A Springfield-based band couldn’t have picked a better place to close the book on a career.
The Library Center on Sept. 9 will host Geezerfest: The Final Chapter, where Geezer the Band will play one of its final concerts.
“Geezerfest is something the library has put on for about 17 years, and a lot of times twice a year,” said Emily Hertzog, director of development for the Springfield-Greene County Library District. “It is definitely the library’s most popular and attended event. It draws a lot of the public.”
The library concert has been a regular gig for the band of six musicians who cover a wide selection of classic rock tunes from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, including hits from the Beatles, the Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Styx, Steely Dan, Toto, Kansas, Aretha Franklin and more.
This year’s Geezerfest will be held inside the Library Center, where there will be plenty of seats and exactly zero of the noise-hating, shushing librarians. Food trucks will be open in the parking lot starting at 5:30 p.m., and the concert is set to start at 6:30 p.m. A two-hour set is planned, and a crowd of about 600 is expected.
Also planned is the presentation of a major donation from the Friends of the Library. Hertzog said the large donation will help kickstart fundraising for an auditorium expansion at the Library Center. The Springfield-Greene County Library District has received around $4 million in ARPA grants for the construction.
It will be an emotional show for the band. Geezer has been the centerpiece of Geezerfest in an annual event that has been held over the last 17 years, and Saturday’s show will mark the band’s final public concert.
Richard Struckhoff, a founding member of the band, said the event was created just for the band and fans of classic rock, and it drew some of the most appreciative fans of that genre year after year.
“Before Geezerfest, we had played music for a Sunday afternoon program at the library,” Struckhoff said. “The library’s higher-ups really liked what we did, and they said let’s build a whole event around it.”
Geezer not getting any younger
Geezer got its start as a trio featuring Struckhoff, Mark Ellman and Mark Pasquale, Struckhoff said. They started out as Richard and the Marks, because “Richard Marks was already taken,” Struckhoff said, joking.
The band added different members over time and landed some key corporate gigs that helped the band build a following of its own. The current lineup features guitarist Struckhoff, Ellman, singer Jana Henderson, bassist Duane Lewis, keyboardist Rusty Swift and drummer Dave Sharon.
But Struckhoff said age among the members is becoming a consideration.
“Five of us are at the age where it gets a little more difficult,” Struckhoff said. “We see pictures of Keith Richards and don’t want to become that.”
He said band members will have other musical ventures to pursue. Ellman, Henderson and he will continue participating in the contemporary choir at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, for example.
Hertzog is hoping that the band can be talked into a reunion show at a later date.
“That is my exact hope,” Hertzog said. “Maybe we can convince them to play once the auditorium is built in a couple of years.”
