by Connie Smalls Typical, mainstream occupations and lifestyles were never in Seb Moran's and Cali Schuster's DNA. They shared a passion for music and each other, and it made for a lethal combination that exploded on the pop scene in 2005. For most of their adult lives they were like distant stars in separate galaxies. When the new millennium arrived they merged in the same orbit and sparks flew reigniting their love. They became what they were destined to be -- band managers of a rock and roll group, Solar Eclipse Band, that would make history and catapult the pair to heights they never imagined. Seb Moran began an early September day like most: music playing, quick shower and breakfast at the corner diner. His business partner and love of his life, Cali Schuster was on vacation in their hometown six states away from sunny Florida. He had no plans for the day ... just letting life happen. Maybe he wouldn't have taken the shock so hard if he hadn't been in a lazy, laid-back mood, but a call came and ended abruptly on his cell phone that changed his life. It was from Cali, and she barely got four words out when the phone died. He suspected the battery, but later found out from her mother that Cali's heart had stopped. Those words, and later the online obituary started a downhill spiral that took his heart and spirit to depths he never imagined possible. He tried to assess the situation and come to terms with it. It never made sense, yet he couldn't get past the fact that her mother told him Cali was dead. Why, and how,
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could she say such a thing if it wasn't true? He asked himself over and over. He refused to believe it. They had been the perfect team. Now Seb was hobbled by intense grief and he felt like he was walking in slow motion down a crooked, pebble-strewn dirt road in bare feet. That road would lead to depression, shock, betrayal, revealed family secrets, revelation, kidnapping and even murder. He was unprepared for this marathon that challenged his ability to confront and solve problems, to meet adversity head-on, to relive history and forgive himself and others of past mistakes, and most importantly: to save a loved one's life. Seb grew up in an upper-middle class family as a gifted musician and only child of a stay-at-home mother and businessman father in the 1950s and 60s. His parents adopted a baby girl when he was 22, but he was already with his second rock and roll band by that time as lead guitar, singer and manager. He knew music would be his life and pursued the dream since he was 12. The girl he fell in love with at 17 was one year younger than him and grew up three miles from his home in a middle-class neighborhood of Stationtown, Penn., a steel mill community not far from the coal-producing, dirty city of New Castle. She was an only child of parents who both had professional careers. Her mother was an English teacher, and her dad was a certified public accountant. The teenagers met at a record hop, not unlike many of the youth of the era. They were madly in love, but broke up abruptly when she was 20 and he was 21. They would not be in touch with each other for more than 30 years and would not meet again until the spring of 2000 through emails. That correspondence told of ex-
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spouses, professions, mutual friends and common interests, mainly music, and Seb's band business. It wasn't until they told each the truth -- that they both still loved each other, when their lives began together. Cali, retired from the military and a civil service career, moved to Treasure Bay, Florida to live with Seb, an accomplished band manager and musician of a group in need of a good publicity agent. Cali fit the bill and more. They found that their skills made them the perfect team. She and Seb shared love, passion and music that brought their band, Solar Eclipse Band, (S.E.B.) to new heights in pop music. It was the fall of 2005, when a crime from a half century ago that was covered up by Sebs father, became a nightmare for the Moran family when his niece was kidnapped by mobsters. Seb had to step into his role as the man of the family to rescue his niece while taking care of band business and other family matters. The race that began with a broken heart found Seb energized and ready to continue a career that he loved. He discovered family secrets, loyalty, love and most importantly -- himself when the race was over.