The Surrender Reunion

Left to right: Dave Unger on Keyboards, Marc Hamer on drums, Blake Thompson on guitar, Curt Bennington on bass and Marco Riva on guitar. Photos by: Sam Cali at the Bayou in Washington DC Summer of '87.





Twenty one years ago, man that is hard to believe. Twenty one years ago I was playing in a band called 'Surrender' and in that Summer of 1987, we were just hitting our stride. We were a hard rockin' band playing the Mid Atlantic circuit and having a blast doing it. Anyway, after all these years we decided to have a get together, play some music and catch up with each other. Well, most of the time went to jammin' as we were having so much fun, we never wanted to stop. Actually, the highlight of the evening for me was when Blake's wife Kate came up and played some tunes with us. She plays among many things, the electric violin and is amazing. I've never heard anyone get sounds out of a violin like that.

Well after many hours of of accumulated blisters, sawdust and yes, back aches, we had to give it a rest for now. The sun went down and it was time to go. We all have kids and jobs which has changed things a wee bit as you might imagine.

These days, Curt is a sound engineer based in Mesa, Arizona and does sound for the big boys all around the states. Blake, Kate and the wee one, Blake Jr. reside in Nashville and are working in the music industry. Dave is... well I'm not sure what Dave does but I was glad to hear he is living in the York, Pa area and attending a church there. And you all know what I've been up to. If not, then you can do some back reading on the blog and see what I've been doing for the last 4 and a half years.

We may do this again in December so stay tuned as that might be in a club, we'll see. In the nearer future, I am going to be playing a gig with Blake and Kate in Reading on August 2. Some time in September we'll be having Blake, Kate and Dave up to the church to help me lead worship and do a couple of songs. That's the coolest thing as we're all Christians now. As soon as I have a date I'll post it on the blog.

The pics below are from the reunion taken by various people on Curt's camera.

The Latest...

Here are some pics from the last couple of months. Sorry for taking so long in updating things here. I(Marc) have been working real hard and to be honest, after a long, hard day at work, blogging was the last thing I wanted to do. I am planning on updating the other blog if not today then real soon. I plan on venturing into the political fray if for no other reason to vent my frustrations and organise my thoughts on the presidential race.

Here's an overview of the pics:

Kayleigh danced at the 'Celtic Fling' and got 2 1st places and 1 3rd.

Liam finished up his spring soccer (football to our Scotland friends) and his team went undefeated no doubt because of some amazing coaching.

Oh, we got rid of the car and got a horse with a buggy behind. The gas prices just got too expensive and while in Amishland...

Julie went along to the Philly Zoo with Liam's class to visit some of my relatives.

We got to see the annual Memorial Day parade at 8AM which goes through the cemetery behind our back yard WITH LOUD DRUMS. This was the first one for us in five years and I almost forgot to miss it.

Finally, 'Liam and the Prophets'... Sounds like a good name for a band some day but for now it's just Liam playing Legos in the back yard with his friends Jonah and Elijah. They are really nice kids but there conversations are a bit peculiar, lots of talk about Iran and Israel and Armaggedon. Oh well, they seem to be having fun.

OK, I guess that covers it for now. More pics and commentary soon.