The music business is a strangely entangled world. It's not uncommon to find yourself in a six-degrees of separation situation - your own version of Bacon Bitz, if you will. So, when a copy of David Brooks' Colourblind landed in my lap, it wasn't a huge surprise. While I'm long since removed from Cleveland (okay, just over five years), I still have strong ties to the city, ties that are firmly intertwined in my heart which, on occasions such as this, give a good hard tug. Much like my reaction to hearing "Moon Over Parma" or "Cleveland Rocks" during the Drew Carey show, or when the Weather Channel happens to display shots of Cleveland, I tend to get more than a little jazzed over these walks down memory lane. Sometimes, in brief moments of nostalgia, I miss the city so much I wonder why I left. And then I hear how lake-effect snow just covered 99 percent of the Greater Cleveland area and sanity quickly returns.

The moment I saw the name on the CD, images of the Akron Agora (kna The Boot Scoot Saloon – yes, I'm serious), and other such rock venues of the day were dancing through my head along with the visages of various local (and a few nationally known) celebs, who manage to fit into my six-degree theory. You see, David Brooks and I have a long and sordid past together. Granted, if asked he'd have no earthly idea who I am - at least I'd be shocked if he did. We've never been formally introduced and have only been in the same room together twice (actually one time was a sidewalk, but let's not get technical), and had a pseudo IM conversation once, which if I remember correctly, involving a remark about my breasts, an occurrence so common as to be laughable when not downright annoying. And, adding to our history, David and I have mutual friends/associates, one of which is a close friend who had the pleasure (or maybe displeasure) of Mr. Brooks' gaze fixated on her breasts at a local do. Are we sensing a pattern here? (Sorry dude, but it's true!) Albeit this happened about one-hundred years ago, I can't seem to wipe the words, "The guy was speaking to my boobs!" out of my head whenever I hear his name. See, this is why first impressions are so very important people! Though, in Mr. Brooks' defense, I've heard that he's a really great guy, so I'll stop ragging on him now. Was that a sigh of relief I just heard?

Anyway, I’m trucking along highway 29 towards D.C. and I slip in Colourblind to find Brooks belting out like a rockstar as I'm bobbing along with a head full of fond memories tempting me more than once to continue north on an unplanned road trip, picking up my girl Cristy and seeing what kind of mischief we could get ourselves into. The more mellow songs turned my attention to the road and blended nicely with the slight overcast sky and intermittent snowflakes - if that doesn't say Cleveland I don't know WHAT does. At any rate, after finally hearing his voice and recovering from the almost surreal experience, I found that I enjoyed what I was hearing, despite the occasional too-high-end-'80s vocals (see the title track). Not that there's anything wrong with that necessarily, it's just that I've lived that life once already and I have no desire to go back. I think if he simply toned down the theatrical vibe of the CD which brings to mind a multitude of '80s metal icons and leaned more towards the melodic sound prevalent throughout, he'd better showcase his strong, crisp voice without tainting it with memories of bad spandex pants.

Dave Brooks, as I'm sure you've guessed by my descriptions, has all the makings of a rocker. And while he has dabbled in everything from production (evident by the quality of this CD) to collaborations, knowing the company he keeps I'm not shocked at his songwriting abilities. While I wasn't impressed with the better-than two minutes of noise intro on "Life On My Street", I quickly forgive after hearing a great funk beat. "Scarlet Memories" brings to mind Tesla (which is a good thing), and I dug the bluesy groove and harmonica on "Baby What Cha Want Me To Do".

Colourblind shows Dave Brooks to have the musical chops to earn the title "hometown hero" - or at least he's well on his way. Especially when he chooses local talents (the "Cast of Thousands") like Adam Mercer, the DeMarco brothers, Matt Cleary, Steve Haynes, Gerard Domnick, Laurie Stryron, Jon Denney and Shawn Z to help round out his project. So, Cleveland, if you haven't picked up on Dave, go check him out. The rest of you, get yourselves a copy of this CD, because I'm fairly certain you won't be hearing it on the radio anytime soon (read: not mainstream enough), but honestly when was the last time you heard something on the radio that was worth a crap anyway?

www.davebrooks.org