The Gand Band talks about the Mid Mod Music Squad: Palm Springs residents Joan and Gary Gand, musicians and members of the Gand Band, talk about forming the Mid Mod Music Squad to share their love for midcentury modern music of the 1960s during Modernism Week.
PALM SPRINGS — Modernism Week has long been known for celebrating the music of the Rat Pack and its contemporaries, but this year a new generation of modernistas are turning the dial and turning up the volume.
The Mid Mod Music Squad, a group of local music lovers, are presenting a new musical component to the 10-day celebration of Palm Springs midcentury modern culture.
“Palm Springs became associated with Sinatra and the Rat Pack and kind of got stuck in that era, and we wanted to go a couple of years later,” said Gary Gand, founding member of the Mid Mod Music Squad and guitarist in the husband-wife duo, The Gand Band.
“We felt it was time to move on to the next generation and, of course, we've got the next generation of people moving here who were not are our parents. Our parents listened to Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald and all the great Big Band singers, and our generation was the rock generation so we felt that was important to bring it out.”
From a tribute to Dusty Springfield to sets that are an homage to anything from The Ronnettes, The Beatles and Janis Joplin, Joan Gand, keyboardist for The Gand Band and founding member of the Mid Mod Music Squad, said the goal is to “celebrate that music and kind of preserve that music by performing it.”
“The other thing that we wanted to capture was the beat and the feel of that time. There was such a fun, bouncy, optimistic feel to it,” Joan Gand said.
To that end, the Mid Mod Music Squad recruited local musicians — including Gary Wexler, son of famed midcentury modern architect, Don Wexler — and even brought out crooners from outside the Coachella Valley to transport modern music lovers back to Palm Springs' heyday, the time from after World War II to the mid-1960s.
“We sought to find artists that reflect the era in their repertoire and stage performance,” said Mid Mod Music Squad member Bob Merlis, who will bring The Damselles & The TC4 from Los Angeles to The Saguaro hotel on Saturday.
“What we're looking for is a new reiteration of the ethos of that music ... They may not have been around during that time period, but they have the deep appreciation for it and that's what a lot of Modernism Week participants are like.”
Jillinda Palmer, born in the 1980s, said the music she performs with The Damselles & The TC4 is based on the “timeless” tunes of the midcentury modern period she recalled her parents listening to when she was young.
“They're songs that get stuck in your head that you keep with you for your whole life,” Palmer said.
All events hosted by the Mid Mod Music Squad are already sold out, but the Gands want to encourage modern music enthusiasts to start planning for next year.
“Even if people can't make it out to the events this year, there will be more events next year,” Joan Gand said. “We're not gonna stop.”
Mariecar Mendoza covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at (760) 778-4669 or mariecar.mendoza@thedesertsun.com.
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