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News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/11/11 is coming, a once-a-century date that’s "all one" and the perfect moment to reflect on unity. For Bonefish Johnny and Down Pat, the sibling duo behind Florida funk rock band Groove Thangs, it’s a perfect time to get together and perform their positive party music, not just for their loyal fans in the south but for everybody everywhere via a concert broadcast live on the world wide web! With lead singer Down Pat living in upstate New York and the rest of the band located in Fort Lauderdale and New Orleans, Groove Thangs only convene as a unit semi-annually at most and usually in their swampy Florida stomping grounds. But unwilling to let 11/11/11 pass without a gesture from the artists who once emblazoned their merchandise with the message "One Nation: Earth; One Race: Human; One Faith: Love; One Time: Now," Bonefish is heading up north to where the brothers will put on their very first webcast, from the shores of Lake George, New York to the entire planet! The show will actually take place on Thursday, November 10, 8:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time (which will be 11/11/11, 1:00 AM, Greenwich Mean Time) at Frederick’s Restaurant in the quaint village of Bolton Landing in New York, USA. If you are in the tri-state area come on up, no cover! The webcast is free too and will be at allone.groovethangs.com. Viewing parties will be happening at Boston’s On The Beach in Delray Beach, Florida and other locations to be announced. Bonefish Johnny and Down Pat will be performing new original songs, experimental renditions and hits from Groove Thangs’ 25 year catalogue, with sounds ranging from electronic to unplugged, alone and with special guests. Using the Livestream platform for the webcast, the concert will be supplemented with pre-recorded segments, remote feeds, live chat and more! The whole event, including a re-broadcast and wrap-up during the rest of November 11, is being documented for inclusion in the One Day On Earth project, an annual global day of media creation that makes an archive and film showcasing "the amazing diversity, conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occur in one day" on the planet. This unitary perception resonates with Groove Thangs, whose "All One" motto is more than just a t-shirt, it’s an idea they actually believe. In songs like "Clean Break," one can hear the band’s earnest post-tribal vision of the world. Bonefish Johnny claims to be an "imaginationalist" who subscribes to the sentiments of the John Lennon anthem. He knows you may think he’s a dreamer. "But I don’t think that the world living as one is such a utopian ideal, I think it’s realistic," says the songwriter. "What’s hopelessly utopian is thinking the mess we have now is somehow going to work out!" Down Pat’s view expands to the promise of the future, no doubt influenced by his family as a third generation Star Trek fan. "Eventually we have to leave our divisions behind if we want to join the rest of the galaxy," says the singer. "It’s a Federation of planets, not countries. We are Earth!" For more on Groove Thangs All One concert and webcast, go to http://allone.groovethangs.com To find out about One Day On Earth, go to http://onedayonearth.org
Summer 2011: Groove Thangs are now making their entire catalog of music availalbe for FREE listening and downloads for purchase at Bandcamp.com. We’re going green and phasing out CD’s and CDR’s in favor of strictly digital releases, but we supply the artwork for you to make CD’s yourself if you want. Using Bandcamp enables us to sell our music cheaper and to provide free streaming enjoyment to anyone online. Meanwhile, we still have some Uppression re-mastered reissue CD’s left, which can be ordered from CDBaby. We’ve gone back and done a little retcon to give ALL our studio recordings a digital release, including Pat’s singles from the 00’s and almost all the 80’s era stuff (gathered into a reissue album handily entitled "Eighties Era"). No firm plans yet on a digital release of live recordings.
Reunion Recap and Holiday Ratings! Groove Thangs had a great time bringing the heat to Fort Lauderdale’s GrooveFest (see below). It was so very cool to have all the guys on stage and all that love coming from the audience. Thanks to everyone who came out, fans old and new and even the parent thangs! If you missed the show, you can always dig some photos here and check out video on YouTube. Speaking of YouTube videos, we are pleased to say that views of Groove Thangs’ holiday favorite "Funky Christmas" tripled this season, starting 2011 off with over 21,000 hits!
Groove Thangs featuring original members Down Pat, Bonefish Johnny, Jeff Watkins, Kilmo and Jeff Renza with Bob Taylor and special guest Tim Kuchta will be performing at The First Annual Riverwalk GrooveFest taking place Nov. 19-21, 2010 at the Downtowner Saloon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It will be jamming all weekend long with a dozen acts including Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes, Crazy Fingers and more. GT’s hit the stage on Sunday, November 21 for the band’s only show of the year! Don’t miss it! Update: Music and video! We reorganized the music section of this site to now lead with Groove Thangs’ discography, putting all the songs we are giving away in their proper context! Even more Groove Thangs recordings for exclusive streaming and download are available here. Our video page has been updated with text links (we opted out of embedding) to all kinds of great video, on Groove Thangs’ YouTube channel and others. Check it out!
Update: Old Songs & New Pics! Photos of Groove Thangs’ most recent live concerts have been added to the photos page and now available for free download in the music section are 7 original songs from the band’s 1988 cassette-only release Demonstrate (plus a snippet of live madness from 1991). Enjoy!
A Funky Christmas and a Groovy New Year Had By All! It’s 2010 and in the year since Bonefish Johnny posted "Funky Christmas" on YouTube, Groove Thangs’ holiday video has racked up over 7,500 views! Among the comments, one user from the UK reports: "My funk band are covering this for our Xmas Concert. It’s a glorious piece of music!" Ain’t it though? Thanks to everyone who shared this around!
Groove Thangs Reunite for Boston’s On The Beach 30th Anniversary Wed. Oct. 21, 2009! Boston’s On The Beach in Delray Beach, FL is celebrating their 30th year of existence and they have invited Groove Thangs to reunite for a special show on Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Original members Bonefish Johnny, Kilmo and Tim Kuchta will be joined by Down Pat who’s flying in from New York plus the long awaited return of sax player Jeff Watkins to the line-up! We’ll be doing giveaways of Groove Thangs CD’s and other surprises! Cadence opens and there’s no cover charge! One night only, so let’s do it up right!
Big Up To The Thang Gang for GT’s Silver Jubilee Success! Thanks to everyone for making Groove Thangs’ "Silver Jubilee" reunion shows in April 2009 a great success and a fantastic party! It was cool to be kicking the old favorites as well as debut new tunes, not to mention the brothers reprising their duo act Double Shot! Saw lots of familar faces and plenty of new converts to the gang! Highlights included a surprise appearence at the Boston’s show by Dancing Dotty, Groove Thangs’ lengendary go-go girl from back in the day. All in all, a groovy way to mark a quarter century of making funky music together! Much appreciation to Boston’s On The Beach and Alligator Alley for hosting us and to Andy and Bernice of Blue Water Grafix for handling the merch. A very special thanks to Judy Blem, Adam Firtel, Jim Dix, Bongo, Charlie and all the other documentarians who took photos and shot video to post on the internet for the rest of the world to enjoy! We love your guts!
Silver Jubilee 2009: Groove Thangs celebrate 25th anniversary with reunion shows, new music!
Original members Down Pat, Bonefish Johnny, Kilmo and Tim Kuchta will be joined by keyboardist Bob Taylor to reprise the band’s line-up. (Sax player Jeff Watkins was originally committed to perform, but has regrettably been called away to play with his current employer, soulful songstress Joss Stone.) Here’s the dope:
At all these appereances we will have commemorative Silver Jubilee t-shirts for sale, as well as CD’s. Jazz Blues Florida (formerly Hot House Magazine) gives the Groove Thangs reunion a nice write-up courtesy of old friend and one time Sun-Sentinel/City Link columnist Bob Weinberg (check out his great blog). Sun-Sentinel music writer and blogger Deborah Ramirez gives Groove Thangs a shout out as well. Whether you have been a fan for 25 years or you just learned of us today, we want you to be part of Groove Thangs’ Silver Jubilee! Please come out and rock the house with us!
Groove Thangs Reissue Classic Music on CD! Groove Thangs are proud to announce the long-awaited CD reissue of their classic cassette releases from 1990, Hut Rock & Shack Music and Barbandismo. Compiled onto a single disc, it’s 15 tracks worth of everything from blues to funk to reggae and beyond, featuring some of Groove Thangs most popular songs! More vinatge goodness is also available with the CD Loose Ends, an EP featuring seven previously unreleased original songs recorded in 1992 and tied up in 2009, plus "60 Somethin’", a brand new tune that uses sounds sampled from the ’92 sessions. Take a listen now! All Groove Thangs CD’a are available for purchase at Big Cypress Records. Digital downloads of the band’s award winning 1991 release Uppression can be bought from CD Baby and soon on I-Tunes and Amazon!
Welcome to groovethangs.com! It’s been a long time coming but here we are! There’s a lot of stuff on this site and it may seem like overkill, but it’s a story to be told and music to share, so please click around and enjoy. It’s not done yet either and we need your help - we are currently seeking photos of Groove Thangs t-shirts (on or off people) and any other cool pics anyone might want to donate. Send ’em to Bonefish Johnny at boney@bonefishjohnny.com!
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Groove Thangs Reunite for Riverwalk GrooveFest, Nov. 21, 2010!
Groove Thangs are celebrating their twenty fifth year of existence with two live performances in Florida and the release of two fresh CD’s!