PETERIK

     Just turn on the TV and you can't miss the horns or the lyrics. They're the background to GMC vehicle commercials and probably the most heavily played ads in the last month. They're originally from the song "Vehicle" by the pride of Berwyn: Jim Peterik and the Ides of March. The song is 32 years old. The Ides of March are in their 37th year.
     Thanks to "Vehicle," thanks to GMC, thanks to Peterik's perseverence, thanks to infectious sounds that never feel dated, the Ides are almost as busy as ever. They recently were spotlighted on a WTTW TV special on the great Chicago groups of the 1960s. John "Records" Landecker featured Peterik on his WJMK radio show.
     The Ides will be among the performers at the "Jim Peterik and the World Stage" show at Moraine Valley Community College's Fine and Performing Arts Center Saturday at 8 p.m. This is Peterik's fourth "World Stage" after two in St Charles and one last spring at Star Plaza in Merrillville.
     The Ides may be almost as old as the Rolling Stones - but even the Stones can't boast that they have all the original members intact. Nor can Mick Jagger Claim to have been Married to the same woman for 30 years.
     "All six of us are still together," says Peterik. "And Karen and I are still married. We're very blessed --- I'm very blessed." Karen is responsible for Jim writing the song "Vehicle," which became a No. 1 single nationally in 1970.

                                                        1965: THE BEGINNING

     The Ides of March were formed in 1965 as the Shondels when Peterik was only 15 years old. They were classmates at Morton West High School in Berwyn. To avoid the conflict with Tommy James and the Shondells, they changed their name (after the day Julius Caesar was killed).
     A year later, the Ides had their first regional hit "You Never Listen to Me," which went to No. 7 on the Chicago charts. The group continued to make music, while going to school.
     Peterik met Karen in 1969 at Brookfield-Riverside High School, while standing in line for Turtles concert tickets. She recognized Jim from an Ides of March concert a month previously when the band had opened for the New Colony Six at Morton West.
     "Never had I met a girl I had so much in common with," Peterik says. "But after six months, Karen informed me she wanted to 'see other people' --- I was getting too serious." Peterik says he was heartbroken. Their relationship became platonic for awhile with Jim's "cool" car (a 64 white Valiant) providing Karen rides to appointments and functions.
     One day, Jim blurted out, "You know, all I am to you is your 'vehicle' (the word 'baby' was added for the song)." By the end of the day, "Vehicle" was written. The song was an instant hit --- the fastest in Warner Brothers history. Peterik says they were surprised at its success.
     "When we cut it," he says, "we never thought it was that special. It was No. 4 on our demo tape." It's actually the second comeback for "Vehicle." It was used in its entirety in the 1990 Sylvester Stallone movie "Lock up." "It validates what you did back then," Peterik says. "It shows you weren't a flash in the pan,"
     With "Vehicle," the Ides of March were big time. They became the opening act for such legends as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. They co-headlined and stole the show from such groups as Led Zeppelin.

                                          1970-80s: THE SURVIVOR

     In 1973, Peterik went solo and helped form a short-lived band called the Chitown Hustlers. Then in 1978, he co-founded the group Survivor. He received his second big breakthrough when Stallone picked him to write the signature song for "Rocky 111." "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor zoomed to No. 1 on July 24, 1982 and stayed there an astounding seven weeks.
     "We called ourselves Survivor because we were all survivors of different bands and rock 'n' roll situations." "Peterik says he loves writing for films, "but it's hit or miss. I wrote a song for 'The Princess Diaries' that was cut out." One result of Survivor's success, however, was that the band was compelled to tour. "I missed the '80s completely," he says with a laugh. We were on tour the whole decade, it seemed."

                                          1990s: IDES RETURN

     The members of the Ides of March got together for what they thought would be one grand reunion concert in 1990. At an outdoor strip mall in their hometown of Berwyn, they were shocked to find an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 fans had shown up. Obviously, the Ides of March were more than flashes in the pan.
      From Peterik's home studio in southwest suburban Burr Ridge, the Ides spent the '90s reissuing old hits and mixing in new songs in albums such as "Ideology" and "Age Before Beauty."

                                          2000s: WORLD STAGE

     Twenty years after "Eye of the Tiger." Peterik is THE survivor. He is popping up everywhere. Just last week he gave an unplugged concert with fellow Ides member Chuck Soumar at the Willowbrook Athletic Club. "I'll never stop performing with Ides," he says. "I enjoy it, and it helps me keep current."
     But what really keeps Peterik busy is writing and producing. "I'm kind of like a hired gun for other bands," he says with a chuckle, only one day after returning from Florida to work with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Before that, he was in Nashville working with Black Hawk. Peterik helps write and arrange songs in particular to flush out a band's album.
     How many songs has he written in his career? "I've never kept count," he says, "but I'd guess 500 published and copyrighted. I'm also a pack rat ... I have a whole closet full of song ideas (on paper and disk).

                                          1965-2002: KEYS TO SUCCESS

     Why do Peterik and the Ides keep marching on when so many musicians fade after a few years? Some random thoughts from Peterik:
                                                   THEIR BERWYN UPBRINGING:

     Berwyn, which ironically once had the nickname "The Bohemian Wall Street," in the 1960s was home to strong working-class families. "We were all blessed with families with good marriages," Peterik says. "Our parents were our role models. While they weren't overly strict, they gave us a good moral upbringing."
     The Peteriks lived in a yellow bungalow at the corner of 27th Street and Oak Park Ave. "The band had good parental support," he says. "My dad worked for the Electric Telephone Co., but on the side he played sax in a band at the Moose Lodge, and such. "He used to drive us back and forth to all our gigs.
      "Larry Millas' mom, Ann, was our de facto manager. She made our first appointment with a record company. Later, she took us to Mercury Records, which had offices in the Stone Container Building (Chicago). "I still recall the promoter telling us, 'I think you boys have something."
      Peterik's dad died in 1982, just before the release of "Eye of the Tiger." His mom died in 1989, but not before foreseeing the coming of a baby boy for Jim and Karen. "My wife and I had not been able to conceive," Peterik says. The baby was truly a miracle" Colin Peterik is now 12, musically inclined like his dad, but typically independent too. "He refuses to take lessons," Peterik says. "He plays piano by ear."

                                             PETERIK'S WIFE KAREN, KEEPS HIM GROUNDED:

     "I've never considered my wife my appendage," Peterik says. "But she does keep my heart and soul together. "We came together because of a common love of music. But she never toured with us, except for a few trips. Karen has her own interests. She teaches an aerobics class, and probably is one reason he's in such good physical shape (he's 6-foot -1, 174 pounds).
     She also does interior decorating (their house in Bur Ridge reflects her style: modern, tasteful, personal and richly appointed without being ostentatious) and owns a wig business, New Life Hair, for women with "Alopecia" (hair loss disease) that's in the Yellow Pages.

                                              THE IDES KEPT THEIR VALUES:

     While rock bands are notorious for their wild lifestyles, the Ides of March have remained grounded in their Berwyn roots.   Even though they recorded in Los Angeles at one time, the Ides were never at home any where but the Chicago area. They never got caught up in the drug culture that destroyed people like Hendrix and Joplin.
      "After a concert, a great time for the Ides was to have pizza and donuts," Peterik says. "We didn't need that super, super high. Also, I think musicians take drugs because they are insecure with their self-worth. We always felt we were OK. "We never went psychedelic and we never went negative. I can't stand the negative Seattle sound."

                                               THE IDES OF MARCH AREN'T STUCK IN THE PAST:

      "We like to play oldies shows --- as long as that's not all we do," Peterik says. "I love music from the '60s through the '90s. "People like Sting and Paul Simon are always updating themselves." Indeed, the Ides' image has changed constantly. At first they were like many groups at the time --- awed by the British invasion and the sounds of the Beatles, the Hollies, the Kinks, and so on. Their first hit, "You Wouldn't Listen to Me," strongly reflects the harmonies of that era.
      Then the Ides evolved into a Memphis-soul era that segued into the Chicago "rock-with-horns" sound, similar to the Buckinghams, the Cryan Shames and Chicago. "Vehicle" also was likened to a Blood, Sweat and Tears sound.
     When the Ides appeared at St. Charles' Norris Theatre two years ago, the Kan County Chronicle reviewer wrote: "There aren't many bands that get better with age. The Ides of March sound better than ever. Showing the energy of a band half its age the Ides put on a blasting show." What's next?
      After Saturday's how, Peterik will continue working on a new CD, "Night of the World Stage," of which he will be selling a sampler with two songs at Moraine Saturday night. Peterik also is working on a book, "Song Writing for Dummies."
      Don't take it literally. You can't be a dummy and survive in the music industry for 37 years --- and counting.

Written by Don Snider
Editor for The Star News Paper
January 24 - edition