Band History, page 3
Lunch at the Dump increased its schedule for the next two years, playing
at festivals and clubs throughout northern New England. Although several
recording sessions produced demos, the band never put out an album and some of
these early recordings are available elsewhere on this web site. Faced with the
perennial difficulty of making a living from music alone, the band eventually
succumbed to financial pressures. Lunch at the Dump broke up in late 1979,
with members going off on other projects. Ron Langley moved to northern
Vermont where he and his wife have played contra dance music for many
years. John Holden played with the Black Water String Band and, later, Brown
Hill and more recently, The Chip Smith Project. Jim Bartelemy has played with
Valerie and Ted Blachly in The Mink Hills Band for many years, later joined by
Peter Leavenworth in the mid-1990s. Stan Chew and Chris Pimentel played
together, first as a duo, and then as a rock band. As the Drones, this included
Matt Leavenworth and in the later 1980s as the Boys, Peter Leavenworth. Stan
also went on to found the Maldens whose repertory was largely original music.
Matt Leavenworth moved to Boston where he has made a living playing music,
first in The Boogaloo Swamis and later as a sideman for bands and recording
sessions too numerous to mention. Peter Leavenworth initially went on to start
the acoustic band Second Hand Rose, then joined The Electric Caves, The
Fenders, and played pedal steel exclusively in Pony Express. Lunch at the Dump
frequently got together for informal reunions throughout the 1980s and 1990s
but for the past fifteen years, LATD has been gradually increasing its gig
schedule. In May, 2007, they recorded their first CD at Hi-n-Dry Studio in
Cambridge, with much help from their friends Billy Conway and Laurie Sargent
of the Chip Smith Project. With the addition of longtime bluegrass bassist Pete
Soukas on guitar in 2005, they play regularly throughout New England, joined
by Matt and Stan when available.
