Personality Test: Rod Booker
If anyone in Westmoreland County could rightly be called the “Music Man,” it would be Rod Booker of Greensburg. Though he retired in 2006 from the Hempfield Area School District as music department chairman and director of bands, he now serves Westmoreland County Community College as director of music and conductor of the college's concert choir, stage band, jazz singers and symphonic band.
He serves as guest conductor with other area bands, orchestras and choral societies and stepped into that position in 2012 with the University of Alabama's Honors Band and in 2015 with its Crimson Tide Marching Band, conducting the National Anthem in front of 104,000 ‘Bama football fans.
The Leechburg native is also a clinician, speaker and adjudicator for other groups including the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and the Music Educators National Conference.
If that isn't enough to fill the day, he does motivational speaking, writes for academic journals and other publications and serves on the boards of numerous other musical and civic organizations. He also consults with area school districts on issues of race and minority affairs.
What drives him, at age 67, when many of his contemporaries are looking forward to slowing down? “My drive is that I enjoy what I do,” he says.
The star who would play me in the movie version of my life:
Tyler Perry
Childhood hero:
Superman
The piece of memorabilia from my childhood I wish I still had:
My grandmother's Victrola
The superpower I wish I had in real life:
Photographic memory
Favorite app:
Bank account
Favorite season:
Summer
Favorite ethnic food:
Collard greens
I spend the most time on: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Other / None:
None
The song I want played at my funeral:
“Amazing Grace”
Pick one: Veep / House of Cards / Scandal:
Scandal
Show I have or want to binge watch:
Law and Order
My favorite cable channel:
TNT
What dessert matches your personality?
Coconut cream pie
Who's your favorite TV or movie villain?
Khan (from “Star Trek”)
Which Disney character are you?
(I never saw a black Disney character) If I had to chose, Donald Duck.
Movie I could watch every time it appears on cable:
“Good Morning, Vietnam”
The movie that always makes me cry:
“Antone Fisher”
If I was auditioning for “American Idol,” my song would be:
“On a Clear Day”
The first band I saw in concert:
Chicago at IUP
The best concert I've ever seen:
Temptations at the Holiday House in Monroeville
Favorite guilty pleasure:
Ice cream
Something I would do over if I could:
Learn Spanish and Italian
Pick one: Pirates / Penguins / Steelers / Other / I hate sports:
Steelers
My favorite Pittsburgh athlete:
Roberto Clemente
Favorite lunchtime spot:
My office
My favorite sandwich, plus fixings:
Hot Italian with everything
My most embarrassing junk food:
Popcorn
My favorite Pittsburgh pizza:
Pizza Italiano
Pick one: Cheetos / Cheezits / Cheerios:
Cheerios
The most dangerous thing I've ever done:
Got in a homemade boat on the Kiski River
Top thing on my ‘Bucket List' to do before I'm gone:
Drive a motor home out west and south
Best vacation ever:
Going to Georgia
Place I'd most like to visit:
Grand Canyon
In five years, I'd like to:
Win the lottery
I wish I had more time to:
Stay healthy
My favorite thing about Pittsburgh is:
The views of the city
Three people I'd love to have dinner with:
My grandparents and Martin Luther King Jr.
My quirkiest inherited trait:
My laugh
One word my mother would use to describe me:
Caring
When I was 10, I wanted to be:
A music teacher
In high school, I was:
Black
If I could go back, I'd tell me teenage self:
Study more
My childhood nickname was:
Skip
My first job:
Working for a trucking firm.
My worst job:
Working for a trucking firm.
I'm deathly afraid of:
Snakes
Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark:
Mount Washington
The person I'm most often mistaken for:
John Thompson
My most treasured fashion accessory is:
A gold bracelet
My most memorable fashion mistake:
Having the wrong size tux pants for a show in Harrisburg for Gov. Robert Casey
If I wasn't a musician/teacher, I'd be:
A lawyer
The last book I read:
“Rogue Lawyer” by John Grisham
My favorite website:
Safari
If I could live my life as someone else, it would be:
I never wanted to be someone else.
The song that always gets me out on the dance floor:
“My Girl”
Happiness is:
Enjoying Life
My personal motto is:
I tell my students that, “You are mine for life.” I will always be there for them.
Overused phrase you hate most?
“UH”
People would be surprised to know that I:
Love to sit high on a hill and just enjoy the view of nature.
