History of the band

Picture a summertime south Oak Park garage shaking with the sounds of rock and roll. "Turn that down!" yells Mom. Pouring forth into the alley are the guitar party hits of all time -- Monkees, CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Elvis, Alice Cooper. Then some country gems by Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash.

Darned teenagers again? No. They're inside playing video games.

The garage door rolls up and there's DAD pounding the drums and a bunch of mortgage-paying, hairline-receding Oak Park parents rocking out on guitars.

Break out the block party permits! It's the ultimate Oak Park band -- Mid-life Crisis!

You might recognize them pushing grocery carts at Pans Finer Foods and mowing  lawns on the weekend -- but did you know they have a hidden life as Block Party Rock Gods?

Hi, my name is Larry and I'm a rock-a-holic.

It all started in 2006 when my neighbor Earl was having a garage sale. He told me he wanted to unload a dusty -- but beautiful -- set of drums. Something seized me like tom toms pounding in my inner heart. I impulsively pulled out my wallet. Now I owned a drum kit. All I needed was to learn how to play.

Lucky for me a music store opened right down the block. That's where I met Stephan, House of Blues drummer and owner of Berwyn's Musicopia. We hit it off great and in no time I could carry a beat.

Now Earl plays a mean guitar. In fact, he had a hard-working rock and country band back in the day. When I suggested we jam together sometime, I didn't have to ask twice -- he jumped at the chance. Another neighbor Duane asked if he could join in. Now we had 2 guitars and drums, all we needed was a bass guitar. Lucky for us that across the street from me lived Jean and she knows how to wield that axe. We added Tom to the group -- a guitar-playing professor who digs up caveman artifacts.

All we needed was a name for us mature adults. Something that would capture all of us in the best possible light at this juncture in our lives. Earl and his daughter came up with our logo and the name was self evident: Mid-Life Crisis!

We thought it would be cool to perform at our block party. Now we're rocking block parties all over the village. We bring all of our own equipment and lighting. So drop us an email and we'll rock your block.