THE REAL DEAL, CRAIG KALEAL

By Miles Patrick Yohnke

© 2026 All Rights Reserved.

"Drumming can become a form of prayer. A deep pulse of healing power drawn from one's inner core. Rhythms that can reach deep - mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically - that can instill an inner peace and balance from within."

- Miles Patrick Yohnke

The life of Craig Kaleal was an inner peace and balance from within. The life of Craig Kaleal was of a deep pulse of healing power to one's inner core. The life of Craig Kaleal was a prayer.

My story with Craig Kaleal began in the summer of 1990. My dear friend Marcel Toews had just moved into a basement suite on 7th street here in my beloved City of Saskatoon. The female owner of the house was dating Craig Kaleal. Craig Kaleal was splitting his time between Saskatoon and Winnipeg back then.

Both Marcel and I had worked in the stereo industry before 1990. I've written a composition titled: "A Harmonious Life" all on it and share it with you for those that may not have heard Craig Kaleal drum, and too, to further convey the level and life of Craig Kaleal.

A Harmonious Life:

https://salmonstudio.wixsite.com/yohnke/post/a-harmonious-life

I had just gotten back from bicycling from Saskatoon to Lethbridge and back when Marcel moved into the basement suite. Marcel being my best friend back in that era - I was around the house a lot. And in that process met Craig. We both hit it off right away. Both of us loved the same things: Music. Bicycles. Healthy lifestyles. High-level musicianship.

I had never encountered a human being quite like Craig Kaleal. Craig had a room out back, connected to the house where he had his drum kit set-up. I myself was a musician, guitar was my instrument. I had played in a band from 1980 to 1982. Though, I quit playing the guitar in 1982. I played at an elite level but not the level I expected for myself. And when I met Craig Kaleal, he bestowed that level that I couldn't attain and must musicians couldn't attain. Craig Kaleal was the real deal.

I wasn't able to reach that five-star standard in my mind with the guitar but for the first time in person I saw it through Craig Kaleal. It wasn't just how he drummed; it was on how he drummed. His physical appearance - it was emotional. His physical appearance - it was artistic. Have you met someone that made you feel fully alive? It was all those immerse magical components that made me feel like I was truly alive while listening to him. And just being in his presence - I felt present. I felt like I existed on another level.

As I mentioned - I had just returned from bicycling from Saskatoon to Lethbridge and back. Craig showed me his one yellow folding British bicycle. Both of us didn't just love bicycles but cleaning them. Craig was meticulous in every nuance/detail. I mean far beyond what most people see as clean, etc. Craig was obsessive. He was obsessive in everything. The setting up of his drums. The set up of his bicycles. His appearance. His everything.

I saw myself in Craig Kaleal. Craig Kaleal was my mirror.

In my composition titled: "A Harmonious Life" I talk about high-end stereos. Both Marcel and I had/have ones in our homes. And when I visited Marcel back then in his basement suite, Craig often could hear Marcel's stereo, and too, if I was over. And often, just came downstairs to listen and hang out. I'd often bring albums. I brought over Mary Margaret O'Hara's "Miss America" album. I played it in Craig's presence. After one song, Craig asked if the drummer was Michael Sloski. I checked the album credits, and Craig was right, it was Michael Sloski. That was Craig Kaleal's acute attention to detail. That was how he was with everything.

In the summer of 1991, I bought Joni Mitchell's new album "Night Ride Home." I found myself making a copy of it to cassette. I didn't have a cassette deck to record onto, so, I went to Burnett's Key Shop where Marcel was working at then (now is the co-owner) and borrowed his house keys and went back to his basement suite to make a cassette. It was a sublime summery weekday. As I was recording it, I just let it record - and I visited with Craig out back in the backyard. Both of us had our shirts off and had the sun planted on our asking skin. When the cassette was done, we both listened to the album. For both of us it was the first time hearing Joni Mitchell's new album. Remember, both Craig and I were born and raised in Saskatoon. Joni Mitchell was raised in Saskatoon. She attended elementary school, and high school just blocks from where Craig and I were located in that backyard that special summer of 1991.

Hearing the song "Cherokee Louise" was surreal in many ways. You see, Joni Mitchell mentions the Broadway Bridge in Saskatoon. Craig and I were just blocks from it. Craig lived just off of Broadway Avenue. Even though it is now thirty-five years since we had that astonishing experience, it feels like this very moment. I can still picture Craig. I can still feel the stillness of it all. I can still feel the warmness of that most enchanting day. I can still feel the joy the two of us had that wondrous afternoon. I can because Craig Kaleal is my mirror.

Craig moved permanently to Winnipeg. Marcel moved from that basement suite. Life went on. Years later, 1996 - I got a call from Craig. He was coming to Saskatoon to play our historic "Buds on Broadway" with Leonard Shaw. It was the album release for Leonard Shaw's album titled: "Living Room." I went, it was so great to see Craig again--and to experience is otherworldly monotheistic musicianship.

That was the last time I saw Craig physically. We talked over the phone a few times after. Like many friendships -- we just went on -- we drifted apart.

But Craig Kaleal has always been a part of me. I finally found that level I was striving for in the guitar through motivational writings and became globally known. Craig Kaleal was a central figure in my life to attain that level. I met Craig at age twenty-six - a critical age in personal development. Craig was a central root to show me what was attainable. Through his unwavering five-star example--he showed me the light I could become. Just his presence. It's a remarkable feat to reach that presence. To reach that summit.

I now teach Craig Kaleal's summit - for he was the real deal.

It was so appropriate Craig Kaleal's physical ending came on, Wednesday, September 3, 2025. You see that night/morning, September 2/3, 2025, I was in the Asker cemetery (84 kilometers or 52 miles from Red Deer, Alberta). I slept in front of a tombstone for a human life, Margaret Anne Dempsey - that went to be with our Heavenly Creator at age twenty-four on August 8, 1988 (8.8.88). I had only learned weeks before, August 8, 2025, where she was buried. And I bicycled to it, to Margaret Anne Dempsey. I bicycled 1400 kilometers or 870 miles over five days. I had left Asker cemetery and was bicycling back, down the most glorious and spiritual highways, highway 53 then highway 13. I rode nearly 300 kilometers or 180 miles that day. That day that Craig Kaleal left Mother Earth. And I slept on Mother Earth that morning -- and too -- that night - with my bicycle by my side. Rhythms that reach deep - mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Rhythms of the universe. There is no doubt, Craig Kaleal was a part of me. That he too was bicycling along with me that entire time - for Craig Kaleal is my mirror.

In Loving Memory of Craig Kaleal (January 28, 1950 – September 3, 2025)