Joe Boes knows guitars
‘Mojoe’ Joe Boes picked up a guitar at 15 and never stopped playing
SYLVANIA – Joe Boes knows guitars.
The Toledo-born musician has built his life and career around the six-stringed instrument. He plays them, collects them, makes and repairs them, teaches others to play them, and just enjoys being around guitars.
“I love them all, especially electric guitars,” Boes said in his home studio, surrounded by dozens of guitars and amplifiers, most of them painted in his signature color, seafoam green.
He started playing when he was 15. He had a friend who was selling a Squier Bullet guitar for a little under $300. Boes said he didn’t have the money so he hand-wrote a promissory note to his parents begging them to buy it.
I, Joe Boes, promise to learn guitar and not give it up because my dad payed (sic) good money for the guitar and I promise to make him proud of me.
Joe Boes
They bought him the guitar and he played it for about nine years before he bought another one. He still has it, hanging proudly on a wall in his studio.
When he graduated from Bowling Green State University with a music degree, his father pulled the note out of his wallet, where he had kept it all those years, and handed it back to Joe.
Obviously, Boes kept his promise.
“Pretty much,” he said. “I feel pretty good so far.”
Boes has never stopped playing. As a teenager, he used to practice when he got home from school until he went to bed.
“I’m fortunate because I still play every day,” he said.
Sitting on a desk chair at a recording console, cradling a mug of coffee, the musician with the distinctive spiked gray hair and long goatee said he not only loves guitars, he loves to talk about them — or anything that has to do with music.
His career is a mix of performing, teaching, recording, and working with local luthier Larry Wagner to set up and repair guitars.
“I’m blessed. My wife Laura is very much a person who supports me doing what I do, and that’s important. She’s like a champion for me. My wife’s not saying, ‘You should be outside cutting the grass.’ No, she’ll say, ‘Why aren’t you recording your songs?’”
Boes is taking her up on that, working on a new CD of original material that he hopes to release by the end of the year. His last CD featured songs he wrote during his engagement to Laura and they gave copies to their guests at their wedding in 2005.
Lately he has been recording .library music,’ creating a catalogue of multilayered instrumental tunes on keyboards with just a touch of guitar designed for television or movie soundtracks. He enjoys it because the moody instrumental songs are vastly different from his usual guitar-based music and vocals.
“It’s like there’s another corridor you can walk down in my brain. I love it. The good news is it still has guitar, but the main thing is that it has character.”
Character is vital to Boes, saying it’s what separates good music from the bland, overproduced music that dominates popular music.
“There are so many people who have a record deal who would never win American Idol, but they have character in their voice. I embrace that because I don’t have the best singing voice, but I have character.”
He feels the same about his guitar abilities, which are formidable but not flashy.
“I’m not a monster player,” Boes said. “I’m not just going to blow over a blues tune with a bunch of solos and people might go, ‘So?’ Instead, from a writer’s standpoint, you can steer where the tune goes, which means you can kind of steer where the audience goes. You get a chance to basically be in the driver’s seat, not just responding to a blues chord change.”
He has been leading his trio, Mojoe Boes & His Noble Jones, for about 20 years. He likes to describe their style as eclectic electric music. They perform Boes’ arrangements of songs by artists ranging from the Beatles and Oasis to Frank Sinatra and the Archies.
His band plays at local clubs but not every week, or even every month. The group played at the Majestic Oak Winery in Grand Rapids, Ohio, in August and will be there again on Oct. 11 and Dec. 7.
Boes is quite busy with another gig that landed in his lap about two years ago, playing in the Ultimate Kenny Rogers Tribute band led by Alan Turner, who performs as the 1980s Kenny Rogers, with white hair and beard and a white suit.
“It was kind of out of nowhere,” Boes said. “Alan contacted me because he needed a guitar player. A guy that I did know and a guy that I didn’t know referred me to him.”
The tribute band travels all over the country and performs about 20 of Rogers’ biggest hits each night, including the 1977 Top-10 single Lucille.
“Lucille is like maybe the fourth song in our set and I always chuckle because of the line, ‘In a bar in Toledo,’ and that’s kind of cool. How did I end up in a band where there’s actually a line in a song from my hometown?”
Boes said Rogers’ music has more depth to it than people might think. “I dig it because much of his material is written like jazz tunes. They don’t swing but they have interesting chord changes.”
He strives to play the familiar songs with an artful balance of being faithful to the original recordings while adding some of his own ideas.
“My goal is to do like 75 to 80 percent like the tune, and personally add about 20 percent of my own musical ideas. I want to change it a pinch but I know when to, and that’s the key — not to change it just because you’re bored.
“Most of the people would say it’s perfect because I know they’re keyed into Kenny. I get like two guitar solos that aren’t on any of his records but they have the feel of what the record was. But I move it around so it’s not just a duplicate of a record every night.”
That personal touch and his deft variations keep it interesting for Boes and the other musicians in the seven-person band, as well as for fans who have seen the show multiple times.
“I don’t want to think it’s totally self-serving. And if somebody were to say, ‘Well, that’s not 100 percent like the record.’ I’d say, ‘You’re absolutely right!’,” he added with a laugh.
The guitar
While he enjoys the reference to Toledo in Lucille, that’s just one of the many ways that Boes is strong on Toledo. He loves to support the local music scene, musicians and companies that make guitars and music gear.
He has several Wagner guitars built from scratch by Larry Wagner. He is quick to point out that his current favorite is a uniquely shaped electric Wagner — painted seafoam green, of course — and featuring gold-plated DeArmond pickups that were made in Toledo in the 1960s.
“I love the fact that I travel with a guitar that’s from my hometown, and these pickups were made here back in the ‘60s.”
Boes also has several guitars made by Reverend. That company manufactures its guitars in South Korea but distributes them nationwide through its headquarters in Toledo.
One of his students paints and refinishes guitars with a scratched-up “relic” look, making them look aged and worn. One was a Gibson SG that originally was brown but was refinished in … what else, seafoam green.
“Seafoam green is my aesthetic,” Boes said. “Everybody kind of expects the green now. He brought it to a lesson and I’m playing it and he says, ‘What do you think?’ And I go like, ‘It’s pretty cool.’ And he goes, ‘Do you want to buy it?’”
“He’s a good dude and I want to support his relic-ing stuff, and he’s a local guy, so, yeah.”
Boes picks up a seafoam green Wagner electric guitar that had been lying on a stool and starts playing a tune, unplugged. The notes flow smoothly and melodically.
“The guitar has always been my musical awakening,” Boes said. “There’s just so much about it that I love.”
Chasing the musical Muse
How a testoterone-induced, jealous rage became Jello-o ‘s first song
The phenomenon of puberty, as we all know, is a challenging period for the human biped, both male and female. It comes with weird and sometimes inexplicable physical feelings, emotions that run all over the map, hair sprouting all over our young, heretofore smooth bodies, menstruation (for half of us), and the emergence of the libido.
It was this pesky libido of mine, along with a few of my fellow Old Orchard Elementary School cronies, that we dealt with in a way common to all of that age.
On a weekend night (heaven forbid, never on a school night!) we would gather at someone’s house (as I recall, it was either Marc B’s or Penny W’s) and seek shelter in the basement of that house. It was always couples, boyfriends and girlfriends, usually about 10 of us. No reason for single stragglers for this party, and way before the presence of any openly LGBTQ+ folk.
We all would find our way to the basement (avoiding any parental confrontation) and almost like lab rats, the girls would gather in one corner and the boys in another. There was music, provided by a record player (yes, but who changed the 45s when everyone got down with the gettin’ down?), and mostly mushy ballads to set the mood. I particularly remember a song by The Outsiders, Girl In Love.
Just a thought: make-out parties in the 21st Century! No more gettin’ up to put on a new record!! Now there’s Spotify, AppleMusic, et al. AND! Who’s gonna get the lights when everybody’s assumed the position? “Hey Alexa, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!!!” Damn, I was born too soon.
At some point, about a half hour into the gathering, one brazen, cocksure guy (usually Marc B) would break from the dudes, walk over to the girls, in particular his girl, talk for a minute, take her hand, walk to a designated spot, lay down with her, and start making out. Simple as that. Not long after, the other guys would follow suit. My girl’s name was Linda. I had a very hard time initiating my first kiss – but that’s another story.
We called these sessions “make out parties.” Everyone knew what was gonna happen, and everyone knew the “rules.” As far as I know, it was just kissing – well, French-kissing, of course, but no groping, no dry-humping, no moaning, no orgasmic activity. Just kissing. Upwards of two hours! Lotta chapped lips!
Anyway, it was right before one of these gatherings that yours truly did something that got me grounded (I’m sure it was nothing!), and with all my newly implanted testosterone, I went off!! Knowing that my girl would be at this party without me made me berserk. I went down to the family basement, shouting and yelling, and with one empowered thrust, punched a hole in the wall (in all fairness, it was old drywall, this was no Herculean feat, just pure rage.)
The “grounders” (my parents) stayed upstairs and let me rant, whilst I screamed and yelled downstairs (see the aforementioned unexplainable physical feelings and emotions). My three brothers must’ve wondered what the hell my problem was.
After I’d settled a bit, but still thinking it was the end of my world, sure that Linda would think me a mommy’s boy, I picked up a guitar. When I think about it now, I wonder if that wasn’t the birth of my Muse. As is so often the case, and in a ‘solution’ as old as man, I channeled my feelings through music.
After doodling about for who knows how long, a melody started to evolve, borne of a simple two chord progression (A-G), and a melody humbly befitting a musically untrained, untalented eighth-grader. Still it didn’t match the rage I was feeling; it was soft and quiet, as though I hoped it would appease my girlfriend, and make amends for my absence at Lip Fest.
The first lines that eventually came out were “Gotta get out tonight/We gotta go/Gotta get out tonight/and watch that little girl go . . .” Apropos, no?
Gotta Get Out Tonight (duh) was learned and performed by Jell-o, my band at the time. It was our first original composition. We even recorded it on a primitive wire recording machine that my grandfather Laspisa owned. Grampa took it a step further and pressed a few copies of a 45 (the B-side was a group jam “original,” a rip-off of Paul Revere & The Raiders’ Steppin’ Out, that we called The Green Blues).
Sadly, and to my great dismay, there are no copies of those 45s anywhere to be found on this planet. What I wouldn’t give to have a copy!
There is something about bringing a song into the world that is magical, mysterious and invokes a sense of pride like nothing else. My visual art gives me a similar exultation, but not quite the same. It’s almost like having children that I brought into this world, showing them off when I perform them. The conjuring of a mixture of notes, melodies and words, all expressing what can be very personal feelings or opinions.
This brings to mind the concept of the Muse (yes capitalized!). Where does it all come from? Is it a higher power? Where in the brain does it occur? What makes a song/piece of art/what-have-you go in one direction and not another?
Since Gotta Get Out Tonight, I have written many songs, performed them and even released a few CDs (see below). Some I’m quite proud of while others suck (you’ll have that).
And so it was that primal lust as inspiration, in all of its raw, sloppy, directionless, pubescent form, morphed into yet another example of all that which makes rock n’ roll the great beast that it is.
A word about the music below:
C’mon was born from a car ride with my two sons. We’d go back and forth swapping multiple simile references to love. This version was recorded by The Coosters. The video was a high school art project, directed by Yasmin Naylor, starring her sister, Sierra Naylor.
Aerospace & Natural Science Academy
Aerospace & Natural Science Academy welcomes families at open house
TOLEDO – Interest among students and parents is booming at two campuses of the Toledo Public Schools’ Aerospace and Natural Science Academy, which has seen a dramatic enrollment jump in recent years.
The aerospace campus held its open house Wednesday, and the natural science campus opened its doors to the public on Thursday.
Both are part of the TPS magnet school programs, where students from across the district, and sometimes other Ohio districts, can take all of their classes that specializes in a topic or theme on one campus. Community partnerships, such as Toledo Metroparks, contribute to the workforce preparation experience.
Kurt Wicklund, senior director of the Aerospace and Natural Science Academy of Toledo, described it as a full high school, but the interest is most definitely in the practical skills.
“Our students get internships. They learn directly from people out in the field,” he said during the open house.
What’s new in career technology?
According to Wicklund, career technology education, also known as vocational education, has a long history in Toledo Public Schools. For example, the district’s aviation studies dates back to 1929, and the natural science center opened in 1976.
In the meantime, TPS administrators, such as Dr. Romules Durant, have been hosting family meetings at the grade schools to explain the options.
That’s how Karina Vea, a 7th grader from Toledo, and her family found out about the magnet school opportunities. Her father, Robert Vea, said he didn’t know there were so many choices within TPS. Karina said she enjoyed her first few days of class at the Natural Science Technology Center.
“It makes me excited to go to school,” she said at the open house.
As a result of the updates, total enrollment in the Aerospace and Natural Science Academy has tripled since it was organized in 2018, Wicklund said.
By 2021, according to school district records, there were 246 students in grades 9 to 12 in the program. There are now 450 students, roughly 225 at each campus, ranging in grades from 7 to 12.
What is different?
The student demographics of this career-focused magnet school academy are noticeably different than a traditional neighborhood high school.
For example, Wicklund said that ANSAT enrollment is open to any students from Ohio. The current student ratio is 65 percent from Toledo Public Schools, and 35 percent from out of the district.
But there have been significant updates in academic options, along with facilities and equipment updates, during just the past few years. Specifically, the ANSAT program started welcoming students from grades 7 and 8 as of this school year.
In addition, there are tradeoffs when picking a small magnet school instead of a larger high school. For example, Vea said his daughter won’t be able to take an art class at the natural science campus; but they have learned there is an art club that meets after school.
Aerospace campus
The aerospace campus is in two buildings at Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport. The academic building has classrooms, workshop spaces and a cafeteria whose windows look out over the airport runway. The hangar building houses four small planes that instructors and students use for training.
The sophomores are learning practical lessons in electricity, while the juniors and seniors get hands-on experience in building and working with drones.
Eric Parraz Jr., of Toledo is one of the 7th graders this year at the aerospace campus, said he has an interest in planes and would like to be a pilot, so he was excited to be accepted to the program.
“It’s an honor and a privilege, and now he’s in,” his father, Eric Parraz Sr., said about the magnet school option.
New resources this year include a row of computers set up as flight simulators.
“We’ve grown so much, we are redoing lab areas,” instructor Rick Naves said about the aerospace campus. “We’re bursting at the seams.”
Whether as a mechanic, pilot or other supporting roles, Wicklund said aviation is currently a career field where there is high demand for an interested and prepared workforce.
Over the years, alumni of the aerospace studies have continued their studies at Bowling Green State University, Kent State University and other schools, while others go on to become commercial pilots, explained Wicklund.
There’s also a track record of graduates going into the military, and at least one who was accepted into the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Natural sciences campus
The Natural Science Technology Center campus is on Elmer Drive near Toledo Botanical Garden. The updates this year include a new academic classroom wing to accommodate the increased number of students on campus.
Those attending the open house could look for a caiman that lives in a habitat enclosure in the greenhouse, and find newly hatched corn snakes in the classroom terrariums.
Senior Angel Gilbertson of Toledo was among those participating in a rope climbing demonstration during the open house. That’s a skill that urban agriculture instructor Bryan Ellis said is applicable to urban forestry.
Students also get hands-on lessons about hydroponics, wildlife sustainability and related topics. Every year in May, the campus hosts a plant sale for the public.
“Kids that come here, they’re interested in nature. They’re interested in the natural world,” said Ryan Ackerman, assistant director for the Toledo Public Schools’ Natural Science Technology Center.
Balance Pan-Asian Grille
Review: Award-winning local franchise founded right here in 2010
TOLEDO – Have you ever dreamed of owning your own restaurant, or becoming so popular and, well, organized, as to offer franchising opportunities? In this week’s edition of Flavor in the 419, we profile Toledo-based, award-winning Balance Pan-AsianGrille, whose co-founders Prakash Karamchandani (PK) and HoChan Jang (CJ) did just that.
Since 2010, they’ve worked to innovate new technologies across a range of functions including menu creation, customer engagement, operations and brand marketing. They’ve garnered attention from notable industry publications and have made the annual list of Fast Casual’s “Top 100 Movers and Shakers” multiple times, ranking #28 on this year’s list.
With restaurants in Toledo, Cleveland, Dallas and Denver, and an aquaponics facility downtown that grows fresh produce for corporate locations and other local restaurants, you should have plenty of opportunity to taste their modern Asian-inspired cuisine. If you’ve never tried Balance or are a long-time fan, I encourage you to indulge in their seasonal variety of flavorful appetizers, colorful rice bowls, inspired tacos and curated collection of bubble teas. Your taste buds will thank you and leave you craving more.
With seemingly endless combinations of fresh, organic ingredients, sauces, halal meats, vegan and gluten-free options, you will not get tired of exploring all that Balance offers. Ordering online, in-person or through their mobile app is quick and easy.
When I was there, I witnessed a steady stream of customers running in to pickup food they had ordered ahead. In the parking lot, I met one happy customer and his two dogs who were waiting for food to be delivered curbside.
Balance also provides catering options for your next graduation party, corporate function or special event. They have reimagined every detail of the restaurant experience to create consistently high-quality, nutritious meals, full of flavor, served fast in compostable packaging.
Don’t take my word for it, try it for yourself. Balance currently has locations locally in Perrysburg, Sylvania and downtown Toledo.
If you happen to see PK or CJ in the restaurant or on a catering run, or speaking at an upcoming event, say hello and thank them for bringing their best to our community!
Have more suggestions for food reviews? Comment below or contact Kevin Tiell at kevin@tiell.com.
Girl Named Tom homebound
Sunshine Communities celebrate 75 years With Girl Named Tom band
MAUMEE – A little background: Sunshine Communities is a community that has an agenda of supporting people with developmental disabilities. In 1950, Roy and Georgette Engler founded Sunshine Homes due to the dissatisfaction of the poor living conditions in the in-state institutions. Aiming for better living environments for children, the Englers used donated material and labor to build a structure next to their home that included a medical staff and care.
By 1978, Sunshine had expanded enough to include family care and vocational services that helped adults with disabilities who were working. As of today, Sunshine supports 250 individuals everyday with 430 employees, 50 nurses, 28 residual homes, and 60 vehicles that provide transportation.
75 years later, the community still thrives. A coffee shop in downtown Maumee named Georgette’s allows some of the community members to work in the public. The community itself holds jobs for their members, such as helping raise and take care of farm animals and horses. With a strong tie to the Mennonites, Sunshine is sponsored by the Mennonite Health Services, sharing core values and beliefs, like empathy, integrity, mutuality and a shared faith-centered mission.
On Sept. 7, Sunshine will throw their grand finale celebration in downtown Maumee, near Georgette’s, as it “aligns perfectly with our sunshine footprint and strengthens our connection with the community,” stated Sunshine Communities’ CEO Jason Abodeely.
To celebrate, Girl Named Tom, winners of the hit NBC TV show, The Voice, will perform.
Girl Named Tom, based out of Pettisville, Ohio have strong ties to the Mennonite community, a community that also has strong ties to Sunshine.
In a statement from Abodeely, he shared why Girl Named Tom was a good fit for the event:
We approached Girl Named Tom due to their strong ties to the Mennonite faith, from which we built our core values in the 1960s. Mennonite congregations supported Sunshine Children’s Home, now Sunshine Communities, through quilt-making and other philanthropic efforts. Those relationships, and our mission, have stood the test of time, as we continue to create community through Anabaptist values. It’s come full circle, and we’re incredibly proud to remain deeply connected to our roots in Northwest Ohio 75 years later.
Abodeely wrote that “we wanted to bridge our past with the present. We host summer concerts each year on our campus, and bringing Girl Named Tom to Uptown Maumee alongside our friends, neighbors, and retail locations marks a new chapter in this tradition”
Beginning at 5 p.m., the event is free to the public and will be standing room only, but chairs are permitted with no umbrellas. Port-a-potties will also be on site, food trucks will be available.
Opening for Girl Named Tom at 5:30 p.m. is local band Chloe and the Steel Strings. Girl Named Tom will perform at 7:15 p.m.
Here are a few more details to know before you go:
- First aid will be located at Sunshine Studios
- Guests are asked to bring chairs
- Food trucks will be present
- This is not a ticketed event
- Jacky’s Depot will be offering signature Sunshine partnership ice cream flavors
Below is a map of the event:
Kid’s well-care visits
Well-care and physical exams necessary, encouraged for children
Parents often ask if their child still needs a well-care or physical exam if their immunizations are up-to-date.
The answer is yes, and there are several reasons that it is important to have an annual well care exam. For example, physicians can identify problems early and prevent chronic illness. It allows for parent education to promote healthy habits, anticipatory guidance related to the next developmental milestones related to age of the child, education and promotion of the importance of vaccinations, and providing vaccines if needed and parents are agreeable.
The well-care exam also allows for early identification of possible chronic medical conditions such as asthma, ADHD, anxiety, migraines, childhood obesity, high cholesterol, or early onset diabetes, among others. The visit also offers a time for parents and children/teens to ask questions related to their concerns.
Early diagnosis can help providers to begin treatment before there are complications and comorbidities related to untreated chronic medical illnesses. With the increase in childhood obesity, we are seeing an increase in childhood lipidemia, hypertension and diabetes.
Rates of anxiety and depression are also rising among children, so this also allows us to be proactive instead of reactive. The earlier we start treatment, the less likely there will be complications from these chronic illnesses, which increases the child’s chances of recovery and stability.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends an annual well-child exam/physical exam every year starting at the age of three, including height and weight with a body mass index (BMI).
Other recommendations include an annual blood pressure screening annually starting at age three and at every visit for high-risk patients, vision and hearing screenings annually or every two years for school-aged children, a risk assessment for sudden cardiac arrest and death from ages 11-21, a universal screening for dyslipidemia with a lipid profile once between ages 9-11, and a screening for anxiety/depression beginning at age 12. (Source: AAP)
If your child has not had a well child/physical exam in over a year, make time to call your primary care provider and schedule their exam.
