It’s hard for me to believe that Gene Eugene has been gone from this earth since 2000, on this day, the anniversary of his tragic and untimely passing. A creative genius and a pioneer in creating a new genre of CCM music, Alternative Rock. His bands, Adam Again, Swirling Eddies and the Lost Dogs profoundly impacted my journey of faith with Jesus and gave me a Christian perspective on the world and the cultural issues of my youth when very few Christians were speaking about or into what the world was dishing out.
“Born in Ontario, Canada, Gene Andrusco moved to Southern California at an early age, where he soon became a actor on television programs such as "Bewitched", "Cannon" and "The Bold Ones" and on cartoons such as "Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home", "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Klan" and "The Barkleys." In the mid '80s, under the pen name Gene Eugene, he started a second career as a Christian alternative rock producer, engineer, and musician (as a member of Adam Again, the Lost Dogs, and the Swirling Eddies). He died in The Green Room, his production studio in Southern California, during March of 2000.” IMDb Mini Biography By: Matthew Prins
I am still listening to his music today; I am well into my 50’s now. His bands, the music and the song writing still resonate with truth and funk and honesty. It was in the late 80’s when some friends and I traveled to the Chicago area to attend Cornerstone Music Festival; it featured many of the west coast alternative CCM bands that we were listening to and into at the time. I wasn’t satisfied with top 40 CCM music; he underground stuff gave me a beat to live by. Some of the band I listened to and still listen despite my wife wishing I would grow up a bit… L.S.U., Prayer Chain, Adam Again, The Choir, 77’s, Daniel Amos, Undercover, Crumbacher and the list could go on.
But it was Gene’s band, Adam Again, that struck a particular chord in my life, and the album, “10 songs by Adam Again” that broke my life down in sensible bites. The song, Treehouse, was the first song I heard from Adam Again…
“The kids from the apartments were all playing in a field when they came across a clubhouse in the sky. But the big kids pulled the ladder up once they got inside and the little kids below began to cry.
In the valley city families struggle to survive. Minimum wage becomes their self esteem and the real estate developer took over their hillside. A thousand homes like only in their dreams.
One of these days we might understand that the last will be first in the end. And if we wait too long to come down with the rest of us, there’s gonna be a fire in the tree house.
Children ought to play together; Someone throw the ladder down.
Small children and their mothers brave the winter all alone. They pray their sun will shine another day. I know they call it the homeland but it must not feel like home. Go on and hang your heads, Daddy's far away.
One of these days we might understand the last will be first in the end. And if we wait too long to come down with the rest of us. There’s gonna be a fire in the tree house.
Children ought to play together. Someone throw the ladder down. Children ought to play together. Someone throw the ladder down.”
Here is the link to the song on YouTube… https://youtu.be/qSYEu5aQI2c
Enjoy heaven Gene… I’ll see you soon and can’t wait to hear the kind of music you are playing these days.
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