THE KOOTZ / Rock 'N' Roll with Fiber / Hawthorne

NEW JERSEY'S ULTIMATE SINGLE'S MEET-UP GROUP, WHERE THE FUN NEVER STOPS!

Join us for an evening of live music by one of MINGLE AROUND SINGLES member's long-time favorite bands, THE KOOTZ at SHORTWAYS BARN & GRILLE.

SHORTWAYS BARN & GRILLE is a family restaurant located in a retrofitted barn that has been in the same family for 85+ years. There is seating at the bar, in the bar area, and a separate dining room. There are 12 TV’s around the bar, bands on the weekends, quick draw lottery, and the NFL football package. The menu consists of thin crust pizza, fresh meat burgers 1/2 lb or 1/4 lb. and specialty salads. Drop on in to see some history, and experience delicious food.

Born on July 23, 1893 in Warren Point, New Jersey, Anthony Tunis was the son of Harry and Maud Hoek Shortway. Tunis was an athlete and one of the best pitchers in the metropolitan area. Everyone called him Tune. In his prime he pitched baseball against such greats as Honus Wagner and Jim Thorpe, famous Major league baseball players. He could have played in the Major Leagues, but salaries were so small that he couldn’t make enough to support a family. He became a mason contractor and built houses. In 1913, Tune married Anna Aupperlee. They had 2 sons, Harry and Anthony, whom everyone knew as Tex. They lived in Paterson. In 1928, Tune bought land in Hawthorne, which was mostly farmland. There was a house, a gas station and a barn with a 3-car garage and 2 horse barns. During the prohibition years Tune made his own booze. Everyone convinced him to build a small bar and open it up as SHORTWAYS BARN. Then he applied for a liquor license. In September 1933, the doors were opened legally. A bar without food did okay, but Tune decided to sell the now famous hot roast beef sandwiches on hard rolls and kept adding food to the menu. SHORTWAYS was one of the most popular places in town. Tune passed away in December 1942. The Barn and the farm were left to Harry and Tex.

Harry married Marjorie Holmes in 1936. Tex and Mage ran the barn while Harry worked at Curtis Wright Corporation. In the early 1950’s, Harry bought his brother’s share of the business. The Barn would go through many changes. During the 50’s it was a stop for truck drivers, coming in for the acclaimed hot roast beef sandwiches. As the clientele changed, so did the Barn. The barn was renovated into a larger bar and the backroom booths were removed. In the 60’s and 70’s, go-go dances were featured and business boomed. Once again, the place changed. Harry passed away on October 26, 1981, leaving Marge as the Owner of the Barn. In 1982 there would be more changes in store. The entire building was gutted and a new SHORTWAYS BARN was born. Out with the pool table and go-go girls and in with a new decor. It has taken many years to replace the reputation of a “man’s bar”. SHORWAYS BARN sure has come a long way!

Through the years, Marge was an avid Yankee fan, enjoying the games with her customers. Just as Yankee Stadium became known as “The House that Ruth Built”, SHORTWAYS BARN became “The House that Marge Built”. Her love of family and friends has given the Barn a warm and friendly atmosphere for everyone. Her endless energy brought her to become the first woman elected to the Hawthorne Council. She served the Borough for 15 years, from 1990 to 2005. Marge became known as the First lady of Hawthorne. On September 21, 2005, her daughter Debra passed away, leaving an emptiness felt by Marge and her other ten children. Debra was a hardworking bartender dealing with kidney diseases. She lived her life to the fullest. Fifteen months later, on December 20, 2006, Marge passed away, and a void was felt within the family. On September 6, 2009, Marge’s son Tunie passed away. He was everyone’s “handy man” and always helped out at the Barn. Marge’s wishes were to continue the SHORTWAYS BARN tradition through her family.

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THE KOOTZ - Rock 'n Roll with Fiber - is a group of Jersey-guys and their 'musical friends', who just can't seem to 'retire their guitars'.... and likely never will!

The collective passion for classic rock, pop, soul and blues... and just plain old "making great music" has been a driving force..... even a 'mantra' in assembling THE KOOTZ BAND.

THE KOOTZ hail from Essex, Bergen, Morris, Union, Passaic, Sussex, Monmouth and Ocean Counties ... and have been around for over 20-years! That's a pretty long-run for any band!

Starting out in the late 90's, it all began as a nucleus of 5 or 6 musicians who informally jammed at various member's basements and even played an occasional gig or two. Back in the day, the band was called 'OMJ' (short for 'Old Man Jam'). By 2001, it was unanimously decided by co-founders Chris Bolger and Glenn Taylor with the full-commitment of the other charter-members, Ben Asher, Tony Dente and (the late) Dr. David Frisch... that this fledgling-outfit would try and make a go of it, seeking more exposure and acceptance... as well as gigs!

They continued to hone their repertoire of (mostly) covers of classic rock, pop and blues-tunes from the late 1950's through the 70's... staying true to why they originally started playing together in the first place! It was the collective and genuine love of this genre of rock 'n roll.
OMJ became "THE KOOTZ in 2002. The renaming was sort of a self-chuckle... or poke at themselves, based on the fact that most of the members were already over 50 years old; Hence, the KOOTZ-Credo, "Rock 'n Roll With Fiber" is quite-visible on the band's banner, which is 'hung in plain-sight' whenever they perform-live!

The hard work and intensity with-which band leader 'Glenny-T' publicized the group and began to bear fruit by 2004. He was able to book the band more and more frequently... and the word began to get-around about these 'old-guys' who could really rock! Besides the pubs and clubs, there were private corporate events and municipal concert opportunities that began to appear on the KOOTZ plate! These Northern NJ guys also started crossing the Driscoll Bridge (or NJ Mason-Dixon Line) a LOT more frequently and began performing at many of the shore-area's hottest venues between Point Pleasant and Long Beach Island. Before-long they were performing over 250 shows-a-year, all-around the tri-state area, as well-as taking to the road for shows in such exotic, far-away destinations as Cape Cod, Cooperstown and Philadelphia!

A debut CD entitled 'Tales From The Endless Bus Tour of New Jersey' followed in 2005, with guest appearances from Tommy James (as-in Shondells) and Smithereens-drummer Dennis Diken. Produced by Glenny-T at his own production-studio, 'Taylor-Made Productions' (www.taylormadeprod.com), this debut-album, a combination of KOOTZ-penned originals and a few classic-covers has achieved over 30,000+ downloads on i-Tunes, as well as over 10,000 units of the hard-CD sold at last-count!

All the while, the band was metamorphosizing, adding additional members. With so-many shows being-booked, THE KOOTZ began to rotate from their pool, as well as import some occasional guest performers. This stable of KOOTZ has grown over the years to currently include 15+ core-members in-all, as-well-as 7-to-10 guest-artists, enabling the band to play as many as 280 shows annually, sometimes with 2 on the same night, simultaneously! This has yielded several different and exciting KOOT-combinations, while maintaining that same pursuit of the classic 60's thru 90's musical genre! It is in this way that THE KOOTZ are a truly unique rock 'n roll band. It's kind of like a small rock 'n roll corporation comprised of these diverse and talented musician-friends!

A second 'totally-live"-CD, entitled "KOOTLEG" was released at the start of Summer-'09 sporting the entire cast of the band performing 21-rockin'-classics. It, too, has been flying off the shelves at every KOOTZ show and from the band's on-line store, which can be found at their website, www.thekootz.com. The live-disc embodies many diverse-combinations of KOOTZ personnel, as well as the material that they play.

Ironically, there had never been a moment when all KOOTZ band members stood under one roof at one time. That changed on October 1st, 2009 when "KOOTLEG, The Concert" became reality! On that evening, the entire "Kast-of-KOOTZ" core and guest-members, took the stage together for possibly the only time ever! The event took place at The Prime Time Dinner Theater in Sayreville, New Jersey and played to over 350 enthusiastic KOOTZ fans!

In January of 2010, THE KOOTZ were hosted for 2 separate TV-shows on Spotlight-NJ, a News-12 NJ program that reaches all of the Northeast-United States. Performing as a semi-acoustic quintet, in a two personnel-configurations, the appearances included six-original KOOTZ songs, as well as two interview-segments with show-host, Della Crews. You can see the shows by clicking HERE!

Rock Clubs, to resorts and private parties.... Biker bars to bistros and coffee houses; THE KOOTZ are always serving up a wide-array of the music that's part of our very core. It's the music that always makes you FEEL GOOD!!!

Arrive at 8pm to find parking and seating, and to mingle with MINGLE AROUND SINGLE'S MEET-UP Members before the 9pm performance.

To watch & listen to video of the band, click here:
THE KOOTZ - VIDEO

To check out the menu, click here:
SHORWAYS BARN - MENU

Come on out for good music, good friends and good fun!

DON'T BE SINGLE...COME OUT AND MINGLE!

EVERYONE IS WELCOME!