The History of the Professors
2000 - 2004
Reprinted without permission from the Rocklopedia Britannicus, page 613

| Back to the History of the Band | Back to Main Page |

Fall 2000: In a semester of sweeping personnel changes, Sonja Souther follows John Barrows out of the band to begin married life in Canada with Peter. Robert Kubey announces that he intends to begin a sabbatical from the Professors of unspecified length. Jonathan Millen, Rider University, takes over as the official band drummer. David McCurry, Monmouth University, joins the band on harmonica.

April 30, 2001: John Barrows, Jennifer Lehr, and Gary Radford reunite to perform an acoustic set in the Student Center Pub at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Jennifer performed a string of old Profs favorites such as "I'm From New Jersey," Foucault Funk, "Waiting for the Big One," and, of course, "You Oughta Know" (the uncensored version). Radford also performed two songs from his Sosostris days: Cadenza and England's Glory, both with lyrics by Ian Marshall, who also wrote the words to The Bottle. John, Jennifer, and Gary were joined by Charles Imbimbo on drums and Vinnie Guagenti on bass guitar.

June 28, 2001: After an hiatus of 17 months, the Professors return to live playing with a gig at Rider University. Chad Dell takes over on lead vocals, Jonathan Millen plays drums, and David McCurry plays harp. The Rider show sees the debut of the Chad Dell/John Barrows original rocker Nothing to Do With You.

July 7, 2001: The Professors make a triumpant return to Lenfell Hall at Fairleigh Dickinson University. In front of a packed crowd of friends and family, the Professors rocked for over two hours featuring brand new material. Jennifer Lehr returned to join the band for five numbers, including I'm From New Jersey, Five Long Years, and You Oughta Know. Marie Radford made an incredible appearance playing keyboards on the Hawkwind classic Spirit of the Age. The Fairleigh Dickinson gig was performed in front of many distinguished guests, including Gary's parents, Howard and Elsie Radford, and his brother, Mark Radford, who travelled all the way from Sutton-in-Ashfield, England, just to see this show. The Profs also honored Charles and Marion Hein, Marie's parents, who celebrate 60 years of marriage this year.

November 1, 2001: The Professors play to the "art crowd" with a low volume blues set at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.

December 8, 2001: The Professors rock Morristown at Hennessey's Pub on Morris Street with an unprecedented 3 set performance that finished at 12:45am. The show saw the debut of two Chad Dell original songs: King for a Day and It Don't Look Good.

After the unprecedented Hennessey's show, the Professors played two more live shows. The first, on April 13, 2002, was as "background music" at a reception to end the 6th Annual Conference of the New Jersey Communication Association held at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey. The second live show was performed February 22, 2003, at Cutter's Bar in Morristown, New Jersey. It was a good two set performance, with guest vocalists Aylin and Nilya Solu.

September 2003: In more sweeping personnel changes for the band, both Chad Dell and Dave McCurry leave and former Professor, John Barrows, returns to the band. The new quartet of Barrows, Millen, Radford, and Romanenko, work hard during Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 writing new songs and bringing new life to older original tunes.

July 25, 2004: The Professors make their triumphant return to the stage with their first live gig since February 2003, some 17 months previously! Anticipation and excitement was high as die-hard fans relished the return of their musical heroes after such a long hiatus.The Professors played two sets at Pratt Institute, 144 West 14th St. in Manhattan, to celebrate Marie Radford leaving the position of Dean of the Library School to become an Associate Professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University. Gary Radford's daughter, Meg, joins the band on lead vocals, and Marie Radford plays keyboards on four numbers. Meg and Marie also sing an unforgettable rendition of the Untenured Blues, in celebration of Marie's return to untenured status. Meg Radford, at 13 years old, sang lead and back-up vocals on a number of songs, including the Barrows/Radford classic, Dreading the Dawning, John Gorka's "I'm From New Jersey," and Hawkwind's "PSI Power." Gary and Meg also reprised their ECA performance of Roger Waters' "Amused to Death." Many classic Barrows and Barrows/Radford songs return to the set, including The New York City Sidewalk Blues, Peer Review, and Sunday Night at Kenny's. New songs included Crisis of Confidence, written by Barrows/Radford and performed live by The Professors for the first time, Old Devils Running, a new song by Barrows/Wallinger, and To Hear You Say It, a brand new Barrows/Radford tune addressing the angst of academic life. The gig was a wonderful success and the fans are thrilled that The Professors are back at last!

September 2004: Jonathan Millen says goodbye to The Professors so he can focus on his childrens' hockey and little league careers.