I Got Your Back

CHAPTER ONE FAMILY REUNION: THE MEANING OF FAMILY You know the family is the solution to the world's problems today... "Family Reunion," K. Gamble, L. Huff / The O'Jays, Family Reunion Cleveland, Ohion February 7, 2006 Travel Productions Rehearsal Inside a small, brick warehouse-like building snuggled in the heart of the "'hood," 93rd and Way, sits Trevel (Levert spelled backward) Productions, Eddie and Gerald's production and rehearsal studios. The main room is dominated by a stage, and the musicians are setting up for today's rehearsal. The guitarist plucks a few chords while a background vocalist warms up. Eddie and Gerald wrap up the logistics with their cousin and business manager, Andy Gibson, for an upcoming Father & Son concert date. The Levert organization is a family affair. The band starts to play the first few bars of "Family Reunion." Gerald belts out a note. "Man, that's one of those riffs we used to do up in church down south!" Eddie gives Gerald a pound. Although Eddie grew up in Canton, Ohio, and moved to Cleveland at sixteen, he proudly claims his Bessemer, Alabama, roots. "Can you believe we recorded that song over thirty years ago and it's still relevant?" Eddie says. "When I was singing the chorus to 'Family Reunion' in the studio, I was envisioning how powerful it was going to be for people. "It calls us to honor and remember loved ones who've gone on, and celebrate the matriarchs and patriarchs who've made it one more year. When I sing that song, I give it so much soul and emotion because I was thinking about my own family's struggle, going back to slavery, Man! "I think it's a song that makes everybody look back at their family history. Plus, you know even at our own family reunions, it's the jam that gets the old people and the little babies on the dance floor!" Gerald lets out a round of laughter. Eddie joins in, then Gerald adds: "On the real, black people need to get back to the basics that song talks about." They give each other another round of fatherson pounds. Eddie begins to reminisce about his years growing up. "I was raised being taught that there had to be two people in the household at all times, a mother and a father, and they both had their position in the family. The mother took care of the daytoday things, and the father went to work and made the money. "The father was like the overseer, the truant officer, or officer of the day, who came along and knocked you upside the head with a nightstick to straighten you out if you got out of line." He lets out a hearty laugh. "Back then your dad was always that threat that your mother could use. She would say, 'I'm gonna tell your dad on you and he's gonna beat your butt!'" You can instantly see how much Gerald loves to hear his dad talk about the "good old times." He shoots his dad a look and nods. "Some of these kids out here today wouldn't be gettin' in trouble or disrespecting older people if families were like they were back in the day. Hell, you can't step to these young cats or try to reprimand them if you see them doin' something wrong, 'cause they'll try to shoot you!" Gerald interjects. "It's like folks have forgotten that family is your backbone. A family's supposed to come together and help you get through hard times." GeraldLeVert, Eddie, Sr. is the author of 'I Got Your Back', published 2008 under ISBN 9780767927604 and ISBN 0767927605.