Cub Koda

Michael "Cub" Koda (born October 1, 1948 – July 1, 2000) was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, songwriter, disc jockey, music critic, and record compiler. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine considered him best known for writing the song " Smokin' in the Boys Room", recorded by Brownsville Station, which reached number 3 on the 1974 Billboard chart. He co-wrote and edited the ''All Music Guide to the Blues'', and ''Blues for Dummies'', and selected a version of each of the classic blues songs on the CD accompanying the book. He also wrote liner notes for the Trashmen, Jimmy Reed, J. B. Hutto, the Kingsmen, and the Miller Sisters, among others.

Early life and career

Koda was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Manchester High School, in Manchester, Michigan. He became interested in music as a boy, learning drums by the age of 5, and by the time he was in high school he had formed his own group, the Del-Tinos, which played rockabilly, rock and roll, and blues. The band released its first single, " Go Go Go" (a version of a Roy Orbison recording), in the fall of 1963. They released two more singles but broke up in 1966, when Koda wanted to pursue other options.

Koda spent a year attending Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. Koda formed and reformed several bands at this time with other musicians in the area. His original songs and over the top performances drew crowds everywhere the band played. His habit of playing a guitar with a 'y' cord plugged into two Fender Twin Reverb amps gave him plenty of volume. He also played harp and slide guitar. After a year Koda decided college wasn't his thing and moved to Las Vegas where he worked as a sideman. This was his springboard to forming Brownsville Station. The last incarnation of his backing band regrouped as Walrus and became a local and midwest institution in their own right.

Brownsville Station

Koda then worked as a solo artist, releasing two singles, "I Got My Mojo Workin'" and "Ramblin' on My Mind", and working with a couple of bands, before forming Brownsville Station in 1969. Formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Brownsville Station also included drummer T. J. Cronley, bassist Tony Driggins, guitarist Mike Lutz, and later Bruce Nazarian and Henry Weck. The group was influenced by Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, the Who, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Link Wray.

The band began performing throughout the American Midwest and released several singles before getting noticed. They released their first album in 1970. The 1973 single "Smokin' in the Boys Room" remains their best-known song. It went to number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and eventually sold over two million copies. They continued to perform until disbanding in 1979.

Other recordings by Brownsville Station include "The Martian Boogie", "I Get So Excited", "Rock & Roll Holiday", "Hey Little Girl", "Mama Don't Allow No Parkin'", "I Got It Bad for You", "Kings of the Party", "I'm the Leader of the Gang", "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah" (the title is from Matthew 5:37), "Lady (Put the Light on Me)," "Wanted (Dead or Alive)", and "Barefootin'" (the B-side of "Smokin' in the Boys Room). "Smokin' in the Boys Room" was later covered by Mötley Crüe.

At some point in the mid-70's Cub and Brownsville Station roadies created and recorded an intentionally inept oldies band named "King Uszniewicz and His Uszniewicztones" with Cub masquerading as frontman Ernie Uszniewicz on saxophone. The band recorded and pressed a 45 of "Surfin' School/Cry On My Shoulder" which, according to the Michigan Rock And Roll Legends Hall of Fame, was discreetly placed in Midwest thrift stores by members of Brownsville Station while on tour, creating the illusion amongst record collectors that the band had been real. The prank was furthered by four LP released by Norton Records