Making music, making happy; Veterans' blues group turns up the V.I.B.E.s.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Richard Duckett

At Saturday's "Freedomsong 3" concert in Shrewsbury, John Caley will sing B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone" and the Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See" as a member of the blues group V.I.B.E.

Mr. Caley, 47, is a U.S. Navy veteran who by his own reckoning has had "some real tough times." He lost his right eye while serving in the Navy, tried to cover up the trauma through drugs and alcohol, and had a bout with cancer. He was a resident at Veterans Inc. in Worcester for a while before getting his own place earlier this year.

V.I.B.E. stands for "Veterans Incorporated Blues Experience." The blues and the experience of veterans may seem like a potentially potent musical mix. "I feel great when I'm up there (on stage). These two songs, they mean a lot to me. I'm a loud person, so it gives me permission to have fun and let loose," Mr. Caley said.

"I have never considered myself a blues musician," said V.I.B.E. guitarist Sean Ruiz, a Gulf War-era Army veteran and a current resident at Veterans Inc. "But the music is pretty easy for me to play at this point in my life."

But there are other vibes coming out of V.I.B.E. "If you get into what music is, it's a discipline like anything else," said Mr. Ruiz. "If you do that and do it consistently, there's a positive amount of growth and the fact that you're reaching out to other people."

V.I.B.E. is a project of Veterans Inc., 69 Grove St., Worcester, a nonprofit organization helping veterans in need and their families with an array of services. Veterans Inc. also has several creative outlet programs, said Glenn Smith, admissions manager.

The blues group has been going for about two years, rehearsing Wednesdays. Some of its members are residents at Veterans Inc., or like Mr. Caley are former residents returning to help out. Also, there are some veterans volunteering and a couple of non-musician volunteers. Quite a few people have passed through, said Mr. Smith, who is a saxophonist with V.I.B.E. So the group is always a work in progress. Last Wednesday, a new resident, who initially had seemed withdrawn, surprised everybody by cutting loose his vocal chops. "We couldn't get him to shut up," Mr. Smith said, only half-jokingly. He'll be singing Saturday.

Mr. Ruiz , 39, is rather an introverted, thoughtful person who takes his music seriously. A pastry chef and musician in the Boston area, he lost his job when the restaurant he worked at closed. And his girlfriend had a sub-prime...