|
|
|
 John
started singing in the church choir when he was about
11 years old. He was drafted to sing solos and was
embarrassed to be able to sing higher than all the girls...a
blow to his masculinity! He joined the Frankfort Grade
School Band in 4th grade and played the Sousaphone until
grade school graduation. By then he thought he was way too
cool to play in the high school band…yeah, right!
After a three year stint in the Army (one year in Vietnam)
he was discharged in late 1973. He asked
 a
friend to show him some things on the guitar in early 1974
and was hooked immediately. “I really just played for my own
enjoyment until about 1978”, he said. “Then the same friend
asked me if I could learn to play bass guitar because he
liked my voice and wanted me to join his band.” That band
didn’t stay together for too long but played some great
music...Genesis, Journey, Boston, REO, and Beatles, among
others. After knocking around in a couple of bands and by
then having a wife and 2 kids, he was asked by a friend if
he’d be interested in playing bass in a wedding band. “I
always abhorred the thought of playing in a wedding band but
 I
thought the extra money would be nice and if the guys were
cool, it could be fun.”, John said. The year was 1981 and
the band was “Sundance”. “Ray was the guitar player and he
and I seemed to have a lot of the same musical tastes. The
other guys in the band were a lot of fun and we had a great
time for years. I felt really at ease with them personally
and musically from the first time we rehearsed”, he said.
Ray and John started writing songs together shortly
thereafter. Music has tied them together ever since.
Around 1985, John was asked to oversee production of a
non-profit recording for an organization called “Hope for
the
 Suffering”.
He wrote three of the songs on that album, one of them being
the title track. He played bass, guitar, and sang lead and
backup vocals. Gary Loizzo (Leader of “The American Breed”...remember “Bend Me, Shape Me”?) had a recording studio in Oak
Lawn at the time and John’s wife’s cousins (John and Chuck Panozzo of “Styx”) were recording their albums there. “John
Panozzo said to give Gary a call since they were going on
tour. Gary had some time available so we recorded the album
over a 2 month period...Gary even played lead guitar on one
of the songs! I’m told the album is still sold as a
fundraiser in many parts of the world.”
John’s best friend, Jerry Behrens, (remember the guy who
started this whole thing by showing him how to play?) went
on to be a successful editor in Hollywood, working mostly in
 the
music industry. Jerry invited John out a couple of times to
be an “extra” in some of the music videos he was working on.
So John is immortalized in MTV’s “Jump Start” (what video?)
by Jethro Tull. He also met Emerson and Palmer (from
Emerson, Lake and Palmer), and MC Hammer, someone his kids
really liked at the time.
Ray and John began writing songs again in 1995 and this time
actually got published! Around the same time, they also
wrote a full feature movie script and “are still shocked no
one has picked it up.” In 1999 they started playing the
songs they always wanted to play...60’s! Radio Flyer (the
first name of the band) started playing out in 2000 after 18
months of rehearsal. “Radio Flyer has since morphed into
“The BeatleBoys” and we are having a blast” he said. John is
a senior loan specialist, wholesale and retail, for a large
mortgage company in the Southwest suburbs. He is married,
(2nd time) has 2 sons, a stepdaughter and 2 (soon to be
three) grandchildren…and a pet moose, Bullwinkle.
|
 |
|
