Manchester's own Houserocker

Publicity photo of Cub Koda which appeared with the original 1998 Manchester Enterprise article

Koda's gravestone in Mount Hope Cemetery, Waterloo, Mich.; describes him as a "musician, entertainer, songwriter, rocker, bluesman, journalist, disc jockey, music historian, author, and actor," as well as "Musical Eclectic Extraordinaire."

Editor's note: An article by Mirror staff writer Marsha Chartrand first appeared in the June 25, 1998 Manchester Enterprise, where it was titled, "Still doing what he does best." The Mirror is re-publishing it in an adapted form, with some more current references.

To Manchester, the name Cub Koda may be a voice from the past. In the early 1960s, he and two other local teens created a group known as the Del-Tinos who reached a degree of popularity in southeastern Michigan. Michael "Cub" Koda continued on to nationwide fame in the band Brownsville Station, with the song, "Smokin' in the Boys Room."

Koda's legend lives on in recordings he made later in his life, including solo albums Abba Dabba Dabba--a Bananza of Hits (1994), Box Lunch, released  in 1997, and recordings he made with the Del-Tinos in 1998. He also re-formed Cub Koda and the Points and released Noise Monkeys (one of his last works) in 2000. In addition, he recorded a tribute album to Hound Dog Taylor, which reached the top of the blues charts in 1998, and wrote for a number of music publications, as well as publishing two books. He was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2016.

Moving to Manchester, when his parents, George and Lois Koda, purchased the Manchester Enterprise, was a bit of culture shock for this kid--who had been, by his own admission, "everywhere." He reminisced, "I walked into my first day of seventh grade dressed to kill: pants pegged to 14 inches at the knee, thin necktie, dress shirt and vest, rat tail comb sticking out of my back pocket and a half of jar of grease sculpted into my head. Staring across the room from me was a sea of pink scalps, FFA jackets, and those dungarees that have a side pocket for holding your screwdriver."

In 1963 or 64, Cub, Rusty Creech, and Doug Hankes created the Del-Tinos, so named "for no other reason than it sounded cool and greasy to us." After a successful gig at the junior high band boosters concert, they began playing teen clubs, drive ins, high schools, and dance hall armories that extended "all the way down to Toledo."

Cub said that listening to some of his old records could feel "unsettling--a lot like those old high school yearbook photos that come back to haunt you." But, he added, "whatever we lacked in mature outlook and skilled musicianship we made up for in volume, energy, and total commitment to rock 'n' roll."

By 1980, Koda was performing with Hound Dog Taylor's backing band, the Houserockers, with guitarist Brewer Phillips and drummer Ted Harvey, an alliance that continued for about 15 years. The compilation, Hound Dog Taylor--A Tribute, was released by Alligator Records in 1998 and remained on the living blues radio charts for several months. Proceeds from this album, which also featured Taj Mahal, George Thorogood, Vernon Reid, and the Blues Imperials, went to aid the Blues Community Foundation in Chicago. Koda--who played on three tracks in the album and described it as a labor of love--expressed pride in being part of the project.

The evolution of Koda's music from rock to blues was not altogether surprising. "Actually, my rock 'n' roll has always been blues and my blues has always been rock 'n' roll," he explained. "I've never really played 'rock music;' my music is just bare-bones basic American music. It sort of combines blues, rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, country & western, and jazz into one big thing." In the late 90s, he added, "we're in the midst of a blues renaissance ... it's bigger than it's ever been."

Nearing the age of 50 in the summer of 1998, still living and breathing music, Koda agreed to talk to the Enterprise about his career, with the caveat that he didn't want the article to be a "Where Are They Now?"-type retrospective, a reference to the popular VH-1 television show that focused on has-been entertainers. He was definitely focused on his current career and the future. At the time of the article, in addition to his musical releases, his second book, "Blues for Dummies," was being published (which included a CD of blues classics that he compiled). He re-issued a CD of the Del-Tinos combined with Adrian's Hesitations. Some of the tracks on that album were even recorded in the old Manchester Enterprise office, during the time that George and Lois owned the newspaper. He wrote the liner notes for the CD as "part of Michigan rock and roll that doesn't always get told."

He said, too, that he had no intention of slowing down. "As long as I still enjoy playing out, I'll keep playing. I'm still writing new songs and I think that's what keeps an artist interested in continuing on.

"Most people think about taking it easier when they hit 50, but as you can see we're just getting warmed up."

Just two years later, however, on July 1, 2000, Michael "Cub" Koda passed away suddenly due to complications from diabetes and kidney disease. He was 51 years old.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.