Cover band takes listeners back to sounds of 1969

If you lived through 1969, chances are you remember it vividly.

If you were born well after the year Woodstock, the Chicago 8 trial, the Manson Family murders and the first moon landing made headlines, chances are you've heard about it.

The soundtrack to that memorable year, provided by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane, can bring on a flood of memories for the 50-plus crowd and give younger listeners a refreshing alternative.

Naperville musician Phil Balsano was 18 that year.

"So much happened that year," he said. "It was just a wild year."

For him, it was the year after he graduated from Waterman High School, located just south of DeKalb, and a few years before he embarked on a long career as a musician, screenwriter and company executive.

In the late '70s, he played keyboards for and toured with Tantrum, a rock band that mixed covers with original compositions.

A few years later, he married his wife, Gail. The couple had a son, Max, now a junior at Naperville North High School.

Eventually, Balsano became finance director for a publishing company. But he kept his hand in music.

A little more than two years ago, the veteran musician and his friends found themselves playing those old tunes that crowds rocked out to at the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York almost 40 years ago.

"We started playing these songs from when we were young," he said. "It triggered something."

That something became 1969, a band that specializes in songs that hit the top of the charts that year, along with a few songs from 1968 and a smattering from 1970.

"We thought it was a great concept," he said.

The band makes it back to Naperville, where Balsano and his family have lived for the past 15 years, when they hit the stage Saturday night at Frankie's Blue Room downtown.

"Frankie's is actually a great venue," said Barbara Weigand, band manager. "They have a great stage, a great room."

Balsano said the six-member band will play some Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Sly Stone, Stephen Stills, Joplin and Joe Cocker, among others.

"We stay very close to that era," he said, adding that the band uses modern electronics but foregoes any pre-programmed loops.

"We play everything live," he said.

The band's appearance at Frankie's is a relative rarity; Balsano said 1969 more frequently plays festivals, corporate events and private parties. This summer, their public performance schedule includes the Taste of Chicago, Glen Ellyn Fest and a Concert in the Park in Hinsdale.

The band includes bassist and lead vocalist Jaimie Kopy, of Gurnee; Downers Grove resident Scott Peterson on drums; Hayden Felipez of Antioch singing lead vocals; Kevin Paul of Downers Grove on guitar and vocals; and lead vocalist Mike Caplan of Glen Ellyn.

Vocalist Jimi Hornoff of Oswego sometimes substitutes for Caplan, Weigand said.

Weigand said the band is recording a CD that it hopes to release this summer. The recording will include some originals, as well as some covers.

"They've got some very interesting covers they've sort of stamped their own style onto," she said, citing a version of "These Boots Are Made for Walking" that sounds closer to Led Zeppelin than Nancy Sinatra.

If you go

What: 1969 in concert

When: 9 p.m. Saturday

Where: Frankie's Blue Room, 16 W. Chicago Ave., Naperville

Info: (630) 416-3310 or frankiesblueroom.com and music1969.com