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FREDDIE PEREZ-STABLE On the drums is the newest member of the band and one of our oldest friends, Freddie Perez-Stable. Freddie, or “Fradio”, as he has been dubbed by Robbie the Roadie, played drums with Austin “Walkin’ Cane” Charanghat and the Sky Dogs from 1990 thru 1994. He has also served sentences in Cruisin’, Hayshaker Jones and the JiMiller Band prior to being pardoned and permitted to peacefully live out the rest of his days as a cantankerous old man as the drummer for Colin Dussault and company. Fradio officially joined the CDBP in October of 2006.

Fradio hails from Habana, Cuba, a locale whose nightlife, restaurants and cabarets are renowned word wide. As a youth Fradio grew up frequenting the cities live music haunts, watching artists like Arturo Sandoval & scouring the stage & dance floor for lone strands of Sandoval’s hair. With his gatherings Fradio created a hair doll in honor of the great horn player.

As a teenager Fradio passed the time by throwing rocks at bottles & cans and birds in trees with deadly precision and accuracy. His prowess at picking off birds from trees with a rock garnered him great respect throughout the land and eventually led to his playing catcher for the Habana Leones. His tenure as the Leones backstop only lasted for 2 months though due to his constant drunkenness and unhealthy obsession with and love for Bette Midler and her music.

Eventually, Fradio and his family fled the tyranny of Fidel Castro’s Cuba by sailing across the Gulf of Mexico in a converted 1949 Plymouth DeSoto. They survived the perilous journey across the ocean in their car/boat by lovingly and faithfully re-enacting scenes from the “I Love Lucy” Show while sustaining themselves with a large bottle of  “VITAMEATAVEGAMIN.” Fradio also knocked seagulls out of the sky in mid-flight for the family to eat by throwing misc. nuts and bolts torn away from the undercarriage of the DeSoto with deadly precision and accuracy.

When he reached the sunny shores of Florida, Fradio supported himself as a migrant fruit picker and bird “watcher”. He eventually picked his way north to Catawba Island, Ohio where we discovered him sitting on a peach crate in the parking lot of the world famous Cheese Haven.

When we almost hit him with our band van he was banging out incredible interpretations of tunes by Cuban pianist Ruben Gonzalez on a garbage can lid. He did this while simultaneously picking off crows in the trees and off of power lines with rocks from 90 yards away. (For the uninitiated, Cheese Haven is world famous for the kindness and courtesy that it’s employees show you as you shop and sample their smoked cheese products-Eat as much as you want. They’ll make more!)

We really dug his garbage can lid playing and you never know when you might need a bird killed from 90 yards should the band van brake down by the side of the road leaving you stranded and hungry for several days. Plus he carries gear, has a sense of humor, possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball & football stats and loves the Flying Burrito Brothers! What’s not to love?

If you’ve ever seen our shows and wondered why we play for 2 and 3 hours straight without taking a break, there is a simple answer. The reason we don’t take breaks is because we don’t want to have to re-train the drummer after the break!

It is interesting to note that Fradio spent some time in Hollywood as a double for famous actors including Rosie O’Donnell, Bette Midler and Fred Flintstone. His most famous role was as a stunt/body double for Mindy Cohen who starred as “Natalie” on televisions “Facts of Life” which aired on ABC –TV from 1979 to 1988.

FRED TOBEY has been playing bass professionally ever since he and Greg Hurd started jamming together as teenagers at Rocky River High School. Fred is an accomplished and well traveled bass player (upright 4, 5 and 6 string), arranger, composer, singer and songwriter. Fred's past bands include Mary Martin & the Tuna Band, The Skydogs, the Hamilton Brothers Band, Nightbridge, Frankie Starr and the Skip Hadden / Ron Kozack Quartet. "The Round Mound of Sound in C-Town laying it down much to his wife's frown" has been working on and off with Colin for many years and was "officially" asked to join the band in 2003. This invitiation to join was extended after the grocery carts that he and Colin were pushing while each was indendendantly food shopping at their local super market inexplicably continued to bump into each other aisle after aisle. Finally by they time they had each reached the Dairy aisle and ran into each others carts for the 6th time, they decided in a strange "Coast to Coast AM" way that this must be destiny and decided to join forces to torment "Ricky" with Banjo music, save the world from Carpenter's songs and take listeners on bus trips to "Nasty Town!" Most of Colin's original songs were co-written by / with Fred. Always seeking new sources of income Fred is trying to mass market several creations that he had invented including the "Mistletoe Beltbuckle", the "Eldo" and the "Dilvis"! Fred's favorite quote (at the time of this writing) is from the "Coast to Coast AM" radio show (Ricky's favorite) and goes like this: "You don't know what you don't know." One of Fred's other favorites (and ours) is "What is the last thing a Redneck says before he gets killed?" He says "watch this!"

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"PETE ROLL UM" (a.k.a. The Gas Tank on our van) As I was filling up the Gas Tank on the band van for the 6th consecutive time in one week, it occurred to me that the Gas Tank in essence is the 7th member of the band. (Robbie the Roadie being the 6th of course).

"Pete Role Um" as we affectionately know him, actually earns as much money, if not more than we do! When you consider on the average that it takes $58.00 to fill the gas tank of our van, and that we fill our tank nearly 6 nights a week, (we work a lot) "O'l Pete" is actually one of the highest paid members of the group. (Roughly $348.00 per week in fuel multiplied by 52 weeks in the year equals $18,096.00 in fuel costs.) We feel he deserves credit and a photo along with the rest of us!

According to a U.S. Department of Energy report, 52% of the cost of fuel covers the constantly fluctuating price of crude oil. When the price of a barrel of crude increases, the cost of gas goes up INSTANEOUSLY. That much I comprehend. However, when the cost of oil falls it takes months for the price of Gas to fall. What the Fuck?! In the words of William Shatner and Henry Rollins."I can't get behind that!" (F.Y.I. refining contributes to 14% of the total cost of gas, while marketing and distribution drain 12 % of our hard earned income. State, local and federal taxes constitute 22% of the overall price of Fuel. Didn't I just send the IRS and RITA tax money? It seems that I pay them at least 6 times a week all year long.

Speaking of taxes, back in 1794, after becoming this great nations' first President, one of first things George Washington did was to levy a tax on the whiskey being brewed in stills by the Scotch/Irish in the Appalachian Region. These fiercely independent immigrants who fought so valiantly against the British during the Revolution were thanked for their sacrifices by having a tax being shoved down their collective throats by a newly formed government that was crying poor. How thoughtful and nice! You offer up your life so others can be free and our nation can be sovereign and Big Brother repays you by taxing you! Can you say, "foreshadowing"? One does not need to possess a high level of perspicacity to see that this was a strong hint at things to come as far as "Uncle Sam, taxes, and the "Little People" were concerned. It appears to me that from day one the government has fucked over the very citizenry that it was suppose to be serving. Didn't the Scotch/Irish and the other soldiers and volunteers who fought and died fighting the English do so in large part due to the Crowns' policy of "taxation without representation"?

The "Whiskey Rebellions", as they have come to be known, were the result of protests against the whiskey taxes being levied by George Washington and the fledgling U.S. Government. But fear not good reader, with the help of thousands of soldiers (not of Scotch/Irish descent), the insurrection was squashed, the dissidents were subdued, and the peoples' money was and continues to be successfully extorted.

I am thinking a "Gasoline Rebellion" would be nice right about now! Grab your pitchforks and meet me in Washington!!!! In lieu of worrying about steroids in pro sports and whether or not two people of the same sexual orientation who love each other should have the same inalienable rights that every other American is promised via the constitution, why don't those Sons of Bitches on Capitol Hill focus on something important for a change. I would like to see them justify their mansions, personal retirement accounts, drivers, fancy cars, pay raises, summers in the Hamptons and overall secure and worry free financial futures by addressing this nations' unsafe reliance on the oil that is owned and produced by a bunch of fanatics who dwell in palatial edifices in the middle of the desert. These Fanatics are killing our Sons, Daughters, Brothers, Sisters and Mom's & Dads as we attempt to give them freedom while building an infrastructure via water treatment and electric plants. Why in the hell should they continue to be allowed to control us like puppeteers who are drunk and mad with power? Thousands of good people have died over their oil and we are still being held hostage by the cost of that oil today. I think about that every time I pour $58.00 into my gas tank.