Legendary Belair Boys

Legendary Belair Boys
1993-1996
Legendary Belair Boys @ 1993 Back To The 50's Street Fair and Car Show

L to R: E. T. Thomas, Duke Bushong, Kanicke, Keith Beltran & me
Of all the bands I've been in, this one is the most unusual. Like Deuce Coupe, it was a revolving door for musicians. With Deuce Coupe, however, we knew from night to night who was going to be in the band. That wasn't always true with the Belair Boys. We often had a completely different lineup from one night to the next. The leader, Kanickie (after the character in Grease) and the other lead singer, Artie Zink, were the only actual members of the Belair Boys. The rest of us were fill-ins and always considered so, even if we filled-in consistantly for a year. As I remember it, on bass the Belair Boys featured Jack Stiteler, Keith Beltran, Vince Petrucci, Tom Cunningham and me. On guitar, Kanickie, Glenn Scott, Rick Carlson, and a guitarist named Woody. On drums, Duke Bushong (a GREAT drummer), Randy Renner, Wally Gordon and Dwayne Davidson. On sax, Ed Thomas (from The Legends and The Ike & Tina Turner Review, and a great buddy), Hoot McDonald, Dave Heater, Andy Ramirez, Mike Batista (who also played with The Heros, one of San Diego's "A" bands) and Doug Smith (who doubled on keyboards and was actually the frontman for another great local band called The Mardels). These are the players I knew about, and I'm sure there were more I never met.

Actually, playing musical chairs in this band was simple enough because its leader, Kanickie, was an Elvis fan, and a great deal of the songlist was Elvis material supplimented with other 50's and early 60's doo-wop which is fairly easy to cover even without a rehearsal. So, there it was! Musical chairs and leather!

The Gang @ The Back To The 50's Car Show

The Gang @ The Back To The 50's Car Show

My buddy ET, Howard Blank (The Outsiders & The Legends), Chris Saunders (The Wayback Machine and a news anchor at KFMB-TV Channel 8 and me at The Back To The 50's Car Show & Street Fair)

I worked with the Belair Boys off and on from 1993 to 1995 and then fairly regularly from 1995 to 1996. They came at a time when I needed a band to play with while I was trying to recover from heart disease. I had a great time in this band and made some wonderful friends among its members.(Ya hear that, E. T.?)