A Cub Koda Story
submitted by Kenneth Alverson.
Black & White Striped Shirts, Not Just For Referees Anymore...
Back when I was a boy growing up in the 70's, before MTV came
along and changed things for better or worse depending on your point of view,
the only way to see some of your favorite bands perform was on shows like
The Midnight
Special or Don Kirschner's In Concert or even Mike Douglas... If
you were an established or up and coming band those were a few of the shows
you played on. Everyone from Alice Cooper to KISS to even British bands like
Slade made an appearance on these shows and of course all of us would run
out and buy the album that contained the songs they played the next day.
Brownsville Station was one of those bands who made an appearance on In Concert.
By this time they had whittled down to a three-piece, with Henry Weck on drums
having replaced original drummer TJ Cronley, and Michael Lutz switching over
from rhythm to bass guitar after bassist Tony Driggins departed. But it was the
guy in the round black George Burns glasses named Cub Koda that drew my attention.
Not only because of the hair and glasses, which I thought were cool--little did
I know a few years later I too would require spectacles to see clearly--but the
outfit is what caught my eye, especially the black and white shirt that was usually
worn by referees during sporting events. Now, until I saw Cub in one, I never
bothered with them because that to me was specialty clothing worn only by the
refs. But
after that, I told myself I was going to get one of those shirts and be just
like the Cubmeister.
Fast forward to the nineties, when I was much older and had gone through a variety
of musical tastes but ultimately I came back to rock permanently. During this
time I rediscovered Cub & Brownsville and borrowed a few of their albums
on vinyl from Perry, a radio DJ and a buddy of mine, in addition to the album
A Night On The Town, which I had bought in an old used vinyl record shop along
with the Brownsville compilation on Rhino. Both of these contained photos of
Cub in the infamous referee shirt, which I renewed my search for to no avail,
as all the sports shops I visited didn't carry them at the time.
So in 2000, still on my search, I stopped off at the library where I caught up
on my People magazine reading. It was in their passages section that I learned
Cub had passed, which I couldn't believe and thought at
first was a typo, but it wasn't. A few days later, still stunned by Cub's death,
I went to the bookstore right beside a sports store. After I came out of the
bookstore, I saw the sports store and went inside on a lark. Call it irony or
whatever, but while walking through the store I spotted hanging on the rack the
very black & white referee shirts that I'd been looking for. After I found
my size I got one in short and long sleeve, both of which I wear to this day
as a tribute to the man who made great rock & roll
music, Cub Koda. I'll keep wearing them until the day Cub is inducted into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame where he belongs--despite everyone constantly asking
me if I work at the Footlocker in the mall...
That's my story and I'm sticking to it until someone comes along and pulls me
off or until the glue dries up and I fall off... whichever comes first...
Kenneth Alverson.
(If you have a story about Cub, something funny, how you met, etc., please
email them to: webmaster@cubkoda.com
so that they can be added for others to enjoy!)