Jeremy L. Berg

I’m like a kid in a candy shop these days, living out some teenager’s dream of forming a band and preparing for our first local gig — one I hope will draw many friends for a night of fun! Call it a midlife crisis, or just call it a ton of fun, I’m certainly blessed to have musically gifted friends (and their kids!) to call upon!

We christened our basement music cavern this weekend by having our first band rehearsal. It was SO FUN to put all the equipment to good use and make the walls rattle a bit. Let me introduce the band and give a sneak peek.

My buddy Dan Erickson is a fellow Mound Westonka grad, and solid bassist who was also in a band back in the day. Dan’s daughter, Claire, is tag-teaming on the bass and adding her beautiful voice to a couple songs including the Bob Dylan song Adele made famous, “To Make You Feel My Love.”

Then there’s the Berg crew. I’m doing my best to lead this fiasco on lead vocals and guitars and harmonica and a banjo appearance on Taylor Swift’s “Our Song” hopefully sung by my Abby (9). Abby is taking voice lessons and wants to tackle Lady Gaga’s “Shallow” which terrifies me, but we’re giving it a go. We’ll also sing Johnny Cash and June Carter’s version of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”

Meanwhile, my prodigious 13 year old, Peter, is hammering on the keyboards most of the time, but eager to pick up the guitar for a couple and possibly jump on the drums for a stint. We’ve tapped local musician and Peter’s guitar teacher, Greg Sletten, who will probably make a couple appearances during the night. What fun!

I shared two goals with the band as we began our first (of just two) rehearsals: 1) Let’s have a ton of fun and not take ourselves too seriously; but 2) let’s put in the work so we don’t humiliate ourselves! I’m so proud of and amazed by the fearless confidence of Peter, and courage of Abby. You wouldn’t find me anywhere near a stage in front of people when I was their age.

Without us knowing, Claire and Dan grabbed a couple videos at our first rehearsal, and so I threw together a short promo video. (These are literally first tries at these songs – not bad!) Check it out and go grab your tickets and support this fundraiser for the Gillespie Center and help cheer us on over a plate of spaghetti! Use QR code to purchase through Venmo.