Flick Lives!
FLICK LIVES! was founded by Steve Marchand, John DeSisto, Joe Griffith, Mike Canty and Bob Druwing in late 1969. Drummer Canty was soon replaced by Billy Quirk (pictured here kneeling in the black T-shirt and pants).
When bass player DeSisto left the group to go away to college in September of 1972, he was replaced by Peter Cannistraro (seated in blue jeans and black open neck polo shirt).
This picture was taken the first week of September 1972 in Rutland, Vermont on the Sunday morning after the band’s four night record breaking gig at The Nineteenth Green nightclub.
Shlitz Draft was the drink of choice in those days.
“It used to be about the music, man!”
Lead guitarist Steve Marchand, the redhead pictured above in the white long sleeved shirt, was just beginning classes as a freshman at the Berklee College of Music in Boston at this time and he would go on to graduate after leaving the group to be replaced by the great Bob Enik, who is wowwing listeners to this day. There is a link to the Bob Enik lens on Hubpages, below.
Joe Griffith, seated here in the cream colored blazer, has the gift of perfect pitch and every member of the band deferred to his innate ability, whether they were able to verbally admit it or not. Joe entered the band as a keyboard player, but had been teaching himself the guitar, which soon eclipsed the keys in his attention and playing. He too is still delighting audiences in New England with his current group, Hat Trick. Previously he was with Eleventh Hour and, before that, Exit Laughing, whose keyboard player, Mike Iodice, was also briefly a member of one incarnation of FLICK LIVES!.
Bob Druwing, pictured here shirtless, was the lead singer. He was just starting to attend Emerson College as a sophomore majoring in theater. He would eventually go on to pursue a career of acting in movies and TV and has lived in Los Angeles since 1999.
Also pictured are Billy’s girlfriend Janet Hoffman, top left, Steve’s girlfriend Suzie “Ma” Schwartz in red, Bob’s date Mary Hansen, top right, roadies Roger Stonehouse, seated in blue denim jacket, who became a radio DJ in Canada, Mickey Quirk in yellow, Joe “Quill” Cardillo in the white T and Peter’s “groupie”, Cathy (?).
In the late Winter of 2008 we were all saddened by the news that Peter Cannistraro passed away from injuries suffered in a car accident late at night on an icy Rte 20. By chance, he was returning home from a night of conversation with and entertainment by Bob Enik, who was playing with The Dave Chaison Band, at a small club on Waltham’s Moody St. It was the first time they’d seen each other in some twenty years.
Other incarnations/members….
variations on the band
As bands will, FLICK LIVES! went through a variety of changes in personnel, some more lengthy than others.
Bob Enik, for instance, first appeared with the band when Steve Marchand was unavailable for a gig. When he became a permanent member of the group, he would bring along Richie Casella on bass and Billy Jewles on drums. Along with Joe Griffith, these four would be the the last version of the band, when Bob Druwing walked away in the Winter of 1973-74.
During another previous absence by Bob, Larry Devlin was briefly the lead vocalist and, during one stormy period, Bob was replaced by a female vocalist, Marian Degan, and, along with Mike Iodice on keyboards, FLICK LIVES! won the local “Battle of the Bands” competition.
In 1973 the band played one gig at Duxbury, MA High School (a recurring venue for them) as a quartet, with Dave James on bass, Joe on guitar, Billy Quirk on the skins and Bob Druwing singing lead. They played a whole lot of Who and Jeff Beck tunes that night.
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The black and white photos of the band members on this page were taken at Bellingham (Massachusetts) High School on the night of March 5, 1971.