Oregon daily emerald., June 04, 1999, Page 4B, Image 16

UO’s Tom Wheeler
ROCKS STUDENTS -
BOTH IN CLASS AND
ON THE STAGE
By Bryan Petersen
Oregon Daily Emerald
ure, the pen is mightier
than the sword, but what
about the ax?
This is a question that
Toni Wheeler doesn’t
have to worry about be
cause he has mastered
them both, as an author
of music books, a professor of jour
nal ism at the University and the
lead guitar player of the red-hot lo
cal blues band the Deb Cleveland
Band, which can be regularly seen
at local clubs such as Sam Bond’s
Garage and the Vet’s Club.
Separately, any of these posi
tions would be difficult enough to
master, but Tom exhibits the true
sign of a pro in all aspects: He
makes it all look easy, as though
anyone should be able to pull it off.
Don’t let him fool you, howev
er. He has had to work hard to get
where he is in his life and career,
and he has taken some nontradi
tional roads along the way. For ex
ample, he never went to college to
study journalism.
“It took me a little while to fig
ure out what I wanted to do. I was
in law school, and I was trying to
write my first book, and that was
my first experience with writing. I
wrote the book completely on my
own, so that was my on-the-job
training,” he says.
His first book, “The Guitar
Book: A Handbook for Electric
and Acoustic Guitarists,” took
three years to write, and it was
turned down several times by
prospective publishers before
striking gold — but it was worth it.
The book in many ways launched
his career in journalism.
“Rolling Stone magazine re
viewed the book favorably, which
was a wonderful thing. And then
they asked me to write for them. It
had never occurred to me to write
for magazines. I remember thinking
to myself, ‘Let me get this straight
— you want to pay me money to
write for Rolling Stone
After writing a few pieces for
them, Wheeler discovered that he
\
Sabrina Reich /Emerald
Professor Tom Wheeler moonlights as the guitarist for the local Deb Cleveland Band.
loved the work. At that point, he
realized that lie could combine
two of his passions, music and
writing, into one career. He says
that since then, his career has been
about one thing: communication.
It’s the one word that simultane
ously describes all aspects of his
career to date — his writing, edit
ing and guitar playing.
After writing for Rolling Stone
for some time, Wheeler made the
move to the next level of his ca
reer. Guitar Player magazine con
tacted him and invited him to be
an editor. He was assistant editor
from 1977 to 1981, then editor in
chief from 1981 until 1991.
“That was a fantastic experi
ence, writing and editing, manag
ing other people, hiring people,
planning issues, working with art
directors ... It was a whole new
world for me, a big responsibility,
and I loved it. I loved the world of
magazine publishing. It was really
a jolt of adrenaline.”
After 10 years of working with
Guitar Player, Wheeler made the
next big change. He joined the
journalism staff at the University.
Although he did obtain a little
experience teaching in California,
he says that when he came here,
he didn’t really have a concrete
idea about how it would work.
“I didn’t know if someone
would say to me, ‘Look, here’s
what you’re going to teach, and
here’s the book you’re going to
use, and here’s what you’re going
to teach in week one, and week
two, and week three.’ I just didn’t
know. Well, that’s not what they
did. They said, ‘You’re going to be
teaching Magazine Article Writing
I, and that was basically the end of
the conversation.”
It was less than a year ago when
Wheeler heard about the Deb
Cleveland Band from a friend. He
went and saw them live and was
blown away by Cleveland’s
world-class voice and the way the
band got the crowd into the show.
It was after that night that
Wheeler did something he had
never done before: He called the
saxophone player out of the blue
and said,‘“Look, you don’t know
me, but I heard the band, I thought
you were great, I play guitar, and
if you ever want another guitar
player, or need someone to sit in
... ’ I was just grasping at a chance,
and he said, ‘No, we don’t want
two guitar players.’”
However, as fate would have it,
right after the time Wheeler made
his offer, the band’s guitar player
announced that he was moving to
Portland, and the band suddenly
was holding auditions for a new
guitar player.
Wheeler auditioned, and from
that point it was a five-week-long
process, during which he received
tapes from the band and played
along with them over and over,
trying to get a feel for the band’s
material. During that time, he had
the opportunity to hear some of
the other guitarists that were also
auditioning, and he admits that
there were times when he would
go home and tell his wife he didn’t
Sabmui Reich /Emerald
Marty Weissbarth wails on the saxophone with the Deb Cleveland Band at the Vet’s Club,
while lead singer Deb Cleveland (above) belts out a tune.
think he had a chance.
But he got the gig and now seems
pleasantly surprised at the amount
of music he finds himself playing.
“I never thought I would play
this much music. I never thought I
would be back in the clubs. But it’s
because of this band, because they
are so special, that I am.”
And this respect is definitely
one that goes both ways. Marty
Weissbarth, the band’s saxophone
player, exclaims that from the be
ginning, Wheeler has been a pro
who has been great to work with.
“He’s very good to work with.
It’s amazing. He’s easily the nicest
and most responsible person in
the band. He’s never late, he al
ways has his equipment, his atti
tude is always together, and he’s
always ready. He’s just very, very
on top of things, and he’s just a
pleasure to hang out with. ”
With praise like this so forth
coming in both directions, it seems
that the chances are good that
Wheeler could be with the band for
a while. And this means that as
long as he teaches at the University,
students who are lucky enough to
have him for a professor will get to
learn firsthand from a man who has
gotten to do the two things he loves,
without compromising either.
And on weekends, they can go
out and watch him rip it up with
the Deb Cleveland Band.