We are family...or were, anyway

The following story was written in Duck, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks. Not that it had to be: the subject matter required absolutely no travel whatsoever. I could have done the writing and the phone interviews from York and all would have been fine and dandy.

Exactly why didn't I do that, anyway?

Like all good musical pseudo-families---The Thompson Twins, Bros., MFSB---Ashley and her relatives would soon become “estranged” from one another. In this particular case, it proves that a blood bond is stronger than one born out of newspaper ads and stalking.

LIVE FROM CODORUS PARK: ASHLEY MARIE & FAMILY WHO ARE NOT ACTUALLY FAMILY

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS MORE NOT FAMILY AND EVEN MORE NOT FAMILY

By David O’Connell

(published in The York Dispatch on June 26, 2003, sans stupid headline)
At first glance, the band name Ashley Marie & Family gives off all the wrong vibes. One expects an aggressively wholesome family combo, with a cloying child vocalist strutting about the stage, smothering the audience with truckloads of sass. Lots of hand clapping, corny skits, that kind of thing.

So it’s a surprise to find that Ashley Marie is a full-grown, 20-year-old singer, and her “family” consists of rock ‘n’ roll musicians who bear no familial relation to her at all.

In fact, the “family” in the band’s name comes from a comment guitarist Chris Bell made one night in a state of post-gig euphoria. “We had signed a lot of autographs and a million people had told us we were the greatest,” says Marie. “We were sitting there patting each other on the back and our guitar player said 'I never thought when I joined this band that I would have this much fun. You guys are like family to me.'”

Being a caring, sensitive bunch, the other band members laughed at his syrupy comment and ridiculed him for weeks. Marie even played up his gushy remark at gigs, pointing to her bassist and calling him “Dad,” and confusing more than a few audience members in the process.

The joke wound up sticking, which is why a group with the name Ashley Marie & Family will be taking the stage at Saturday’s 'Codorus Summer Blast', lifting off June 28 from Codorus Park. In addition to Ashley’s close-knit clan, the event will also feature veteran oldies band Pentagon, as well as The Colgan Brothers Band.

Though Ashley wasn’t the precocious show-off in a family country band as a kid, the truth is not much different. “I got ridiculed in school for my deep, manly voice, so I had to put a good use to it,” she says. “My local 4-H had a performing arts club, and they provided the entertainment for the Carroll County Fair in Maryland. One year, I got the opportunity to sing a few songs to taped backgrounds, and afterward everyone kept requesting that I sing more.”

From that karaoke launching pad, Marie’s star shot into the stratosphere. A writer from The Baltimore Sun penned an article on the preternaturally talented youngster, and a local TV station put together a piece on the little starlet. At the age of fourteen, she entered a Baltimore-area talent search and walked away with the top prize, allowing her the opportunity to open for Martina McBride and record a solo CD.

All the hype proved beneficial in 1997, when Marie decided to form her own band. “The best thing is that we had gigs lined up before we were a band, due to the publicity behind my name,” she says. “I was singing in a local club as part of the house band, and people were coming in and offering to book me at other places. So I formed my own band.”

In the grand tradition of countless other musical ventures, Marie’s band was assembled through the timeless magic of newspaper ads. Within a few weeks, they even had their very own stalker, whom they soon put to good use.

“A month after the ad had run, this gentlemen named Dave Staccone called up and said 'I’m going to be your bass player', like it was a fait accompli or something," recalls Marie. “I told him that we already had a bass player, but we’ll keep you in mind if anything happens---expecting him never to call again. The very next night, he phoned again and said, 'Hey, has that bass player quit yet, because I know I’m going to be your bass player.'

“So I asked him who he had played with, and he came back with all these really big names, like the Everly Brothers. I thought, either this guy is full of it or he’s got a great resume.”

A stalker’s greatest tool is persistence, and it eventually paid dividends for Staccone, making him one of our country’s more accomplished stalkers. “Our bassist had family obligations, and couldn’t keep to our touring schedule, so Dave ended up stepping in,” she says. “He was great. Later on, he said, 'See, I told you I was going to be your bass player.'”

With the missing piece of the puzzle in place, the quintet set about playing club gigs. They signed with Mirasound, a European subsidiary of EMI, and released a CD of non-original material in 2001. They are currently working on a new CD, with Marie and her 'relatives' determined to exercise more creative control over this project.

“We have so much material that it would be silly to do other people’s songs,” asserts Marie.

That job will fall to Pentagon, the Rich Clare-led outfit known for their oldies medleys and between-song comedy sketches. Formed in 1971, Pentagon has played everywhere from Harrah’s in Atlantic City (for 31 straight weeks) to the QEII (for a Steve Allen-hosted variety special) to this year’s Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire 'Blast From The Past' festival (where the elements won out and drenched them in a torrential downpour.)

In the 80s, Clare and company played casinos during the day and clubs at night, penning more than 200 originals in a bid for a major-label record deal. A number of labels, including Geffen, showed interest, but nothing ever materialized. Disillusioned, two members jumped ship, and Clare retired from performing to manage the group full-time. Five years later, Clare embraced what we would now call his “inner Michael Jordan” and came out of retirement, leading Pentagon through the 90s with the band’s only other remaining original member, Jim Colestock.

In 2001, the band released their 30th anniversary CD, bearing the logical title of Pentagon 30, and celebrated the milestone with a show at Hersheypark.

Clare describes the live show with the sort of confidence that naturally springs from three decades of touring: “I have pretty good business savvy. I know what it takes to entertain folks without compromising what we do. The band has always rocked, and on top of that, we do music that people know and we do it well.”

Another band offering their take on other people’s music at the Codorus Blast is The Colgan Brothers Band. Built around the nucleus of siblings Brian and Pat Colgan, this quartet runs the gamut from harmony-drenched acoustic music to straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll.

Brian credits his family as his inspiration for performing: “The Colgan family has always been pretty musical. We had aunts and uncles who played piano and were in jazz bands. We took piano lessons and were exposed to a lot of music while we were growing up.”

After a fifteen-year run and one CD release, the Colgan Brothers are about to call it quits. However, Brian plans to form a new band and concentrate on writing and recording his own original material.

In addition to a seemingly neverending supply of music, the Codorus Summer Blast will feature fireworks, hot air balloons, and a series of educational displays. For those of you who want to be photographed inside a giant strawberry, your strangeness will help benefit the Make-A-Wish foundation. There will also be a craft show and various exhibits on display.

-Dave O'Connell