Mark Kenney aka Mark Kenny
At Rumors Sports Bar & Grill.
November 13, 2014
A great car show, a nice group of people to play music to play music for at Willie’s Dugout.
Lannon, July 28, 2013
Mark Kenney – September 1, 2014 ·-· Saturday a friend of mine asked, “When did you start playing acoustic guitar live?”
I really started doing it seriously in 2012, but then I thought about it and realized that 43 years ago I was a painfully shy 16 year old boy who was asked to play guitar at a party that impacted me like nothing has since. On the Saturday of every Labor day weekend, Kenneth Wilde and his wife Sue would have their annual corn roast at their home in Sussex WI. I played music that day for many friends and they were so encouraging. Among the people attending was my future wife, Cindy Kenney (Wilde), Bob and Jane Wilde. Bonnie Gandt Wilde, Kent and Debbie Roesch-Wilde Chris Wilde, Mike Wilde, Julie Wilde, Laurie Wilde Ehnertt, Kellie Koepsel (Wilde) Holly Claas (Wilde) Bev Wilde, Dean Nolde, Mike Truttschel, Dean Joecks. and many more.
You just never know how one day can change your life. I am probably forgetting some people here, it was a long time ago, so please forgive me. So here is a toast to the Ken Wilde family and the many years of love and friendship they have shared with us.
May 1, 2011 –Mark Kenney: Mike[Truttschel] is referring to a time when one of our band mate’s was singing Me and Mrs. Jones to Tanya Jones. She owned Sussex Bowl when our band played there. It was really embarrassing!!
Mark Kenney: May 3, 2015: “I always say, ” I have truly been blessed by the amazingly talented people in my life.” Not only did we make music, but we raised each other’s game constantly. A lot of the bands I was in, were all HHS grads. A tradition that continued with “The Unexpected” and even today with my nephew, Blake Kenney who plays with “The Lonely Hearts.” Yes, I believe God did say, “Let there be music!” And there really has been….Very Good Music!”
March 15, 2015 Mark Kenney
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- What a night at Rumors last night!! Some of my music buddies came to help me out on a night when I was way below par.
Mike Truttschel
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- , it is always a treat to be on a stage with you.
Dean Nolde
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- , we all love, love, love you and your sax!
Maricelle Taylor
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- , you and I bonded the very first song we performed together and I am in awe of your talents!
Dawn Jones
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- , your sweet stage presence and lovely voice always inspires me.
Jeffrey Pulvermacher
- , you are everything I ever wanted to be. I followed you ever since I met you at your folks house in 1971 when your brother Steve was our drummer. Rich Piontek your guitar and voice are always welcome on my stage my dear old friend. Amy Sue, you always brighten up a show with your budding musical gifts. Rumors got a real treat last night and so did I.
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This photo is from my little league championship team. My dad was a coach, I am in there, Dean Nolde is as well. Good memories!
Mark Kenney (row 1 seated) Russ Lang, Mike Hanrahan. (Row 2 kneeling) Jim Smith, Jeff Cawley, Dean Nolde, Rick Kloph, Tim Carberry, John Galbraith, Gary Pucek, Dave Mathiak, Dan Smith, Brian Rakowski. (Row 3 standing) Dan Schulz, Mike Stuetgen, John Kolbeck, Dave Miller, Dennis Dequardo, Terry Heinemeyer, Paul Bessette, Mark Kenney, Jim Volden, Bruce Jefferies, Ron Fleischman, Byron Kenney, Bill Galbraith. I said I could name them, not spell.. April 30, 2014
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Mark Kenney: OK Mike Reilly, I saw that you were asking about why we started playing and who influenced us in the beginning. I will only speak for myself. Music was always a part of my life, with my mom being a very accomplished pianist and one of the main organists at St James church. My dad played piano by ear and was a good “Blues boogie woogie” player. My first instrument was the trumpet which I played through college. When I was 12 I saw Mike Truttschel’s band, “The Reason Why” play at a CYO dance. I liked rock and roll music and I absolutely loved the Beatles. I think, if you asked Mike, he would say that he wanted to be a Beatle back then. I wanted to be Mike Truttschel! When Mike joined our band in 1973, I was thrilled!! He has always inspired me to be better. Thanks Mikey!!!
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May 16, 2015: Mark Kenney – Mike, I can give you an idea of what I am doing currently. I cite Keith Pulvermacher and Jeffrey Pulvermacher as inspiring me to raise my game. I saw them both doing what I was just terrified to try, and they do it very well. That something was called doing “acoustic solo shows.” In putting away the security of other band mates to rely on, it I had to grow by becoming less. If I made a mistake, I had to own it and I made many. Because of the talented people in my life, I found I had a lot of good examples to draw on. I also found that this raw form of music became personal to the people listening and to me. My fears of being exposed as not being “good enough” actually pushed me to work within my own abilities and develop a comfortable manner while playing, singing and speaking. With the addition of very talented people like Maricelle Taylor, Dawn Jones and Dianne Beltran. I am now comfortable performing with anybody, anywhere. I play at nursing homes, hospitals, car shows, dinner boat cruises and bars. It is all the same show, which is different every time, it that makes sense. This has taught me to entertain, not perform. The key is to NOT take myself so serious. I make the listeners part of the show. If they have a request about a song that I don’t know, if I have even a slight idea how it goes, I will take a shot at it. Sometimes I hit it out of the park. More times than not, it is a train wreck, but sometimes people like to see a train wreck. Music has been very rewarding to me and I am truly blessed to be a part of this thing.
Mark Kenney: June 19, 2015 via Facebook posting – “In 1992 when we went down to Chicago and beat 20 other bands in the Beatle sound alike contest. There was about 5,000 people and we blew them away!! Features; Mike Truttschel, Mark Kenney Rick Dzik and Craig our drummer.” see videohttps://www.facebook.com/mark.kenney1/videos/349053168453955/?pnref=story
Mark Kenney: Oct 9, 2017 – This is a photo from the 1998 Lannon Fire department dance.
I was in a band with Rich Piontek (right) called “Manhattan.”
Back in those days I played the trumpet a bit, and it was always fun to have my son Neil Kenney (left) handle the guitar duties while I blew the dust out of my horn….:)
Neil still plays that sweet ‘Strat’…. — at Lannon Village Hall.
Mark Kenney
October 7 at 5:03pm · OK, some people have asked me about how Maricelle Taylor and I started singing together. The truth is;
I started doing a solo acoustic show in 2012. In December of that year, I heard her singing on the worship team at Northbrook church, and I was very impressed with what I heard.
I won’t say that she was the first person I spoke with about possibly singing with me,
But she was the first singer that gave me her “real” phone number…