Band AID

King’s crimson: JohnMerritt (far left) and Bob Proulx are hard-working architects who will
bring their work ethic to the stage when they perform as part of King
and King’s band, Structurally Sound.  

Regardless of proving its ability to stir a nation into a sexual, drug-fueled whirling dervish, by the late 1970s even it
had become as routine as toothpaste and chicken pot pies. Rock’n’roll’s
second major era, defined by a counterculture that couldn’t stop the
Vietnam War, a Big Brother presidential regime marred by a major
spy-vs.-spy snafu and the festering buds of an upcoming stagflation
economy, left a generation of teenagers wondering what happened to the
revolution.

But Steve Pederson, then a student at
the University of Minnesota, was among those who held firm to the
promise of melody, perhaps because he had been raised on the wholesome
rock ethics of the Beatles and other greats that gave those early years
of the art form their corn-gold glow. Pederson had learned to play
trumpet in grade school in his home town of Racine, Wis., and picked up
the guitar with the same curiosity that inspires so many young rockers
to carry the torch.

As a college student during the late
1970s, Pederson rented a bachelor pad with a few fellow guitar players,
which allowed him to keep the party of the 1960s rock scene alive and
to have a great time doing it. “We’d have sort of pickup bands,”
Pederson explains. “Basically, I got paid in beer, and free drinking at
that time was a big deal. We’d set up in my basement and play, mostly
just jamming.”

But if the rock gods then had granted
Pederson with a vision 28 years beyond his 1980 graduation he might
have done a double take. Could he ever have believed that he’d land a
job at Syracuse’s air conditioning giant, Carrier Corporation, as an
engineering project leader, with a master’s degree in aerospace
engineering, of all things? Would the flower children thrive in the
cubicle jungle and purchase cars from Cadillac based on the sales pitch
of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”?

Alas, Pederson, 52, laments that by the
time he’d been married and found his roots in Syracuse after his
college years, the celestial forces that had inspired his rock’n’roll
dreams were waning. “When I was married the wife didn’t approve of that
activity,” Pederson recalls. “After I moved here {to Syracuse} I lost
all my music connections. I played for a while with one of the first
people who I met here at Carrier, but that kind of petered out after a
few years, and all my equipment got packed up.” 

Fortunately, especially for Pederson and
others who have replaced their psychedelic garb with Hugo Boss attire,
the hope of rock has returned in the form of an event that pits
Syracuse business folk against each other to demonstrate their rock
mettle. In an effort to raise money for its ever-in-need organization,
the American Red Cross will again extend their index fingers and
pinkies during the third annual battle of the bands known as Rockin’
the Red Cross at the Landmark Theatre, 362 S. Salina St. The event is
scheduled to take place on Friday, April 18, 6:30 p.m., with doors
opening at 5:30 p.m.

Software rock: Nancy Coldren, a member of Sensis Corporation’s band, Witness Relocation Program, plays the roles of software engineer and full-time mom (pictured with son Josh) by day, but rocks out on the trombone by night.

Everyday People

Pederson performed for Carrier during
last year’s rock-off with a band composed of Carrier outsiders,
effectively reversing the curse born of rock’s slow demise. But he
explains that this year is the first he’ll perform with members of Best
Shot, a band he formed about six years ago with John Kowalewski and Bob
Feduik, both colleagues. They have teamed with Carrier employees Jack
Esformes, Kevin McNamara, who has played the singing Messiah in Jesus Christ Superstar
for Salt City Center for the Performing Arts, and Colin Keating, choral
director at Baldwinsville’s C.W. Baker High School, to form the
Chillerz, the band Carrier hopes will take this year’s Red Cross rock
crown.

In the meantime, Pederson hopes his band
will simply have some fun and find a release from the stress of their
daily lives in the solace of rock memories. “I’ve seen some great
concerts at the Landmark, with all the lights and the sound system and
everything,” Pederson says. “It was a real thrill last year, and a
great opportunity to represent the company we work for. It’s kind of
nerve-wracking when you step out on the big stage, but you get to sit
in the dressing rooms in the back where B.B. King and all the great
people who have played on that stage have been. When you walk out, you
have this ‘wow’ moment.”

Yet, while the suits who step into the
get-ups of rock musicians shuffle rumors through Syracuse’s grapevines
over who will play what songs and which members of the bands are the
“real” deal, for event organizer Michelle Keib it is an opportunity to
do some real work for an organization that is always in need of
financial assistance. 

Companies who hoped to participate in
the event donated $1,250 each (some pure cash and some in-kind) to the
Red Cross, which gives them a shot on the stage to strut their stuff.
This year, each band will have about 12 minutes to perform on stage,
and bands will be assessed by an independent panel of judges to select
the winner. Last year the organization was able to raise about $25,000,
an amount that doesn’t land in the Red Cross’ national pool of funds,
but directly benefits the Onondaga-Oswego chapter, located at 220
Herald Place. “That’s really important because it stays here in Central
New York,” Keib says.

Keib, who co-chairs the local Red Cross
executive board with Renee Lane, explains that Rockin’ the Red Cross
came about during a brainstorming session between the two about what it
would take to get younger people involved in the organization. “It’s
not a big secret that the American Red Cross runs on volunteers,” Keib
notes. “The people who come to the house fires in the night are
volunteers. It’s a huge organization of volunteers, and those people
are getting older. We were talking about how we could get acquainted
with people who are in their mid-20s so that they themselves want to
volunteer.”

Along with helping out the Red Cross and
pursuing the social change rock pushed in the 1960s, the concert nurses
the side effect of bringing participating companies together, a fact
that especially pleases Keib. “{The bands} are embracing this as a way
to bring their company together around their band. We describe it as
their groupies: They get all their groupies together and get in
T-shirts, because one of the categories they’re judged in is audience
participation—who will have the wackiest wigs on or whatever. It would
be like the Friday night football game with a small-time feeling.”

That feeling has brought together 14
bands for this year’s competition, four more than 2007 and twice more
than in 2006. Even local “celebrities” have gotten in on the action,
considering that WNTQ-FM 93.1 (93Q)’s Ted Long and Amy Robbins will
emcee the event, while local rockers Todd Hobin and Joe Whiting, Post-Standard music blogger Mark Bialczak and artist-in-residence at Le Moyne College Andrew Russo will judge the contest’s bands.

Along with the glory and bragging rights
that would come from being selected as the competition’s winner, the
band that takes the corporate laureate will be given a paid slot at
this year’s Empire State Brewing and Music Festival, to be held in
Clinton Square on Friday, July 11. But Keib simply hopes the event will
serve as a win-win for the Red Cross, the musicians involved and, of
course, the fans that share the dream of rock. 

“It brings us into a whole new
demographic to raise money and volunteers,” Keib explains. “The main
point that I would like to see come out is that it’s an overall,
communitywide event, and we’ve left it really affordable because we
wanted everybody to be able to come to it.”

Cold shots: Jack Esformes, Bob
Feduik, Kevin McNamara, Steve Pederson and John Kowalewski, all members
of Carrier Corporation’s band, the Chillerz, rehearse for Rockin’ the
Red Cross.

Pederson poses at his desk at Carrier, where he
works as an engineering project leader.

Guitar Heroes

Philanthropy aside, you only need to
mention the event to members of the bands who will participate to see
that they intend to win. Take, for example, Bob Proulx, a project
manager, and John Merritt, an intern architect, at the Manlius
architecture firm of King and King. Get them talking, and they’ll make
sure you know they spend their free time as part-time guitarists. 

Proulx, 51, grew up in Kirkville and got
his start and stop in the rock business during the 1980s “playing the
guitar miserably,” he laments. Then he spent about 12 years in the
choir at St. Mary’s of the Assumption Catholic Church in Minoa. But
Proulx had an inkling to rock again after getting a company e-mail
about starting a band. “I picked {guitar} up about 2½ years ago again.
That was right around the time we started talking about doing this
thing,” Proulx notes.

Merritt, 43, grew up in Pittsburgh but
has lived in Canastota for the past 12 years. “I come from a musical
family, so I’ve been around music since I was born.” Merritt says. “My
older brother, who plays clarinet, started teaching me guitar. In high
school I took guitar lessons for about three years, and I was in a
string of bands from high school through college. After I moved up
here, pretty much I was playing by myself until we started the band two
years ago.”

That band, known as Structurally Sound,
“started as a fun time out in the garage outside our office,” Proulx
explains. But after the members of the group—which include Matt Leak,
Ron Bagliere, Steve Tarolli, James Reagan and David Green—started
kicking out some classic jams they realized there might be more to it. 

As a result, King and King’s band had
the idea to join the 2008 Rockin’ the Red Cross after checking out last
year’s event. “We got psyched!” Merritt notes. “It was one of those
‘Hey, we can do that!’ things.” 

While Merritt adds that co-workers have
been requesting specific songs, Structurally Sound has banked on its
rock memories and the experience it has gained through playing a few
colleagues’ weddings in order to get their groove back. “The last
couple of weeks we narrowed down the songs we were going to do. We had
some 20 to 30 song ideas at first, so we picked the best of the lot,”
Merritt says.

The story is slightly different for
Nancy Coldren, a software engineer at East Syracuse’s Sensis
Corporation, as well as a trombonist for her company’s horn-blowing
band, Witness Relocation Program. Managing her family’s affairs and her
career are typically challenging tasks in and of themselves, let alone
with the addition of practicing for a rock band.

“I have to drive home and pick up the
kids at the sitter and make sure they have supper before rehearsals,”
Coldren points out. “It’s challenging to coordinate all of it, but I
throw my horn into my SUV and take off.” 

Coldren, 42, had double-majored in
computer engineering as well as music at SUNY Potsdam during her
formative years, an experience that prepared her for her rockin’ role
in Witness Relocation Program. While Sensis has participated in the
past two competitions, Coldren is a rookie; she had been a member of
the Syracuse University Wind Ensemble for five years prior. “Scott
Remillard, our sax player, sent out an e-mail saying they were looking
for horn players, and I sent him an e-mail back, and through that we
all got hooked up through the company,” she says.

Last year, Witness Relocation Program
attempted to win the hearts of the crowd with horn classics from
Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire, but this year Coldren says the band
tailored its set around the group’s lead vocalist, Brian Fairman. “We
all had tune suggestions, and ultimately it was up to the lead vocalist
to pick which ones fit his vocal range. But everyone gave suggestions.”
Other members of Sensis’ band include Dave Michel, Ron Blair, Andy
Tompkins, Dave Gallaro, Srdan Lukic and Danny Adrianos.

Coldren’s family is supportive of her
efforts—her husband, Michael, is a tuba instructor at SU and her oldest
son, Zach, 8, digs it, too. But the trombonist says that her 3-year-old
son, Josh, gets especially psyched when he knows Mom is about to trot
off to rehearsals. “He says, ‘Mommy, is it trombone time yet?’” Josh
even gets in on the fun by imitating John Bonham on Fisher-Price crash
symbols while his mother rehearses at home.

Co-workers at Sensis are excited to
usher rock vibes into their premises, according to Coldren, seemingly
making good on Keib’s desire that the event foster camaraderie. “We
practice in the meeting rooms and in the cafeteria, and we perform at
lunchtime. They love us,” Coldren says. “They think it’s pretty cool.
We have a great time. We really enjoy it.” 

Emotional Rescue

Across town at SUNY Upstate Medical
University, the tune of Rockin’ the Red Cross carries a different
refrain for nurse Robin Wensel, who sings and plays flute and
percussion for her company’s band, Code Blue. As a worker in the
oncology department at Syracuse’s largest employer, Wensel’s musical
interests are understandably more spiritual than those of the average
rocker. It’s not surprising considering her daily emotional
experiences; music serves as an extension of the empathy she naturally
feels as a nurse. 

“A bone marrow transplant either works
or it doesn’t,” Wensel gently explains. “We have patients in here for
three weeks, and I spend time in here singing with my patients and
praying with my patients. If you don’t have something like that you’ll
go crazy with grief. Plus, I do it because it’s just fun.”

Wensel, 45, brings that passion for
music to Circle of Friends, the choir at St. Paul’s United Methodist
Church on Valley Drive, as well as in her blues-meets-jazz secular
band, Midlife Crisis, which performs regularly at the Broadway Café,
210 W. Seneca Turnpike. Although vocalizing in those groups and
navigating a stressful career keep her busy, Wensel explains that there
is quite a bit of intrinsic value in expressing herself through song.

“I think music is, in general, a
complete way of finding peace,” Wensel relates. “The Christian music is
top-notch for that for myself, but to do some fun music and to write
your own stuff is an outlet.”

Demonstrating just how far that
intrinsic value stretches, Wensel’s Rockin’ the Red Cross band played
original tunes written specifically for the 2007 event. This year Code
Blue—with fellow musicmakers Barry Knox, Adam Connor, Donna Gataletto
and Peter Harrington—will again emphasize new music. “I don’t think the
judges knew that we were playing originals last year,” Wensel says. “As
far as I know I think we’re the only band that plays originals. This
year we’re taking the risk and doing no covers.”

Perhaps Wensel’s most endearing
connection to Rockin’ the Red Cross is the fact that, even more than
the average participant, each day she experiences the direct effects
the organization provides. Perhaps the success of the event is that
simple desire to do something positive through the goodwill of the
bands involved.

“Being where I am, I have a whole
different perspective of the needs of the American Red Cross and their
blood products. I have a daily one-on-one relationship with the Red
Cross,” Wensel says. “I think the Red Cross’ support is awesome, and
now that I’ve been in oncology it’s incredible to see when they don’t
have any platelets and they have to call {a hospital in} Rochester.
It’s a huge need for the community, and I’m hoping people will come out
and donate platelets and blood and contribute to all the other great
things they do.”

All good feelings aside, this is a
battle of the bands, and all will be trying to best Welch Allyn’s
group, the Arrhythmics, which took first place at last year’s
competition. Even the Syracuse New Times will join in the fun
with its reformulated New Times Banned, which includes this writer on
bass, photographer Michael Davis on Hammond B3 organ, advertising
manager Ben Chernoff on harmonica and vocals, classified sales manager
Deana Vigliotti on vocals, former graphic designer Michael Heagerty as
the resident rhyme-spitter, freelancer Skip Murphy on harmonica and
vocals, local guitarist Jeff Jones as shred master, Gregg Young on
guitar and Dave Miller on drums.

Don’t even think about missing the event (during which the New Times Banned will at the very least prove The Post-Standard’s
band, Media Mayhem, to be a bunch of pants-wetting noobs). Tickets for
the event cost $5 in advance and $10 at the door, and are available at
the Landmark Theatre box office, which may be reached at 475-7980, or
via Ticketmaster at 472-0700.              

Getting better all the time: Donna Gataletto, Robin Wensel, Peter Harrington and Barry Knox,
members of SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Code Blue band, warm up
their rock chops, garage band style.

Wensel rolls up her scrubs
to get to work as a nurse for the medical institution, where she tends
to cancer patients.  

Rock the Casbah

All bands at this year’s Rockin’ the Red
Cross must encapsulate their rock’n’roll package to 12 minutes, a fact
that might guide your decision to make a fashionable appearance at a
particular time. Be sure to stick around until the end, however, when
the winning band, selected for its ability to demonstrate showmanship,
professionalism, technique and musicianship, will perform an encore.
The following is a list of all the bands that will participate, in the
order of their appearance:

Absolute Mess, Constellation Energy, 217 Montgomery St.

The Chillerz, Carrier Corporation, 6304 Carrier Parkway, East Syracuse.

Radar Rock, Lockheed Martin, 6417 Deere Road.

Media Mayhem, The Post-Standard, 1 Clinton Square.

The Onondaga Treblemakers, Onondaga Community College, 4584 W. Seneca Turnpike.

Code Blue, SUNY Upstate, 750 E. Adams St.

Structurally Sound, King & King Architects, 108 Washington St., Manlius.

New Times Banned, Syracuse New Times, 1415 W. Genesee St.

The Distributorz, WYNIT, 5801 E. Taft Road, North Syracuse.

The Arrhythmics, Welch Allyn, 4341 State Street Road, Skaneateles.

Witness Relocation Program, Sensis Corporation, 85 Collamer Crossings, East Syracuse.

Critical Path, C&S Companies, 499 Col. Eileen Collins Blvd.

The Dinosaurs, CXtec, 5404 South Bay Road, North Syracuse.

1620, Visual Technologies, 1620 Burnet Ave.

—Matt Mumau