The band that I was a part of from the late 80's to mid 90's, Ask a Stranger, has been enjoying a kind of revival on the internet. (my thanks to Al Gore for inventing it) Ebay has recently sold a copy of Stranger Things Have Happened for $68.00. Shit $68.00 was two weeks salary in Ask a Stranger. If I'm lying about that ask any of the members and be prepared to hear the whole bloody tale. If you have a hankerin' for a piece of Western Pennsylvania music history (and who doesn't) check out Stranger Things Have Happened by Ask a Stranger. Visit www.Heavyharmonies.com and look up Ask a Stranger. There is a dude saying some awful nice things about the old crew. Also, there is a copy on ebay right now from Germany. Check it out and be prepared to bid, bid, bid. I have recieved some email requests asking about Ask a Stranger. Here is a cloudy, not so condensed history of Ask a Stranger.

1985: Band named Rock Hopper, Named by Dave Hawk, outstanding drumhead art work by Gary smith.
Dave Buzard - Guitar
Dave Hawk - Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Mike Hagan - Bass, Vocals
Tracy Reed - Drums, Vocals
*special note: Tracy and his wife, Brenda were killed by a drunk driver on Jan 11, 2004.

Rock Hopper was a quirky, band. I was 19 years old when it started. My thanks to the other members for not kicking my ass out for playing like shit everynight and thinking I was David Gilmour. Interesting memory: We played a bar in Franklin, PA. Of course, we wrote Rock Hopper on the wall of the dressing room. The next time we came back, a band that must have been jealous of the power and the fury of the mighty Rock Hopper wrote "Eats it" after Rock Hopper. Enter Gary Smith, sound tech and all around great guy. With Sharpie in hand, Gary changed "Rock Hopper Eats It" into the super cool "Rock Hopper Beats It Like a Mother". We didn't exactly know what that meant but it sounded very tough and became, to me, the unofficial slogan for the band.

1987 or '88
Jeff Powell added to the above line-up as singer
Rock Hopper enjoys a huge surge in popularity. We play more often, in nicer bars, make more money. *note: the nightly take home pay is still $10.00 but we are buying up PA and lighting gear by the truck load in fact, we buy a bigger truck at this time to carry the massive Rock Hopper road show. Rock Hopper PA is dubbed "The Big, Grey Monster" by Steve (Spiney) McCaslin because of its ability to "pummel heinously" at high volumes. And for the fact that it is painted battleship grey. We also begin to write original material for the band, She Wants Me and Starlight are added to the set list and go over very well with drunk people. They both are recorded for Stranger Things Have Happened CD but not for another three plus years. Tracy Reed left the band because he had a least three kids, a wife, and a girlfriend. He was working in another town and the pace was wearing the lad out. Trace was replaced by Kevin Dippold from St. Marys. Kevin was an awesome drummer with a poor driving record and lived about an hour and a half from where we practiced. His drumming was tight, powerful and fun to play to. But in a marriage saving move, he had to pack it in. He was replaced by Jimmy Jones who was a good drummer but only played a handful of jobs. Dave McKee from Bill Hubauer's band, Ten Til Destiny, filled in for a couple of shows. He was the most spontaneous drummer I've ever played with. The rehersal for the first show consisted of me and Dave on the phone going over the song list and humming endings to songs. That night, you would have guessed he had been our drummer for years. The revolving door of drummers was a grind and the early momentum that we had was pissing itself away. That may have been one of the reasons for the following: Jeff Powell leaves Rock Hopper. Goes on to sing for The Rebels/Sequel and play a lot of chuch softball. The remaining members, me, Hawk and Haig play a couple of mop up dates with a drummer named Jeff Bilquist. Jeff knew a ton of songs, played them well and was a super nice dude.

Around this time, late '88 or '89 a fella named Jim Kennerdale who had been booking jobs for us, found us a singer. His name was Tom Petroff. He was an unbearable prick. He brought Billy Nudi into the band as drummer. Billy was one of the nicest, most musical people I've ever met. This stark contrast made Tom look like an even bigger prick. No, no. He then became an even bigger prick. He lied about his age, too. He told us he was 32 to get into the band and then one day at practice, Billy ratted on him right in front of us all. He was over 40. over 40.....and a big prick. Tom and I did not like each other. He seemed to have a problem with me not being a very good guitar player. I had a problem with him having a problem with me not being a very good guitar player. His being such a prick ( have I mentioned how big of a prick he was ) really stifled what little progress I was making as a musician. My main area of growth was dislike for Tom Petroff. It was counter-productive. To be fair, he may have only disliked me, but he was mean and overly-critical of the other band members. That was the first version of Ask a Stranger. It could have turned into a hell of an act. We did a whole set of Led Zeppelin and it just killed. But Tom was always unhappy about someone's performance (other that his) and after like, eight monthsof practice and six really good shows, the immortal words were uttered. "hey, deals go bad everyday". And with that, it was over. Tom the prick and Billy the real nice dude were history. more to come .....
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So, where was I?? Oh, yea, The first incarnation of Ask A Stranger had just broken up. The infernal son of Satan, Tom Petroff, was gone. Yet, like the son of an abusive father I felt strangely drawn to him ( not really, that part was just for drama) A few months went by where Hawk, Haig and myself kicked around the idea of reforming the band. We did sound production for large and small concerts. The Big Grey Monster still needed fed. Then, in the winter of 1990, the phone rings and it's Jeff Powell. He says that he has been hanging with a couple of musicians, Willie Bauer and Tom Fornoff, and was wanting to knock some ideas around for original songs. We (Hawk, Haig, Me) were game for the idea. By Friday, the next incarnation of Ask a Stranger had been born. Hawk, Haig, Jeff, Tom (keys and guitar), Willie (drums, bkg vox) and I kicked out a song in a couple of hours. It was How Long. The new line up decided not to learn a bunch of cover tunes and hit the club circuit. Instead we got all enlightened and wrote nine or ten songs of our own. Then we learned some covers and hit the club circuit. But unlike most of our peers, we did not hide our original songs or apologize for them. We unashamedly played the fuckers from our first gig on. They went over great, so we took the next step to enlightenment and decided to record a CD. Now, mind you, this was 1990 not 2004. In 2004 it is easy to record your own CD right at home with inexpensive equipment that you probably have lying under your sink. But in 1990, it was a really big step. I had for many years, had a completely non-sexual crush on Rick Witkowski , the guitar player for Crack the Sky and The B E Taylor Group. He was an incredible musician and one cool mofo to chat with. Hawk and I had run into him on a few occasions and he was never snobby or too cool to shoot the shit with us for a few minutes. One time, he told us about opening his own recording studio, Studio L, in Weirton WV. Forget everything you've ever heard about West Virginia, we drove there many times over the course of the next year or so and I only ever screwed one sheep. Anyway, the whole band loaded up and toured the studio and it was agreed that Ask a Stranger would record their debut CD at Studio L. The experience was a complete blast. We did six songs in about 48 hours. Rick kept things relaxed and we kept Rick up real late at night. Rick asked if he could play tamborine on Eve of Destruction. He did a great job and it made all of us feel a connection to him and that he believed in the CD. We ended up recording The Institute Song at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Lou who ran the studio there was a friend of Rick's. He needed a song to record for his students to mix and produce. Rick told him we worked fast and wouldn't be doing heroin or banging who-ers in the vocal booth so Lou had us in. It was cool getting to record in a Million Dollar room. But in the end, the tracks we cut at Studio L were the most memorable. Rick and Deb Witkowski are fine people and run a great facility. Over the next few months, we recorded two more songs at Studio L. Eve of Destruction and Lost It's Hold were last two to make the CD and in my mind those two songs Make the CD. Important tip: Never, I mean, Never miss band practice. Even if you have explosive, projectile diarreha. You know, THE SHITS. I did this one night. And while I was on my death bed, did my fellow band mates come to see me? Did they hold a vigil outside my house to speed my recovery? No! The fuckers wrote a song without me. Rat Bastards. Goin' Down was the end result. I do not play on the song on the CD. I did not play on the song live (until it started going over really well then, I was all over that tambourine!).

At this time I have to give mad props to Gary Smith. Gary was live sound engineer for Rockhopper and Ask a Stranger. Gary is also a wonderfully talented artist. He did the promo artwork for Rockhopper and Ask a Stranger. Also the cover art for Stranger Things Have Happened and Small Eternity was all Gary. Gary and I have a strange chemistry but when I was describing cover ideas for the CDs, it's like Gary just looks beyond the words and pulls the visual right out for you to see. A great talent. Gary also co-produced the Ask a Stranger CD with us.

So, we go back to Clarion and start tellin' everybody that we have a CD coming out. That made us big shit for a while. Enter: Sean Brennen. Sean was a college student in Clarion. Ask a Stranger needed a lighting engineer. We got introduced to Sean through the same guy that introduced Tom Petroff. (I think). Now, I've mentioned that Tom was a Prick. Well, as big of a Prick as Tom was, That's how incredibly cool Sean was and is. I would go through the Tom thing 50 times if it meant that I got to meet Sean Brennen. Sean came in and ran a good light show, but he also had all these great ideas on promoting the band. In no time Sean became the idea man, the cheerleader, the esprit d'corps of Ask a Stranger. He has a genuinely magnet personallity and his personality is genuinely magnetic. He helped, pushed, pulled, and held the band together at times. more to come .....
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OK, class. Back to the history lesson. This will be the final chapter in back sell of Ask a Stranger. Absolutely, Positively, Most likely. I need to update y'all on a line up change that I missed. When we came back from Studio L after the first recording session, Tom Fornoff quit, or was fired or let go. He began to see himself as the fifth wheel. His contribution to the recording process was limited and when we hit the clubs to promote the upcoming CD, his heart just wasn't in it. I kinda liked the guy but when he became the malcontent, well that was enough for everybody. I'm not sure if Jeffro or Hawk ended up being the heavy and having "The Talk", but when it was all said and done, we carried on without Tom. When we remixed the Stranger Things Have Happened CD, we took out most all of his keyboard parts leaving just the background vocals that he did with the rest of the singing type dudes. This was prior to God sending Sean Brennen to us. Sean began promoting Ask a Stranger in a positive way. This was a novel approach to the rest of us who usually promoted ourselves silently or by the ever popular Contempt for the Crowd stylings made popular by many bands you've never heard of because Contempt for the Audience gets you nowhere fast. We played several gigs at Clarion University; our own shows and part of a package deal featuring other western Pennsylvania bands. We also opened for The Clarks at the university. Around this time we also started opening up for "has been bands" like Molly Hatchet, The Byrds, Dr. Hook, Rare Earth, Commander Cody and various other answers to music trivia questions. Bands started opening up for US at this point. Very cool. Around the time of the Stranger Things Have Happened release we made a distribution deal with the now defunct National Record Mart chain of stores. The CD would be in all of their stores and sold at the live shows. Upon its release that mother took off. We made National Record Mart's hot sheet four months in a row. It was 1992 and Ask a Stranger was right up there selling units like we were Heart or Guns n Roses (in western PA, in a chain that was nearly bankrupt, but hey, the hot sheet don't lie). We were getting that ever elusive RADIO PLAY too, Eve of Destruction and Lost its Hold got quite a few spins. Witkowski made a suggestion to WDVE, who was hot shit in the AOR radio game at the time, and got us played there too. We did radio interviews at college stations in PA and NY. TV spots on college stations as well as a late night music talk show in Johnstown produced by a righteous fella named Larry Corcoron . THEN, we added the coup 'd gras ....... CHEESECAKE! Yup, girlie backup singers that could ... get this ... really sing. Julie Findlan and Michelle McElhinny were added to flesh out the huge vocals that were on the CD and, frankly, to take the attention off of us homely bastards. The girls were a huge hit. It was decided in a secret, locked door meeting that we would have nothing personally to do with the women in the band. No hanky panky, no relationships, no dice. Jeff and Julie have been married about ten years now and Michelle hooked up with one or members of the road crew. Ah, the road crew. Not what you picture when you think of rock band road crew. Gary, Sean, Dez, Billy G, & Samir were some of the best promotion Ask a Stranger ever had. Those guys were often the first impression club owners, staff and audience members had of us and they were never left with a bad taste. That crew had to set up and tear down literally tons of equipment every night, as often as four nights a week, in some of the most challenging situations that you could imagine. Those guys never once failed to make Ask a Stranger look and sound its best. They were pros. Then, we got signed to a management deal. Sean contacted GMA (Goode Music Association of Minneapolis) and got us noticed by them. These guys were actual players in the big leagues. They managed touring bands like The Rainmakers and The Jets. One of their agents, Charles Garza, came to check us out and liked what he saw (for the most part). He had big plans for getting us out on the road doing our own tour as well as opening up for real headliners like Tesla and Aerosmith. We were stoked, b ut Charles pointed out that the $$ on the road would be thin at times and that we should take only the personnel that absolutely had to make the trip. That meant no cheesecake and only Gary and Sean on the crew. At this point Haig resigned his post. His father was in very poor health and Mike being the stand up guy that he is, stayed behind to care for him. We were sad to lose Haig and in the whirlwind of getting things ready to
go on the road I'm not sure we ever really let him know what he meant to all of us. He was selfless and helpful and a really good friend to Hawk and myself. Hey! We need a bass player. Sean had a friend, Kurt Grottenthaler, who played. We asked him down one night to hang out and talked to him about joining the band. "You mean to play bass?" He asked. "Yeah" We said. "Wow, I thought you guys were gonna ask me to be on the road crew!" Kurt was a good player with a really agressive style on the bass; and with everything else he did. He and I stood on the same side of the stage every night, cracked jokes, danced like geeks, and crushed Julie between us when she was trying to sing. It was good times. Til we got dropped that is. Country music was becoming very popular in the early 90's and a lot of club owners were starting to book country acts exclusively. We could have made a change in the band's line up to keep us in the game but it was decided that we were an 'all for one, one for all' type of a band and we declined. That would later
bite us in the ass and cause me many sleepless nights mired in 'what ifs' when I should have been jerkin' off like a real man. So, we kept gigging and gigging and gigging. The CD was still selling, we were still popular. Rod Shaffer , a booking agent that we had heard nothing but evil things about, was booking us in pretty much any club we wanted for what ever price we asked for. Rod is another solid guy in the Ask a Stranger history. He treated us great. Didn't ask us to sign a contract; he said "If you guys get tired of me or I get tired of you guys, we'll quit working together." Yeah, pure fucking evil, that one. Little did we know, that Sean was having to give Jeff monthly pep talks to keep him in the band. Christ, we were still grindin' man. We had some bad luck on the management deal but shit, that's the business. Get up, get back at 'em. We were writing new songs for another CD. Kurt was helping the writing process. He was great as far as pulling the rhythm section together. We had a promo video sent out. Not to mention, we had to pay for the video. Then, bad luck came in waves. The truck that carried the equipment was involved in a wreck in white-out conditions on I-79. Luckily Sean and Billy G were not hurt but the truck was pretty beat up. Kurt quit to become a physical therapist assistant. Michelle quit because she has a chromosome that prohibits her from succeeding. We replaced Kurt with Rocky Ray (Kuhn) DeParis. A less agressive player but in many ways more of a fit as bass player. For the life of me right now I can't remember the name of the back up singer that replaced Michelle (ed. note: Sharon ) . Anyway, we trudged on. Things were still good, but not great. We just needed to regroup and give it another run. Jeff became more and more distant until he decided to become in his words "a free agent". He left the band and sang for a band that did all cover material. They were called Lawyers, Guns and Money. They were a good band but honestly, I never saw them with Jeff singing. We auditioned other singers with no luck. Some could sing but were not into showing up places on time or not showing up at all, some just plain couldn't fucking sing. The band was defunct. Hawk and I took a few months off and then put the last version of Ask a Stranger together. It was Hawk, Me, Richard Eustice on vocals, Dom Catanzarito on bass/vocals and Jason Dunlop on drums. That band did mostly covers mixed with seven or eight originals. Richard was a great front man and a really good singer. That band rocked a little harder than the Stranger Things Have Happened version of Ask a Stranger and I had more fun playing in that band than I've ever had. That band kinda fizzled after I bailed to persue a full time career as a paramedic. I think that line up could still pack the clubs if it was out there today.

Here is the rundown, the 411, the poop, the skinny, the scuttlebutt on Ask a Stranger members in case VH1 is looking to put us back together.

Stranger Things Have Happened - Recording LineUp
Dave Buzard - Paramedic Supervisor, Married (2000), stepson, responsible for all things Project Twelve(34)

Dave Hawk - Media mogul, music producer, engineer, video editor, web master, member of The Fender Benders and The RRR Roadhouse Band. Hey, how ya doin', good to see ya, thanks for comin' out.

Mike Hagan - Living quietly in western PA, still a blast to hang out with. He has maybe made me laugh more than any other person in my life. Neat.

Jeff Powell - Has an on again, off again folk trio called The Three of Us with his sister and cousin. Two CDs released. Has on again, off again contact with Ask a Stranger members about future projects. Who knows?... Working on a play about a church softball player.

Willie Bauer Jr. - Still playing drums like he's never played before. He has his own website. He'll see ya Wensday, mister.

Touring Heyday Additions
Kurt Grottenthaler - Last known living in the south. Laying hands upon people. Making meetings 'cause meeting makers make it.

Michelle McElhinny - Waited on my table a few months ago. really, yes, really, me, waiting tables, yes, you. waiting tables, yes.

Julie Findlan - See Jeff Powell.

Tom Fornoff - Unknown

Richard Eustice - Fronting eclectic band called Eclectic Radio. Fronting it well. Mentoring his nephew, Chris Kirkpatrick. Honest.

Ray DeParis - Living in beautiful DuBois. Otherwise unknown.

Jason Dunlop

Dominic Catanzarito - Currently prancing and playing bass with Leverage

Tracy Reed - Tracy and his wife, Brenda were killed by a drunk driver on Jan 11, 2004.

Tom Petroff - Accusing, deceiving, destroying and tormenting souls and polishing his pitchfork.

Billy Nudi - Married a beautiful young lady named Lori, who as it turns out is an amazing bass player. (may they begat the rhythm section of the future)
The Best Crew in the Business
Gary Smith - Music production and engineering, runs Ravengal graphics. Did cover art and layout on Small Eternity and Stranger Things Have Happened. His artwork is beautiful and should be displayed at a gallery near you, if it isn't all ready. Coming this fall, the home version of The Gary Game.

Sean Brennen - Swimmimg with the sharks in Nashville. Discovering tomorrows radio sensations today. Still as cool as ever. He'll need extra napkins and a large water whenever you get a minute, please.

Des Schiffhouer - Working underground and may very well know more about you than you know about yourself. He loves New York.

Billy G - The inmate is watching the asylum, if you know what I mean.

Samir - Living back in the UAE, watching reruns of the Six Million Dollar Man in arabic and english. Keeping his head down.

That's it. If you want to know anything else about that band start your own damned website.
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Anyone giving a shit about Ask a Stranger can take note. We've been kicking around the idea of playing a few shows this Summer. It will feature a goodly number of original members. Right now we're just looking for someone to play the low notes and the right venues to show our old asses off. I think it'll be a blast and I'll keep you all posted on when we might be in your town. Jeff and I were kicking around having part of the gig showcase what we've been up to since Ask a Stranger folded. We would do one of Jeff's tunes from his folk outfit THE THREE OF US, one of Hawk's 4 ON THE FLOOR rockin' numbers and of course Willie Bauer Jr's JAZZ FUSION classic "Good Morning, gentlemen". Also, I will try to bully the boys into a Project Twelve(34) groove. Restless and Rusted would sound good live, or the new song, Slant 66 might get over. (Get Over is a Witkowski term for people liking your song) I'll be the fat guy with the sun burn. See ya this Summer.