RANGER REPORT- Thurs., March 3, 2006, Snow Day, Cherri’s birthday 

“The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.”

                                    -Oliver Wendell Holmes 

Oliver Wendell Holmes?  Wasn’t he on “Green Acres”?  Anyway here we are in March.  Speaking of March, I recently saw the documentary “March of the Penguins”.  It was good but I still like “February of the Penguins” better. 

You folks have been complaining that these Ranger Reports have become far too brief so allow me to extrapolate. 

This report starts today with Manatee merchandise maiden Cherri Frankhouser’s birthday party at Fun McCool’s (9-1) and continues into tomorrow (Fri., March 3) as occasional Manatee guitarist/vocalist “Beatle” Bob Tomlinson turns 50 (!?) years old at a birthday party in a barn in Lahaska, PA.  I suppose we’ll have to sing him The Beatles’ “Birthday” song and then after he can tell us where we messed it up.  I hope we pass the audition. 

Last week saw the birthdays of both Karl Frick (keyboards) and Ritchie DeCarlo (drums).  We celebrated their birthdays simultaneously at The Bridgeport Rib-house last Sunday.  There was cake and candles, mildly amusing birthday cards, flaming drinks and even some loud rock ‘n roll.  Happy birthday amigos.  

This Saturday we will be back at The Funhouse in Bethlehem,PA for a night of merriment.  (We won’t be back there again until Sat., May 6)  We’ll be hooking up with our Manatee friend Andrew Roblin who just returned from sunny Jamaica after playing a string of successful shows.  Andrew is in the process of building up a Jamaican “circuit” of playable venues.  Perhaps we’ll be able to do a show or two down there next year about this time.  Jamaica in February?  Yeah, I can get behind that.  Maybe we can persuade Andrew into sitting in with us at The Funhouse this Saturday and playing some wild Jamaican mento music.

Last month we debuted at Juno’s in Collegeville,PA.  The show went great and was recorded and filmed.  The management and staff treated us well and pretty much gave us the run off the place.  We will be back there on Fri., March 24.  Check it out.  It’s a cool room. 

On Friday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day) we will be back at David Ivory’s Dylanava Studios in Blue Bell, PA to do a recording session with legendary Little Feat drummer Ritchie Hayward.  Mr. Hayward, who has played with everyone from Bob Dylan to Robert Plant, will be cutting a track for our forthcoming album.  We are honored to get a chance to work with a musician of his caliber.  After the session we will all be heading down to the Little Feat show at the Keswick Theater in Philadelphia.  For the occasion they are going by the name of “Little O’Feet”.  It’s going to be quite a day.  Little Manateas. 

This report ends on Sat, April 1.  On that day the Manatees “big band” (La Banda Grande) will be playing a fundraiser for the Michael P. Finnegan Foundation at the Malvern Prep School in Malvern, PA.  This is a very worthwhile event and we encourage everyone to check out www.mpff.net to learn more about the foundation, how it started, and the work that they do. 

Finally, I would like to confirm the rumor that a One Life reunion will be happening this summer. One Life is the name of the Canadian band that I was playing with when I migrated down here to America back in the mid-eighties.  We were based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba (like The Guess Who). We had a song on the charts and were on national television.  In fact we were once on the Canadian equivalent of “American Idol”.  They even had the same kind of a-hole judges.  It was called “The Fame Game” and we didn’t win.  Anyway some of the old fans are putting together a reunion show to be held in Winnipeg on Sat., August 12.

The group includes:  Todd Brown - guitar/vocals  (writer of “Fast Money”, “Hey Mo”, “Pretty Face”),  Ron Torpey - drums  (writer of “How Could She Love Me When I Don’t Have A Car?”), Rick McGhee - bass/vocals  (writer of “Big Money”), Ron Mymeryck - percussion, and Wally Landreth – keyboards/vocals  (writer of “Watch That Babe” and distant relative of Sonny Landreth  (writer of “Congo Square”). 

Also in the news:  JefDam Records president Jeff Asher recently returned from Hawaii where he and some friends helped authorities capture an island psycho.

Manatee camera-man Garry Best is being escorted out of Cambodia.  More on that story in next month’s report.

“Aristera, or “left” in Greek means “the best”.  It is also the root of the English word aristocratic.  And in Japanese, the word for left is hidari.  It also means “sun” and “on”.

                                                          - Cary Koegle  (The Left-Hander’s 2006 Calendar)            

Southpaws Unite!,

                             Ranger Will