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Don't expect anything remotely average with AHB back in town
Everybody sing it: The boys are back in town, the boys are back in town ...
Yep, those wild-eyed boys who've been away, as Thin Lizzy liked to say.
They'll be back in action Friday and Saturday, Aug. 7-8 when Greencastle's own boys of summer, the Average House Band, stage their eighth annual reunion concert -- much to the delight of local music fans who followed the group in its local heyday in the 1970s and 1980s.
"It's not just a reunion for us, but a reunion for them," spokesman Steve Michael said of the group's loyal following.
Average House Band -- the group perhaps most synonymous with the Greencastle music scene -- will reunite Aug. 7-8 at The Inn at DePauw.
Doors open at 8 p.m. with the show set to start at 9. Tickets remain $10 per person, as they have since that first reunion show.
Plenty of tables remain for Friday night, Michael said, while he doesn't expect the few left for Saturday to last through this weekend.
The familiar AHB lineup will again include Michael on guitar, Sandy Williams on guitar, Danny Martin on lead vocals and guitar, Bill Hamm on bass with Rod Kersey and Fred Badalli sharing time on the drums.
While the group has used a keyboard player the last couple of years, they've stripped back down to the original Average House Band crew local fans remember so well from bygone days at Old Topper Tavern and elsewhere in town.
"They've all got a little less hair or it's a little more gray," Michael said, proudly adding that he has lost 12 pounds, "but the boys are all revved up and ready to go. We get our energy from the crowd."
You have to wonder how long the boys will retain that energy and continue to stage the annual reunion that has become a summer music staple.
"I'm not the oldest," Michael mused, "but 10 years sure looks attainable at this point."
Realistically, they will probably play as long as the band and its fans are having fun.
"People who come have a good time," Michael assured. "That last set the dance floor is usually packed. But they're not having half as much fun as we are."
The House Band has been rehearsing already, planning to do some favorites that the group hasn't been playing in addition to "a few surprises."
"We'll play new old tunes and old new tunes," Michael suggested.
Average House Band will entertain with rock and roll, blues and country numbers, just like the good, old days.
The music, the people and the shared local experience should provide plenty of fodder for reminiscing about pre-boogie nights at Old Topper, Mr. Ron's and D.B. Cooper's.
Concertgoers will again hear "the songs they came to hear," Michael said.
Michael said he has already taken reservations from San Francisco, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio for the two shows.
The event will include a cash bar, while as usual a nightly 50/50 drawing will donate profits to the Greencastle High School Alumni Association. Aside from Martin (a Reelsville product) and Badalli (from Dyer), the band members are all GHS graduates.
For table reservations or more information, persons may contact Michael at 721-3913 or online at smichael@cinergymetro.net.