Steve’s equipment: Steve plays a Selmer “Super Action 80” tenor saxophone. The sax is completely stock, save for two braces added to the neckpiece. Steve explains: “ Back in the days of Tornado Alley, we did a lot of jumping around and horn section choreography. This was also in the days before nice little condenser microphones, and I had a contraption that actually clamped a little threaded holder and a full sized microphone onto the bell of the horn. The extra weight and the jumping around would literally cause the neck to bend. So Art Allard, the horn repair guy at the old Walberg & Auge music store in Worcester devised the two brass rods that are soldered to the neck. It works great and gives a nice rigidity to the horn, without sacrificing any tone.” Steve uses a Bobby Dukoff “7 Star” metal mouthpiece and #3 Rico plastic coated reeds. “It gives a big ballsy sound with room to fill it up full of air, but also a nice even tone when playing softly on ballads. That mouthpiece has a wide dynamic range. I bought that horn when I was in college in the late 70’s, and have had it on the road ever since. There’s a ton of miles on that horn!”

The Amazing Steve's
AMAZING VALVES FACTS

1. There are 11 members in The Valves. If you don’t count the two “C” notes in a musical chromatic octave, there are eleven notes. Coincidence? We think not.

2. Nobody in The Valves has ever held a “C” note for longer than 20 seconds. The record for holding a sawbuck amongst any member of the Valves is a brief 2 hour period on a Saturday night in 1978.

3. A chromatic octave, inclusive of the beginning and ending note has 13 notes. The Valves have had TWO prior drummers, totaling 13 Valves.

4. The Valves use 5 horns occasionally when Reagan is not singing. There are 5 black keys on the piano keyboard. Valves pianist John Duesenberry occasionally uses all 5 black keys. Coincidence? We think not.

5. Valves drummer Tom Gallagher uses TWO drum sticks. Oddly enough, he has two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears, two testicles and can play TWO kinds of music - Rock AND Roll.

6. Organist Paul Provost has been known to fit 14 ounces of pee into a 12 ounce bottle. BOTH his first name and last name begin with “P”.

7. Guitarist Greg Wolodkin has a Doctorate, although he has never actually seen a doctor, physician, nurse, tribal shaman or midwife for ANYTHING.

8. The Valves often sing the blues, or songs about the blues. The Smurfs were blue. The Smurfs had Smurfette, the only female, surrounded by a bunch of bearded Smurfs as well as clean shaven Smurfs. The Valves have Reagan, the only female, surrounded by a bunch of bearded and clean shaven dorky musicians. Both the “Valves” and the “Smurfs” have 6 letters. Coincidence? You tell me.

9. None of the letters in “The Valves” appear in the spelling of “Wisconsin”. NONE of the Valves have ever lived in Wisconsin.

10. All totaled, The Valves have nearly 220 fingers and toes. Over the course of nearly 220 days, The Valves considered nearly 220 names for the band, before finally settling on The Valves.

11. The majority of the Valves were raised during the decade of the 1960’s, during the television reign of Sesame Street. Oddly enough, NONE of The Valves are named Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Elmo, Snuffleupagus or Big Bird, or are related to anyone who is.

12. Until THIS trivial fact addition, there were 11 Amazing Facts. There are 11 members of The Valves. There are 11 members of the Valves? Was this planned? You tell us.

13. Bassit “JOE MIGLIONICO” has 13 letters. Joe enjoys paleontology, which also has almost 13 letters. Joe has often been compared to a tyrannosaurus, which is studied in paleontology, and also has 13 letters. This is the 13th entry in this drivel. Coincidence? Contrived? A far stretch? We hope so.

14. If you take ROGER GROVER’s name, and scramble the letters of either the first or last name, you can still pretty much spell ROGER GROVER with either name. Especially if you take out the “V”, which stands for VALVES. Coincidence? We hardly think so !!

15. Guitarist MIKE LADD has only 4 letters to BOTH his first and last name. Mike usually solos on only 4 strings of his guitar. Mike has written far more than 4 letters to the government, although he has received far less than 4 responses.

16. Saxophonist ALLEN KIEFER has 11 letters to his name. He plays Baritone Sax which also has 11 letters. There are 11 members of The Valves. Are you getting the picture here? I bet you counted twice to make sure. Huh, didn’t ya?

17. STEVE plays TENOR, both of which have 5 letters. Steve’s older brother lettered in 5 sports in high school. Steve has punched his brother more than 5 times. His brother now lives more than 5 miles away.

18. Bassist JOE MIGLIONICO provided the falsetto reference vocal track for the original recording of “Basketball Jones” by 60’s comedy duo Cheech & Chong. Joe has never been on a basketball team, or played basketball, although he has had many ‘jones’.

19. The Valves have been accused of a vast conspiracy to take over concert stages, nightclubs and performance venues worldwide. This conspiracy theory has been thoroughly reviewed by members of the Warren Commission. Eight residents of the Town of Warren Massachusetts, a small residential community in the western part of the state, have decided that the Valves have neither a plan, nor a clue, but are a damn fine band!