Worthington high school buddies still united by rock 'n' roll after 50 years

Many people attend high school reunions to find out what old friends are currently doing. For local musician Rob Lamp , it was a chance to revisit what he and his friends did in the past.

Lamp, who graduated from Worthington High School in 1974, hadn’t jammed with buddies Pete Seeds and Jon Paoletti for half a century, when another friend, Gary Coats, suggested he get a band together for their 50th high school reunion.

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“The unique thing in high school is you have people who are jocks or into music or who do plays, but the bottom line is everybody knew when the local band was playing and where,” said Coats, a member of the class of 1974 reunion planning committee.

“So, I asked Rob if he wanted to play knowing so many different cliques were listening.”

It was an offer Lamp couldn’t refuse. “This band came together based on those who were available,” he said. “The guitar player was in my band in seventh grade.”

When all was said and done, Lamp had assembled a lineup featuring himself on drums/vocals, Seeds on guitar/vocals, Paoletti on bass, Stefan Farrenkopf on keyboards/vocals and Donna Mogavero on lead vocals/guitar.

“Donna is a real godsend,” Lamp said of Mogavero, a Worthington Class of 1976 grad. “We knew we needed vocal help, so we reached out and she said yeah. She really gave the whole band its identity.”

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Christening themselves 1974, they debuted at Nocterra Brewing Co . in Powell in front of about 200 friends and fans, including high school classmates. They also performed at a formal class event at the Jessing Center.

“Both were well received. There was a wide variety of people attending and many knew Rob’s band (from high school),” Coats said.

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1974’s repertoire includes Elton John, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Stevie Wonder. They also revamped The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” to open with, “It was 50 years ago today,” instead of the original “20 years ago” lyric.

“Most high schools have a bunch of old people who played in a band,” Lamp said. “You just dust ‘em off and see if they can still rock and roll."

bpaschal@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Worthington high school buddies still united by rock 'n' roll after 50 years