Thomas Alva Edison High School Class of 1966

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Thomas Alva Edison High School Class of 1966 - A REMEMBRANCE Â BY KIRK

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Body:	<i>A Remembrance â€“ The Checkmates By Kirk It began in Kindergarten at Eliot School when I first met Don Brown. Â We became good friends over time and remained so through it all. Â Cubs scouts, overnights at each otherâ€™s homes, a private society in trio with Billy Holway (named I think, by Don: The Ricky Rat Day n Night Dirtywork Club), shenanigans (like setting a huge tract of pasture on fire at 41st and Utica â€“ Don, and Billy and me), junior high at Edison, thenâ€¦â€¦â€¦ â€¦â€¦â€¦.one evening at home (circa 1962) I heard this loud pulsating sound across the creek in the back yard. Â It was the size 16 shoe of Rush Beesley (Edison Class of â€™65), bearing down on the bass drum of his drum set. Â One thing leads to another, and I remember taking Don (nicknamed â€œSlatsâ€ by my Dad) to Beesâ€™ house and hearing him play a record of â€œWhatâ€™d I Sayâ€ by Ray Charles â€“ and a little while later hearing Beesâ€™ play it on his parentsâ€™ piano â€“ note for note the way Ray played. Â I got Don (an excellent drummer) to go over there and listen to itâ€¦â€¦. and other tunes that Bees could play. Â Somehow, over a year or so, we came up with the notion of being in a band. Â Slats played in the Edison stage band with a really nice guy and smooth guitar player: Â Kenyon Rupnik. Â So we had a band. Â Don Brown on drums, Rush Beesley on keyboards, Kenyon Rupnik on guitar, and, since I sang in the church choir, me on vocals (and they taught me how to kinda play the bass). Â The Beatles was a band; the Rolling Stones was a band; there were hundreds of bands springing up everywhere; and now there was The Checkmates! We practiced a lot â€“ either at Beesâ€™ house or my house. Â We booked some gigs at school dances, social club parties, talent assemblies, Dance Party on Channel 6 TV, even a battle of the bands at Shields Music. Â We recorded a few songs at the studio at KVOO and made them into a record â€“ all we could afford were four copies. Â Slats was a huge fan of James Brown and the black blues pickers â€“ so he always always sang lead on I Feel Good, Papaâ€™s Got a Brand New Bag, The Midnight Hour, etc. Well, the next thing you know itâ€™s 1965, and two guys graduate and move away. Goodbye Checkmates! Â That summer Don was an exchange student in England, in a town outside of Liverpool. Â He sent me a letter and said he could get me a Hofner bass like Paul McCartneyâ€™s for $180! Â So I mowed lawns, etc. all summer â€“ and Slats came off the plane with my new bass. Â Slats and I played in a couple of groups our senior year, but it wasnâ€™t the sameâ€¦â€¦.. The Checkmates reunited a few times over the years â€“ with an Elvis impersonator one time, with a heavy metal dude one time, by ourselves at Cazâ€™s, The Colony, and McNellieâ€™s in Tulsa. Â When Slats passed away, we hung it up for awhile. Â Then, as I was channeling Slats one night, he said that we should keep playing â€“ that he wouldâ€™ve kept it up if I had been the one to leave first. Â So here we are â€“ The Checkmates minus Slats â€“ at the EDISON CLASS OF 1966 50-YEAR REUNION. Â </i> *
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