photo by Eric Gonzalez
So, it’s finally starting to sink in: Months of the rumblings and mumblings; news of Dan Jenkins’ new band (Halfwit); Ted Alesio now playing in my new band (Weldon Keys); Ted and Mike Keeling joining up with Benji Kushner and Tom Harvill for an all-star soul band tackling difficult instrumentals from Booker T and the MGs and ilk.
It's starting to sink in: Ideal Cleaners is no more.
I suppose it took listening to Dan actually say the words to someone recently, “We’re done, completely,” for me to finally accept it as I have been in denial. I have been hoping for an announcement of a final, farewell, 10th anniversary IC show. I have been hoping for an IC greatest hits release. I’ve been longing to hear them chant “Muchacho” one more time. I’m friends with the guys in the band but have been reluctant to broach the subject.
Like news of friend’s divorce, I felt it best to let it lie and if anyone of them wanted to talk about it, he would bring it up on his own. But it never came up. Until recently, as previously noted, after a blistering Halfwit set before a crowd of dozens at The Zoo Bar who received the hard-heavy-modern-punk-rock band with open arms and banging heads. But that’s another story altogether.
My story with Ideal Cleaners begins at, nearly, their conception. A year out of law school and still not adjusted back to regular sleeping habits coupled with a failing marriage and my longing to return once again to Lincoln’s ever-thriving music scene that I’d abandoned for academics and family, I started going to shows. Almost every night, I ‘d go downtown and see a show.
My first exposure to IC was in late 2003. It was their second or third show. If memory serves, I believe they were playing at Duffy’s with the Mezcal Bros., which was the band that drew me there that night. Anyway, I fell in love with Ideal Cleaners. The energy. The songsmanship, Mike’s bass, Ted’s drums, Dan’s haunting guitar and even more ethereal vocals, all clicked instantly in my soul and I became a fan.
Over the course of the next year, I am positive that there was no one else who’d seen them perform as many times as I had. I followed them to Omaha and saw them perform at Sokol Underground and blow the main, touring act from Kansas City off the stage. Mike gave me a free T-shirt that night.
Over the years, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen them perform, only that it is lots. Lots of times. I could sing along with most every song (as could most of their regular followers). And never once did I leave disappointed. Never once did the band screw up. Never once did I see them troubled with technical difficulty that causes those long awkward delays at many local shows.
Never did I see Dan drop a lyric or Ted and Mike miss a beat. Never did I see the band act like dicks to the sound guy or the audience or the other bands playing that night. Never once did I ever see anything but three guys who loved to play music get up on stage and do it better than anyone.
MORE ON IDEAL CLEANERS:
Ideal Cleaners | Aperture Needle
photo by Eric Gonzalez
I have all their CDs and 45s. I have three T-shirts. They are the only band that has two stickers on my guitar case. Ideal Cleaners is (was) the apex of what a local band should be: good, hard-working, class-act, entertaining and being good enough to have “made it big” but for those odd, inexplicable twists of fate. These guys should have sold a million records.
And so, though I know Dan, Ted and Mike remain forever connected through family, though I know I will love whatever project each of them is working on, though I know I remain friends to them all, I will miss the whole that was created by the sum of their parts. Ideal Cleaners came into my life during a period of great change for me and they’ve been important to me ever since.
The notion that music can save your life is very real to me. Ideal Cleaners, and the Lincoln scene, helped bring me back to who I was. My life, despite my career, family, and other relationships, is in great part defined by music.
It just grabs us, takes hold, and never lets go. And my favorite band, Ideal Cleaners, did that more than anyone else. I’ll still hang on. I’ll still pull them up on the iPod and pretend I can write a song as good as “Solid Gold” (which I’m listening to as I type).
And so, officially, and reluctantly, we must all say goodbye. Thanks guys. “To the moon.”
Mark Bestul is a Hear Nebraska contributor. Reach him at mbestul@inebraska.com.