If you really want to know, this is how it all began. A few years back a co-worker of mine at Grosse Pointe South High School, Carolyn, gave my name to Walt, who was looking for a drummer to help get some songs recorded for a CD. After several months of missed appointments and phone calls, I ran into Walt at Brownell Middle School, where I had taken a student for sex education classes. As it turned out Walt was teaching the class that my student was attending. The two of us got to talking and we finally settled on some times that we could get together and practice.

My initial feelings were that we did not stand much of a chance as a band, but we went forward with it anyway. During one of the practices my friend Paul showed up to play guitar along with us and Walt really began to get excited about the possibilities of having both of us play on the as-yet untitled album. Throughout the next several months Walt and I got together sporadically to try and arrange the songs into something that was worthy of being recorded, but we were having trouble. Walt, being the eternal optimist, scheduled a time for us to go to Roscoe's studio and get the songs recorded. I had my reservations. Together we decided we needed a bass player to help anchor the songs. A few different names were tossed around until we came up with Jim. I knew from years earlier that Jim was an excellent bass player, but I had no idea about the level of interest he might show. All three of us worked for the same school district, and it seemed like a good idea to have coworkers as band members. If I remember correctly, the three of us only rehearsed one time together prior to the actual recording sessions, although I think that Walt and Jim got together on their own to get Jim up to speed on the songs.

The recording sessions that followed, two days' worth, were a magical time. What had been some very loose practice sessions turned out some very good songs, cemented by Jim's bass playing and Walt's unique style of great story telling backed up with catchy melodies. As for my part as the drummer, I tried very hard not to screw things up too badly. The result was what I like to refer to as "catching lightening in a bottle." Walt titled the resulting CD "Michigan and Livernois."

With the end product in hand we discussed what the "band" would do next. Since summer vacation was set to begin in a few short weeks, we decided to take a break until fall, then work out what we might want to do. Since both my wife Dorene and Walt's wife Marci were pregnant with our first children, any plans made would be subject to our new, as of yet unclear, schedules. Before we parted ways, however, someone commented that since these were all songs about the Detroit area, we should at least send it to the Mitch Albom Radio Show and see if we could get some 'on-air' recognition.

Fast-forward three months. Walt called me saying that we got an invitation to play on Mitch's show. With the prospect of playing on live radio, excitement began to build. But there was one rather large hiccup in this plan. Roscoe, who had played lead guitar for us on the album, made it very clear that he had no interest in doing the show with us and that we needed to find a new guitarist. Re-enter Paul, who hadn't been available to play on the original recordings. He came in and bailed us out with his gifted guitar playing.

Playing on the radio was one of those highlights that made me, a weekend musician, feel as though I had done something pretty significant. As we sat at Walt and Marci's house after the show, it was brought up that, in a very early conversation, Walt had said that it was his goal to get a song on the radio. I remember thinking back then that it was a long shot, but it was a fun idea to help keep us motivated. And yet here we were, less than a year later, having just returned from a live radio broadcast that had thirty-second snippets of us playing live on the radio.

Walt followed up the radio appearance by seeking out opportunities for us to play live. The Cadieux Café was nice enough to invite us in to play around the Halloween weekend of 2005. This was great until we realized that we had about fifty minutes worth of music and we needed about two and a half hours more. With only a short amount of time to pull this together, we called upon long-time friends and all around great guys Ron and Roger Pietrantoni. Ron, Roger, Paul and I had played in numerous bands together over the past several years and we had a large number of cover songs that could be pulled together quickly. Roger, who lives next door to Dorene and me, had been kind enough to let Charuba rehearse at his house (since both Walt and I had newborn kids, practicing at our houses was rather inconvenient).

We pulled off that first show and were invited back. After a few shows at The Cadieux, we got a nice groove going as a band. Walt started to throw out some new material at the shows that had us all on our toes trying to follow. Over time, we pecked away at these songs and song ideas, and they grew into some pretty fun music. This was the start of what would eventually be our latest CD, "CHARUBALAYA." As these songs matured, Walt shared with us that he wanted this entire band - all six members - going into the studio with him this time. That’s the beginning of the CHARUBASTORY but...

NOT NEARLY THE END!