Sunday, April 05, 2009

Led Zeppelin brings families together

Late Sunday afternoon at Mad Maggie's in downtown Elgin and "Kashmir," a Led Zeppelin chestnut comes wafting out of the PA system like it has a millions times at thousands of bars over the last four decades. Yeah, Robert Plant is 60, and Jimmy Page is 65. So if you're a teen, Zeppelin, once the symbol of youthful rock and roll excess and bombast, is, indeed, your grandfather's music.

"Yeah, that's funny. They got the name because people said they'd go over like a lead zeppelin," Ken Elsenbroek said. "But it's still working for people. Who would have ever thought that?"

And who over a certain age would have ever thought that rock would one day become a family bonding experience, like Little League baseball or or a Sunday pot roast dinner at grandma's?

See, Elsenbroek and his wife, Marguerite, were in the bar helping their son, Kenny, 17, set up his drum kit for a gig with the band named after a town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Copper Harbor. The kit actually used to be Elsenrbroek's, and his son, a junior and Genoa-Kingston High, has been drumming pretty much from the time he could hold beat out a rhythm with sticks. The boys in the band practice in the Elsenbroek family basement three times a week, which is a bit different that when Ken was a kid.

Growing up in DuPage County, "My parents didn't mind me being in a band, but it was two different lifestyles. Once in awhile they'd get to a show. With Kenny, we try to make all his events," said Elsenbroek.

Elsenbroek's band played hard rock, with Aerosmith, Foghat, Rush, and, of course, the aforementioned Zeppelin, among its influences.

Some of the bands Kenny's age do, indeed, play tunes by such rock dinosaurs. And they dress like them, too, as if the last 30 years never happened, or they heard about a casting call for a sequel to "Almost Famous."

But Kenny said Copper Harbor, which also features Dillon Anderson, Mikhael Colon, and Jeremy Quinones, all of Elgin, is more of an indie unit that covers some Bayside tunes. Unlike back in the day, when you'd have to hear them live or hope somebody had one of those new-fangled cassette players, you can check them out online on MySpace. And you can check out Bayside, too, without having to head out to sift through bins at an old fashioned record store.

Still, "I still listen to (Led Zeppelin), too. It doesn't get old. It will always be around. (The family) were listening to them on the way over," said Kenny.

Maggie's hosts all ages shows a good many Sunday evenings, giving younger bands a crack at playing a venue with professional stage lighting and a good sound system. Bar owner Sean Davis said the Elsenbroek family's support of their son and the infatuation with the 70s typical of what he sees at such concerts.

"We get tables filled with moms, dads, neighbors. Even grandpa and grandma come out," said Davis.

That's not to mention that parents' minivans come in handy for hauling equipment. Or that while his dad sipped a beer before the set, Kenny had a bottle of strawberry lemonade.

It all gives a whole new, practically wholesome, meaning to "Whole Lotta Love."

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