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Karen Blackledge/The Daily Item
Salamanders reunite for community days
MOORESBURG — Barry Bower, his first-cousin Rodney Bower and friend Mc Kessler hadn’t seen each other for 40 years until last year.
Barry Bower decided to enter a pickin’ and grinin’ contest at Mooresburg Community Days as the only entrant.
The three, now in their 50s who lived within sight of each other while growing up, got together afterward and decided to reunite their Salamanders band from the 1960s and early 1970s.
The result is the Salamanders Regenerated for a Salapalooza II “Rock Bottom Reunion Tour” as featured entertainment for this year’s Mooresburg Community Days June 21. They will play at 1 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and may perform as the last act. “We may rock it out — it depends upon the community,” said Mc.
“They may chase us away with pitch forks and torches,” Rod said.
They chose their name from creatures Barry caught at Halfway Dam and had to return to the water on the urging of a park ranger. While in school, they were booked for the Montour-Delong Community Fair and area festivals, splash hops and high school gym dances. Their biggest gig was $75 at a Penn State dance.
They formed the group about 1965 when Rod was bored and his mother suggested he call his buddies. He started playing her small organ, Barry picked up a little guitar and Mc beat on some drums.
They now have a lot more equipment and have been practicing once a month in Barry’s garage. On a recent Sunday, with the mercury in the 90s, they entertained the village of Mooresburg outside Barry’s East Mooresburg garage.
Rod has also produced a practice CD. “I record files, e-mail them, and they play along. We virtually rehearse,” said Rod, a Fairfax Country Public School fourth-grade teacher who previously was a reporter with the Washington Press Corps and worked in radio, having begun his career at the Danville News. The Alexandria, Va., keyboard player is the son of Gladys of Mooresburg and the late Sam Bower.
Guitarist Barry, who lives in Mooresburg, is retired from the Montour County Assistance Office. His parents, the late Louise and Ernie Bower, lived in Mooresburg. Drummer Kessler, who lives in Morristown, N.J., is CEO of New York Eye & Ear Hospital, Manhattan, and former CEO of Wills Eye Hospital, Philadelphia, and H. H. Kessler Foundation in New Jersey. His mother, MaryEllen, lives in Lewisburg. His father, Don, is deceased.
All three guys add vocals to their versions of songs by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, other cover bands and their original tunes. They will open with their original intro, referencing typewriter inventor Christopher Sholes, the Ack brothers and the Mooresburg School. They also wrote the song “Mooresburg” to the Beatles’ “Happy Birthday.”
They believe they may have produced the first music video — a 20-minute 8mm film made in the late ’60s with mostly original material. Called “Funky Chicken,” it premiered in the Liberty Township firehall. They are converting it into a DVD.
With all the work they have been putting into their reunion appearance, they hope to play one more time this summer.
“We don’t want to just play once and put it all away,” Barry said.
In their press kit, they cited challenges of keeping the band together as family pressures, solo careers, intrusive paparazzi, artistic differences and talent.
While they are not reliving their childhood, these family guys are glad to relive their middle ages, adding they’re old, but they are out there playing for free.
They can be reached through Barry at 275-3217 or at myspace.com/salamanders1.
n E-mail comments to kblackledge@thedanvillenews.com.
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