They call themselves The Dogs, and they will be howling together for the first time tonight, May 18, at Morristown High School.
It’s a familiar venue for Mark Gutkowski, Mike Butler, Steve Woodruff and John Madden–as teachers, not rock stars.
But at 7 pm they will join a bunch of student bands in a benefit concert for the school radio station, WJSV 90.5 FM.
The show will go on as scheduled, despite a smoky electrical malfunction on Friday morning that sent students home early.
We want to emphasize that there is absolutely no evidence to rumors–started here–that the faculty members, overcome by stage fright, somehow were behind this incident.
For the record, The Dogs feature Mark, a Latin teacher, on guitar; Mike, head of the broadcasting department, plays drums, while Steve, the station engineer, handles bass. As an English teacher, John was a natural choice for vocalist.
The last time we saw Mark, he was refereeing a chariot race by toga-phobic members of the Latin Club. We asked him to describe a Dog’s life. Here’s what he revealed:
“Yeah, being in a rock band is tough work with all the practicing and those grueling hours in the studio arranging and mixing, especially when you are trying to prepare lesson plans and grade tests for the students at MHS,” said Mark, who teaches advanced students in the school’s Classics Academy.
“The 7:30 am school start is rough on a rock musician. We’re treating this as a reunion show of sorts, even though we’ve never officially ever played a live show together. Our extreme popularity has really been a result of social media and the Millennials who have adopted us, middle-aged rockers, as the music for their generation.
“Again, I need to stress that we’ve never played live before but our music has been extremely influential. I’m a little concerned about our first show because I’m afraid that people are going to label us a cover band. But all of the songs that we are playing are our original material.
“I’m probably violating a number of contracts that we’ve signed since the late ’60s, but we have indeed ghost-written material for a number of bands like the Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges, and Wire. We have been in three lengthy (not to mention expensive) lawsuits with the Rolling Stones about copyright infringement on our first album.
“I’m not allowed to comment further on the lawsuits as the trials are still pending, but I’m feeling that we have a strong case, especially with the song Satisfaction.
“Anyway, many people in the community think that we teach in school for the fame and money. I hate to say it, but all of it has really been a necessity for us to fund the Rolling Stones lawsuits. The rock? Well, that’s just in our blood.”
The Dogs will share the cafeteria stage with Captain Lung, Autumn of My Days, Destination Downfall, Angry Politicians, Tristan Catania, Jenna Fairey and Brian Pezzuti. Tickets are $3 per person, or $5 for two people, or $400 for 999 people.
