical school. Nate's grades are just good enough to stay but far from exceptional, which frustrates his parents.  They think he's throwing his future away, and feeling they made a mistake aggressively encourage him to go elsewhere, but he disagrees.

During junior high, Nate met John Graham through a mutual electronics interest.  John -- a capable but not stellar musician -- just finished building his own synthesizer capable of handling many instruments at once.  John planned to enter it in the school talent show, with his friend Debra Clay accompanying by singing a rendition of a well-worn chestnut tune.  Nate pointed out that John couldn't make sure Debra's microphone levels were right while watching the synthesizer's output, so he volunteered to help out.  Their combined efforts wowed the crowd and won them their first talent competition.  Nate, Debra, and John have been fast friends since.  They continued on as a cover band called the Glory Hounds and played at community block parties and school events.  Later on, Vince Giantassio and Lucy Alvarez joined the band, and since they wrote original music and lyrics, the Hounds of Glory's repertoire -- and popularity -- skyrocketed.

When the band decides to become Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory, Nate stands by them because they are his friends.  However, he worries about his parents finding out since they already disapprove of his school performance despite the fact he's happy.  Not to mention, Flying Glory of old also represents a wartime that his great-grandmother still remembers vividly.  She's never been completely comfortable living in America (though her children and their offspring adjusted well), and he's afraid if great-grandmother learns he's working with "the enemy" that it will quite literally kill her.  

Nate struggled to keep his ongoing friendship with Debra once she became Flying Glory a secret, but his parents found out. Angry that the son did not obey, Nate finds himself thrown out of his house on his 18th birthday. In addition, after Flying Glory and the Hounds of Glory find their contract sold to Claudia King, Nate finds himself out of a soundman job for not being included in the contract. Unknown to Claudia, Nate's friends still support him and he serves them as eyes and ears from their headquarters under the Regis Theater owned by Debra's grandmother, Elsie Carmichael Stokes. Unexpected support comes from Toni Grand, a longtime family friend that Nate first knew by the nickname of 'Netty'.

The Unsung Hero bio by Shannon Muir