Robert Toomey (February 2, 1955 – September 9, 2022),[1] publicly known as Brother Cleve, was an American musician, DJ, record producer, mixologist, and writer.
[2] His "Brother Cleve" moniker originated as a personality he created for Sports Palace, a weekend program on college radio station WMBR in Cambridge; he also utilized the name in live appearances and recordings for the Church of the SubGenius, a parody religion.
In the 1980s Cleve was a touring keyboardist for the rock band the Del Fuegos,[2] during which time he developed an interest in cocktails and bartending.
Combustible Edison's style was centered around a 1950s Exotica aesthetic, and they had a namesake cocktail, made from brandy, Campari, and lemon juice, which they mixed onstage during sets.
[4] In the late 1990s, Cleve befriended, visited, and worked with the legendary Mexican-American bandleader Juan Garcia Esquivel, who was elderly, bedridden, and retired in Mexico.
were issued on the full-length Esquivel holiday album Merry Xmas From The Space-Age Bachelor Pad (Bar/None Records), which was compiled by Cleve.
In 2017 he mixed (with Sean Slade) unreleased 24-track 1986 Sun Ra session tapes for the album Inside the Light World, issued on Strut in 2024.
[14] While touring with the Del Fuegos, "One day in the mid-1980s, at a diner in Cleveland, [Toomey] noticed scores of cocktails listed on the menu," wrote James R. Hagerty in a September 2022 Wall Street Journal obituary.