January 14th, The Marlborough Tavern, Marlborough CT :
John Spellman and the rest of the staff at the Marlborough Tavern really know how to show their patrons a good time. The atmosphere was very comfortable and the food was excellent. We helped them celebrate their 20th Anniversary in business. Joining us for the first time on guitar was "Detroit" Phil Nathan (some of you might remember Phil as the banjo guy at PigStock). Stay tuned for a future return to the Tavern.
January 28nd, The Farmington Club, Farmington CT :
Wedding bells ring for Sean and Carolyn, our good friends from Ludlow. Entertaining a wide variety of guests is what MLC does best and The Farmington Club was no exception. Wedding guests danced the night away and enjoyed some of the best food imaginable while MLC seamlessly alternated sets with Brian Zaine (Z-Man Productions) an amazing DJ who also sat in with us on drums for the 3 Doors Down hit, Kryptonite. Also joining MLC on stage for the entire evening were Mr. Stevie F. Driver on guitar and lead vocals and Mr. Mark Caps on everything percussion.
February 7th, Downtown Cafe' - Open Mic Night, Bristol CT:
Kicking off a new season of open mic at The Downtown. Pictures and info coming soon.
February 17th, Cioppino's - Ellington CT:
This night marks the beginning of a new era for MidLifeCrisis. Two new members added to the group plus special guest Rory Shute (from the Red House band) who flew from Indiana to perform with us. Donna Connolly loaded up a school bus full of her best friends and took them on a terrifying from Manchester to Ellington which ended in a fiery crash in the parking lot of the bar.... Just kidding. Everyone had a great time and the overall review of the new band was very encouraging. We even managed to pull off a couple of Rory's original tunes.
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Thanx to Brad Fountain for great photo work!
April 1st, SportsRock USA, Bristol CT:
Our first time in SportsROCK for an April Fool's Day ROCK-PARTY!
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Thanx again to Brad Fountain for working as official band photographer.
April 23rd, Cadillac Ranch, Plainville CT:
Pictures taken by Jim Briggs from the band Smokehouse.
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Eric Clapton's song, Tore Down
April 28th, South City Bar & Grill, Middletown CT:
With Warren on the DL, former Crisis ax-man Paul Kramarz joins in the fun. Pictures and info coming soon.
May 5th (Cinco De Mayo), Cioppino's, Ellington CT:
Break out the Hellmann's and Cuervo, we're goin' in!. MidLifeCrisis celebrates their 5 year anniversary at one of our favorite drinking establishments.
Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England.
In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico,
which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.
This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico.
But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York.
The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.
The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise,
and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss.
Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.
The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as:
Sinko de Mayo.
May 20th , The Marlborough Tavern, Marlborough CT:
The Marlborough Tavern hasn't changed much since George Washington stopped by to eat, drink, and unwind after a tough day securing liberty. Take Exit 13 from Rt.2 and go west on Rt 66 for a short distance to the light at the Four Corners. The Tavern is on the far left corner. It was built in 1740 by Elisha Buell and continued in the Buell family for over one hundred years. Two presidents were known to stop there for dinner, James Madison and Andrew Jackson. Those events are immortalized in oil paintings of the presidents on the walls of the dining rooms.
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Thanx to Jonatha for the great photos!
June 4th , BKM/Steelcase MS Bike Tour, Windsor CT:
Photos by Aaron Steel
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June 23rd , The USS Chowder Pot, Hartford CT:
Photos by Chris Marolda
Who would ever pass up a chance to play music? Well, maybe someone. Anyway, Warren, Gary, and I stopped by the Chowder Pot restaurant to see our friends The Funk Brokers who happened to be playing that night. Long story short, we were invited to play during their break and having accepted the invitation, managed to stir up some fun but not nearly as much fun as watching THE FBI do their show. Thanx again CHRIS!
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June 24th , The Downtown Cafe', Bristol CT:
Photos by Brad Fountain
I've said this before and I will say it over and over until everyone gets the message that The Downtown Cafe' is one of the coolest places I have played in thirty plus years. As far as bars go it is relatively clean, the people who frequent this club are very friendly, the drink prices are fair, the kitchen is open and I always have a great time. This was our first time back since November of '05 and there was a certain level of anxious anticipation (for me). Playing at The Downtown throughout our years together, I have always tried to come up with something kind of crazy that would have enough "wow" factor to give every one something to remember. For this show, after adding two new members, we simply let the music do the talking and we managed to really rock the house.
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July 15th , Terryville Summer Music Festival, Terryville CT:
Fashion Coordination by: Squeebee & Texan
With Gary missing from the line-up we were forced to solicit outside help so we could still follow the general showbiz rule of thumb, "the show must go on", and "ON" it went. Drummer for the day: Jim Briggs (center above) on loan from The Smokehouse Band. MLC was given the opportunity to do a short set of our favorite material and managed to invoke actual audience participation during a blistering rendition of Wilson Pickett's hit, Mustang Sally.
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.............almost forgot...... the bull!
July 22nd , Fingerlakes Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg NY:
I may have mentioned in the past that I have regularly attend this festival, just outside Ithaca New York, over the past 7 years. Little did I know, when I hit the road early Wednesday morning, that this year I would actually be one of its performers. Jam sessions that began only hours after arriving at the festival on Thursday, paved the way toward being one of 20 groups selected from 31 total applicants to have the opportunity to play one song on the Grandstand Stage beginning at 9am. We appropriately named ourselves The Throwbacks and set our sites on winning the prize, a one hour set in the Cabaret later that same day.
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Rehearsing our "big hit" with Noel Kurtz (L) on Friday. Noel spent Friday night off-site and unfortunately did not make it to the stage in time to perform Saturday morning.
Backstage (R) at the Grandstand just minutes before going on. Warming up with us were Nate and Kate who went on shortly after we did. Just out of the picture were members of the Swedish group, The Rockridge Brothers, who are shooting a documentary of their trip to the US. They filmed our backstage performance and told us that they may actually use the footage in their film. More news regarding that at a later date.
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"No drummer means one less mouth to feed on the road." "Over 30 years in the making, ladies and gentlemen, The Throwbacks!" With a mission statement in place, Patty McNally, Jerry Codner & Lee Steel, only a few hours practice between them, launch into The Traveling Wilburys hit song "Handle With Care" preceded by Lee's battle cry "Good morning Grassroots, lemme hear ya make some noise!" and proceeded by "Thank You - Good Night". Needless to say, we did not win, but we gave it hell and had a great time playing together.
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This was the view (L) from the stage as we prepared to make our way out to meet the public. As you can see, the rain Saturday morning didn't keep everyone in their tents.
Only hours later (R) John Anderson and his band perform on the very same stage.
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Just a view of my tent and the view from my tent. A hurricane made it's way up the east coast and we caught the tail end of some heavy rain starting very early Saturday morning.
July 22nd , Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Hillsdale NY:
Written By: Phil Nathan
Last weekend, Jonatha and I made the relatively short drive to the town of Hillsdale, NY for the 2006 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. This is the same festival that I was fortunate to be selected to appear at on the Main Stage during the Friday afternoon Emerging Artist Showcase in 2005. Set at the foothills of the Berkshires, we were extremely excited about spending 4 days camping, listening to music, meeting new people, and of course playing some music of our own.
The weather over those handful of days ranged from really hot, to an ungodly downpour, only to turn around and become absolutely beautiful. Luckily we were prepared to live outside for a few days! With a truckload of gear and supplies, we handled the elements with ease.
The feeling of community amidst the "folkies" is indescribable. We met people who told us stories, fed us, humored us.....people that we had just met that we chatted up as though we had known them for years. People that helped to confuse my definition of what "folk music" is. We saw everything from Cajun/Zydeco to Old Time Traditional to Gospel to Bagpipe Blues and Jazz! With such variety, anyone would have a great time at this festival.
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That's all for now. Can't wait for next year's fest!
August 4th , Hawaiian Shirt Open - Golf Tournament, Bloomfield CT:
Another missing member show. The saga goes on and on and on. Warren being sequestered to Cape Cod, just couldn't make it to the show on time to play but "the show goes on". Golfers, DMR employees, and MidLifeCrisis managed to raise $4,462.52. Of that, $250 will be donated to the Tolland Fund (which supports people with developmental disabilities), $350 to the American Cancer Society and $2,200 to the group homes (staffed facilities for mentally handicapped individuals) who donated baskets to the raffle. The remaining money is kept in an account to be used to recognize and hold events for employees throughout the year. All in attendance had a great time eating, dancing and ... right! raffling off prizes that seemed to go on for ever.
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August 19th , PIGSTOCK '06, Thomaston CT:
What started 13 years ago as a small backyard picnic has grown over the years to an event that has, on occasion, drawn as many as 500 people of all ages. This year, somewhere around 200 people had a great time sharing food, games, music and conversation. It is worth mentioning that this just might be the most well documented PigStock in the history of the event. There were more video and still cameras than Steven Speilberg could have kept track of.
Once again, MidLifeCrisis played host to a variety of musical entertainment including The F.B.I. (funk brokers incorporated) and ex-Rich Rags bassist, Monroe Bardot's band Dorsal Fink who traveled all the way from Baltimore Maryland to play at the party.
A re-organized MidLifeCrisis featuring Smokehouse drummer Jim Briggs kicked off the festivities around noon with a set that could only be characterized as the "wake up" show. Most of the early arrivals had been up the night before until around 4:00 am helping get everything ready. Bob Marvin joined MLC on drums for an emo version of Radar Love which set the stage for the rest of the day's events.
Next up was The FBI who injected their own "funked up" level of excitement into the mix. Chris and his band put on a well polished 2+ hours of great dance music featuring some incredible vocals by their newest member, Kimberly Larche. The FBI were a perfect segway into the official "Cutting Of The Pig" performed by Norm.
Way, way back in the 80's, MLC's Lee Steel was very lucky to have been involved in an "all original" band called Rich Rags that was well ahead of their time, musically, for the pre-internet Tampa Bay music scene. Lee and Billy (monroe bardot) became good friends and spent quite a bit of their spare time running around, causing trouble, and enjoying their notoriety. Over the years the two have managed to stay in close contact (Billy now living near Baltimore Maryland) and have threatened to do a show together for some time. Finally, Billy and his band Dorsal Fink took up a collection for enough gas money to make the 6 hour road trip in 2 cars, from Baltimore, MD to Thomaston, CT. The PigStock audience had reached critical mass as Dorsal took the stage. A few technical difficulties coupled with the fact that Dorsal were playing original songs that no one had heard before (except Lee and JP) left many people scratching their heads in amazement. HOWEVER, the music was so interesting, the vocals - catchy, humorous and riveting, and the stage presence - captivating enough to completely win over a wealth of new fans who were screaming for more at the end of their set.
As the evening started to wind down, MidLifeCrisis took the stage one last time to play a short set of their favorites and some requests from the crowd. Joining MLC on stage to wrap things up were former MLC members Rich Stevens and Jerry B. to perform some Alice Cooper songs which have become synonymous with Jerry and his guitar style.
Here are a few pictures from the event. As more pictures come in, we will be sharing many of them with all of you. Please check back over the weeks ahead for more.
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MidLifeCrisis
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MidLifeCrisis - Whippin' Post - Live @ PigStock
The F.B.I. (funk brokers incorporated)
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The F.B.I. - Cut The Cake - Live @ PigStock
Dorsal Fink
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Dorsal Fink - Dancin With Diablo - Live @ Pigstock
More Pictures from PigStock can be found
on the FBI website by clicking right here..
August 25th , Free Spirit, Vernon CT:
Awesome new venue for us. Very friendly folks, great crowd, lots of dancing.
MidLifeCrisis - 1985 - Live @ Free Spirit
September 16th , Marlborough Tavern Clam Bake, Marlborough CT:
Always a great time at the tavern. John Spellman is a master at throwing parties and this year's "Clam Bake" was one of the best ever. First up, an authentic revolutionary war era fife and drum corps followed by bagpipes. This tops the charts when it comes to "all time" great opening acts.
Our opening act ... the bagpipers.
Bring on the Lobsters!
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Tequila is always best served, drizzled down a giant ice luge.
And of course, let's not forget the Jagermeister Girls.
Fulsom Prison Blues - Marlborough Tavern - 09/16/06
October 7th , Polish National Home, Windsor Locks CT:
Who says that alcohol is required to have a good time? 2006 will surely go down in MLC history as "The Year Of The Benefit". Perhaps next year all this hard work will "benefit" MLC. Easy there.... just kidding. We are always the first in line to play music and help support a good cause so this time we helped our friends at The Pathfinders Association of Manchester and also The Recovery Club Inc. by playing for an alcohol free audience (yes the band too) who all came to have a great time. Once again we found ourselves in good old New England (old school) surroundings with a stage that was 6 feet off the ground and a great view of the massive hall filled with people dancing, eating, and drinking (soda).
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The equipment rarely gets any notice so here is a picture of our new touring control center. Way more buttons and dials then Mike Bosco would care to deal with during the course of an evening.
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Not too many pictures to choose from this night. Here are a few.
October 14th , On the road with Lee & Warren, Safety Harbor FL:
In a very odd coincidence, some of my old friends got to meet a few of my new friends when Warren and I took time out from the busy MLC schedule to visit my old stomping ground and give the Florida folks a taste of New England.
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Warren and I were a little "out of our element" without our Pulse, Gary Zemanek, but we made the very best of the situation and had a lot of fun. Among the guests were Mike Puttrow (drummer who played in Fusion with me in '77), Jeff Voncannon (drummer who played in Fusion with me in '78-'81), Paul Muenz (known as the first roadie for Deloris Telescope), Jeff Levy (drummer for Rich Rags), Mark Scott (guitarist for Rich Rags), Dave Faiman (original bassist for Deloris Telescope), Dave's sidekick, guitar hotrod Bradley, and several other open mic refugees.
Before heading back to the great white north, I managed to get to a Tampa Bay Bucs football game, their first win of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, thanx to my sister Jodi who got some great seats near the pirate ship. In the picture above you can see my very good friends Betty's Not A Vitamine, featuring drummer Rick Boucher who played drums with me for several years in Fair Warning. Below is my view of the pirate ship and sister Jodi.
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