Recollecting Keener

By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor

One of this area’s most gentle and reliable characters, the musician-artist-builder and all-around excellent person, Tom Keen, passed away on March 16. Most of us remember him best as the ruddy, good-natured guitar player and singer with the Cabin Fever Bluegrass Band that has played for years on the big sun deck at Boonedock’s.

Seldom seen without his “brother,” local builder, vocalist and harmonica virtuoso Tom Fordyce, “Keener” came up north in 1978 after earning a degree as a graphic artist from Cincinnati Conservatory. Before he migrated north, however, Keen worked for a company that made 4 x 8 sheets of paneling. His job was to blend in the seams and fill in the knots. If you look carefully and see a funny face drawn subtly into the knot in your paneling, Tom Keen did that! He also loved to work with copper, and his touch can be seen in the sconces and little details in many area homes to this day.

Keen worked for Crystal Harbor Marine and lived in the tiny red cabin by the boat launch below Fisher Lake after marrying his wife Barb. They later moved to the old icehouse in the woods along Bohemian Road near School Lake. The house had been moved up from the edge of the lake and set on top of a mound of wine bottles Keen encountered whenever he had to dig. Betsy Musil explained to him that the guys who hung around the icehouse in those days didn’t want their wives to know what they were doing down there, so they buried the evidence up in the woods — for years. Most recently Tom, Barb, and her son Jason have lived along Maple City Road where Friday night jam sessions with friends highlighted the week. It was after one of those weekend music sessions that Keener went to sleep and never woke up.

Together, Fordyce and Keen have built or renovated cottages in the area for 30 years, and the Two Toms hatched the Cabin Fever Band at Art’s Tavern back in 1981. Fordyce began sitting in with Jack Lane, who played music once a week in the corner by the old wood stove (under where Carl McBride’s trophy fish hangs now). Keener began playing with them, then banjo player Billy Judd, who also bartended at Art’s, joined in. Lane moved to Traverse City, but the Cabin Fever Band remained. Sometimes the two would appear as the duo Tomfoolery, playing hilarious non-hits like Blue Hairs Drivin’ in My Lane, The Dog Song, The Fred Song, Mail Order Dog, and I Lobster but then I Flounder.

Along with local legend and silversmith Ben Bricker, the Toms converted the long vacant Wescott Garage into today’s Lake Street Studios, where Ben & Ananda Bricker, Midge Obata, and Suzanne Wilson created the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA) in the late ’80s. The Cabin Fever Band played many summer street dances out in the middle of Lake Street in those days, and they played for the GAAA Christmas parties for several years. Jim Curtis brought his bass and vocals to the band, and Jack Sharry of Empire joined on fiddle and mandolin in the mid-’90s.

Cabin Fever was one of the original groups to organize and build the stage for the first Dunegrass & Blues Festival in Empire. (Cabin Fever and (New) Third Coast never missed playing a Dunegrass Festival.) After Jack Sharry and Billy Judd both passed away, Paul Kirchner and Kurt Westie played in the group through last summer, and now they have their own group called the M-23 Strings.

With Tom Keen sadly gone, the Cabin Fever Band is a quartet consisting of Tom Fordyce, Jim Curtis, Jonah Powell and Mark McManus. You can catch them on the deck at Boonedock’s this summer most Wednesday and Thursday nights. Tuesdays and Fridays belong to New Third Coast, Sundays and Mondays to the Boondoggies, and Goodboy! plays every Saturday. Look for Three Hour Tour, the M-23 Strings, and Jim & Jim to pick up a few nights as well. The schedule is subject to change, but you can call Boonedock’s (231) 334-6444 to find out who’s playing on any given night, or just come every night and hear them all. Boonedock’s features live music seven nights a week through the summer (weather permitting), so come join the fun, and remember Tom Keen.

Tom Fordyce contributed to this report.