The dream lives on

Wootton grads could reunite for first music gig in decades

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo courtesy Gregg Solomon John Soper, Walt Johnson, Gregg Solomon and Rich Aldinger back in the day.

The group graduated from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville in 1977, and members have settled across the country, so Solomon is facing a challenging task.

But he also has an ulterior motive.

Solomon, 47 and living in California, thinks the band’s journey back to high school after 30 years will be just as compelling as the grand finale, so he has pitched the story to Hollywood producers in hopes of scoring a reality television show.

People will relate to the story because so many gave up their dreams to start a career and a family, Solomon said.

‘‘They’re inspired by the idea of somebody refocusing on their desire, their passion,” he said.

‘‘I don’t think most people are doing their dream job — the job they would do whether they got paid or not,” he added.

The band, Nevertheles, was a four-member rock ensemble, with an occasional fifth, that played at parties, jam sessions and high school events.

Influenced by popular musicians like Santana, The Beatles, Chicago and Pink Floyd, the group sang hits plus some original songs.

‘‘We made a lot of people move,” said the group’s bass player, Rich Aldinger, a musician and car salesman who lives in Florida.

Aldinger hooked up with Nevertheless to spite his father, who moved the family from Hawaii to Maryland, forcing him to leave behind a teenage romance. Aldinger’s mother was a professional hula dancer and his dad detested the performance business, Aldinger said.

So his first goal when he hit the East Coast was to join a band.

The boy who once hung out with a clean-cut group of athletic guys in Hawaii switched gears, and dad noticed.

‘‘Since we moved to Maryland, I notice a lot of your friends look like Jesus,” his dad would comment, according to Aldinger.

Solomon’s mother, Ruth Schneider, said she didn’t pay much attention to the loud sounds that would carry from her basement when the group practiced.

‘‘Usually, I held my ears, I gotta admit it,” she said.

But now she looks forward to hearing him play again, she said.

The band’s musical connection continued past its high school graduation until 1983, when life took then in different directions.

‘‘Hanging out with the boys wasn’t on the top of the list anymore,” Solomon said.

Within a year, Solomon was off to California. He sold his drums, packed his small car with everything that would fit, and set off on a cross-country road trip to follow his next passion — ‘‘a woman,” he said.

Marriage, a mortgage, children and a career took over until five years ago, when Solomon decided to pick up the drumsticks again.

The flame was always burning, but it was on low, Solomon said. With a new outlook and new set of drums, Solomon started playing again and collaborating with other musicians.

But something was off.

‘‘Playing by myself just didn’t feel the same. Playing with other people didn’t quite feel the same,” Solomon said.

He longed for the same synergy that he shared with his high school buddies, he said. And with a school reunion approaching, ideas started brewing.

Aldinger wasn’t even planning to attend the high school reunion, he said. But when Solomon suggested reuniting the foursome, which also included Walt Johnson and John Soper, he was eager to join the effort.

‘‘I’m not gonna let my buddies down,” Aldinger said.

While Solomon keeps his fingers crossed for a reality show deal, the group is tentatively planning its first practice session together in the winter.