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| Dave & Dick at Bull Moose Studio |
The Making of Television Mind
As a staff songwriter for MCA Music in Los Angeles during the '80s, Dick Eastman
along with legendary songwriter, Bobby Hart, co-wrote songs that charted for Robbie Nevil ("Dominoes"), The New Edition ("My
Secret"), and The Monkees ("Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere"). While it was great fun crafting tunes for these and many other
artists and a tremendous thrill working with a giant of pop like Bobby Hart, Dick led a double-life. At night, he continued
writing his own brand of quirky pop songs. But there was one problem. He had no band to perfect and perform these tunes.
Returning to his Chicago roots in the early '90s, Dick renewed his acquaintance with a
few old friends. One of the first calls was to Bobby Diamond. Years before, Dick and Bobby had been band
mates and in one sense they had never really stopped working together. A masterful lead and rhythm guitarist,
singer and performer, Bobby had flown out to L.A. a number of times to play on Dick's recordings. Bobby's great grooves, melodic
guitar leads and soulful harmonies were just what the songs needed.
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| Mike & Bobby in the Studio |
The next call went out to Dave Leeds, a friend Dick has known since they
first played together in a high school band. Dave's Beatlish vocal harmonies, solid bass playing and a growing interest in
engineering added greatly to the mix. Sharing a similar pop vision with the others, Mike Kroell, a relative
newcomer to the band, originally signed on as the drummer. But as good as Mike was on drums, he was equally talented as a
keyboard player and arranger. The tunes were greatly enhanced by Mike's ability to weave a rich tapestry of symphonic instrumentation
and magical percussive sounds.
Now the real work would begin. There were a few missteps along the way. Songs were written and discarded. A number of tunes were recorded with
outside producers, only to go unused in the end. The Cleavers even sought inspiration in the music of the '60s and '70s, reinventing
themselves for a time as a cover band, playing note for note renditions of songs by the likes of the Beatles, Beach Boys,
Doobie Brothers and Eagles. Festival and club audiences around Chicago and the Midwest loved dancing the night away to The
Cleavers. But the original vision - to write and record their own original pop songs - was never lost.
| Brad Loper/DMN |
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| Ron at Lofty Heights |
With the advent of home recording, The Cleavers indulged
their perfectionist tendencies and started to capture the sounds they were hearing in their heads. With Mike focusing on keyboards,
Ron Kaplan, another former band mate of Dick's and a truly creative force on drums, was brought in to lay
down the groove. Of course, "brought in" is a bit of a misnomer. Ron, who played with the original Cryan' Shames (www.cryanshames.com) and, along with Bobby, played with Chicago legend Corky Siegel in the '80s, now lives a thousand miles away in Dallas, Texas.
But thanks to modern technology, they bridged the gap by swapping back-up discs and mp3s.
When Dick bid L.A. goodbye a few years ago he had no idea
where this pop journey would take him. It lead him straight back to the future, collaborating again with
Bobby, Dave, Mike, and Ron, great musicians and great friends. Along with other stellar Chicago players
such as Steve Yates and Jim Gailloreto, The Cleavers have crafted a CD that lives up to their collective
pop vision - Television Mind.
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