Soul Frequency Radio - October 31, 2010 - Halloween Spectacular

1. Alfred Hitchcock - Music To Be Murdered By (4:11)
2. 06-1st Impression-Part 2 (4:46)
3. Bigelf - Gravest Show On Earth (11:41)
4. Various - Monster Mash (Bobby Pickett & The Crypt -Kickers) (3:10)
5. Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London (2007 Remastered) (3:29)
6. Little Steven's Underground Garage - Roky Erickson and the Aliens - I Walked With a Zombie (2:42)
7. Various - Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr.) (4:05)
8. Transatlantic - The Return Of The Giant Hogweed (8:26)
9. Alfred Hitchcock - I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You (3:15)
10. Pink Floyd - One of These Days (5:58)
11. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising (2:21)
12. Ramones - Pet Sematary (3:34)
13. Little Steven's Underground Garage - Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' For My Darlin' (2:31)
14. Various - Hounted House (Jumpin' Gene Simmons) (2:32)
15. Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (4:20)
16. Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine (Stereo) (4:12)
17. Sheb Wooley - The Purple People Eater (2:14)
18. Danny Elfman - Mars Attacks! (2:23)
19. Radio-Spot Announcement - Fantastic Voyage (0:53)
20. Dr. Samuel Hoffman - Theremin Solo (1:33)
21. Crack The Sky - Invaders From Mars (3:32)
22. Fantastic Voyage - Fantastic Voyage (Main Title / Sound Effects Suite) (1:43)
23. The B-52's - Planet Claire (4:36)
24. Ferrante And Teicher - Man From Mars (2:26)
25. Various Personalities - Changing Channels... (4:54)
26. Little Steven's Underground Garage - The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much to Dream (2:56)
27. Little Steven's Underground Garage - The Chesterfield Kings - Running Through My Nightmares (3:57)
28. Stevie Wonder - Superstition (4:26)
29. Spock's Beard - Devil's Got My Throat (7:17)
30. Stryper - Abyss (To Hell With The Devil) (1:21)
31. Stryper - To Hell With The Devil (4:08)
32. David Crowder*Band - I Need Words, God of Wrath (8:00)
33. Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Toccata - Carpimus Noctem (4:02)

Soul Frequency Radio – October 24, 2010 Featuring Pink Floyd Saucerful of Secrets

1. Pink Floyd - Let There Be More Light (5:37)
2. Strongbad - Trogdor (0:56)
3. Pink Floyd - Remember A Day (4:33)
4. Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (5:27)
5. Ambrosia - Nice, Nice, Very Nice (5:49)
6. ArkAngel - Morning's Anthem (5:46)
7. Shaw-Blades - Summer Breeze (3:36)
8. Shaw-Blades - California Dreamin' (2:42)
9. Falling Up - A Guide To Marine Life (4:03)
10. Falling Up - The Dark Side Of Indoor Track Meets (5:39)
11. House Of Heroes - It Won't Be Long (2:14)
12. The Beatles - Drive My Car (2:30)
13. Calibretto 13 - The Ballroom Blitz (3:36)
14. Seabird - Black & Blue (2:42)
15. Seabird - Apparitions (4:17)
16. Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets (11:56)
17. Electric Light Orchestra - Yours Truly, 2095 (3:11)
18. SCTV - Max Lax (0:56)
19. Pink Floyd - See-Saw (4:36)
20. Pink Floyd - Jugband Blues (2:59)
21. Argent - God Gave Rock And Roll To You (6:45)
22. Argent - Time Of The Season (6:37)
23. Yes - Close To The Edge (18:42)

My Friend Jeff Bechinski - A Remembrance

My Wedding Day: Me, Jeff Mara, PJ Margraf, Jeff "Bech" Bechinski, Drew Hyer, Rick Cass. This is how I remember my friend Bech in my mind's eye

A picture of Jeff doodling from the 1982 Rogers High School Year Book

The only cartoon I could find on Bech’s Facebook

The soundtrack for the Haunted House party we hosted

One of Jeff's Halloween Creations

Beware this drink!

Who ya gonna’ call?

Bech and daughter Sara take a walk at Lake Michigan

My Friend Jeff Bechinski - A Remembrance

June 24, 2010

In the middle of a business meeting Tuesday I received a sad message. My friend Jeff Bechinski died unexpectedly June 21. Bech (Pronounced “Betch”) as we knew him at Rogers High School in Michigan City, Indiana popped back into my life unexpectedly on Facebook recently. I hadn’t heard from him since 1987, so this was a welcome and surprising reunion.

Cue “Reelin’ In The Years” by Steely Dan…

I don’t remember when or how I met Bech. It was at Rogers High School, probably after I broke up with a girlfriend who had a LARGE circle of friends. This break up necessitated that I find a new circle of friends. One of them was Jeff Bechinski. Maybe I met Bech in one of my four years of art class? Bech was a tall, gangly young fellow with an infectious smile and laugh, a shock of somewhat curly brown hair, and a wee bit of baby fat. We were fast friends, and Bech soon joined a newly formed circle of pals that spent a lot of time driving around, hanging at the Marquette Mall, going to movies, listening to rock (wasn’t classic back then), and enjoying our (mostly) care free teen existence. That circle of friends included Bech, Tom “Hutch” Hutchinson, Tony (can’t remember his last name), Jeff Mara, Joe Jaques and a few others I can’t remember. Man I wish I could remember more…

Cue “You Can’t Turn Back” by Red Rider

Bech was an amazing artist, and his specialty was cartooning. I will admit that I was jealous of his skill; he taught me a lot about the craft. And because I was green with envy at his art, he pushed me to be a better artist. We loved to sketch stuff and show each other. Of course most of his art featured his primary love –horror, zombie, and monster stuff. We spent many happy hours drawing together. I have vivid memories of many sessions we spent drawing and painting giant banners for the Rogers Raiders High School basketball team that had a pretty good run while during our school years. We would sit, design, draw and paint together laughing all the while and listening to Bech’s GIGANTIC boom box, of the old school ghetto blaster variety. It was large and silver and rocked hard. We would listen to The Loop – FM 98 “Where Chicago Rocks,” Rush, Red Rider, Boston, Journey, Queen, The Scorpions, etc. while we worked and painted away with a small group of friends. Those were good times.

Cue “The Monster Mash” By Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers

Bech loved all things horror-related. Not the slasher-variety that is so popular today, but the classic spooky stuff – Frankenstein, Dracula, Zombies, ghosts, ghouls and goblins. One Halloween (Bech’s favorite holiday) he had a fantastic idea…convert my parents basement into a gigantic old-school terrifying Haunted House. I loved the idea, and we spent several weeks designing and creating a Haunted Maze in my parent’s utility room. We cut garbage bags down the seams and duct-taped them together to create the maze walls, we designed and drew large posters and decorated with horrific love and care. We recruited some of our friends, outfitted them in scary cool costumes, and invited other friends (including my younger sister and some of her friends) over for an evening of blood-curdling merriment. There were forbidding snacks (Mom helped with some of those), and a terror-filled soundtrack. Everyone had a blast…and Bech recently commented on a Zombie-themed picture of mine of Facebook “Ya never looked better, dude! Hey, can we build a haunted house in yer basement?”

Cue “Free Will” by Rush

My friends and I loved to rock, and rock hard. We spent a lot of time in my basement listening to our favorite tunes. One evening we were jamming to Rush and “Free Will” came blasting through my speakers. Several of my friends were over, Bech was there, and my sister had a friend or two there as well. We formed an impromptu air band…with Bech on lead guitar (or was it Bech on drums)? I remember that we played those air instruments so hard we worked up a sweat by the end of the song. What a blast!

Cue “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

Long before the stars of Wayne’s World drove in the car singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” my friends and I happily sped through the cold Michigan City winter in my 1978 Chevy Monza singing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” as loud as we could. I vividly recall Bech, Jeff Mara, Hutch and I merrily harmonizing (?) as we sped through the streets of Laporte County after a basketball game, likely on the way to grab a pizza. We magically split off into parts during the Opera-like portion of the song. Four friends singing together in a car may not be the most dynamic of events, but for this happy memory reminds me of a simple and carefree time when life was rich and full of promise.

Cue “You Better You Bet” by The Who

After graduating from Rogers I stayed around Michigan City and got a job at Jaymar Ruby. I dated a girl from the church I was attending. That relationship didn’t last long, and I used this as an excuse to go on my first and only drinking binge. I believe Bech, Hutch, and Jeff Mara all accompanied me on that night. We headed to a friends house to watch one of the MANY farewell tours of The Who on cable and began the night with beer and Boone’s Farm Strawberry Wine (you know this can’t end well when Boone’s Farm is in the mix). We then headed to McDonald’s for a late night McNugget fest – they were new at the time. I had a 20 pack, with Hot Mustard. Yum. We then headed towards my folks house, planning a basement evening with drinking, music, and likely Saturday Night Live and SCTV. I assume I did not drive (I hope). We had some Jack Daniels and 7-Up and decided to mix up some 7 and 7s. I was determined to drink my sorrows away to forget the girl, and I later found my friends were pouring around ¾ cup whiskey to ¼ cup 7-Up. I pounded down a few of these and promptly passed out, much to the merriment of my buddies. I remember waking up at 2.30 AM suspended over a utility sink propped up by Bech and my friends. This earned me the short lived nickname “McChuck.” I remember being thankful for my friends taking such good care of me in the middle of the night as I barfed my guts up.

Incidentally, this was the last hangover I ever had. I suffered through singing in a choir special at church that Sunday. While singing in a fog induced haze I spied the woman would become (and still is) my bride. Lyndy was sitting in the pews looking amazing. Love at first sight!

Cue “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

Sometime in 1984 I hung out with Bech for one of the last times I remember. The movie “Ghostbusters” was a huge hit…and of course Bech loved it. He loved it so much he created the “Bechmobile” – a loving tribute to the movie. It was a white AMC Gremlin customer painted by Bech to resemble the car in the movie. There were the classic Ghostbusters “NO GHOST” paintings on each door, and a skull in the rear window with red lights in the eye sockets that both lit up when he braked, and would blink left or right when he put on the turn signals. The auto probably had other nifty Bech-like touches that I forget. It was a very cool car, and the custom work Bech did was amazing. We were driving down Earl Road, heading who knows where when we saw a red light and heard a siren – after us! Bech was doing around 50 in a 35 zone. The cop who stopped us was a nasty fellow…he yelled at Bech, wouldn’t let him talk at all, threw him up against the car and kicked his legs open. Bech handled himself well despite the abuse. Both of us knew better than to argue with an angry cop with short man’s disease (the cop was a wee fellow). This guy PISSED me off severely; his treatment of my friend was shabby and inexcusable. But I had an ace in the sleeve. My Dad was chief of police at the time. And while I would not normally “narc” on someone to my Dad, I figured this arrogant little twit deserved what was coming to him. I told Dad about the incident, and the cop got suspended. Go Dad.

I recently asked Bech if he had any pix of that car. Sadly, he did not keep any.

Cue “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor

Then life happened. I met my future bride Lyndy, got way too busy for my friends (my wife and I both regret that), and got married (my wife and I don’t regret that). Bech was a groomsman at my wedding. And we lost touch soon after that.

I saw him once in Ft. Wayne in 1987 when my family and I stayed there briefly for a few months on a break from college. We both had mullets. His hair was VERY long – mid-back. It was great to see him, but we had both changed immensely and grown apart.

Fast forward to the last year or two. Bech and I became Facebook friends and started caught up quickly. He married a wonderful lady (Ronda) and had a daughter that was his pride and joy (Sara). Bech posted a “Lyric of the Day”…sometimes several a day…and several of his friends (especially Molly Colangelo, Jeff Mason, and myself) battled it out for the correct (non-Googled) answer. Bech would post a YouTube video if no one could guess.

Jeff and I messaged each other on Facebook, and chatted a few times. I never understood why he gave up drawing…he had such talent. In a private chat he shared his reasons (I'll honor his wishes and not share that). I encouraged him to pick up a pen again. He was such an amazing artist.

Before Memorial Day we talked about getting together again in Michigan City. Bech was going to visit his Mom, and she lives just a few doors down from my parents. My kids decided on a visit to our house so I had to pass. Bech and I exchanged phone numbers, and I was excited about the prospect of seeing him again and catching up this summer.

I never made a phone call to his number. And now it is too late.

I don’t understand why this happened. I hope to someday on the other side of this life.

R.I.P. Jeff Bechinski. You were my friend. I wish we wouldn’t have fallen out of touch. Ronda and Sara will stay in my prayers for years to come.

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

James Taylor – “Fire and Rain”