'Peace with Grease' Reunion a Huge Success in Crivitz, Wi

After almost a year of planning, everything came together on Aug 3rd for a great afternoon and evening of entertainment, featuring four bands, playing for a good cause in Crivitz. Proceeds from the event will go towards funding a new band shell for the park, enabling many future years of live entertainment for the entire area. Many thanks to Bob Berndt and the Sounds of the Decades committee for putting this all together for a great cause. There are many volunteers to thank as well.


"Peace with Grease" was the second band in the lineup and responsible for the original idea Bob had of pulling off this great event . The band began as a one night gig at Carroll College in the fall of 1972 when 8 “music geeks” decided to put a 50’s rock and roll band together for a talent show. Blue Moon, Book of Love, Little Darling, Duke of Earl; full orchestration and five part harmony, add in a full horn section and you have the makings of one of the top night club attractions in the Milwaukee area. The band remained together until 1977 when members families and jobs took them all over the country. For this event members flew in from Florida, Arizona, Missouri, Minnesota, and Boston! The act is good old rock and roll and the hair styles ( those that still have hair) are classic fifties. Hoping maybe next year, one more, so you can pull out your lettermen’s sweaters, poodle skirts and dance the night away to one of old Milwaukee’s premier bands “Peace with Grease”.

Pictured in the upper photo from left to right are: Back row: Jim Koehler - drummer, Jim Toth - vocals, Gary Marquardt - vocals & sax, Bob Berndt - vocals & trombone, Lance Koehler - vocals & trumpet, Tim York - Bass. Front row: Randy Fischer - keyboard, Rick Bichanich - guitar.

Today's "Peace with Grease"

The first event of the evening started after a short rain delay with the performance of "Eddie's Crew". The band is named after a band member and dear friend of the entire community, Ed Osten. Gordy Jacobs and Pete Swanson, a former student of Berndt, have carried on with the band in Osten's name and they were rocking the park with good old classic country and rock tunes. Gordy Jacobs is the lead singer and guitar player who has been playing music for a long time in the Crivitz area . Pete Swanson is on the drums and brings his renditions of 50's & 60's music to the group along with harmony and background vocals. Guy Wolford brings his bass guitar expertise along with background vocals and has played in the area for many decades. Dean Kostrova adds his rhythm and steel guitar sounds to fill in the classic sounds of the group.

Following "Peace with Grease", the third band of the evening was a reunion of "Daze Revue", a popular area band that was formed in 1983 and performed through the 90's. They covered songs through the 80's and 90's. The picture on the right is from back in the day. The one below was from Saturday.

The final band to perform was the current and still going strong "Daze 2 Nights", whose musicians combine generations that played with or listened to "Daze Revue". They are still very active, playing numerous venues throughout the area.

You can click on the link to read a related post about how my buddy and I first got to know these guys!
Madman Moser and Dangerous Dan Busted! Hope they can do it again next year!

By the way, thanks to Bob Berndt for much of the material contained in this post.