Media

“Reaching for the Stars”

Film, Album To Honor JD

Imagine the biggest music stars in America singing our favorite Blend and Do-Rights songs. Picture JD, Steven, Skip, Ken and Donnie memorialized on the silver screen. If one lifelong fan of the band has his way, both of those dreams will become reality by 2011.

Author and filmmaker Paul Tukey, who first saw The White Mountain National Blend in 1974, is in the process of producing a tribute album and documentary film focusing on the legacy of his friend, J.D. Drown. “This is a project we have conceived of for years,” said Paul Tukey, who produced the award-winning feature-length documentary film “A Chemical Reaction” with director Brett Plymale in 2009. “We set out to produce a trailer in time for this year’s tribute show, but passion took over and we wound up with a short film. I think it’s going to blow away people who, like me, were huge fans of the band.”

“Over time, The Blend was as good as any band I ever saw . . . ever,” said music promoter Andrew Govatsos in one of the opening scenes of the film. “In terms of lasting legacy, no local band beats The Blend,” said disk jockey Brian James of WBLM based in Portland, Maine. Tukey plans to enlist the help of both Govatsos and the DJs at WBLM to solicit national talent for the tribute album, which will also include tracks by local bands including Dan Merrill, The McCarthys and Div Kid. He will document the process of making the album on film and intersperse it with historic Blend footage in the making of a movie.

“Another aspect of the film will be to follow the impacts of the musical gifts that the Rusty Rocket Foundation is able to provide,” said Tukey. “In other words, ‘What does it mean to these children to be able to play music and, in effect, extend Jimmy’s legacy?’ We think that answer will be a powerful one.”

Please see the short film here: http://vimeo.com/12601517

Visit www.RustyRocket.com throughout the year for updates on the album and movie. If you have photos or memorabilia to loan to the project, please let us know.

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Listen to this cool interview done in January, 2009 on WBLM with Andrew Govatsos, a representative for Reprise Records.

The Cumberland County Civic center in Portland, is Maine's premiere venue for music, sports and entertainment and it just celebrated it's 5,000th event on 1/31/2009. The audio interview talks about how Andrew was involved in booking the first band EVER to play at the CCCC! On March 3rd, 1977, ZZ Top came to Portland, Maine to be the first headliner to perform in the new venue. Although, ZZ Top was the featured artist for that night, The Blend was actually the FIRST band to perform, opening the historical show! Eventhough the interview is mostly about the Maine music scene in the late 1970's, keep your ears peeled for The Blend "plugs!"

Photo Gallery #1 ~ 1st Annual Tribute to JD ~ 2003 (coming soon)

Photo Gallery #2 ~ 2nd Annual Tribute to JD ~ 2004 (coming soon)

Photo Gallery #3 ~ 3rd Annual Tribute to JD ~ 2005

Photo Gallery #4 ~ 4th Annual Tribute to JD ~ 2006

Photo Gallery #5 ~ 5th Annual Tribute to JD ~ 2007

Photo Gallery #6 ~ 6th Annual Tribute to JD ~ 2008 (coming soon)