By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Copy Editor
The first event in the Summer Burst Concert Series took place on Sunday, June 25 from 3:30 – 5 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Richland.
The concert, which had to be relocated from the City Park to the church due to rain, turned out to be an example of what happens when the community pulls together to make something happen. Trinity Lutheran offered the use of their beautiful facilities, while church volunteers contacted the ever-present Delane Nelson when they found out the church had to be rewired to provide the 220 voltage necessary for both the band and the food truck outside.
Everything turned on without a hitch, and the Whitesidewalls turned out to be as popular as their reputation forecast, as both the sanctuary and the choir loft were full to standing room, and the foyer became a temporary swing dance floor.
The concert started with a medley of “Rock Around the Clock,” “See Ya Later, Alligator,” and “Don't Think Twice, It's All Right,” which the band interrupted as the lead singer called out, “Group photo, group photo!” The band members scrambled from their instruments to pose for the camera, and then resumed their song as if they hadn't skipped a beat.
Indeed, it's hard to say who the lead singer was, as band members, Pat “Hound dog” Brown, Dave “Swanie” Swanson, Erik “Rocky Beaumont” Swenson, and Russ “Rusty Reneau” Dufresne, and Bill “Bobby Maestro” Spalding, switched instruments and microphones with the ease of exchanging wristwatches. One of the band members even made the falsetto in “Sherry Baby” by Frankie Valli sound easy, and the harmonies by all the band members were flawless.
The popular Twin Cities-based band, which played songs by The Flamingos, Fats Domino, Johnny Burnette, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, The Hollywood Flames, Eddie Cochran, and the Beach Boys, among others, currently does 80+ concerts per year. “It's a blessing, really and truly,” said Brown of the opportunity to entertain audiences.
“I started the band in '72 with a college friend,” said Brown. “I was 22 years old. And then we played for 16 years, took some time off, raised some families and stuff, but now we're on the road again for 14 years.”
Brown said the band members plan to keep playing concerts, “As long as our health holds out and God's willing.
“We developed the switching thing years and years ago,” said Brown. “The audience gets a real bang out of that. We all play different instruments. We only have one sax player,” Brown said of Swanson, as Dufresne quipped, “But he'll talk your ear off!” Brown pointed out that pianist “Bobby,” who plays either with his hands or his forehead, also plays guitar and bass guitar.
Swanson had no problem plucking out Chuck Berry's signature guitar riffs, and then picking up a saxophone to sway the audience. When he wasn't playing guitar or sax, Swanson played a Hammond SK1, an instrument the company developed about 10 years ago to sound exactly like the organs used by bands of the '50s and '60s. And also he sang.
“You've heard about a third of our show,” Brown continued, stating that they don't play the same numbers at every concert.
Drummer Swenson was a comparatively late-comer to the drums as well as to the group. He started playing drums when he was 12. “I wanted to play in school band, and the band director didn't want me to,” he said, “so I had to take private lessons.” Swenson explained that the school band already had a lot of drummers. “And usually, kids start a little younger,” he said, “at least doing some piano lessons or something. I didn't have anything.” Did he ever envision himself playing in a band? “Yeah. That's all I wanted to do.” Swenson ran a retail store in the Twin Cities, where he got to know the band members of the Whitesidewalls. “They knew that I was in bands around town, and when they needed someone, they asked if I'd come and hang out and check it out.” Swenson has now been with the Whitesidewalls for 13 years. The Whitesidewalls is the first band Swenson has played in where he also gets to sing. On Sunday he sang, “Twenty Flight Rock,” “Do You Want to Dance,” “Can't Sit Down,” and “Sea Cruise.” “That's like the most fun for me,” Swenson enthused.
Another “band member” not to be overlooked is Dennis “DJ” Johnson, who mixes the sound for the band. Johnson was working as a bouncer at a bar when a friend of his, who had started a band, needed a road crew. The high school friend invited Johnson to come along, as it would get him away from the bar. “Well, I was still in the bars with the band all the time,” he said. But the job progressed. Now, after 45 years of working with bands, Johnson mixes sound. Johnson said he didn't know what he was doing when he started, but it didn't take him long to learn. “I've got a knack for it, I guess. It freaks people out when I tell them I'm half deaf, but I don't listen to the music; I feel the music. A lot of old-time sound guys will tell you that. New guys – they don't have a clue what you're talking about.”
Pianist Spalding encourages audience members to look up their Facebook page, but warns them only to say kind things about the band, because his “short, angry, Italian mother,” who already had him singing in front of church when he was five, “can't understand why anyone would say anything unkind about little Bobby Maestro.”
For more information about the Whitesidewalls, look up their web site at www.whitesidewalls.com.
Be sure to catch the next Summer Burst Concert Series event on July 23, which will feature two former New Richland musicians: Gavin Berg and Meghan Krause.