Annual AHB reunion this weekend to mark band's 40th anniversary

It may have been 20 years ago today that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play, but it's been 40 years since Greencastle's own boys of summer -- many summers -- hit the road for their first gigs as the Average House Band.

And they have not been going in and out of style. In fact, those familiar faces of the Average House Band are poised to stage their annual reunion concert Friday and Saturday, Aug. 10-11 when the group and its faithful following returns to the Inn at DePauw.

Posing as they did for a classic photograph of their group Average House Band about 40 years ago, members assume the position of that pose (clockwise from bottom right) with Rod Kersey holding the framed photo alongside Bill Hamm, Sandy Williams, Steve Michael and Danny Martin following their 2017 reunion show. Those familiar faces will be back at the Inn at DePauw for their annual reunion show Friday and Saturday with a warm-up set at Wasser Brewing 8-10 p.m. Thursday. Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE

Not only is this the 11th reunion concert for the group that rocked Greencastle in the 1970s and 1980s but 2018 also marks the 40th anniversary of Average House Band venturing out to make music with an original lineup featuring Steve Michael and Sandy Williams on guitar, Danny Martin on lead vocals and guitar, Bill Hamm on bass with Rod Kersey on drums (during the reunion concerts, later AHB member Fred Badalli again will be sharing time on the drums).

The boys are literally back in town, some from as far away as Florida (Badalli) and California (Martin) -- perhaps with a little less hair or a little more gray -- much to the delight of local music fans who followed the group in its local heyday.

Doors open at 8 p.m. both nights with the shows starting at 9. Tickets remain $10 per person and available at the door, as they have since that first reunion show. Tables of 10 can be reserved for both nights for $100 by calling Michael at 721-3913.

The band also will do a warm-up show (with no cover charge) at Wasser Brewing Co., 102 E. Franklin St., on Thursday, Aug. 10 from 8-10 p.m.

"It gives a chance to warm up our vocals and knock the dust off," Michael said of the Thursday night performance. "We may start one and stop and restart. It's a work in progress."

As always, Average House Band will entertain with that old-time rock and roll, blues and country numbers, just like the good, old days.

It's not just the music but a shared local experience of long-ago nights at Old Topper, Mr. Ron's and D.B. Cooper's that keeps the people coming back year after year.

"It's not just a reunion for us, but a reunion for them," Michael says of the group's loyal following. "We'll be playing the songs everybody comes to hear or comes to dance to."

Reservations have already come from fans who now live in places like Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio.

Last year's show was originally billed as the final hurrah for AHB. However, at the end of the last night, they vowed to come back again in 2018.

"We decided to take it a year at a time," Michael said. "That's the best way to do it. If we all have a good time and the crowd has a good time, why not? It's pretty much on auto pilot now."

For Michael himself, this marks his 54th year in the music business.

It all started, he noted, with a phone call from a future band mate.

"Rod Kersey needed a bass player," Michael said, recalling how he was just 15 at the time, "and I sort of knew how to play bass.

"Hey, I got free cokes and made $8. It was all good."

As it continues to be.