Is that Geddy Lee (Rush)?

Obviously influenced by Geddy Lee (Rush) in more ways than one, I should have known better than to follow his fashion.  This photo was taken at the Shippensburg Area Senior High School (SASHS) Mid Winter Concert on 02/02/87.

Featured in this photo are (L-R) Donny Ernakovich - Percussion and Matt Norcross - Electric Bass.

This Mistress 2013 Reunion???

2013 marks both the 25th Anniversary of This Mistress (shown here with original line up) and my graduation from Shippensburg Area Senior High School. In honor of both of these events, I'm contemplating the idea of a This Mistress reunion show at the 2013 SHAPE Solstice Arts Festival and, if it happens, maybe even the possibility of a performance at the SASHS Class of 1988 reunion.

If you are interested in either of these events becoming a reality, post a comment.

SASHS Jazz Band (1987)

This photo of the Shippensburg Area Senior High School (SASHS) Jazz Band was taken at the Chambersburg Mall in, I believe, Spring 1987.  Yours truly is sporting a nice gray suit and playing electric bass.  Who knows, we could have been playing the Theme from Night Court when this photo was taken.

This Mistress - Live at SASHS Part 2

I mentioned in my previous post about this performance that I was hopeful to resurrect some of the very poor quality video footage from the show. Here you have it... This Mistress performing Led Zeppelin's Misty Mountain Hop sans lead singer (Brad "Chicken Strut" Shaeffer) during a soundcheck at Shippensburg Area Senior High School on 03/12/88.

The line up for this Winter Carnival show included Brad Shaeffer - Vocals, Matt "Scrap Pap" Skirpan - Guitar, Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson - Guitar, Scott McConnell - Synthesizer, Matt Norcross - Bass, and Tim Harrell - Drums.

SASHS Mid Winter Concert 1987

This photo was taken at the Shippensburg Area Senior High School (SASHS) Mid Winter Concert on 02/02/87. However, the Christmas decorations that still adorn the auditorium would suggest that this picture could be from The Christmas Program which took place on 12/14/86.

Featured in this photo are (L-R) Donny Ernakovich - Percussion, Matt Norcross - Electric Bass, and Jason Wert - Drums.

P.S. Note to self - Stop trying to look like Geddy Lee (Rush)!

This Mistress - Live at SASHS

Being a member of Student Council had its advantages during my senior year at Shippensburg Area Senior High School (SASHS) in 1988. One of the perks was when it came time to offer suggestions for entertainment at Winter Carnival (a school event/dance), I was able to recommend the band I was in, This Mistress.

In the end, it came down to a Student Council vote between This Mistress and a DJ. After the ballots were cast and counted, This Mistress was chosen to perform at Winter Carnival on 03/12/88.

In retrospect, the $120 budget that Student Council had for entertainment would have better served the student body if they had chosen the DJ. Though we performed a good set of modern and classic rock songs, most of the student body would have probably preferred the DJ. So, to the students of SASHS in 1988, please accept my apology for suggesting that This Mistress play at Winter Carnival.

The original six member line up of This Mistress which played this show included Brad Shaeffer - Vocals, Matt "Scrap Pap" Skirpan - Guitar, Kevin "Bart the Fart" Wilson - Guitar, Scott McConnell - Synthesizer, Matt Norcross - Bass, and Tim Harrell - Drums. We also had extra tech support which included Ken Chandler - Main House Mix, Chris Terry - Lights, Kurt Smith - Videography, and Tony Townsend - Guitar Tech.

Some of the songs from our set included Guns 'n' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle, The Cult - Wildflower, INXS - Need You Tonight, Led Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop, Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train, and Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe. As you can see, our set was musically all over the place.

Though video of this performance does exist. The quality of the tape is very poor so I'm not going to share it at this time. Unfortunately, at the end of filming this performance, Kurt Smith dropped and broke his VTR machine (Sorry Kurt!) that he was carrying in his back pack to record the show. Maybe I'll be able to resurrect some of the footage for a future post but, for now, you only get to enjoy a picture from the show.

The Secret Society revisited

This is a follow up to last week's blog entry about The Secret Society.  In that entry, I spoke about how at 8:00pm the powers that be "pulled the plug" on our show and we never had a chance to finish our set.

If you notice the clock in this picture, you'll see that it is exactly 8:00pm and we are in the middle of playing a song.  Seconds later it was all over...

The Secret Society (rev1)

This is the first incarnation of The Secret Society which had it's first and only performance in early 1987 during Winter Carnival at Shippensburg Area Senior High School. This line up included (from left to right) Scott McConnell (Synthesizers), Matt Norcross (Bass), Dirk Frey (Guitar), and LarryLee Fiber (Vocals and Drums).

The set list for this ill-fated performance included Monster Man (The Suburbs), Pung (an original song), and All of the Law (The Psychedelic Furs). When we began to play our next song (an original song by Dirk Frey), the clock struck 8 o'clock. This is important because, at 8:00pm, a DJ was to begin the dance in the cafeteria. So, as fate would have it, the powers that be "pulled the plug" on our show and we never had a chance to finish our set which also included Bullet The Blue Sky (U2) and Progressions (another original song).

To this date, no audio or video has been obtained from this show but it is known that Shawn Mailey (son of SAJHS gym teacher, Marshall Mailey) did, indeed, videotape the performance. Any help in tracking down this footage would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Long overdue thanks are in order for Zandra Fosbre who took the only photographs that documented this event.

School's Out for Summer!

The Place: Shippensburg Area Senior High School

The Time: Spring 1987

The Occasion: Last day of school in 11th grade

The Fashion: Hilarious!

Yes, that's me wearing a tie dye t-shirt (my favorite one of many that I owned), robin's-egg blue shorts, and flip-flops (I called them Ethiopian sandals). For those who met me after I went to college (Fall '88) should be quite shocked and amused by this picture since I've worn, almost exclusively, all black clothes from that time on. However, back in the day, I was quite colorful with my wardrobe.

P.S. Thanks to Kim (Scott) Hepfer for sharing another magical moment from my "colorful" past.