St. Charles East grads keep music dream alive

The story of Cooz Entertainment is one about turning the page of high school into a career by keeping your school friendships intact.

Cooz Entertainment evolved when nine St. Charles East graduates and a friend from Texas put their minds and passion for music to work in a way that resulted in an indie record label that already has three Hip-Hop musicians under contract.

A couple of football injuries had a lot do with the formation of the company, according to Cooz President Brennan Walls, a 2009 graduate of East.

“Eian O'Brien (vice president) and I had been doing music together since we were juniors in high school, and we both played football,” Walls said. “I went to Drake in Des Moines, Iowa, and he went to Truman State in Kirksville, Mo., and we both suffered injuries.”

Walls said they came home for the summer to rehab their injuries and decided to start recording more music and taking it seriously.

“From that point forward, we put together a business plan, told our parents about it, and eventually registered the company,” Walls said.

Joshua League, the art development and relations manager for Cooz, said the company is evolving through the passion of the high school friends involved.

“Everyone on staff is reading and researching all that they can about how to run a record label and they're learning as much as they can about the music industry,” League said.

In addition to Walls, O'Brien and League, the staff includes three other 2009 graduates creative services manager Gus Torrey, publicity and radio promotions manager Luke Ploszek, and new media director Peter Chacon.

Marketing and new media manager Mat Hammer graduated in 2008, while recording artist Austin Barry and street team manager Dan Lynch both graduated in 2010. Recording artist Maurice Jevon graduated from Humble High School in Texas in 2009.

They're all in that 19- to 20-year-old range, and attending various colleges, but they're off and running with a record featuring the three Hip-Hop artists titled “The Dean's List” on Dec. 18.

And how did the “Cooz” name take hold?

“The name stems from a typo in a e-mail conversation between Eian and his cousin when they were referring to each other as ‘Cuz's,' ” League said. “It stuck, and it started to be used by others to represent family or brotherhood, which is how we feel about Cooz Entertainment.”

These close friends have been working out of a studio in Wall's basement, but the goal is to relocate in studio space in a Batavia industrial park by early next year.

Celebrating key parts

Al Kabeshita was a happy man when car manufacturers in Japan contacted him 30 years ago about the need to supply quality parts for their automobiles in the United States.

Kabeshita had being asked to return to Tokyo after coming to this country in 1967 to open a Japanese import/export office in Chicago. The need for those parts allowed him to stay in Chicago and keep his daughters in the American colleges they were attending.

It resulted in the creation of Ark Technologies, now located on Ohio Avenue in St. Charles and a recent 30th anniversary celebration for the business.

“It was a great celebration and we're really proud because this is a very competitive industry,” Kabeshita said. “After the way GM and Chrysler has struggled, it's a miracle to survive in this economy.”

That miracle is fueled by Ark Technologies' products compression, extension and torsion springs, and wire harnesses for, among other things, the brakes, automatic windows and doors systems in cars.

Kabeshita, 76, lives in Wayne, which makes it easy for him to work as chairman and founder at the factories in St. Charles and Bloomingdale that his son Miko oversees as president. Those factories supply parts to Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

“In 2009, we made parts for 100 million cars,” Kabeshita said. “That's a lot of cars.”

Kabeshita realized years ago that Japanese automakers would need a source in the U.S. for high-quality parts for their cars.

“When they asked if I could make those parts, I said yes,” Kabeshita said. “My family did not want to return to Tokyo at that time, and that's how this business started 30 years ago.”

Drug education for all

You'll hear quite a bit in the coming days about a Nov. 17 community drug forum, 6:45 to 9 p.m., at the Arcada Theatre.

Members of the St. Charles Youth Commission are already spreading the word, as they view this as an important information session for everyone who cares about protecting our kids from serious drug problems. An organization called Hearts for Hope, dedicated to steering kids away from the hopeless and dead end that is drug abuse, is a co-sponsor of the event.

It's hard telling how effective a program like this or a Red Ribbon Week initiative has been in our communities over the past decade or more, but if it saves one kid at a time, they are well worth the effort.

A classroom star

Congratulations are in order for Kate Green, a 2007 Geneva High School graduate who has earned the top honor for a senior at Northern Illinois University.

Green, majoring in economics and political science, was named the recipient of NIU's Student Lincoln Laureate honor. She was to receive the award Saturday in Springfield.

Christopher Jones, who chairs the political science department at NIU and nominated Green for the award, had a good description of his student: “Kate is an academic superstar.”