Meet The Travelin Lounge Lizards
I interviewed
The Travelin Lounge Lizards
before
their “gig” at The Mon Ami. Instead of it being an
interview, it felt more like I was at a comedy night.
These men are from Ottawa & Erie Counties. They
have a great sense of humor and a quick wit. They
have been together for 22 years. (They do have
another band member, Mike Reichman, 34-years-
old. He is Chuck’s son and plays rhythm guitar for
the Lizards. He was not part of this interview.) In the
1990’s The Lounge Lizards opened for BJ Thomas,
The Mama’s & The Papa’s” and “Rare Earth”. All band
members have been married for 30 + years! Their
wives are very supportive of them and
the band.
I asked them to share their philosophy on aging. Glen
said, “I’m doing well for my age – it hasn’t hurt me
yet… Thank God for medication!”
John said, “You don’t have an option about growing
old
”, you do have an option about growing
up
”. When
you make a conscious decision not to grow up, you
might as well keep on having fun.”
Chuck explained, “This dysfunctional group of ours
(referring to The Lounge Lizards) helps us stay young.
“To do this work you have to be young or die to keep
up with the demands. I think we are all aging gracefully.
This band has helped us a lot. We lean on each other”.
“All of us are still working. Some of us have retired and
gone back to work. This band has been so therapeutic
for all of us. And we have to be ft to do this. Getting
the equipment in and out is a lot of work, because the
equipment is heavy”.
John said, “It has gotten a lot heavier than it was 10
years ago, I can tell you that!” That’s when everyone
broke into laughter.
I asked Lizards, “Being in the hippie/psychedelic
movement, did you/do you folks do drugs?” Their
answer was “Yes! Heart medication, arthritis
medication, prostate medication, - we do’em all”.
Chuck said, “I went into a seizure when the doctor took
me off of salt”.
It’s clear that they have a fun-loving attitude and are
living their later life enjoying their life and their lifestyle.
You can hear the Lounge Lizards by going to Youtube.
com and typing in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcueUdOv6Cs; or
you can go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.
com/ServingOurSeniorsErieCounty and click on
this link.
As an added bonus, The Travelin Lounge Lizards will
be in Serving Our Seniors 2014 Calendar Girls (&
Guys) SMILES CALENDAR. See page 3 for details.
6
Serving Our Seniors is someone to call when you need help.
419-624-1856 800-564-1856
By Sue Daugherty
Seniors Who
Chuck Riechman, 68,
“Captain Guitar”
Glen “Bass Man”
Tetzloff, 72
Todd “Thick Stick”
Finke, 64
John “Earth Quake”
Schaffner, 64