Dear John Featured in St. Louis Beacon

Dear John (and the upcoming show on Record Store Day) is the subject of this week’s Second Set column by Thomas Crone.

Check out the St. Louis Beacon here!

 

Turning up the Volume on Record Store Day

Vintage Vinyl just announced their confirmed schedule of events for Record Store Day 2012 on Facebook. Here’s a few of the bands playing there on April 21, 2012:

12PM: Tower Groove Records showcase with Bunnygrunt ,Warm Jets USA, The Skekses
1PM: Dear John
2PM: Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost

Notice the listing at 1pm? It says Dear John. That’s not 100% accurate but it is true that we have officially turned up the volume for our Record Store Day in-store.  Yep, it only took trading a few Facebook messages to turn what was initially scheduled as an acoustic appearance into a rocking reunion of sorts!

Joining me for this special performance will be my Dear John band mate Larry Wilke on drums and our long time pal Bob Chekoudjian (from the Retros) will be handling the bass chores.

So it’s not really Dear John, because there is no Dear John without including the third member of our trio, George Schneller, who is currently in Florida somewhere.

It’s really 2 guys from Dear John and a Retro playing the songs from the Dear John single and bunch of other songs. Of course, they probably wanted to promote us as Dear John because BDR is releasing a special RSD12 version of the Dear John single that will only be available there! That is much easier than calling it 2 guys from Dear John and a Retro.

Bottom line, it’s gonna be a very special afternoon on Delmar Boulevard, complete with hours and hours of free music, free beer, and the ability to buy some really cool records! I hope you can join us…

Record Store Day: Vintage Vinyl St. Louis (4/21/12)

I’m extremely excited to be part of this year’s Record Store Day on April 21, 2012. I’ll be performing a solo acoustic set at Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis (show time TBA) and the guys at BDR are also putting together an exclusive Record Store Day edition of the Dear John 7″ “Frustrated Conversation” with the last remaining copies of original vinyl!

It’s been over 10 years since my last gig in St. Louis and I’m really looking forward to seeing all my friends, old and new…

More details to follow!

Dear John “Frustrated Conversation” Reissue!

Dear John – “Frustrated Conversation” 7″ Repackage/Reissue
Criminally unknown Power-Pop gem recorded in 1981, this record existed only in the memories of a few St Louisans & the grubby mitts of a few Power Pop collectors the world over. Head John Bob Kuhlmann recently unearthed a batch of singles that had been in storage for thirty years & BDR has whipped up new covers with never-before seen photos & new liner notes. The first batch will even come with a download code to get more songs from their only recording session. Wow!

BDR Records – the best record label in St Louis – is unleashing two new fine pieces of the puzzle that is the early St Louis Punk/Wave scene: a collection of never-before-released studio tracks by our friends The Retros and the Dear John “Frustrated Conversation” 7″!

Larry, George and I are very excited that Matt and Jason from BDR are releasing this special 30th Anniversary edition of our single. There are several events in St. Louis that will be celebrating these releases:

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17
St Louis Shuffle! Retros & Dear John Listening Party!
The Royale
3132 S. Kingshighway, Saint Louis, MO 63139

Matt from BDR will be spinning the Retros and Dear John records, along with a lot of other fine St. Louis bands!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 23RD
BDR Records Double Release Holiday Invitational!
Off Broadway
3509 Lemp Ave., Saint Louis, MO 63118

• A Tribute To The RETROS featuring Bob Chekoudjian of the Retros, members of Bunnygrunt, & other famous St Louis Punk/Wave luminaries!
• Antimation
• Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost

Rumor has it the Camaros will also be performing, including Antimation’s Tony Carr and our former Page Three bandmate Kevin Brueseke! This is going to be an awesome show, with a lot of dear friends attending that were a big part of the St. Louis music scene in the late 70s and early 80s.

Larry, George and I planned to perform as Dear John for the first time in 30 years, but too many things conspired against it. Sorry we’re going to miss this, but that doesn’t mean YOU should! Be there or else…

Stay tuned for more info, including info on where to buy the Dear John single, an upcoming Dear John digital-only release and future live shows!

Dear John: reissues and reunions

Thirty years ago, I was a member of the St. Louis power pop trio Dear John. There were limited venues to play and little money to be made, but it was fun and exciting to be part of the small, vibrant local punk/power pop scene that had grown out of the late 70′s punk revolution. In early 1981, the three of us (Larry Wilke, George Schneller, and yours truly) entered a studio in Fenton to record several original songs that we could use as demos for record labels and club owners. We also pressed a 7″ single to sell at shows and local record stores.

“Frustrated Conversation” was released in the summer of 1981 but there was no active band to promote it – I was offered a job in Ft. Wayne, IN before the single came back from the pressing plant. My sudden departure from St. Louis caught the band by surprise, and short-circuited the whole thing.

So, the cool news??

BDR Records will be re-packaging the original 7″ vinyl pressing of “Frustrated Conversation” in a 30th Anniversary Edition complete with a new sleeve that will feature the original artwork and new liner notes. The details are still being worked out, but we are planning a companion digital-only release that will include much more material.

Even cooler news??

There will be one more Dear John show! Larry, George and I are going to perform together again for the first time in nearly 30 years on December 23, 2011 at Off Broadway in St. Louis.

Stay tuned for more details!

Next live show: July 23

Summer? Oh, it’s summer alright. We’re going to be in the middle of summer by the time Pete and I return to the Talking Stick at 7pm on Saturday July 23rd. It’s another Cafe Night, a free community outreach event presented by our friends at Venice Santa Monica Free Methodist Church.

We’ll probably add a few new twists, including at least one old Dear John song!

Hope you can come out and enjoy an entire evening of music, food, and good friends.

BTW, you can see a couple videos of Pete and I from our November show here.

Saturday, July 23, 2011 @ 7:00 pm
The Talking Stick is located at 1411 Lincoln Blvd in Venice, CA.

It’s nestled in the back corner of a mini-mall next to an El Pollo Loco, at the corner of Lincoln and California. There’s plenty of free parking behind the building.

http://www.thetalkingstick.net/

Hope to see you!

play ball – and music!

Spring is here, time to play ball – and music!

Peter Sheppard and I will return to the Talking Stick at 7pm on Saturday April 16th, performing at  Cafe Night, a free community outreach event presented by our friends at Venice Santa Monica Free Methodist Church. Our friend Mike V will open the show at 6pm, and West of Lincoln (a rockin’ great band playing 60’s and 70’s rock and blues covers) follows us at 8pm.

We’ll be adding some new songs to the mix, so we hope you can come out and enjoy an entire evening of music, food, and good friends.

BTW, you can see a couple videos of Pete and I from our November show here.

Saturday, April 16, 2011 @ 7:00 pm
The Talking Stick is located at 1411 Lincoln Blvd in Venice, CA.

It’s nestled in the back corner of a mini-mall next to an El Pollo Loco, at the corner of Lincoln and California. There’s plenty of free parking behind the building.

http://www.thetalkingstick.net/

Hope to see you!