“That’s the thrill of it that’s what we get,” he said.Ĭollette also expressed gratitude to the PACC for providing the venue and being great to work with. “The good thing is everybody stayed to the end of the night for the most part,” Broughey said.įor the band to go through all the effort of rehearsing and putting on the best show they could, without trying to make any money themselves, Fisher said people have asked him why the band wanted to do that.īesides valuing the charitable cause of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Fisher said for the band, the experience of playing together in that kind of live concert setting was all they could have wanted. Playing in a concert put together on a professional level was a memorable experience for the band and the fans. A rented stage was used for the performance. The band played a mix of their original songs and covers of ’70s-era music, and Fisher said they were backed by “top notch” sound equipment and stage lighting. Leamy ended up taking over the lead guitar parts in Vedoe’s absence, in addition to being one of the singers. Leamy said that filling in for Sawyer as the sound engineer was Mark Jarrell. Vedoe and Sawyer were unable to make the concert. ![]() Playing drums in place of Columbo was Ted Broughey, who knew the Tunesmith band members back in the day as he was also playing locally. People reminiscing about the band on social media played a role in the decision to hold reunion shows so many years after the band had disbanded and members settled into family life and their careers, which for some have been careers in the music industry.įor the show held a few months ago, Fisher, Leamy and Arsenault all played. The songs they played incorporated a variety of styles including rock ‘n’ roll, reggae, blues, jazz and country swing.Īrtists such as The Allman Brothers Band, The Grateful Dead, Santana and The Doobie Brothers were covered by Tunesmith, in addition to them playing their original songs like “Cruizin” and “Rastaman Vibration.” Those founding band members were Mark Fisher (vocals, guitar and harmonica), Kirk Leamy (rhythm guitar and vocals), John Vedoe (lead guitar and vocals), Stephan Arsenault (bass guitar), Dave Columbo (percussion) and Pete Sawyer (sound engineer). The original Tunesmith lineup played together at local venues in 1980-1981 as young adults who were friends with one another and from area communities such as Gardner, Westminster and Ashburnham. ![]() It worked out really well,” Collette said. They settled on donating proceeds from the 2016 show to the House of Peace and Education, a Gardner-based charity that runs programs for women and children.įor their 2017 show, they thought especially considering the concert was again being held on Veterans Day, it would be fitting to donate to the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 907.
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