Bob Huether • •Skins • Vocals

I have no memory of NOT playing. A professional drummer was my next door neighbor when I was brought home from the hospital where I was born. My earliest memories include images of climbing onto the throne behind Kenny's Gretsch kit and flailing away at them. He made me a gift of the first pair of sticks and on I went. School music programs were my earliest organized musical efforts. I participated in them throughout my primary and secondary education. I was blessed to have some very gifted teachers along the way. Those people encouraged me and nurtured my interest in playing. I have played in bands; too numerous to remember with any great degree of accuracy. The names I remember are "Hooker Brothers", "Plug Junction", "Victor and the Vipers", "Geneva", "Gypsy", "the Nuze", "the Original Hop City Band". There were others. That phase of my efforts culminated in a recording called "Time and Place" with a band called "Legend". Falling just short of a record deal; I called it a day. That was 1989. I received a wakeup call in 1997. I was forty years old and encountered some major health issues. From that episode, it was easy for me to conclude that life is precious, finite and can be snuffed from any of us without notice. Doing things that provide me with joy became a priority again. With no hesitation, the kit came out of mothballs, underwent restoration and has been in constant use from that moment forward. I had lost touch with the local scene and was reacquainted with the help of John O'Meara.( thanx "Johnny O") My travels led through pick up gigs with the Pena Brothers Band, a stint backing Harmonica Slim and a couple of bands, Noesis and Premonition. I met Floyd Mc Colley in that period and it was clear to me that we had to do a project; Floyd and I. I looked back to my roots and contacted long time partner and Bass player Dean Lehne. Dean said "Yes" and the "Crosstown Band" was born. The rest will be revealed. -bh