This is part two of Ed Mean’s story. Last week we talked about Larry Edward Means and his growing up in Marysville. He lived near the railroad tracks and the old Marysville Depot just off of North Maple Street. He spent many of his childhood years hanging out there and getting to know the guys and the railroad business.
It took him a while to complete high school, but he was a budding guitarist and that was more important to him. Ed’s parents were so happy when he finally accomplished graduation that they bought him a car. It wasn’t just any car. It was a special car … a 1957 two-door Thunderbird that had been refurbished. That was nice, but it didn’t take long for Ed to sell it. What? Even now that would be a fantastic car, but he needed a new fantastic guitar and he got it with the money from selling the car.
Ed really has fond memories of John Strickler at Marysville High School. He was the art teacher at the high school when Ed was there. He had a big influence on Ed and encouraged him in the artistic side of his life.
Finally after a two-year delay and out of high school, Ed started playing the guitar a bit with small groups in the area, mostly in Columbus. He was self-taught and his guitar expertise was improving. He still had to have a day job so he first worked at Scotts and then later on the Union County Road crew, also painting signs by hand at the county garage.
This was the time of the 1978 blizzard in Union County. If you lived through it you will remember what a tough time it was. Ed said he and his road crew went out in 24-hour shifts the day after the storm, when they followed a “V” road grader with chains on their tires and stones in the back of the truck. They were clearing roads and sat in drifts for two to three hours at a time trying to clear snow on the highway. It took them more than 24 hours to clear their sections of the road. They had to just keep punching through the drifts.
During the blizzard, there was a group of railroad cars stuck in Peoria for more than eight hours and apparently when that happens, ice builds up underneath and the train can lift up off the tracks. Sounds like a dangerous event, doesn’t it.
The first day there was no one on the roads, so they could get their job done. But the next day, people were actually behind them and impatient because they didn’t move the snow out of the way fast enough.
On to Ed’s rock star career, the band he played with was loud and he loved it. Their first job was playing at Brown Jug week during the Delaware County Fair. They had been been hired to play music near the betting windows, which were underneath the stands. Apparently they were so loud that after only two songs no one could hear the race or the people taking the bets. A man in charge came to them and said, “You might be good, but you are just too damn loud!Pack up!”
So they played two songs and still got paid. “It was 1974 and I thought I had died and gone to heaven,” he said.
The rock band music jobs were tough. He was doing what he wanted, but it was hard to keep groups together. But in the 1980s, he hit it big time and was part of a group named “Sweet Cheeks” for his evening job. They had two female singers and quite a following in the central Ohio area. Later, Ed joined the group “Rosie,” that put out several albums. Now they were in the big time. But they were only getting paid a salary and their manager was taking most of the money.
Ed says this is a common problem in all entertainment industries. They were young and didn’t realize they should keep an eye on these unscrupulous management types. The group finally sued him, which cost them $50-$60,000. This took the fun out of the music industry for him.
He considers his next era part of growing up and learning in life. Drinking became a big part of his life and the band broke up. It was about 1990 and he really didn’t get his life together until about 1999 when he married his wife, Ann. Later in the1990s, he was able to work at FedEx, where he did home deliveries and later drove a semi for them. During these years he was still playing the guitar a bit at night.
Ed says it took a lot of hard work and he’s proud to say that by 1999 he had conquered his drinking problem and got his life together after running into Ann again. The reason we say “again” is because the two had actually dated in the 1970s, but he had a music dream and that’s all he could think about and she married another person. But now, here they were, different people, all grown up. They married in 1999.
As you can see, Ed has had an interesting and varied life. He’s happy to be back in Union County in his partially retired years, where he still plays some guitar and works a bit for Heflin‘s catering.
How nice to be able to tell this story about an interesting life with a good result.
If you missed part one just go to marysvillejt.com and click on “Off the Hook” for last Friday.
(Melanie Behrens – melb@marysvillejt.com)