Strange Magic

Tony, Keith, Todd and me.

That’s how it all started. Four guys who loved music as much any teenagers could.

Our moms would take turns driving us to Tony Ryan’s house on Chicago’s northwest side every Saturday afternoon where we’d jam in the basement of the Ryan’s brick bungalow.

Todd and I began writing songs together a year or so before in his apartment on Rosemont and Francisco and soon thereafter at his new digs — a high rise at the corner of Lake Shore Drive and Irving Park — where we would perform to the clouds on the rooftop high above Chicago, order ribs and burgers from C.W. Napkin and stuff ourselves with frozen malts from the drug store in the Belmont Hotel.

The idea for the name was Todd’s, inspired by the song “Strange Magic” by the Electric Light Orchestra, whose leader Jeff Lynne was a favorite of Todd’s. Many of our songs from that period were inspired by ELO, The Beatles and Chicago.

Keith was Todd’s childhood friend who I’d first met at Todd’s birthday party at the upstairs night club on Rush Street owned by one of Todd’s mother’s friends. It was a costume party and though I can’t recall what I went dressed as, Todd wore a full Miami Dolphins uniform. For the most part, Keith was an occasional member of the band, writing some songs, playing guitar and singing back-up.

The photos — the only ones that exist of this lineup of Strange Magic — were taken just before our show at Sally’s Stage, a popular restaurant and cabaret located at Western and Devon on Chicago’s north side.

While I lost track of Tony Ryan some forty years ago, Todd and Keith are still very much on the radar; Todd a local Chicago underground celebrity whose nom de guerre I am forbidden to mention, and Keith lives and works in New York City.

Strange Magic’s final lineup — in 1980 — included Perry Myers, who became a well-known Chicago-based private detective, on drums and Eugene Canning on bass. I had met Eugene who played bass in another band I sang with and as we didn’t have a permanent bass player, he agreed to play our last show with us, which was on the 25th of September 1980 — the day John Bonham of Led Zeppelin died — at a community center about two blocks away from my high school. Over 100 people came out to see our “farewell” concert, which we dedicated to Bonham and Ian Curtis of Joy Division, who took his own life in May of that year. Eugene Canning passed away at the age of 53 in April 2016.

A year later, I would move to Phoenix, Arizona and start my first band — a punk rock trio, The Convertibles — inspired by Joy Division, the Police, Gary Numan and Special Affect, a local Chicago band featuring Ministry founder Al Jourgensen, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult vocalist Frank Nardiello, Concrete Blonde drummer Harry Rushakoff and bassist Marty Sorenson. Special Affect would rehearse in a basement on my block and when I wasn’t able to sneak in to watch them practice, I’d hang out in front of the door for hours listening to them play. I was fortunate to be in attendance at one of their last gigs — at the 11th Street Theater in Chicago — which, to this day, remains one of the best live music shows I’ve ever seen.

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