The Supergrover/For Squirrels Tribute!

The community at The Sixty One is one like I've never experienced.

Aldark, 61'er and supergrover's brother explains, "In early May, Supergrover and I sat outside a log cabin in Tennessee with our oldest kids playing in the driveway and discussed a little that his pains may be cancer. I had thought it, but really didn't want to think about it; only Supergrover really knew what he felt. A couple of week later, which seems an eternity ago we had the first visit with the oncologist after some level of confirmation of cancer."

supergrover posted some very sad news right after that to his 'About Me' section of his profile. "Well, it appears I have cancer, so the doctor tells me yesterday. Spot on my liver and a spot on my lower left 'omentum'. I have no clue what the future holds, but I'm pissed and heartbroken for my 2 1/2 year old son and 7 month old daughter."

Soon after, fuzzy blue-faced supergrover avatars were adopted all over the site by listeners and artists posted well wishes, crazy pictures, including photos of cookies, and jokes on his wall on a daily basis. Aldark told me. "Those that have followed his status on thesixtyone have seen some of Supergrover's progress via his "About Me" on the profile page. I take lunch to SuperG or have met him for lunch prior to each chemotherapy session he has."

Aldark talks about supergrover's treatment. "Honestly, I'm surprised they let me back in. We have a good time during such a dreary time and you would have thought we offended someone by now. Supergrover, from my viewpoint, has taken this in stride. We sit during sessions and talk about the teenage girl, the young newly wed, and even the pregnant woman all going through treatment and Supergrover wonders how he can be pissed at having cancer. Well, he can be, but he's handling it fantastically."

supergrover posted to his wall, "You guys... you got me choked up... I'm looking at some avatars and realized there are some that have snuck bits of me in there. You guys are too much. It is so appreciated that a little turd like me can be worthy of your encouragement. I don't know what to say."

Meanwhile, Glenn Case, was taking requests for cover songs, as a way of saying thank you to people that had been bumping his songs a lot. Supergrover left on Glenn's wall on June 3rd, 2008.

"If you know any For Squirrels tune, it would most certainly be this one (Mighty K.C.). You can hear some similarity in your 'rough' voice and that of Jack Vigliatura. They were involved in a terrible van crash that killed the vocalist (Jack V) and the bass player (Bill White). So, listen to how tragically ironic the lyrics are to this tune. (Actually, many tunes)."

For example, here is a sampling of the Mighty K.C. lyrics.

And by the grace of God go I
Into the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
And if we gather, if we fall
Over the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor

So, Glenn listened to the material and he liked it a lot. After much consideration, he decided to cover Mighty K.C. "SuperG was right too. I COULD hear a similiarity between Jack's voice and my own. Friends have noticed it too," said Glenn.

For Squirrels put out two albums before two founding members of the band and their tour manager died in a car accident on September 8th, 1995, 13 years ago today. Their ages? 23, 23 and 21. "That's when it hit me: something like this could happen to ANYONE," said Glenn. I started thinking about the life I've been able to live, and the songs I've had a chance to write since I was 21. The material I was writing at that age wasn't NEARLY as good as what this band was already creating. I can't even imagine how great they COULD have been with time."

For Squirrels, ASCAP Christmas Party, 1994. Photo by R. Capak

Glenn was inspired to launch a double tribute... A tribute to Supergrover and to For Squirrels, a band that didn't really get much of a chance because key band members died at such a young age. "What REALLY made things hit home for me was when I realized that Jack would have only been a few months older than me if he would have survived the crash," said Glenn. "It didn't seem fair that more people hadn't heard of them. My thought was 'Let's see if we can change that a little.'"

The surviving members from the original line-up of For Squirrels are guitarist Travis Tooke and drummer Jack Griego. Glenn contacted Travis in July. Travis gave his approval on the project. "You have my blessing and I'm touched by your passion for your friend and our F.S. music. I'll stay in touch as best I can, and would love to play a small part in your tribute project."

Glenn says, "Supergrover is a great guy that has been given some news that is not so great. I thought it would be neat to do something nice for him. Through supergrover's treatment, he has managed to keep a sense of humor. ("Another visit, another three hours hooked to a pole. Hmm, shoulda been a stripper! I could have been getting paid for this!") To me, SuperG has always come across as a person with a magnificent sense of humor, both before and after his diagnosis was known." Glenn ads, "It really sucks when bad things happen to good people. Unfortunately, it does happen from time to time, and I figured the LEAST we could do as musicians was to try to brighten Supergrover's day a little. I hope we are doing just that by covering songs from his 'favorite band that no one has heard of', and maybe we can get a few more people to hear about them too!"

The two albums For Squirrels albums are 'Baypath Road' and 'Example'. There are 10 songs on each album, and the idea was to get artists from The Sixty One to cover every song from both albums Tracks for the For Supergrover tribute will be uploaded Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Several very popular and talented bands are involved in the 20 tracks that will be uploaded in the next two months.

"I'm really looking forward to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the next seven weeks or so," said Glenn. "It has been hard for me to keep this a secret with the quality covers I've been hearing, but I think it's going to be worth it."

Glenn added, "I'd like to extend a special thank you to Batface89, and all of the musicians that have stepped up to be a part of this. This would not be a reality if it wasn't for all of your involvement. Thank you so much for banding together to make this happen. You guys rule!"

Who are these musicians who are have recorded songs for the project? We're keeping it a secret until the song is uploaded to add to the fun. Once all 20 songs are up, there has been discussion of creating a purchasable version of the songs with all proceeds going towards cancer research.

And how about supergrover? Aldark says "Discussions about surgery are coming in a few weeks and where to go from there will follow. I've seen the progression of what appears to be successful treatment when Supergrover is rolling around on the ground with our oldest kids. This is something that hasn't happened a lot since early in 2008 when the pain was too much that a foot kick to the gut would hurt for ever."

"Good signs, good signs.", Aldark adds.

Keep an eye out for the music and tunebox all of your friends and subscribers!