East Bay Blue is Strictly Legal: Band of Attorneys Debuts Thursday at the Loading Dock in TC

April 28, 2004

The East Bay Blue band would seem to be the perfect choice to cover a classic rock hit like “I Fought the Law but the Law Won,” considering that its three members are all in the legal profession.
Guitarist-singer Christopher Cooke is an attorney with the Williamsburg law firm of Cummings, McClorey, Davis and Acho. Bill Brott on lead guitar and bass has a private general law practice in Suttons Bay and is also a tribal judge with the Grand Traverse Band. Drummer Jamie Cox is a paralegal with Cooke’s firm.
Put them all together and you have a strictly legal band that is debuting its first major gig at the Loading Dock in Traverse City this Thursday, April 29 at 9 p.m.
“We play blues, early rock, some original stuff and ballads,” says Cooke. “We’ve been together for about a year now, but it’s hard to carve out time to pursue our love of music. We get together as time allows and have played a number of parties, but this will be our first big show.”
A member of the baby boom generation, Cooke was raised on rock & roll. “My youthful inspiration was Elvis Presley when he was back in his early days,” he recalls. “I remember seeing Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show.” Back then, that meant having to slip into the TV room and hide from his parents under a table to watch Elvis perform, since Presley’s hip-gyrating act was considered too scandalous for kids to see.
Cooke followed the music of The Beatles, protest rock and Motown through his upbringing in Detroit and played music through law school. Today, he’s a litigation attorney specializing in defending insurance companies and municipalities in civil cases.
He’s also a songwriter and an actor in community theater. Cooke moved to Northern Michigan several years ago after living for 15 years in Grand Rapids. Early on, he auditioned for the Old Town Theatre’s production of “1776,” landing the role of patriot Richard Henry Lee. The play led to his aquaintance with Jamie Cox, who played a member of the New York delegation to the Constitutional Convention in the play.
Cooke met Bill Brott at an annual Bar Association event known as “The No Talent Show.“ Brott has an interest in the blues along the lines of Eric Clapton. The trio combined their talents to play gigs in Grand Rapids, Mackinac Island and at parties around the region.
“We squeeze our love of music in between our commitments to the courtroom and our families,” Cooke says. “I’m thankful that my wife Geri has given me an opportunity to pursue my love of playing.”
Between their connections with family, friends, the Bar Association and the Old Town Playhouse crowd, East Bay Blue is hoping for a good crowd at their Loading Dock show. So consider this a summons. After that, the band plans to enter a recording studio to lay down tracks of their original music and will consider the verdict of local fans as to whether to move forward with their music at clubs around the region.