The GeezeCats - Band History

GeezeGigs	About Us	Band History	Photos	Song List
What's New	Geeze Shoppe	V.I.P. Club	Video	Contact

EEB's Web Radio Oldies Picks

Click Here

Hi gang. I'm E.B. of The GeezeCats. As official historian, I've been writing a running history of the band. It has appeared in our newsletter, "The Geeze-ette", as a feature called "Eeb's Corner", which I started writing in June of 2001. Every couple months (or whenever I feel like it) I add another chapter. If you'd like to know how we got started way back in the fall of '99 and gradually developed into the act you see and hear today, read on below. Eventually you'll get the entire story.

Welcome to a new Geeze-ette feature called “Eeb’s Corner”. What’s an “eeb”? Actually, the question should be “Who’s Eeb?”, and the answer is ”I’m Eeb.” I sit downstage right at all GeezeCats shows and sing bass and play guitar, keyboard, and banjo. Most shows I relinquish my chair for a few tunes so Eebina can perform with The GeezeChicks, but other than that I’m a permanent fixture onstage. Many folks have expressed a desire to know more about the band — the personal side of our outfit. Future Eeb’s Corners will explain how we got started, how we learn tunes, how we book gigs, where we’re hoping to take the band, and various other topics that seem to interest our fans. I’ll profile each of the guys in the band so you can get to know us a little better. And each installment will feature a Geeze term. These are words or phrases that have just sorta popped up and come into usage among us GeezeCats. You’ll come to know what a duct tape curveball is, what gourds are, what both the Bubba cord and the Jarvis system are used for, and who the prop bitch is. For this, the first Eeb’s Corner, I thought I’d write about names. My full name is Earle Bruce Michael. My dad’s name was Earl, so my parents decided to call me Bruce (or probably Brucie for a few early years) to avoid the obvious confusion. Somewhere in my emerging adult years I got tired of B.M. for initials. (I wonder if Barbara Mandrell, Bill Murray, or Bullwinkle Moose ever felt that way.) For awhile I became E. Bruce Michael. Then I just shortened it to E.B., and “Eeb” grew out of that. Where did GeezeCats come from? Singer/percussionist Elbert Webb was working out at the Strongsville Recreation Center a few years ago when a young “gym rat” noticed him hoisting the barbells. His comment to Elbert was, “You lift pretty good for a geezecat.” What a nice sentiment — an oblique compliment along the lines of “You’re kinda old but you’re OK!” That’s us. We’re geezers but we’re still cool. At least that’s what we like to think. Finally, this issue’s Geeze term. Wheezer is our equipment truck, a 1988 Ford F-150 pickup truck, so named because of the wheezing sound the power steering unit always makes when Wheezer turns a corner. He’s a bionic truck made up of numerous replacement parts and has served us well in this and other bands. That’s it for now. Hope to see you at a GeezeCat show soon. Bye. Stay old!

Many people ask us how long we’ve been together. I always feel somewhat complimented when, after telling them we’ve been performing in public for not quite two years, they respond with surprise. I infer that they assumed we’d been building and refining the act for a considerably longer period of time than that. First of all, as our name implies, we’re geezers. We’ve been around the block a few times. More specifically, we’ve all been in numerous musical outfits since high school days (and for me that dates back to the late ‘50s). Every musician in every group we’ve worked with over the years has contributed in some way to where we are now. That adds up to a lot of experience in the biz. Second, we spent almost a year in rehearsal before we played out. Here’s how we came to be. Elbert approached me sometime in November ‘98 about doing an oldies band. He had been splitting his time between playing in a blues band and sitting in with a few other pop and R&B groups. Mostly for fun he wanted to test the waters with a new band of his own design, something that could capture the excitement of the classic early rock ‘n’ roll tunes of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. We love that music and insisted that the band be a high-quality act with exceptional harmony. On November 19 we sat in his truck in the Metro Park and wrote down all the songs we could think of that we thought we could do. The next step was to fan out and acquire tapes or CDs of the original versions. We knew, even though we’ve heard these tunes innumerable times over the years, we’d need to have copies at our disposal to analyze. Within a few weeks Elbert and I had assembled three audio cassettes packed with most of the songs we’d written down. Also by then, Elbert had mentioned the new project to John Lucic of The Hollywood Slim Band. To our delight, Johnny was most enthusiastic about the concept. In late December the three of us got together and started learning some songs. Instrumentally we had two guitar players and a drummer — vocally we were a bass, a 2nd tenor, and a baritone. The missing piece was a high tenor/bass player. Paulie didn’t enter the picture for at least another month, but when he did, the final piece was in place. The magic really began at that moment! More on this next issue. GeezeTerm — As is the case with many bands, we use a lot of duct tape in setting up the stage. After the show, we pull up the tape, wad it up, and throw it at some unsuspecting GeezeCat. That’s a duct tape curveball. A teeny wad is a duct tape pea. Bye. Stay old!

Last issue took us up to where Paulie entered the picture. Elbert, Johnny, and I had the names of several prospective bassists to check out. Somewhere in late January or early February of ‘99 we invited the first guy on our list to a rehearsal. The three of us had agreed to spend no more than an hour with him because we had plenty of work to do on our own. Well, an hour turned into two, and eventually we’d spent the whole evening working and bonding with our new band member. His talent and personality blended seamlessly with ours and at that point The GeezeCats began to coalesce. Through the rest of that winter and spring we learned tunes. Sometimes Johnny or I would show up with parts of songs, background harmonies mostly, arranged and written out. More often the four of us would listen to a song, put our heads together, and, through much trial and error, figure out how to duplicate, or at least approximate, what our eight ears heard. We ran into these problems: Many of the groups that originally recorded these songs had more than four members. That meant their whole-group harmonies could be fuller than what we could do and their backgrounds could be four-part or more. Some groups had females whose parts were difficult for us to recreate. Many songs recorded in the ‘50s ended by fading out. How many times have you heard a live band end a tune with a fade-out? It just doesn’t seem to work onstage. Finally, songs of the era often ran about 2 1/2 minutes. At that rate, to play 3+ hours onstage, we’d have to learn 75 or more tunes. That’s a lot! Here’s how we overcame these obstacles: We extended songs by adding instrumental breaks, figured out definite endings rather than fades, fudged on harmonies by eliminating the least important parts, and with our version of smoke and mirrors came up with full-sounding GeezeCat renditions of the timeless classics we all love. As the summer approached we knew we’d have to book some gigs in order to set a target date to debut the band. Otherwise there was no telling when we’d feel we knew the material well enough to play out. Strictly on the strength of our individual reputations, Jim Stamper, Brad Ray, and Gary Quesada at Stamper’s, Plum Creek Tavern, and Main Street Café respectively, bought our act. Sound unheard they helped us launch The GeezeCats, and we thank them. More next issue. GeezeTerm — When we think we’re all packed up after a show, we always go back in for one last look. That “idiot check” usually turns up something we’d forgotten. Bye. Stay old!

After months of rehearsal through the winter, spring, and summer of ‘99, we set our sights on Saturday, August 7, and Plum Creek Tavern to debut the band. Most of the rehearsals had a steady, relaxed feel to them as we worked, broke for the pizza delivery guy, and returned to our labor of love — learning tunes and nurturing what was shaping up to be a pretty good little act. But as August approached, the pace quickened a bit. There were photos to shoot and promo to write. We needed a P.A. system and a means to haul it around. What would we wear onstage? What would the stage setup look like? We began to talk up the band a little and invite an occasional friend or relative to World Headquarters to hear our sound and give us a little feedback as to how we were doing. Our own assessment was a tad biased on the positive side. Our visitors shared our enthusiasm and the momentum continued to build. Each of us came up with a list of 10 to 20 names and addresses of people to invite to the debut. Otherwise, who’d be there? Who knew what a “GeezeCat” was? (That list, by the way, grew into the database that is now our mailing list for The Geeze-ette.) By the end of July we were just about as ready as we were gonna be. A final rehearsal was agreed upon in order to tighten up a few loose ends, but it never came off. Paulie developed a rather nasty pinched nerve in his neck and we cancelled the last rehearsal. Unfortunately, the “pinched nerve” was a little more serious — a herniated disk. Paulie was out of commission, faced some tricky surgery, and our glorious project suffered an unexpected and certainly unwelcome setback. It was quite a letdown, especially for Paul. Fortunately he came through his ordeal just fine and within weeks we were again on our way. The official opening gig was now set for Saturday, October 2, at Stamper’s. New invitations were printed and once again we anticipated with great excitement our debut. This time we decided on a tactic we had used in other bands — a shakedown gig. Take the band out to a club for an unadvertised “rehearsal” and, for the first time, run through the tunes in order, start to finish, no stopping to correct little rough edges, bodda bing bodda boom! What you hear is what you get! Since we felt so bad about having had to cancel out on Plum Creek for the original debut, we booked ourselves in there on the Thursday before the October debut, no charge. To be continued… GeezeTerm — The mole is the guy who climbs in our truck to pack or unpack equipment. “In the hole, mole!” Bye. Stay old!

The very first time we performed in public was gig number 00, so numbered because it was an unadvertised shakedown we scheduled at Plum Creek Tavern. When we arrived that afternoon to set up all our equipment, the poor folks at the bar who just wanted to relax with a quiet beer must’ve thought that through some colossal mix-up they or we had somehow stumbled into the wrong establishment. We probably looked like four roommates who were trying to move into a newly rented apartment as we made trip after trip out to our “moving van” to bring in furniture, suitcases, instruments, and all sorts of odd-looking trunks, boxes, bags, and…“Is that a machine-gun in there?” “No, lady, it’s a five-string banjo.” Well, we pushed, pulled and maneuvered until all our stuff was in place. Amazingly it all fit onstage. When we lit up the PA and began our sound check, most of the people at the bar turned around to see where all the racket was coming from. Actually, I do believe they were pleasantly surprised by our sound. After running through a few tunes, we congratulated ourselves on having completed our first load-in and set-up. We hoped there’d be many more in our future, and indeed, there have been. You can imagine our excitement that September 30 evening way back in ‘99. After months of rehearsal and preparation, we were finally going to play in public. We were pumped, looked spiffy, and were set to go. When Elbert counted us off and we broke into “Overture”, heads at the bar once again spun around. All in all we felt it was a very successful debut. We encountered and worked out a few little kinks and glitches, which was exactly why we had set up the gig. At evening’s end, we knew we had something special, something we had worked hard to get off the ground. Now it had taken flight and soared through its maiden flight remarkably gracefully. But this was just the beginning. In two days we had to do it all again at our official coming-out party at Stamper’s. Now it was going to be “for real”. No time to relax. In three days we were scheduled to sing the National Anthem at Jacobs Field for the Indian’s final game of the season, and later that Sunday we had to go into the studio to record a promo tape which we told Tip Niese at The Beer Barrel we already had. That’s a story for the next Geeze-ette. GeezeTerm — B.T. is our fancy new equipment truck, a Ford F-350 van. B.T. means “Birthday Truck” because we took delivery on October 2, two years to the day from our Stamper’s debut. Could be “Band Truck” or “Beefy Tires” or “Born Tough”. Bye. Stay Old!

Tip Niese is a big affable guy (see Geeze-ette Vol. 3, No. 4 photo) who has carved out quite an empire on Put-in-Bay. He runs the Beer Barrel Saloon (home of the world's longest continuous bar, as certified by The Guinness Book of World Records), Tipper's Lounge, the Island General Store, motels, shops, and various other properties. So when Elbert answered the phone one afternoon in early autumn of '99 to find Tip at the other end inquiring about The GeezeCats, he wasn't about to let the opportunity slip away. Did we have a video, Tip asked. No. How about an audio tape? Yesssss! (slight show biz prevarication). The truth was we hadn't even played out in public yet. We were lucky to have promo photos at that point. Tip later said he never would have hired us had he known we were that green. The day after our debut performance we sang The National Anthem at Jacobs Field. We enjoyed the game for a few innings, then hightailed it over to Bill Lestock's house to record bits and pieces of a dozen or more songs. Later that week we booked time at Landmark Recording to assemble the parts along with a few sound effects. Voila! A promo tape lasting 11 minutes and highlighting essential portions of our best tunes. We immediately mailed it off and set up a meeting for the following week. Tip played the tape for his people, his professional family, and they all loved it. The rest is history. They offered us the whole summer. We knew we wanted to continue to play key clubs in the Cleveland area in order to build a following in town, plus we just weren't in a position to spend 12 weeks on the bay. We settled on 5 weekends through that first summer, 2000. Initially we were to play the big room at the Beer Barrel, perhaps opening for longtime legend Pat Dailey. With that in mind we decided to get a little "merch" thing going - you know, promote the band and make a few bucks selling junk... I mean nice quality sweatshirts and golf shirts. One of the guys in the band (who shall go nameless, but whose initials are E.W.) thought we could sell a bunch of baby bibs with Geezer the Cat and "I'm a li'l GeezeCat" printed on 'em. Just right for our demographics, this E.W. reasoned. We still have boxes left of what we're now using as washcloths, placemats, coasters, paint rags, whatever. Need a good oil dipstick wiper? We also decided to record a CD to sell on the island and elsewhere. More on that next issue. GeezeTerm - The gourd is the Styrofoam head on which we place The GeezeChicks' wigs. The gourds are taped down on our tables. That's it for now. Bye. Stay old!

We Cats were pleased and very encouraged by how well the whole concept of the band came together and materialized. A lot of hard (though rewarding) work went on between Nov. 19, 1998, when we first conceived of the band, and Oct. 2, 1999, when we first officially played out in public. Thanks to the support of family and friends, those crucial first gigs were well-attended and well-received. In November of '99 we began publishing The Geeze-ette as a way of informing our new fan base as to where we would be playing in the near future. Instead of mailing a simple schedule, we decided to take the time to prepare a little newsletter. This way we could include several small articles of interest. In these early one-page affairs we were able to print a photo of the band and report on developments such as upcoming special events and new tunes we were learning. Initially we made up and sent out a new issue every month or so to fewer than 100 people. At each gig we set out a sign-up sheet for anyone who wanted to be on our mailing list. By the summer of 2000 our list had grown to the point that we began to print on both sides of the paper. That way we could move the GeezeGigs to a larger site on the back page and list more dates so we didn't have to publish quite so often. It also gave us more room on the front to write articles. For awhile on the back we included an order form for merchandise we produced. As mentioned in the last "Eeb's Corner", we wanted some kind of product to take with us that first summer on Put-in-Bay. Our mascot, Geezer (the cartoon cat In the upper left of the front page of every Geeze-ette), was a natural to grace the golf shirts and sweat-shirts we ordered. He also, by the way, appears on the labels of both our CDs, on Elbert's bass drum head, and on just about all our promo material. Our first CD, "Stay Old!", was recorded through the winter and spring of 2000. The instrumental backgrounds and leads were recorded by Bill Lestock at Under the Tree Recording. For the vocal recording and final mixing and mastering, we went to Jim Hillenbrand at Landmark Recording. We learned a lot in the process and used that experience two years later when we began work on "Once Upon Awhile Ago". But everything didn't go totally smoothly that first year. Next installment - the birth of the "understudy". GeezeTerm - There are two pink boxes, in which we carry our cords, mikes, duct tape, some instrument and mike stands, and other miscellaneous gear. One's red and one's green. "Pink" comes from an early debate about what color one was. Stay old!

Our first conception of the band envisioned a fun little outfit we would assemble in our spare time. Since we all performed in other bands and some of us held down day jobs, the suggested schedule was modest, "a rehearsal a week, a gig a month." But things changed! After a month or two of playing out, it became clear that we had created a monster of sorts. We became victims of our own success. Requests for gigs started pouring in and we couldn't accept them all. When one of the guys preferred to spend Y2K New Year's Eve with his family, we had to turn down a very lucrative offer at a local upscale restaurant. At that point we realized we weren't on the same page regarding band priorities. We began breaking in a guy who could fill in on specific dates. Enter Marc Dufresne as understudy. It worked well to an extent. We were able to book just about all the dates we wanted and, at the same time, Johnny Lucic could stay onboard while playing no more than the 3 or 4 gigs a month he felt he could accept. Rehearsals now involved five GeezeCats. Fortunately, Johnny and Marc had similar vocal ranges. They learned the same part and took the same guitar solos. The downside - there had to be careful coordination about who played which gigs, there were sometimes disappointed fans who came to hear Johnny and got Marc (or vice versa), and unless we wanted to shoot and mass-produce additional promo photos, there was occasional publicity listing the wrong personnel. Marc understood his role and never once complained about not being in the official band photo, not being in on the recording of our first CD "Stay Old!" (He did provide some excellent tracks for our second CD "Once Upon Awhile Ago"), and even not being mentioned for almost two years in The Geeze-ette. We felt that the original four of us were "the band" and any important shows, interviews or the like would involve the founding members. Then, in late 2001, bassist Paul Lawson asked us to try to find an understudy for him. He found it difficult to make week night shows and still be up early for his day job. He also wanted some free time for a social life. The next installment will pick up here and explain how we handled Paul's request. GeezeTerm - This refers to old friend and former bandmate in The Buckeye Biscuit Band, the late Dave Ritter. He had a knack for having to use the restroom just as we were about to take the stage. We'd have to delay our entrance and wait around while he'd take care of business and "Ritter" That's what breaks are for, Dave. We remember him fondly. Bye. Stay old!

When Paul asked us to look for an understudy for him so he, like Johnny, could take some nights off without costing the band gigs, we were faced with the difficult task of finding a talented guy who could play bass and sing the high harmonies that are so crucial to, among others, The Beach Boys and Four Seasons tunes that we do. The difficulty is that at this level, guys that can fill the bill are usually already performing with other bands. Perhaps they can play certain nights when their other bands aren't working, but we need someone who's available for whatever comes our way. Elbert called old friend and longtime Cleveland musician Ed "Buzz" Sarley to see if he knew of anyone. To our surprise, he said he was interested. He liked the concept of the band, he liked the way we did business, and he always wanted to be in a vocally oriented group, one that can nail intricate four-part harmonies. Though not a natural high tenor, Buzzy can, by iron will alone, produce the on-pitch high notes we needed. This multi-talented guy looked forward to playing bass, even though he is one of Cleveland's premier guitarists. So for a few months in early 2002, he split duties with Paul. Usually Buzzy would be on the bill with Marc at guitar. Paul would often work with Johnny, although he also played many nights with Marc. The problems with understudies, as explained in the last Eeb's Corner, began to multiply. Then, in the spring, we heard that former Calabash bassist Phil Talbot was available. We met with him, ran over a few tunes, and asked him to join the act. Here was the accomplished bassist who could hit the super-high Frankie Valli notes. Here was a full-time musician who wanted to play all the GeezeCat gigs - the more the better. We made the decision to move Buzzy to guitar and put Phil on bass. We wanted to simplify operations. You know, get four guys who are serious about music as a career and wanna play all they can - guys who'll rehearse, help promote the band, and share a vision of what we can accomplish. Let's hunker down for the next few years and really take this thing someplace. We made it through some growing pains and were on our way, or so we thought. We shot all new promo photos and asked the new guys to record three tunes to be included on our new CD. But, the best laid plans...GeezeTerm - We run a lot of microphone and speaker cords across the stage. Unless the cord is the perfect length, there's an extra amount of wire to deal with. We put this "spag" (short for spaghetti) behind the power amplifiers rather than in view. Bye. Stay Old!

By the summer of 2002 The GeezeCats were on a roll. We had finally solidified the personnel situation with four full-time musicians who had blended into a hard-working, well-oiled musical machine, one we felt we could pour our time and energy into to follow a magnificent dream. Through the fall of that year we continued to learn new tunes and tighten up. Our new CD was about to be released and we had a huge opportunity awaiting us in November. We had a 15-minute showcase slot reserved for us at the Ohio Festivals and Events convention in Columbus. Representatives from all 88 Ohio counties and from numerous towns and municipalities would be attending in order to purchase everything they needed to put on successful carnivals, fairs, and home days celebrations. These are great (and well-paying) gigs, usually at local fairgrounds or town squares. At the convention, a representative could contract for rides, pyrotechnics, concession booths, and entertainment. Many bands would be offered for sale through various agents who set up extensive displays with photos, CDs, videos, etc., but only a handful get to perform live for all these buyers. We were ready and eager to "wow-'em." Sound check went well in the afternoon, but what happened that night at our performance was the biggest professional bummer I've ever had in over 40 years of entertaining. I've wrestled for the past several months with how to explain this in Eeb's Corner. As a professional musician, I want to maintain a certain discretion. Yet as a journalist and/or band historian, I need to set the record straight as to what happened. In a nutshell, our bassist consumed way too much alcohol before the show. We have a strict rule about not drinking before or during a performance. We suspect now that he had been breaking this rule and hiding it well since he joined the band. Later that night, though he was offered a hotel room in Columbus, he chose to drive home. Somewhere near Ashland he was stopped by the Highway Patrol and issued a DUI. We had blown a great opportunity at the convention, from which, for whatever reason, we came away with a grand total of 0 shows. Our bass player seemed to finally recognize he had a problem. Since he would not be driving for awhile, we offered to help transport him to and from shows and schedule rehearsals at his house. But less than a month later he abruptly quit the band with no notice and no explanation. This was an enormous setback. GeezeTerm - Sticks are the black stands that elevate house and sometimes monitor speakers. Bye. Stay old!

Here we were heading into the 2002 holiday season with numerous festive private parties and regular club gigs booked and we had no bassist. In January we were set to begin a weekly Wednesday evening performance, one we hoped would turn into a very successful open-ended engagement at an upscale dinner club. (It has!) Particularly troubling was an important New Year's Eve show at Put-in-Bay. A former bassist was contacted but he flatly turned down an offer to fill in until we could find and train a new member. What'd we do? Fortunately when you've been playing music in a community for several years, you've made friends with and built up a network of fellow performers. In the next few months we played out with a number of "guest artists" on bass. Here are some of the musicians we played with: Bill March, Kurt Wright, Rick Hulvalchick, Rolando Pizana, Tracy Ramer, and Gary Spatz. There were several others we met with and auditioned but felt were not quite right. As of this writing (late summer 2003), Tracy is our principal bassist. For all the scrambling we went through, we never missed a show, we felt we continued our high standards of musicianship and entertainment, and we continued to grow by breaking new markets in Columbus and Pittsburgh as well as opening new venues in the Cleveland area. The core of the group - Elbert, Buzzy, and myself - continued to bond and solidify common goals. Contributing to this end were some great shows at such places as Tipper's at Put-in-Bay, outdoor summer events, and Jacobs Field with the singing of the National Anthem in late August. Another factor that helped keep the band expanding was the addition of Jefferson Rice on sax and keyboards. He's a talented jazz, blues, rock player who adds a fifth vocal harmony on some songs and complements our sound beautifully. At this point he performs with us on a part-time basis depending on the venue and his availability. That brings us up to the present. As we approach our fourth anniversary, we look to the future with great excitement and anticipation. We have in mind recouping numerous humorous tunes that have gotten lost from our repertoire in recent years. We have a list of additional classics from the '50s and '60s we'll add to our song list in the near future, and we're planning a third CD. Stay tuned, we've only just begun! GeezeTerm - When we first show up at a club to begin setup for that evening, we quickly establish areas for various boxes and crates. Propland is where you'll find cases with wigs, hats, dresses, beads, etc. Bye. Stay old!

In mid-October of 2003 we placed a couple of ads in local entertainment newspapers looking for that fourth GeezeCat. We'd exhausted all our grapevine candidates and we needed a broader base of choices. Ads in newspapers seemed as likely to produce quick results as going to an online dating service and getting married in a few weeks. Still, we weren't asking for much - a guy who can play well and sing high parts like a bird. We needed someone who is responsible, sober, and a total professional. He had to be a guy with no job or personal commitments that would interfere with going on the road for long stretches of time. He had to have a certain stage presence, a stage persona that blended with ours, he had to be friendly to our fans and, most importantly, he had to get along with us, the other three GeezeCats. Quite simply, bands that don't get along don't last long. In many ways it's similar to being married, only there are more than two personalities involved. I've always thought, by the way, that if a band was having internal problems, they should seek out a good marriage counselor. A professional trained in human behavior might welcome the challenge of helping to resolve personality conflicts encountered in a musical aggregate of artistic types. Couldn't hurt. Anyhow, maybe we were asking for a lot from someone who wanted to audition for our band, but which of the above requirements could we ease up on? NONE! We've come too far and have too good a thing going to settle for less. Enter Jeff Beam. The day the ads appeared, we got a call from a young geezer. Fortunately, there are no requirement that someone had to be as old as we. Though we've all crossed the half-century mark, we certainly were willing to audition someone who hadn't seen even two score years on this planet as long as he met the other qualifications. Bingo! October 16th Jeff showed up at Elbert's house (GeezeCat World Headquarters) and within half an hour we had our new guy. Jeff grew up in Willoughby and, thanks to his mom's tastes, listened to tunes from our era, particularly The Beach Boys. He's lived and played music in L.A. and Nashville and had recently returned to the Cleveland area. We gave him tapes to work on, and with one or two rehearsals a week and him putting in sometimes 8-hour days on his own, he was able to begin playing out with us December 3. GeezeTerm - A fan gave us a small, gold-painted statue of a young naked lady modestly covering herself. Jeff took to her immediately. You'll usually see "Mrs. Beam" near him on stage. Bye. Stay old!