Meet The Band

Brandon

Singer/Guitar

A.J. "The Monkey Man" Bernardi

Drums

A.J. is a member of two of the three groupings of simian primates. These two groupings are the New World and Old World monkeys of which together there are nearly 200 species. Because of their similarity to monkeys, apes such as chimpanzees and gibbons are sometimes incorrectly called monkeys. Also, a few monkey species have the word "ape" in their common name. Because they are not a single coherent group, monkeys do not have any important characteristics that they all share and are not shared with the remaining group of simians, the apes.

Monkeys range in size from the Pygmy Marmoset, at 10 cm (4 inch) long (plus tail) and 120 g (4 oz) in weight to the male Mandrill, almost 1 metre (3 ft) long and weighing 35 kg (75 lb). Some are arboreal (living in trees), some live on the savanna; diets differ among the various species but may contain any of the following: fruit, leaves, seeds, nuts, flowers, insects, spiders, eggs and small animals.

Some characteristics are shared among the groups; most New World monkeys have prehensile tails while Old World monkeys do not; some have trichromatic colour vision like that of humans, others are dichromats or monochromats. Although both the New and Old World monkeys, like the apes, have forward facing eyes, the faces of Old World and New World monkeys look very different though again, each group shares some features such as the types of noses, cheeks and rumps. To understand the monkeys, therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of the different groups individually.

The name monkey may come from a German version of the Reynard the Fox fable, published in around 1580. In this version of the fable, a character named Moneke is the son of Martin the Ape. The word Moneke may have been derived from the Italian monna, which means "a female ape." The name Moneke persisted over time likely due to the popularity of Reynard the Fox.

Dave Yates

Bass

Dave's had a long and storied career in the entertainment industry.  At age 13, he ran away from home to join the circus.  Starting out at the bottom, he did everything from cleaning elephant stalls to ice cream vendor (usually alternating in the course of the day - watch that double-fudge kids!) to clown to flying trapeze artist.  Along about his 9th year with the circus, while performing as the human cannonball in suburban Las Vegas one evening, the pyrotechnician accidentally overloaded the cannon which shot Dave clear out of the big-top where he landed squarely in the back yard of Mr. Chip N. Dale, who at the time was developing an act of his own.  After a brief conversation, Dave was immediately hired by Mr. Dale, and upon recovery and removal of his body cast began his new career as a male exotic dancer.  Dave enjoyed much success at this and his side career in the adult movie industry for the next 14 years until one evening in New York City.  As Dave was headed to the Columbia Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoris Hotel to perform for an NFL Cheerleaders Convention, he happened to be passing by the Barbados Lounge where there was a commotion over the fact that band performing in that room had just lost their bassist ( a certain Mr. Kenny Rodgers) who had quit the band in a huff over differences of opinion re: artistic interpretation.  It was the same sad story, and normally Dave would've just kept on his way, but this time was different.  He was familiar with this band's repertoire and he could not, in good conscience, simply allow yet again, such a class act to dissolve over less than all but the most mundane of reasons.  So, on the spot, Dave decided then and there to take up the job, and there and then reinvented himself by starting another career as the bassist for The New Christy Minstrels.  Well, one great thing after another occurred along the way, and this is what brings Dave to the current gig with, ...er,... whatever the name of the current band is.
 

Wes Howsare

Guitar/Piano