music and pizza his forte
One rockin' owner
By Valerie Vinyard
vvinyard@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.17.2008
Tommy Dubielak has been in the music business since he began playing drums in kindergarten.
"My first band was in the first grade," he said. "It was called the Miniature Monkees. In 1964, it was pretty cool. The Monkees, they were more popular than the Beatles," said the 49-year-old sound engineer from the Bronx, who goes by the name Tommy Rat.
Rat also owns Rockin' Pizza, a tiny restaurant in a bustling shopping center at 4558 E. Broadway. The pizzeria, which serves giant slices of pizza and homemade sauce and pastas, celebrates its fifth birthday Wednesday.
Autographed photos, broken guitars and three platinum records from The Offspring are just some of the music memorabilia adorning the walls and ceiling.
"New Found Glory has been in the store, Good Charlotte, Dierks Bentley," Rat said recently when asked to drop some famous names. "Martina McBride and LL Cool J were in the first month. MxPx has been in there a dozen times."
Rat says that his music buddies include drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ron Welty, former drummer for The Offspring. Rat plays drums, guitar, bass and keyboard.
And he's the tour manager, production manager and sound engineer for the group MxPx, among other things.
He and his longtime companion, Cindy Boris, his 17-year-old daughter, Nichole, and cat Meow Meow live on the East Side in one of Rat's six homes, five of which are in Tucson.
Since Rat opened Rockin' Pizza, the shopping center has added a number of popular businesses, including Zivaz Mexican Bistro, Scoot Over Inc., and Crave Espresso Bar, resulting in a lamentable loss of available parking, Rat says.
"We used to have one bus a week come by," Rat said. "Sometimes we'd get three or four tour buses. Now there's no room for them."
He chose the name Tommy Rat because of a sound company he used to partly own.
" 'Magnum' was the first pseudonym I had," he said with a classic New York accent. "I owned a company called Magnum Sound, and it was right when the TV show 'Magnum P.I.' was popular. We put us in the phone book as 'Magnum P.A.'
"I joined Rat Sound in 1987 or 1988. It was based in L.A. That's where the name came from."
Why pizza?
"I've been doing it since I was a kid. There was a pizza place right down the street from us, and they'd let me sweep the floors and give me like a dollar.
"When I was 12, I applied at (a pizza place) in Rockland County, N.Y. I lied about my age and I got the job. I made pizza for about one-and-a-half years; my mom used to come and pick me up.
"Then I started working at another place. I worked there until I was 16, and I joined the Marine Corps. In New York, the driver's licenses were paper, so it was easy to change the dates.
"I moved to the Air Force and was stationed at Davis-Monthan. I got out in 1980."
Rat worked at various Pizza Pubs in Tucson and owned three by 1982. Then it was time for a change, he said.
"I reached middle-age suburbia far too early, so I sold the pizza places and moved to San Diego. I traded my condo for a 40-foot yacht. I got a gig playing for this band called Livewire.
"I had like a $900 VCR, and I would record all the prime-time shows and watch them and then I'd play my guitar on the deck. It was amazing. It was the most serene time of my life."
What makes your place different from all the other pizza places?
"It's a true New York pizzeria. A lot of places say New York style, but you'll never see that line in my place.
"If you order (some pastas), you will watch us make it from scratch. You're not going to see that anywhere."
"I cook my sauce 18 hours. People forget about tradition."
How would people describe you?
"Animated, kind of wacky."
Do you think Tommy Rat is a good name for a restaurant owner?
"Yeah. We were thinking about going with rat pizza at one point."
What would be on the rat pizza?
"Lots of cheese, clearly. I don't like stuff on my pizza. I just like plain cheese pizza. It's all about the ratio. You can't have too much of any one thing — dough, sauce and cheese."
How often are you in Tucson?
"I tour most of the time. Right now, we're doing a recording project in town."
What's the best thing that ever happened to you on tour?
"I can't say that."
Who's your favorite artist?
"Queen. But I don't know them."
With what artist did you have the most success?
"I mixed Bobby Brown during the 'Don't Be Cruel' tour. He was a kid."
What's more difficult: owning a restaurant or being in the music biz?
"Owning a restaurant. Everybody and their brother wants to work in the music business, so finding good help is a cakewalk.
"The restaurant business, not so much so."
Why Tucson?
"The answer is: I keep coming back here."
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