C-Notes

Summer 2005

The summer has finally gotten underway, and with the summer comes a variety of things. Girls wearing short shorts, drinking copious amounts of alcohol, a Pistons playoff run, trying to hook up with girls years younger than you, and many other complicated things that you just wouldn’t understand in typed print, they need to be experienced first hand. Since this is my first notes of the ‘c’ persuasion, I feel that it is necessary to first introduce myself, and then more importantly introduce to you, the internet user, the band.

Hello, my name is Courtney. Ok, now that we’ve got that out of the way let us move onto the rock-stars, sort of. I figure starting with James DeCarlo is as good a place as any, I mean shit the band is named after him. James comes from humble beginnings. Raised in a small town outside Detroit called Grosse Pointe Woods. James’ parents realized his musical talents at a very early age. He started out on piano and saxophone, and once he mastered the language of these two instruments he moved onto guitar and bass. Shortly after this James started jamming with one Benjamin Jefferson Kim. The son of a North Korean refugee, immigrated to America only to become a physicist of some sort. That’s beside that point, perhaps it was playing with BK and drummer Mike Manardo that James found his musical direction. The three of them would jam for hours on end in BK’s basement. James enjoyed the pleasure of playing with many musicians during his four year high school career. Most notably with the original line-up of D’Carlo. This group included Judson Carroll, Mike O’Conner, Mike Wemhoff, and Steve Wereley. This group disbanded for a brief period whilst James was sent to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo to study with the resident bass guru. It should be noted at this time that the relationship held between these two was one of guru and disciple. James would spend 15 hours a day learning and practicing the intricate workings of the double bass. James spent four semesters working like he had never worked before, I know because I spent time with James on his ‘off time’. I have never seen such determination. James then left the suppressive lifestyle of Kalamazoo to attend Wayne State University in Downtown Detroit. It was here that James was finally allowed to study the electric bass. He left after just one semester to take some time off and ponder the meaning of life, and to hopefully find himself. It should be noted at this time, that Mike O’Conner left the band sometime while James was at Western. Upon James’ return to the mighty D he resumed playing with the remaining members of DCarlo. Judson and Steve. Wemhoff still sits in from time to time, but it is difficult for him because he now lives in Chicago(the windy city). Enter Chris Handloser(stage right). Chris is no stranger to the music scene around Michigan. Chris spent three years at Michigan State University. During his tenure there he formed a band called Jebus. Hilarious! Anyways, Chris decided he didn’t like the direction his life was going in or his music. He dropped out of school broke up the band and moved into his parents basement. Ahhh, luxury. He was looking for a new band when he stumbled across an opening in the DCarlo lineup. Chris fit the mold perfectly, the opening was for a lead guitar player, and that’s exactly what Chris was. At this point in my story I would like to make yet another side note. Not much is known about Chris Handloser, or where his name comes from. If I had to guess I would say that both he and his name are Icelandic. With a face like that you couldn’t be anything but Icelandic or a genetic experiment gone horribly…….right. No one really knows anything about Chris before his stay at Michigan State. He came to America somehow but weather it was from Iceland or a genetic lab in Sweden we may never know. The more information I get about Chris the more I will fill you in but until then you will have to settle for learning about Judson Carroll. Judson began playing guitar when he was a Junoir in high school at Grosse Pointe South. It was also about this time that Judson started working at Starbucks in the Village. Where he still works today, Talk about being afraid of change. Anyways Judson formed a group with Mike O’Conner, Jeff Wittstock, and Blaire Wills. They were called simply ‘The Westfelias’. Jeff had to leave the band cause he got grounded for two months for reasons we will leave to your imagination. He was replaced by one Frank Jaramillo, the Philipino bass player. Frank was soon snatched up by a new band called simplicity. They are still together and are enjoying some success. Judson knew that some serious changes had to happen in the band. There were drug problems that needed to be addressed, and there was no bass player. He asked James to join, and also Steve Wereley on drums. James said ‘Hey I know a keyboard player.’ And that’s how the original line-up of DCarlo started. Let’s get back to Judson, the person, the man, the amazing. Judson is somewhat of a nomad. He moves around quite a lot. When I first came across his path, he was living in an apartment downtown near Wayne State’s campus. After that he moved into a house with some of his fellow Starbucks employees who had recently gotten married. He lived in a small dusty corner of the basement. He then moved directly across the street with some other employees of Starbucks, where he was allowed the pleasure of his own room. Ahhh single life. After a stay at this address he moved across town with the same people to a duplex house on Lakepointe. He opted not to resign his lease and turned the apartment over to James and two other hooligans, while Judson himself moved in with mommy. He is currently in the process of moving into a house of his own with two roommates. What a crazy life. Well I feel like all I’ve been doing is talking about stringed instruments. Let’s move on to the percussive stylings of Steve Wereley. This guy is a workhorse. He gets up at the crack of dawn, sometimes before, to do landscaping all day long. Not only that he practices drums with a passion. I once played a show with Steve. After the show his drums were stolen when his car was stolen while they were inside. This was a devastating time in Steve’s life. He couldn’t eat, he couldn’t sleep I would walk in on him crying all the time. I was so surprised to see a man cry. But such is the way of the crazy world we live in. You can never tell when your musical career will be put on a sidetrack so some dude can pawn your shit to make some money to buy crack. Anyways Steve’s insurance company payed for the stolen items, and he was able to get the drumset he had always dreamed of having. Let’s try and get inside his head, his persona if you will. Steve has a large head of hair. I mean his hair is huge. That’s one of the things that first attracted me to him….I mean one of the first things you notice about him. Well this is getting kind of awkward all of sudden. Ha. Well keep checking back for updates on what we do every week both musically and nonmusically.

Love,

C-Note

p.s. That shit came off the top of my head, y'all.