Back to My Roots

This week I'm completing a full circle that started almost a half-century ago. Back in seventh grade, I made my first appearance on stage as a musician. I played drums. Dave Bohush was on harmonica and vocals. Louis Bertoni played keyboards. Dave went on to a professional music career before he was killed in an auto accident; Louis went into law. We performed two Beatles' numbers: "I'm a Loser" and "This Boy". That night we were competing in a talent show at Maine-Endwell High School in Endwell, New York. For the record, we were not the winners. I don't know what the judges were thinking (or drinking). This Wednesday night I'll return the same stage as Reprise 60s provides back up music for a student idol competition, modeled after the American Idol television series. I can't wait to re-live the dawning of my musical avocation. This is going to be fun.

The Phones Are Ringing Again

I got a call last Friday from one of our favorite venues, John Barleycorn, in Owego, NY. They want us to appear there in February. Later the same day, I got a call from Bob. Number 5 Restaurant (a former firehouse, now one of the classiest restaurants and hottest nightspots in the Binghamton area) contacted him that morning to ask if we were available for New Years' Eve. We are. They are looking for ideas on creating a Sixties theme for the night, to complement our music.

The word is getting out there. Reprise 60s is definitely worthy of a look - and a listen.

Our name is not exactly in lights here, but I still get a real kick out of seeing it on this sign when I'm driving down the road a couple of miles from my house.

Song for Kayla

We're always trying to stay focused and improve as a band. That's why, early on, we made a pact to get together at least once per week to perfect the songs we already know and to continually add new ones to our repertoire. Just about one year ago, a local restaurant owner kindly agreed to allow us to rehearse in one of his unoccupied banquet rooms on Tuesday nights. This past summer we had a very busy schedule, playing at least once, and sometimes twice, every weekend. But now that fall has arrived, our good fortunes are cooling off along with the weather. Now that are bookings have been reduced to one per month for the remainder of the year, rehearsals are that much more important since we have fewer live performances to keep us sharp. Today is Tuesday and I'm really looking forward to getting together with the guys in a couple of hours and making music again.

Tonight is an especially big deal because we're going to be unveiling our first original song. Reprise 60s is primarily a cover band and, at least for now, we plan to keep it that way. However, several months ago the regular Tuesday night waitress jokingly asked us to write a song for her. Week after week I promised her that we were making progress on her song, and that it would be finished "any day now." Truth is, there was no song for Kayla.

Then, one day a couple of weeks ago, I was sitting around strumming my guitar when I thought, why not? I grabbed a pen and paper, came up with a chord progression, and started writing down the words. Within a couple of hours (with a beer break or two in between) I had come up with Kayla's Song. Over the next few weeks, I tweaked the words and the chords and recorded a rough demo version for Bob, our lead guitarist. Between the two of us, we arranged the song and taught it to Phil (our rhythm guitarist) and Mike (drummer).

We still have a few kinks to work out in the arrangement, but I think we'll be ready tonight to play it for Kayla and the crew at Brothers Two. I hope they'll be pleased.

Could this be the start of a new direction for the band?

Blondie Tribute

Last Tuesday morning I opened an e-mail and read the following:

"Hi Gary, Check out Alexander's t-shirt in tomorrow's strip!"

The succinct and curious message was from my friend, John Marshall. I knew the strip he was referring to because John is the artist for the long-running, syndicated "Blondie" comic. As anyone who follows the funny pages knows, Alexander is the forever teenage son of the titular character and her husband, Dagwood Bumstead.

John's artwork will occasionally include some sly reference to his hometown, Endicott, NY -- usually a long-gone local landmark, such as Elk's Bakery, E-J Shoe Factory, or Woody's Record Shop. I couldn't wait to find out what he had come up with for the next day's publication, and why John believed that it would be of particular interest to me.

The following morning I was up with the dogs, as usual, at 6 a.m. (Here, I will digress to offer one of my critical tips to a successful marriage: if you are the partner who insisted on having one or more dogs, don't, under any circumstances, expect your spouse to get up at dawn to let them out to relieve themselves, and always patrol the yard each day for those little brown bombs that have a habit of hiding out wherever your wife or husband is going to step next.) I don't know what time our paper is normally delivered -- I just know it's always there in the tube below our mailbox when I mosey out to get it sometime around mid-morning. But on last Wednesday, September 15, the sun had barely broken the horizon when I checked to see if it had arrived. It had. I came back into the house and opened to page 10B. I had to find my glasses and hold the paper up to the light to make it out, printed there on front of Alexander's shirt in all three panels, a familiar word followed by my favorite number -- Reprise 60s.

Our band's name there for the world (or at least a big chunk of it) to see.

Wow, how cool is that? Not the way we might have planned for national recognition, but a wonderful surprise and a thoughtful tribute from a great guy, a respected artist and a true friend.

See the strip on-line at www.Blondie.com.

The phone rang ...

... yesterday afternoon. "Hi, Gary? This is Justin from Cool 100. Are you guys available tomorrow night?"

Justin is one of the DJs at the oldies radio station. We had played Cans and Clams Night at Traditions at the Glen just two weeks ago, and he was asking us to appear again because the scheduled entertainment had canceled at the last minute. I'd been itching for another gig and we had nothing booked for this weekend.

I told Justin that we'd be there. Before hanging up, I thanked him for thinking of us.

"You were the first ones I thought of," he said.

I love it!

The Beatles are Coming! The Beatles are Coming!

The following is from my Reprise 60s Journal, entry dated July 30, 2009:

The Beatles are playing Sunday at a small winery near Binghamton, New York. That is, if the ad that appeared this morning in the local newspaper is to be believed. Getting the world's greatest band to show up will be quite an accomplishment, since two of the members are dead and a third is filling stadiums with exhilarated fans on his current U.S. tour. Perhaps instead of a live performance, the Beatles will be represented via their recordings. But there is another possibility. A couple of weeks ago, I went to the winery on a Sunday to catch a group named the Beatles Band. My guess is that the Beatles Band is going to be there this week and the Beatles are not.

I also drove out to the winery that day for another reason. The owners hire entertainment for Sunday afternoon performances on the outdoor deck. I had previously phoned to inquire about opportunities for our band, Reprise 60s. When I told the woman on the phone that we play sixties music exclusively, she said that she did not usually hire oldies bands, but that she would “listen with an open mind” if I dropped off a demo CD. In fact, the Beatles Band plays sixties music exclusively, since, as their name implies, they cover only Beatles songs. The real Beatles released their first hit in 1963 and broke up forever in 1969 - the ultimate sixties band. So, I was encouraged when I handed over our CD, including covers of two Beatles songs and three others that are typical examples of the same era, and my optimism was not diminished as I listened to the Beatles Band. They were competent, but certainly not overwhelmingly superior to our band, Reprise 60s. Not, at least, in my completely unbiased opinion.

I sent a follow-up e-mail about a week later. Within an hour I received a reply: “We enjoyed your CD,” the woman from the winery wrote. “We feel you’re music is not the right match for our business.” Hmm, I wondered - you mean the music of the Beatles?

Geeze, talk about rejection. It’s like asking Stephen King’s Carrie to the prom and getting turned down.

Oh, by the way, it took three days and two loaves of bread with peanut butter to kill the aftertaste from whatever it was the proprietors were serving out of wine bottles.

Our Place in the (Very Hot) Sun

“Nobody does the Sixties better.” - Julie from Syracuse
“If you like the Beatles & the Stones, you’ll love Reprise 60s.”


“These guys are awesome … their harmonies are dead on!”
- Scott from Endwell

“Finally, music I know the words to.” - Terry from Endicott

“This was the most fun I’ve ever had listening to a live band.”
- a fan at McGirk’s

“Better every time I hear them … they’ve got swagger.”
- Dale from Endicott

“This band is welcome back here … anytime.” – Cosmo, owner Cosmo's Tiki Bar, Johnson City


After two straight weekends of back-to-back shows, reality is finally beginning to gnaw its way through my nearly impenetrable skull. This is a young man’s game. Lugging heavy equipment around, setting up and tearing down, standing on our feet and forcing ourselves to remain upbeat for up to four hours at a stretch, with one or two fifteen minute breaks to rest our weary backs and fingers and throats. These past two weeks were especially brutal, not just because of our busy schedule, but because all four of our gigs took place outdoors during one of the hottest late June/early Julys on record. Two of them - a two-hour performance at the annual Strawberry Festival in Owego and a Fourth of July show at Highland Park in Endwell – had us performing under a ferocious mid-day sun. I slept through most of July 5th and 6th.

Yet later that week I began to develop a longing that reminded me of the time I gave up cigarettes for good. How could we have no gigs scheduled for the coming weekend? Or the one after that? I am officially addicted, not to smoke or drink or drugs, but to the stage. Physical challenges and emotional disappointments aside, I cannot wait to get back it, to put myself in a position to succeed or fail in front of a roomful of strangers who couldn't care less about my fragile psyche.

The band is doing well right now. We have had our ups and lots of downs, and we’re still having trouble drawing and holding a crowd on a consistent basis. But we’re getting booked regularly now, and nearly everyone who hears us has something good to say about us.

I’ve collected some quotes over the past few weeks and put them on a poster (see above). A local DJ talked us up recently on his Sunday morning radio program. He says we're "going places." We’re starting to get calls from people who are interested in booking us. Things are looking up for Reprise 60s. But how much longer, I wonder, will we be able to keep up, or possibly increase, the pace?

The answer always comes back to me as the next gig draws near: As long as the rewards outweigh the demands. In other words, for a long time … I hope.