Just what is an “infernofest”?
If you have stumbled onto this website and are clueless to what Infernofest is all about; let me clue you in.
Central Ohio in the mid 60’s was a garage band music lover’s heaven. After being turned on by the Beatles and the Stones, teens in this area were blessed with a plethora of teen clubs and teen bands. Mount Vernon native, Larry Woolsen, saw the handwriting on the wall and started a teen dance in Mansfield at the YMCA and dubbed it “The Inferno”. It was a hit right from the start and had all the local great bands, including: The Wildife, Sir Timothy and the Royals ( who later became the Ohio Express), The Music Explosion who exploded on the national scene with their hit “Little Bit O’ Soul” to name just a few.
The Inferno and other clubs in the area (The Boat House, The Balloon Farm, Snow Trails Ski Lodge) brought us “kids” superb music from all over the state (the always wonderful Dantes, The Choir, Lemon Pipers, and even bands from other states; The Rationals and Terry Knight and the Pack from Michigan and the Left Banke from NY and a list way too long to name.
As we grew up and our lives carried us along many different paths; many of us remembered those days of great rock and roll with great affection. In the mid 90’s a few of us were hanging out going through our memory banks and remembering the great music and groovy times we had at those dances. It was remarked that to have a reunion of those bands and to see all our old friends from those places would make a better class reunion than the ones that our high schools provided us, because we would see the people that we really grooved with and had the best times with.
That was in 1998 and here we are in 2009 having put to bed Infernofest 2008, our 6th Fest. We had our work cut out for us right from the beginning, but have always found the challenge great fun and the added bonus of being a benefit for Hospice of North Central Ohio has been a joy when it comes time to hand over the money to such a great organization.
We have had great musicians grace our fests right from the first fest when Jimmy Lynch and the JuJu Bees helped us make that night a rousing success.
Past performers have been:
The above mentioned Ju Ju Bees, Street Foxx, Bob Ross of the Wildlife, along with the Wildlife after the first event, The Buckles, The Ohio Express, The Music Explosion, Dave Workman as a guest performer and along with the Dantes for the past 2 fests, Charlie Bleak, Steve Rousseau with and without Stick People, Falon Donahue, Dean Kastran, Dale Powers, Mike Brumm, Dennis Eggerton, Back on Earth and Mahogany Popsicle, Satan’s Satellites (who went by the code name of The Satellite Four to avoid controversy), Blue Steel, Bob Tougsignant who did stints as drummer with both the Music Explosion and Wildlife, Mark Norris, Tommy See, Pat Wasseman, the ever cool Mike Brumm,with and without his band, Shindig, the fabulous Es-Shades with my good pal Cat Rood, and last but certainly not least: our fave as the new up and coming band from Shelby; Duff!!
So Infernofest is a reunion of musicians, old friends and new friends who gather together for one night to relive those outtasite days when we grooved to the tunes that still resonate in our hearts and minds.
