About
The Pleasure Palace Band was formed in the early 90’s by drummer Gary Manasse and guitarist and vocalist David Menaged in Gary’s basement. Soon after Rich “Uncle Dicky” Klingher joined the band as a keyboard player and vocalist, and Mark “Slow Hand” Pollack followed on lead guitar. Dennis “Moe Joe” Slovak became a member soon thereafter as a guitarist and vocalist. In 1995 Uncle Dicky finished the basement in his house, “The Pleasure Palace”, and the band started playing regularly there. They took on the name The Pleasure Palace Band to represent the one place they always play.
The Pleasure Palace basement became legendary as it became decorated with great tapestries including many Grateful Dead ones (see our Photos of the Palace and Band), a Bob Marley one and many more psychedelic ones. Along with the tapestries the basement became filled with blacklights, peace signs, posters, many unique signs and pictures, a bar, Cheech and Chong Bobbleheads, a Three Stooges Cardboard Stand Up and the like making it into one of the great basement studios of all time. Alan “Discount Al” Goldstein joined the band as a conga player soon after the basement was completed. You can really hear Al get down on “Sympathy for the Devil”, and “Black Magic Woman”. These days Al is known as Alan Gold in the New York music scene where he is famous for booking the best Jazz, Blues, and Dance bands in the area http://www.reverbnation.com/alangoldsjazzseries.
On 9/9/99 all hell broke loose and it’s the day the band changed forever. Gary quit the band in a huff, the cops came banging on the basement window because people were complaining that the music was so loud, and a good friend of ours got so drunk he ended up with his head in the toilet. Meanwhile Steve “Buddy Rich” Gattanella joined the band that night and became the new drummer and vocalist. Prior to this infamous night, John Reynolds, who sat in as a drummer on some sessions, had loaned his drum kit to the band and it became a permanent fixture at the Palace. Steve spruced it up with his own gear and a new day dawned at The Palace. Steve sings many songs on the site including “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, “Sultans of Swing”, “Disorder in the House”, “Never in My Life”, “White Room”, “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo”, “Everything is Broken”, and “Stand by Me”. His drum solos on “Amnesia” and “Amnesia II” are PPB classics, as is his drumming on “Running Down a Dream”.
A while after Steve joined the band, Al brought in Howard “Bass” Siegel as the bass player we never had and the band was complete. Howard’s great bass can be heard on many songs on the site including “Badge”, “One Way Out”, “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Cocaine”, and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
After Howard moved away a few years later, Mitch “Brunkhorst” King joined the band as its new bass player. Mitch brought in a lot of Cream and Mountain songs, and other great rock and roll tunes. He continually urges the band to play more complex songs and is a “Walking Encyclopedia” of rock and roll music. You can hear Mitch’s biting bass on “Never in my Life (performed by the trio of Mark, Mitch and Steve), “Come Together”, “White Room”, “Darkness on The Edge of Town”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again II”. He also sings a fun Dave Mason tune called “You Can All Join In”, and his classic, “Outside Woman Blues”.
When Moe Joe left town in 2005, Dave Dermody joined the band. Dave is a very talented and versatile guitar player and vocalist who’s into all kinds of different music from Reggae to The Beatles to some very classic old rocks tunes. He has an unlimited amount of energy (he can literally play all night) and has introduced tons of new songs to the band from “Come Together” to “Presence of the Lord”, “I Looked Away”, “Let it Rain”, “It’s Too Late”, “Wild Horses”, “Keep on Rocking in the Free World”, Caravan, Walk On, and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”.
The band plays once a week at The Pleasure Palace, mostly on Thursday nights. Occassionally there are sessions on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons (where our fans come to join us), but Thursday is the norm.
Over the years there have been many additional guest players in the band including guitarists Joel “Dr. J” Confino, Bob Morais (originally from the Mnemonics), Zak King, Robbie Gevins, and Michael Pulad as well as trumpet player Ira Russo, vocalist Mike Slom (from Kindred Spirit), drummers John Reynolds and Craig Heitzner, saxophonist and backup singer Mitchell Klingher, and back up bass player Santi Briglia.
David is a fixture on Thursday nights bringing his huge collection of Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan songs as well as many unique tunes from Elvis Costello to the Talking Heads. You can hear his unique style on “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”, “Motherless Child”, “2000 Light Years From Home”, “Mr. Spaceman”, and a very cool Mediterranian version of “Adir Hu” with his friend Ira Russo on Trumpet, and more.
Moe Joe was a fixture for many years on Friday nights entertaining the crowd with Springsteen songs (“Cadillac Trio”, “Stolen Car”, and “Darkness on the Edge of Town”), Fogerty (“Green River”, and “Born on the Bayou”), Pig Pen (“Easy Wind”), and some original music he wrote including “Amnesia”, “Girl Don’t Give No Lovin’, “The Hungry Blues” (see Red House/Hungry Blues), and the much faster paced “The Hungry Blues” with J.L. Jack “The Blues Man” Williams Jr. on Guitar and Harp, and Craig Heitzner on drums, “The Palace Blues” also with Jack and Craig, new tunes, “You Better Be True”, and “Mustang”, and his own made up lyrics (because he didn’t know the real ones) to the popular Lenny Kravitz tune “Fly Away”, in which Mark plays one of the meanest guitar leads you’ll ever hear.
Speaking of “Slowhand” Mark, he is the man behind most of the tunes here on the site and the first lead guitar player the band ever had, and the only one for the first ten years or so until Bob and Dave D. joined the band. Mark can play it all; fast driving rock guitar leads, slow and mellow smooth tunes, awesome blues, and a great slide guitar. In addition to “Fly Away, You can hear some of his great guitar work on “One Way Out”, “Sultans of Swing”, “Running Down a Dream”, “Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo”, “Never in My Life”, “Locomotive Breath”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Little Wing”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, “You Don’t Love Me”, “You Better Be True”, “All Along the Watchtower”, “Amnesia”, “Badge”, “Bertha”, “Cocaine”, “Johnny B. Goode”, “Black Magic Woman”, Red House/Hungry Blues, “Green River”, and some of his mellow guitar playing on “Loser”, “Bird Song”, “Mustang”, “Can’t Find My Way Home”, “Can’t You See”, and “Stolen Car”.
Uncle Dicky does it all at The Palace. He sets up every session, provides the food and drink, records every song, makes the CD’s, and tracks the Set Lists. He can always be seen banging on his own piano while he’s getting in tune to the straight and narrow. His nice “Sinatra” trained and styled voice brings some smooth sounds to “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”, “Up on Cripple Creek/Franklin’s Tower”, “Loser”, “Little Wing”, “Cocaine”, “Friend of the Devil”, “Badge”, and many many more.
Bob Morais is a master guitar picker who can be heard on many PPB songs including “Bob’s Cowboy Rag”, “Glendale Train”, “Kansas City”, “Friend of the Devil”, “Disorder in the House”, “Mr. Spaceman”, “Girl Don’t Give No Lovin’”, and “Jam”. Moe Joe still makes a good deal of appearances, while Howard makes it up from Florida at least once a year for a great reunion session to always play “China Grove”.
Recently, starting in 2009 John Tutino, the great professional Jazz, Fusion, Funk, and Blues Saxaphonist, Guitarist, and Composer (www.johntutino.com ). has sat in on some sessions. His sax adds a totally new dimension to the music and he’s been having a blast. You can hear him on “Kansas City”, “Evil Ways”, “Wild Horses”, and “Key to the Highway II”. As he said when asked by Uncle Dicky if he’s coming back, “How can I not come back, this place is great”.
The Pleasure Palace Band has played over 700 different songs with a wide variety of musicians and the beat goes on to this day. There have been several groupies that follow the band from the lovelies Justine Jill a/k/a “JJ” Gray Klingher, Wendy May, and Marcia King to the infamous Killer. Even Uncle Peter Kaye has sat in on many sessions in his Tie-Dyed Pleasure Palace shirt designed and produced by Discount Al and Worldwide Specialty (www.worldwidespecialty.com ). Pete is famous for his vocals on Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb.
The Pleasure Palace Band has played for many people but has never performed an outside gig preferring to keep its music sacred for the Pleasure Palace only. It’s a great place to hang and get loose with the band. All the “Set Lists” from January 2007 are listed on this Web Site. Also, check out the neat “Photos” of the band and the Pleasure Palace Studio. The new “Players” page tells a little about each member of the band and a few of our most famous “Groupies”. We’ve also recently added a new featured called “Song(s) of the Week”, highlighting a song or two from the most current sessions. We hope you enjoy the site and the music. We’re always looking for more fans. The PPB will live forever!
You can contact us via email by clicking here or making a comment under any set list.
Enjoy the Music!
Moe Joe