In the 1980s I was in a local rock band. We had great success locally and opened up for national acts as well. The name of the band was “The Probers.”
My role in the band was choreography and …
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In the 1980s I was in a local rock band. We had great success locally and opened up for national acts as well. The name of the band was “The Probers.”
My role in the band was choreography and our stage look. About a year ago I got a call, telling me that a documentary was being done on the band. The gentleman, David Ricci, was getting all of the band members together to do interviews and share any memorabilia we may still have with him. I had lost touch with most of the members, so seeing everyone was lots of fun. After our first meeting things got pretty exciting. We decided to start rehearsing and maybe do a gig to help raise money to fund the documentary.
The last time I had played with them was 38 years ago so, as you can imagine, I was excited but also a little scared. We started practicing once a week and things just fell together. Some of the musicians in the band had passed away so we had two new members that had to learn the songs. We were all a little rusty at first. Luckily, we had lots of videos and recordings to help us remember what we looked and sounded like. We started a Facebook page and within months had over 500 members. We realized that we still had a fan base and decided it was time to play out.
The next few months flew by. We stepped up rehearsals to twice a week and found a place to play in Pawtucket called The Met. It seemed like the perfect place. It has that old rock and roll feel and could hold a big crowd. Before you knew it, it was one week before the gig and we had arranged a dress rehearsal. Our stage show included clothes changes and dancing. I wanted to be sure I could still run off the stage, change clothes and jump back on in just a few minutes. I also needed to be sure that I could do that over and over.
Let’s be honest, what you could do in your twenties doesn’t always work out so well at 62! Well, the dress rehearsal went great. We ironed out the few kinks and soon the big performance was upon us. When the doors opened at 6, there was a line out the door and around the building. We all sat in the dressing room amazed, excited and grateful. I didn’t come out until the third song and I couldn’t believe all the people that were standing in front of the stage. It was just like the old days! Everyone was dancing and singing along. Some girls in the audience even remembered my dance moves! The night flew by. At the end of the gig, as I made my way out into the crowd, I was stopped every few feet by someone telling me how great our music makes them feel.
The good old ’80s were back that night and it felt great. It was so successful that we’ve decided to do more gigs. So if you feel like throwing back to the ’80s reach out to me and I’ll put you on our Facebook page. It’s never too late to dust off that black leather jacket and feel young again.
SixtiesAndSexy@gmail.com. SixtiesAndSexy.net
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