John Charles Hayen III
Shaw Heights
Apparently John and I met at Shaw Heights Junior High School in Westminster, CO. (it's Shaw Heights Middle School now since some place along the line the word "Junior" became demeaning or not entirely descriptive enough or something.)
UPDATE: New Information on this - 6th Grade Class Photo
And, apparently, we didn't like each other at first.
I say "apparently" because I literally cannot remember back that far any more. But John, on the other hand, remembers this part with crystal clarity.
John remembers that we both played trumpet and we seemed to have some kind of contentious competition around that. And then, somehow, that morphed into an enduring friendship. Go figure.
That's me in 1970 in Westminster, CO when I was 13 years old. I would've known John for a few years by then.
High School and Beyond
After Junior High -- oh, sorry -- "Middle" school -- we moved on to Westminster High School where we both were in the 100+ Symphony band headed my Mr. Maxwell. Along with most of the same folks in the State Championship marching band that practiced right across the street from the school in the mall parking lot every morning before the first class bell rung.
Right before my last year in High School (I think you can still call it that -- or maybe its Venti or "Tall", who knows), my parents did the unthinkable and moved us to a tiny little town in northern Minnesota called Pine River. I went from a graduating class of about 600 down to 69.
My Brother Todd and I were mortified and we volleyed hard for just being allowed to stay in Westminster at our neighbors house (she had a fully furnished basement and sounded okay with the idea), until we each graduated.
But dad was firm and completely unwavering on this idea. He was hell-bent on taking the whole family on this new "adventure" together.
The MN Years
So, in a time before cell phones, Facetime and the internet, John and I lost touch with each other.
I ended up attending St Cloud State University ("College" back then), and John joined the Air Force and later, ended up stationed in Duluth, MN.
I kind of remember driving up there once to visit him, but all I can remember is the wind relentlessly trying to peel my face off.
The Reunion
When John got out of the military (thank you for your service) somewhere around '78 or '79, he came and lived with me for a while in this hellhole of a house I'd bought, contract for deed (kind of a rent-to-own thing), in Sauk Rapids, MN.
And that's when we started the "band": Stoney Ridge.
Early Songs
The Days Are Long
(Or, as we called it, "the twe-dee song" due to its scat style trumpet solo.)
Tuscon Arizona
(A song we wrote about how much we hated the cold in Minnesota.)
I Told You Before I Could Do It
(The plus 5 minute epic born from a simple D picking riff.)
Wandering Fool
(Mostly just a reason to try out our new Travis Picking skills.)
The House
The "rat-hole" house needed a lot of work (an understatement to say the least).
So, we rolled up our sleaves and started in on it. Pulled off asbestos siding and painted the whole house, gutted the kitchen and the bathroom (and most every other room), removed a massive (unused) brick chimney, put a new roof on -- there was no shortage of work to be done.
But, this was a glorious time. The house was a hellhole, yes, but it was my hellhole and it was our musical sanctuary where we'd jam, practice, write songs...whatever.
By the time I let the house go back to the original owners on a Quit Claim Deed about a year later, we'd got it to the point where it was respectable enough to tear down (really, they tore it down a few years later).
Restlessness
By 1979, I'd worked at Tetrasonics Recording Studio (by this time renamed to Thelen Advertising) for a couple years and was ripe for the picking by a professional musician friend of mine who'd embarked on a crazy, life changing journey with a seismograph company out west.
He explained how it was literally like the Wild Wild West. Like, "Get out of town by sundown." kind of shit. And there was good money to be made too.
So, in early 1980, with our marriage a couple months old and Brenda pregnant with our first child, I took to the road in this new adventure. (Maybe I was more like my dad than I cared to admit.)
Death of a Band
And that was the end of the band. And, without even thinking about it (I was 23 so there's that), basically shelved my friendship with John for the next 30 years or so.
Reconnecting
Most recently, we got together in August of 2025 and, as we often do, banged out a new song (basically for something to do that involved instruments).
We were just putsing around at the kitchen table when Kelly, (John's wife) called from the other room that she wanted her "Cabana Boy" to bring her another beer. And that was all the inspiration we needed.