Words and Music, Man- They Need Each Other

Something most people don't know about me is that I am a HUGE fan of Eddie & The Cruisers. My mom would watch it all the time and even had the soundtrack, I mean an album not a cassette. I remember standing in front of my mirror in my bedroom with the album playing on my fisher price record player and singing along into a brush. I knew every line from the movie and every song from the soundtrack. Words & Musicbaby, words & music. Eddie fans will get that, the rest of you obviously are missing out on a cult classic.

In 1989 a sequel was released (Eddie Lives!) and though the movie lacked the mystique of the first, the soundtrack was just as superb. It was around this time that I became interested in the voice behind Eddie & The Cruisers, a band called John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band. A phenomenal group from RI. When I stumble along and find someone who has yet to hear JC & The Beaver Brown Band, Bruce Springsteen is usually the best comparison, only different.

At any rate, I was fortunate enough to see these guys live in concert in my very own hometown of Livermore when they played our annual Honey & Wine Festival. Incredible! The movie had been such a love of mine, that seeing the actual voice behind the music was surreal. It was truly like stepping onto the Jersey Shore and becoming a part of the movie. I got the chance to even hang and talk with the guys after the show. They were too cool.

Though the soundtracks to both movies are on my top ten list of CDs I could never go without, JC & The Beaver Brown Band have a body of work that extends far beyond being the voice of Eddie Wilson. These guys always remind of what it's like to love a piece of music simply because it's music.