Once upon a time, Jersey rocker Glen Burtnik played Paul McCartney in the Broadway production of “Beatlemania.” A tasty chunk of his career has explored Beatlemania ever since, including his current band The Weeklings, one of America’s most unique celebrations of The Fab Four.
In 1987, Glen began writing songs with his new pal, Bob Burger, who was leading a band called Blonde Obsession at the time. They wrote songs for Glen’s A&M solo LP, “Heroes and Zeros,” as well as subsequent indie albums, “Palookaville” and “Welcome to Hollywood,” plus songs during Glen’s tenure in the arena rock band Styx. All the while, Bob was pumping out impressive solo LPs of his own, some of which had other songs written with Glen.
After more than a decade writing together, Glen asked Bob to perform several of his Beatles Bashes with him at The State Theatre in his native New Brunswick. Once they started to record Beatles songs with Glen on bass, Bob on guitar and both on vocals, they added in a few originals, and blam!, The Weeklings were born with John Merjave of The Fest for Beatles Fans house band Liverpool on lead guitar. Soon after, Joe Bellia, who’s played with the Jersey trinity of Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, joined on drums.
Last year was especially good to The Weeklings having book-ended 2024 with the well-received “Raspberry Park” LP followed by their fifth album on Jersey-based Jem Records, “Christmas.” The collection of the many holiday originals and covers they’ve released as singles also featured a few unreleased seasonal tracks.
This year already is shaping up into a great one for The Weeklings with shows Jan. 16 at Milton Theatre in Delaware; the 25th anniversary Light of Day Festival on Jan. 17 at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park with Dramarama, Bobby Mahoney, SONiA and Pete Mancini, and Feb. 8 at Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center for a Beatles Bash with a 10-piece orchestra. Having backed E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg for Max Weinberg’s Jukebox at one of the earliest shows at Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center, The Weeklings continue to back Max and will do so at The Beatles-enshrined Cavern Club when Bruce plays Liverpool in early June. They’ll also play with Max on Jan. 31 at Sacred Heart Theatre in Fairfield, CT.
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The Weeklings’ calendar also includes Feb. 23, Monmouth County Library, Manalapan; March 8, Doudna Fine Arts Center Dvorak Hall, Charleston, IL; The Fest for Beatles Fans, March 28 to 30, Hyatt Regency, Jersey City; a Beatles Bash with orchestra at Abbey Road on the River, May 22 to 25, Big Four Station Park, Jeffersonville, IN, and a Blue Cruise, Aug. 22 to 29, departing from Boston to New England and Novia Scotia with Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues, Dave Mason of Traffic, Alan Parson, Starship, Al Stewart, Colin Blunstone of The Zombies, Wishbone Ash and more.
On behalf of his Weeklings band mates, Bob chatted about the band and their upcoming performances, as well as his solo career and long history with Glen.
When and how did you meet Glen Burtnik, and how long have you been writing songs with him?
I met Glen in 1987. We started writing songs at that time on his ‘Heroes and Zeroes’ album. I had a band, Blonde Obsession, and my drummer, Danny Colangelo, was friends with him. He introduced us at the Brighton Bar. I was playing at the Brighton, and Glen came down. And he also came to The Bitter End. Danny invited him to check out the band. He wanted him to hear the original songwriting. They knew each other from The Stone Pony.
What are some of the pre-Weeklings songs you wrote with and without Glen?
So many in both categories. We wrote several songs for Styx together. We did songs on ‘Heroes and Zeroes,’ like ‘Spinning My Wheels,’ and on ‘Palookaville,’ we did three cuts. On ‘Welcome to Hollywood,’ we did six or seven.
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I also have five solo albums out. On those, I do a few other songs Glen and I wrote together.
Over the years, I also written with Marc Swersky, Lisa Bouchelle, Bobby Bandiera and others.
How did The Weeklings band together and why?
The first part of my relationship with Glen was writing songs, mainly for his solo efforts or Styx. In early ’00s, Glen asked me to join him with some Beatles Bash shows he was doing at The State Theater once or twice a year. So I started working with him on live performances, a perspective we had not done before. We did a bunch of those shows. The last one we did was The Birth of The Beatles.
The first two Beatles albums were recorded live in the studio with four guys singing and playing instruments. Basically, anybody could reproduce the sound of the early Beatles. We did, and were kind of excited by the results. So we were like, ‘Let’s do gigs with the four of us.’ So we did Beatles tribute gigs. Then we were like, ‘Let’s do a record,’ then, ‘let’s add original songs to the record,’ and it snowballed from there. We had not intended to start a band. The band started us actually.
John was also part of The Birth of Beatles show and other Beatles Bash shows. Glen knew him from The Fest for Beatles Fans. Originally, Dave Anthony was on drums, but he couldn’t make gigs, so we started using Joe and asked him to join the band.
The Weeklings played Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center backing Max Weinberg I believe in 2021. What did you like most about the venue, and what are you looking forward to most returning there with a headlining show for The Weeklings?
It’s a really nice venue, all new and well laid out. It’s a well thought-out modern venue. They’re struggling a little bit to get people to come to Carteret as an established venue, as a destination, but we look forward playing on that stage in that room. We’re going to have orchestra instruments with five strings and five horns. It’s a big sound.
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What else can folks expect from the Beatles Bash with orchestra at CPAC?
We’re also adding a second keyboard player to double up the orchestra sounds, make them fatter. It’s quite an undertaking. You have to have the right charts, make sure they’re right. That’s a whole exercise in itself.
Why do The Weeklings and your fans enjoy The Beatles so much?
I guess most of our fans are in our age group. Anyone in the Boomer age group has to be affected by The Beatles. I don’t know too many people in my age group who don’t love The Beatles. It was such a huge seismic impact in 1964 when they arrived in America. I was mesmerized when I saw them on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ It changed the course of my life.
I grew up in a musical family. My dad was a music teacher so I had a lot of exposure to music by age 10. But my dad was into classical, more traditional music, whereas I was knocked out by rock ‘n’ roll music. That’s where my dad and I parted ways.
The Weeklings will perform with Max Weinberg’s Jukebox in early June at the fabled Cavern Club in Liverpool.
Do The Weeklings expect to be working with Max Weinberg’s Jukebox again?
Absolutely, the E Street Band starts dates up again in the spring. We have a bunch of dates booked with Max. The most exciting is The Cavern Club in Liverpool when Bruce plays over there in early June. We’re doing three shows at The Cavern. Two already are sold out.
About a month ago, we played Toronto with the same deal. Bruce played up there, and Max booked a club. We did two sold-out shows.
The Weeklings also have a show coming up for the Light of Day Festival, which was founded by your manager, Tony Pallagrosi. What do you like most about working with Tony and why?
We got along really well. I love Tony. He’s proactive, connected, enthusiastic, and he loves the band. He’s a great guy and a very competent manager, which is great.
Have you started working on another solo album yet?
My most recent solo LP was in 2022. Am I thinking about my next album? Yes. I have some songs written, some demos, some stuff in my head. But I’ll be pretty busy this year. And I just put out two albums by The Weeklings in 2024, ‘Raspberry Park’ and a ‘Christmas’ album. I’m not planning on putting a new album out right away.
When will The Weeklings start working on their next album and/or single?
A single certainly would sooner. We just finished this ‘Christmas’ project and haven’t thought about the next one yet. But something will be happening as soon as we figure out what that is.
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Have you ever seen the Fox animated series ‘Bob’s Burgers?’ Does your name ever get mixed up with the show?
I have never seen it. It gets mixed up all the time on Google searches and on YouTube. When you search Bob Burger, you find the cartoon, which is very annoying because I was around before them, and it’s my name. When you search BobBurgerMusic -- all one word – it bypasses Bob’s Burgers a bit. But it’s really annoying.
Do you still practice law?
I do not very much. I kind of went into semi-retirement last year and just do a few things every once in a while. Mostly technical contracts, software contracts, boring things you have to read, scroll through and say, ‘I agree.’
Is there anything I didn’t ask on which you would like to comment?
We won the Coolest Song of the Week on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. We did win the No. 1 spot a couple years ago.
We’re also playing with Max on Jan. 31 in Connecticut at Sacred Heart Theatre in Fairfield.
On Feb. 23, The Weeklings are playing Monmouth County Library in Manalapan. It’s free show that gets packed. It’s at 2 p.m.
New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.
Lazlo, founder of BlowUpRadio.com (an online radio station based around New Jersey artists), shines a light on some of the many new releases from NJ based musicians each week with this column. This week Lazlo takes a look at new releases by The Extensions, Psychic Wars, Synaptic Ooze, James William Eccles, and Southpaw. Plus a look back at "Are We Truly Great Again?" by Laree Cisco.
Michael Patrick is a Americana singer-songwriter who has played well over 2,000 live shows in the tri-state area, released six albums from 2004's Roots & Branches to 2023's Crossing Bridges, and created popular shows like his Johnny Cash "Ring of Fire" tribute. A few years ago, he moved to the Hunterdon County area. Halfway through 2023, Michael made an even bigger life decision - he decided to leave his full-time job and play music full-time.
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