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Lazy River confirmed to play at the Rock 'n' Picnic on Sunday, September 5 at Sheldon Park in Humboldt, IA.

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History

In the summer of 1969, bassist Mark Flanagan, drummer Ardie Strutzenberg and guitarist John Callahan recruited keyboardist Jon Porter and guitarist/vocalist Randy Berka to join a new band playing cover tunes at high school dances, county fairs, nightclubs and ballrooms.  The quintet adopted the name Lazy River from the Des Moines River which meandered through their hometown of Humboldt, Iowa.  Early posters typically featured photos of the band against a backdrop of the river.

Though they were just teenagers, Lazy River performed at countless venues throughout the upper Midwest from 1969 thru 1972 culminating in appearances at the famed Star Ballroom in Dakota City (2005 inductee in the Iowa Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame).  In December of 1971, the band recorded a number of demo tracks at a studio in Omaha, Nebraska, and a copy of the original tape was found a few years ago in the archives of keyboardist Jon Porter.  Two of those tracks have been added to this website for your enjoyment.

Lazy River disbanded in late 1972 when the original members Flanagan, Callahan, and Strutzenberg plus guitar-slinger John Brandsgard formed a new band called Goo, while Porter and Berka joined forces with Steve Fox and Dan Dodgen in a new band called Shadrack. Goo was a hard-working, road warrior rock band that played numerous bars and clubs, whereas, Shadrack’s sound, captured on their 1973 LP Shadrack Chameleon (IGL records; reissued on Gear Fab Records), was categorized as a “basement Buffalo Springfield.” Interestingly, the several tracks on that LP also featured Strutzenberg and Brandsgard.  Shadrack broke up in September 1973, when Berka and Porter elected to pursue college studies. Goo continued and morphed into another hard-working road band called Gunshaw in 1974 that featured Flanagan’s brother Denny as a front man, vocalist, and harmonica player.

Eventually, all of the musicians went their separate ways, and only drummer Ardie Strutzenberg continued with a career in music playing with a variety of big name blues artists such as Taj Mahal, Lee Gates, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, and Jerry Boogie McCain and the MusicMaker Relief Foundation.  A few of the others continued with music as a passionate hobby.  Guitarist John Brandsgard also plays with the Kansas City based blues band "The Nortons," and Randy Berka plays with the Amplified DNA Band out of Northern California.  Jon Porter played with a non-partisan Congressional band known as The Second Amendments who performed for US troops in the Middle East and numerous fund raising events including Farm Aid. 

In 1999 Strutzenberg, Callahan and Flanagan met at a bar in Humboldt to reminisce and decided on the spur of the moment to play a “reunion” gig.  They phoned guitarist John Brandsgard, asked him to participate, and the next evening was the first of a series of eight magical “Rock 'n' Roll Reunion” gigs that have featured musicians from all of the bands described above surrounding the core members from Lazy River.  Six of these shows have been staged in their hometown.  In addition, the band has performed at the Hard Rock Café™ in Washington, DC and at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas.  Shows in their hometown have raised thousands of dollars for non-profit community groups and activities.

While on a visit to the Middle East, Porter photographed a poem written on a white board in an army motor pool in which armor plating was being added to military vehicles. The poem entitled "Soldiers" was written by civilian army mechanic Matthew Lightfoot of Texas as a going-away gift to his buddies when he returned home in 2005. Porter sent a picture of the poem to Berka who had just gone through the tragic loss of his sister to cancer, asking him to channel his emotions into writing a song about the poem.  The result was a ballad entitled “Man of Steel” which the Lazy River Band (Berka, Brandsgard, Callahan, Flanagan, Porter and Strutzenberg) re-worked into a hard-driving rock tune that was recorded at Junior’s Motel Studio in November of 2007.  It is the first studio work by the band in 37 years and the first “original” number recorded under the name Lazy River Band.