PHOTO BY BI LL HANSE N
Opposite page:
Waka Jawaka: 1994's Best World
Beat Band.
there is no sign that it is
leveling off," said Jerry
Derloshon of NAMM.
There are many rea-
Above:
sons why these bands
Kerry Gluckman of Waka Jawaka
form. For some, it is a re-
works on his music.
placement for contact
Right:
sports where the players
Waka Jawaka's 1995 CD release.
can blow off steam by
hitting each other. Oth-
ers see it as an outlet for artistic expression or a start on
the path to stardom. Still more view it as something to
do while hanging out with friends.
For drummer Kerry Gluckman, no relation to Michael,
it was an alternative to playing an organized sport dur-
ing his days at Harrison High School in Farmington Hills
"It was really just to have fun. We didn't have too many
musical aspirations," he said, adding that former band
mates have gone on to careers in law and medicine. "We
did talent contests but nothing greater than that."
While forming a band is somewhat easy, staying to-
gether, especially when the band mates are young, is not.
Members say climbing out of the basement or driving the
band out of the garage is the hardest part of becoming
established.
Concerns like maintaining other extracurricular ac-
tivities and getting into college compete for practice time.
Getting kicked out of a practice space can be the death
of a band. Just booking an event at
a venue that serves alcohol requires
the members of the band to be at
least 18 years of age, relegating
many upstarts to coffeehouses and
high-school talent shows.
Michael Gluckman knows what
it's like. The 16-year-old and his
band mates, some of whom are at-
tending their first year at Univer-
sity of Michigan, have a difficult
time getting together to practice.
Although two members of the
band are below the legal age to
play in a bar, the Droogs have per-
formed during field day at Groves
High School and for L'Chaim-
palooza, a benefit show produced
by the B'nai B'rith Youth Orga-
nization's L'Chaim AZA chapter. They plan to play a
coffeehouse in Ann Arbor soon and hope to actually see
a dividend for all the time they have invested in the
band.
"Our aspiration at this point is to keep creative con-
trol of our music and get paid more for what we do," said
Mr. Gluckman, noting that the total income the band has
generated so far is $20G.
But the lack of exposure and earning power has not
stopped the players from reach-
ing for success. They are current-
ly preparing to head into Ann
Arbor's Brookwood Studio where
they will record a demo for distri-
bution to major record companies
like Epic and Sony. "We are all
hoping for the best at this point,"
Mr. Gluckman said.
Kerry Gluckman, an interior
designer by trade, has been there,
done that. In the 20 years since
No Strings Attached broke up, he
has performed in several disco
and wedding ensembles and has
released CDs with a couple of
bands. His current band, Waka
Jawaka, won the 1994 Metro
Times' award for Best World Beat
Band and has also secured local critical praise for its 1995
release, Momento Mori.
Although he is now up on a stage playing larger venues,
he still has fond memories of his days playing in his par-
ents' basement.
"I was just discovering making music and playing my
instrument," he said. "I had a ton of energy, much more
when I was 18 than now at 38."
"It was a great time," he said.
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