History & Highlights

The Men of our Times played it's first public performance January 31st, 1981 by the request of Doug Logan, then GM for the newly opened Rockford Metro Centre for a grand opening party for local dignitarys. The musicians involved then recorded the Metro Centre's theme music for local commercials, and took Doug up on the offer. So a couple of sets worth of material came together and it was a "gig"!

The group took it's name from a 1980 Genesis' song..."Man of our Times"

Original members for that job were keyboardist / vocals, John Dutmer; then drummer / vocals, Pat Doherty; bass player / vocals, Gary Rothmeyer; guitar / vocals, Jim Parthun; and in her one and only performance, Kathy Wrobel, vocals.

In the next 28 years the group would see just a handful of member changes, and a core lineup that still is recognized throughout the area as one of a kind.

A very committed lineup of musicians has given the name of "the Men" a remarkable run of consistency in great music, and it continues on now stronger than ever!



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Highlights are not in chronilogical order ...

Jan. 31, 1981	The Band's First Job, Grand Opening Night of the Rockford Metro Centre.
Feb. 5, 1981	The Band's first Wedding Reception. In the next 25 yrs the group would go on to play over 600 more.
Aug. 28, 1984	The Band's first requset to perform at Rockford's "OTW" On the Waterfront. With John and Steve in the band then, Jim Conley sat in on drums. There were many more to follow.
May 8, 1982	The band play's their first Boylan HS Prom. The band would play the next 26 of 28. "... we won't mention the classes that had different plans, but they came back to us...!"
Jan 8, 1986	The group played it's first Rockford Lighting basketball game. Pat and Gary both enjoyed going to the games so much they thought... why don't we play here? We did about 20 games, and helped them get thru their first playoff.
Mar. 14, 2001	Leslie's first job with the band: It's a long story, but basically we just thought it would be nice to have a change. Leslie was a guest at a Xmas party the band played at and we were so impressed by her performance of the Patsy Cline classic "Crazy" we never forgot it. When the oppurtunity presented itself years later, she was the first "best fit" we thought of.
Feb. 3, 1996	The Men do their first job at Giovannis lounge for Sue and Joe Castrogiovanni. The first few events were truly cozy, only a small crowd could attend. The gig was such a success it spawned the birth of Big Als lounge where we still perform at, along with a number of other local area premier groups.
June 5, 1997	After years with toying with the idea Pat got up the nerve to shave his head completely!
April 18, 2001	After receiving their 5th RAMI award for best Variety, Oldies, Pop Rock and (2) Classic Rock awards, the band was inducted into the local area's Music "Hall of Fame" at the Rockford Metro Centre.
Nov. 26, 1989	The band played their first of 10 years in a row at the Prarie Moon, on the night before Thanksgiving. It was such an eventful fun night, that even though the bar is now closed, left standing amidst bigger commercial establishments, and the band has established a new tradition at the Firehouse Pub in Roscoe, people still ask if We'll play there again sometime.
Jan. 31, 1984	With the Men really locking in as a great variety band for all ages, Pat and Gary felt a need to do some songs a bit more alternative and challenging. There were some originals written, and this is where Greg and Jim first made their presence in the band. Some of the songs performed by the alter ego, "Go Boys" are still played today by the modern day "Men" lineup.
Mar. 15, 1991	The band played several years in sequence for the "Irish Marching Society's" get together after their annual parade. The event was becoming so big, they decided this year to bring it "down town". The event drew so many people and was such a success it became one of those annual get togethers that was synonomous with the band. The band remembers looking out to a sea of green and an entire dance floor bobbin up and down to "Shout".
April 20, 2001	The band hosted a 20 year recognition party for fans and friends with all proceeds going to the Rockford Meld, who also shared their 20th anniversary.