It was fitting that Oyster Festival Raffle chair Debra Goyena presented the check to winner Tom Maher of Amityville, on Oct. 24 at the Rotary meeting at Il Piatto. She sold him the ticket on Sunday, Oct. 14 at about noon as he left the festival. He and Janine Zarrilli had been at the waterfront looking at the boats. Mr. Maher said as soon as he bought the ticket, "I knew I had won." He has that knack, he said, winning raffles. "Nothing really big, but I've won before. It's the 'luck of the Irish,' lucky in that stuff - but not in everything," he added.

Mr. Maher is in construction in the city. He is also a singer with the rock-and-roll band Vital Signs. They are a cover band for Santana, the Rolling Stones, Lynard Skynard and other rock legends. Click onto your Internet and dial up VSROCK.COM and you'll hear Tommy singing Born to be Wild and other rock-and-roll favorites. "That's why we go to the Oyster Festival - to listen to the music," he said.

Mr. Maher, Tommy, said he recently got to work on a solo project with a member of the Vanilla Fudge and now the lead vocalist and keyboarder for the New Rascals (Bill Pascali). He did background vocals for the recording. "It was great working with 32 great well-known musicians from so many well-known bands," said Tommy. The CD is called Where Broken Hearts Go.

Tommy has fronted for such bands as The Tribe, Street Life, Magic Dragon, Maverick, Soul Band and currently Vital Signs.

The Internet site gave his bio. "Born in New York, Tommy, growing up during the '60s experience was heavily influenced by that era of music, getting the chance to live through such a great time in music and to absorb the energy of it by attending so many great live shows, such as the 1969 Woodstock Festival, Watkins Glen, the Fillmore East and the whole Village scene.

"His greatest influences are Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Joplin, Deep Purple, Santana, Joe Cocker, Blues and R&B," said the bio.

When he heard that he won the raffle he said, "I couldn't decide. No car, but maybe the boat was what I was going with, but it was small. I wanted something that you could sleep on. Maybe I'll do half a kitchen. But time is the problem. I run a large business in Manhattan and get home late. I was a bayman, a lifeguard and a clammer. I know the Great South Bay like the back of my hand.

"The boat they offered is a perfect run-around. Then I thought I could use it as a down payment on a bigger boat."

"You have time to change you mind," said Rotary President Jim Fuccio.

"I think I'll do the kitchen," said Mr. Maher.

After the check presentation Mr. Maher and Ms. Zarrilli left. Later the Rotarians complimented Larry Nathan of Appliance World on his talent to sell raffle tickets. Ms. Goyena said he had great lines. He told the guys to just look at the BMW parked nearby and said "It was great to pick up chicks." Another great line was, "If your life sucks, $15,000 grand will fix that." Whatever the lines, Mr. Nathan complimented the Rotarians selling tickets. "They handled that crowd like everyone was a grandchild," he said.