According to bass player Boo Fleener, the two King City bands known as The Crave and The Pumphouse Monster have combined and the new act will be called Cravin’ The Pumphouse Monster.

Boo said that anyone who has a problem with that can come and see him.

In addition to Fleener, CTPM also includes Gerald Keene (guitar), Mark Sheets (keyboards), John Scrivner (drums) and Shawn Fleener (lead vocals, guitar). All provide backing vocals.

The line up is actually the original members of The Crave plus Shawn.

How did this come to be?

“It was just something that happened. We were sitting around at Scriv’s house and reminiscing about the good old days,” said Fleener. “We had just finished playing together and it really sounded good.”

So they thought that they would try this out.

The band played a four-hour show at the Frosty Mug on Salem Road last Saturday night in front of a packed house. CTPM used their hard-edged sound to its fullest advantage on such rock and blues classics as “Mustang Sally,” “Oh Darling” and “Whole Lotta Love.” My personal favorite was their cover of the Four Non-Blondes tune, “What’s going on?”

The band already has some future bookings and is eager to perform together, but they are also interested in getting into the studio.

“We’re wanting to do some recording,” Fleener said. “Just play around with it and see what happens. See if anything comes out of it.”

The two bands were originally scheduled back-to-back at the upcoming Southern Illinois Spring Thaw, March 19 and 20 at the Granada Theater. CTPM will now take both spots in the order. They are scheduled to start at approximately 4:55 p.m. on Saturday, March 20.

“I’m looking forward to it. I think that it’s going to be a blast,” said Fleener. “There’s going to be a lot of good musicians there. It’s a real good line up. I’m just excited to be a part of it.”

Since we are already talking about the Spring Thaw, I have this bit of information for you.

You may not be aware of the fact that The Amy Center is celebrating it’s 20th year of existence this spring.

Twenty years of tirelessly helping families to cope with what would have to be every parent’s ultimate nightmare.

That’s why The Amy Center was chosen as the recipient of this year’s Spring Thaw. That, and the fact that the current recession has depleted part of their funding.

Since we can’t really know any final results until that weekend, I can only say that approximately 65 area musicians have agreed to help raise money for such a fine cause.

That’s because I’m expecting that we will have some “intermingling” among some of the acts.

For example, I know that John Metcalf and Sharon Smith of Moonbeam Lane will most likely find themselves playing with those good ‘ol boys from Dahlgren (and Mt. Vernon), Snake Lane Revue on Friday night, March 19 since they’ve been doing so just about every Wednesday night at The Tavern on 10th recently.

Then, who will Kevin Little (Little Berry Jam, Monkey Puzzle) have on stage with him on Saturday afternoon? Steve Berry? Hmmmm.

Or Scotty Qualk. Since the Freezeman will be followed by the inimitable Del Herbert, will we see a set from the original Eveready Brothers (circa mid-1980s)?

I’m also curious about who will end up in the newly-formed Deja’ VooDoo. I hear that current Arkansas resident Rod Brown has set some practice times with our town’s Chuck Hicks in the coming weeks.

You think those guys won’t jam? Chuck, think “Symptoms of the Universe!”

I am so thankful to be able to work with such fine musicians on a project such as this. All of these folks are just good people, wanting to give of themselves to better our community.

I invite you to make some time for the Spring Thaw during the third weekend in March.

Please be careful out there.

DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE!

The Illinois State Police are counting on it.



Jack Clark is the host of Musically Speaking, a local radio program heard Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. on 102.1 WIBV.