Steve Boone's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Statuette.
Photo by Stuart Zolotorow.
Steve Boone's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Statuette and
an autographed cover for their "Greatest Hits."
Steve Boone, bassist for The Lovin' Spoonful, with his
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame statuette in April 2000.
Friends since the early 1970s, Dr. Bob and bandmates Steve Boone, Joe Butler and Jerry Yester have reunited several times exclusively for 21st Century Radio to announce their tours and new releases. Although the band with frontman John Sebastian stopped recording together in 1968, Boone, Butler and Yester reunited in 1991, added two new members, Lena Beckett and Mike Arturi, and continue to tour and record to this day.
Lovin' Spoonful history was made in Baltimore in 1983 when Dr. Bob was honored to have the one-time concert reunion of John Sebastian and Boone and Butler on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in front of his mural "The Apocalypse." For the first time since their break up in 1968, the original bandmates of John Sebastian, Steve Boone and Joe Butler performed together in public. Only guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the fourth original member, who now owns a restaurant in Ontario, was not on hand for the night of memories, dialogue, laughter and music. "This is a very funny feeling, this room," said Mr. Sebastian after opening with a solo blues number and moving into his theme from "Welcome Back, Kotter." Mr. Boone and Mr. Butler joined him onstage for both of the evening's shows, and played along on "Fishin' Blues," "Jug Band Music," "Did You Ever Have to Make up Your Mind?," "Daydream" and others.
The Reunited Spoonful Play "The Apocalypse," December 1983.
Steve Boone, John Sebastian and Joe Butler, original members of The Lovin'
Spoonful - the only time they have played together since 1968.
Steve Boone, bassist for The Lovin' Spoonful, with a Blue Meanie
t-shirt from his old friend, Dr. Bob, and his three new CDs, April 2000.
Thanks to Steve Boone's Baltimore connection, Dr. Bob included portraits of The Lovin' Spoonful as some of the famous diners at the Lexington Market mural, "E Pluribus Unum."
Detail from "E Pluribus Unum" mural by Dr. Bob Hieronimus
at the Lexington Market in Baltimore, 1986. Pictured next to WJZ-TV
Weatherman Bob Turk are Zal Yanovsky and John Sebastian(below) and
Joe Butler and Steve Boone (above).
On 21st Century Radio, when we previewed the second installment of The Beatles Anthology, our guests on February 18, 1996, included the reunited members of The Lovin' Spoonful, Joe Butler, Steve Boone and Jerry Yester, who described what it was like to meet The Beatles and share their musical insights into the digitally reunited Beatles on the first installment of The Beatles Anthology. When John Lennon was asked in August of 1966 who were his favorite American Rock groups he replied, "The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful and the Mommas and Papas."
A Rock and Roll collector card commemorating The Lovin' Spoonful's
appearance on American Bandstand.
In addition to touring regularly as the reunited Lovin' Spoonful and playing their classic hits to capacity crowds around the world, Steve Boone and bandmate Lena Beckett have also formed a new band called "Forq" (opposite of "spoon," get it?). More about this unusual and very hip band can be found at www.forq.com.
The Lovin' Spoonful "Live at the Hotel Seville," www.LovinSpoonful.com.
The Lovin' Spoonful "Greatest Hits," www.LovinSpoonful.com.
Forq "Forq Chops," www.forq.com.
The Lovin' Spoonful "Live at the Hotel Seville" was reviewed by Tierney Smith in the March 24, 2000, issue of Goldmine Magazine:
"Formed in 1965 by Long Island rockers Joe Butler and Steve Boone along with Greenwich Village folkies John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky (the latter left the fold in 1967 and was replaced by Jerry Yester), The Lovin' Spoonful rolled out a succession of radio-perfect singles in the folk-pop vein up until John Sebastian's departure from the band in 1968. By the following year the remaining three had disbanded, but as fate would have it, that wasn't the end of the Spoonful. 1991 saw the re-teaming of Boone, Butler and Yester (following a record company settlement) joined by vocalist Lena Beckett and percussionist Mike Arturi."
"On Live At the Hotel Seville, the re-formed Spoonful have recorded a batch of familiar material done up acoustic style, which on the surface may not inspire much confidence -- after all, what is The Lovin' Spoonful without Sebastian? Turns out, one heck of a band."
"What makes this recording work so well is simple -- these guys (and gal) don't mess with the utterly tuneful perfection of the material. For that you gotta love 'em. Sung solidly true-to-form by lead vocalists Butler and Yester, the Spoonful's acoustic guitar-centered sound showcases Sebastian's' gifts as a master tunesmith while Beckett's vocals add a particularly lovely touch to their already beautifully harmony-rich sound. And it's a good thing, too, because these are feel-good songs of the highest order -- the down-home C&W feel of "Nashville Cats," the laid-back bliss of "Daydream," the buoyant, utterly sublime pop of "Do You Believe In Magic." They even beef up their sound to deliver a faithful version of "Summer in the City" where the only thing missing is the sound of those honking car horns."
"The Spoonful as performers couldn't be better-suited to their sunny material. Consistently cheerful and genial, they exhibit an easy camaraderie both with their audience and with each other. The only gripe with Hotel Seville is that the Spoonful left out "Darlin' Be Home Soon" and "She's Still A Mystery to Me" to indulge in an extended bout of goofiness on their cover of Huey P. Smith's "Don't You Just Know It" in which the band invites audience participation to laughter and joking all around. All this when they could have just as easily served up sterling versions of more Spoonful classics."
Steve Boone with Zoh, Anna and Bob Hieronimus at a
Lovin' Spoonful concert in Frederick, Maryland, May 1998.
Backstage pass worn by Dr. Bob Hieronimus at the Lovin'
Spoonful concert.
An autographed photo of the Lovin' Spoonful, May 1998.