Local band is Super Bowl bound
PHOTO: Marquette's Flat Broke Blues Band opens for Magic Slim and the Teardrops Saturday evening at Northern Michigan university in Marquette. The Flat Broke band has been booked to play several parties in Detroit in conjunction with this weekend's Super Bowl. (photo by Andy Nelson-Zaleski)www.flatbrokebluesband.com
By SCOTT SWANSON, Staff Writer - published on Monday, Jan. 30th, 2006 in the Mining Journal.
MARQUETTE - Psst ... pretty much all of the members of the Flat Broke Blues Band are Green Bay Packers fans. Just don't tell that to the Seattle Seahawks.
The veteran five-piece Marquette act has been chosen by a National Football League-contracted firm as the "official pre- and post-game party entertainment" for the Seahawks, who will face the Pittsburgh Steelers a Sunday in Super Bowl XL - the biggest sporting event of the year.
This is the same Seahawks team, of course, that is coached by Mike Holmgren - the last man to lead their beloved Packers to the promised land, back in 1998.
"He's not always, in our eyes, the favorite guy," laughed Flat Broke guitarist Walt Lindala.
"I'm going to find a way to wear a small little wedge of cheese Sunday somehow. A lapel pin, or something like that."
The band will kick off the weekend with an NFL reception dinner/cocktail party at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit Saturday night. Before the big game Sunday, they'll be playing for rabid Seahawks fans from about noon to 4 p.m. at the Boll Family YMCA. Following the game, they'll rock a post-game party starting about 10 p.m. at the Detroit Athletic Club.
Flat Broke was recruited for the gigs by PrimeSports Entertainment, a sports and entertainment management firm based in Los Angeles. According to Lindala, the firm discovered Flat Broke by doing an Internet search for Michigan bands.
"They stumbled onto our Web site and liked what they saw and heard," Lindala said. "We said we'd be happy to do it."
Lindala said the band has learned some rhythm and blues and Motown covers for the pre-game party, to accentuate the Detroit connection. The set list for the post-game party, though, will depend on the results of the game - after all, would James Brown's "I Feel Good" really seem appropriate should the 'Hawks get blown out?
"We'll have to play that one by ear," Lindala said.
The parties are expected to be attended by ticket holders, NFL players and staff and other dignitaries. In fact, representatives from PrimeSports have informed the band that New England Patriots backup quarterback Doug Flutie may be interested in joining them for a song or two.
Apparently, aside from launching legendary Hail Mary passes, Flutie is also an accomplished drummer.
"We were like, 'Umm, sure!'" Lindala said. "I mean, why not? We'd definitely get a picture if that happens."
While Lindala said that the band would love to play a country two-step with Brett Favre or rub shoulders with that other band associated with this year's Super Bowl, the Rolling Stones, they're more than content with just doing their jobs - heading downstate to kick out the jams in Detroit.
"They're just people and they're all there to have a good football party, and that's what we're about, too," he said. "That's our goal, to show folks that this is how we do it up north, and we hope you like it."
