Dear Friends of the ML Band:

Happy New Year and best wishes for a great 2010!

I have some sad news:  the ML Band that you have known and loved since January 2000 is no more.

The loss in July 2009 of Craig Berman, our great lead guitarist, when he moved back to his home territory of Philadelphia was a great blow both musically and personally, but we hoped into the summer and fall that we might find someone to fill his lead guitar chair, even though no one could really take his place!

Then, in early October, our powerhouse lead vocalist, Ricky Bell (probably better known to you by his stage name, Monroe LippFord) decided to retire from performance because of poor health.  We respect Ricky's decision and wish him well and hope his health improves.

The remaining members convened in late October and discussed what to do, and four of us decided to continue making music under another name, since The ML Band had such a special sound that it cannot be recreated without Ricky and Craig.

We hope that you ML Band fans will become fans of The Growlers, our new group, featuring John Dempsey, "Cap'n Dave" White, Tom Collins, and John Foarde.  We're playing blues, R&B, and roots music of all kinds, and we're having a blast expanding our repertoire.  Please consider joining our Facebook group, "The Growlers (DC) Fan Site."  It's brand new, and will have more content posted in due course.

Over the next week or so, I will begin removing names from the ML Band Facebook site, and eventually will delete myself, and Facebook will delete this site.  

We had a wonderful ride because of all of you, and we will always be grateful for your support!

Hope you will see The Growlers live and in person during 2010!

Best wishes,

John Foarde
Site Creator
Bass guitar and vocals  November 2001 - October 2009

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