Meet The Musical Icons In My Book "Absolutely Hutely" Part 1.

I've been asked several times why I chose certain musicians to feature in my book. Well, my first selection was easy. Steppenwolf was a 1960s band that not only had a dramatic history, but they also wrote songs full of life lessons and teachable moments. They had a firm grasp of history and they soon began to create a unique legacy that lives on today.

John Kay (Steppenwolf's co-founder and lead singer) started out fatherless. German born in 1944, he and his mom moved to what was to become East Germany. Because of Soviet expansion, they risked a midnight escape to West Germany so they could live free. John and a few other founding members started playing music in Canada after John and his mom moved to Toronto. He learned English by listening to Rock-n-Roll stations. John, Goldie, Gerry, and many other incredible Steppenwolf band mates produced great music in Canada and America. Their instruments were thunderous vehicles for their insightful lyrics.

My book highlights the need for boys to spend "Time in the garden" to understand the ways of love and understanding. M. Bonfire's lyrics in "Tenderness" seem to sum up why. "She tried to show me how to love...I grabbed her hair and pulled her down...no I hadn't learned tenderness." John and Jerry touched on philosopher Giovanni Vico's thoughts on the importance of taking a stand in "Ride With Me." This in turn would lead to union and fulfillment. They wrote, "How you gonna make it baby...I know my share of history, how hard it is to be free, wearing masks that turn the skin, hiding when you could have been...Ride with me baby till the end of a day." Finally, John Kay relates his own journey to the Americas with that of so many in "Monster." Once hear he saw American youth, once protected, being devoured by the corruption monster. He wrote, "America, where are you now? Don't you care about your sons and daughters...!" The "Wise Athenian youth," in Absolutely Hutely, faced the same uncertain fate. John's dramatic history and the band's moral messages made them an easy first choice to put in my book. Till next time, Dan Tilley