FurLow Riders: UW-L chancellor, lawyer and prof form band, La Crosse Tribune, 11/11/09

By KJ LANG klang@lacrossetribune.com

Looking for a way to cheer up during the economic slump?

Try the “FurLow Riders.”

Instead of letting state-mandated furloughs get them down, this new music group – a chancellor, a professor and an attorney – are staying up late to beat the blues by playing it.

They will perform 1960s blues-rock and the 1950s traditional blues that influenced it at 10:45 p.m. Friday at the Popcorn Tavern, 308 Fourth St. S. The performance is free.

The group met at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s annual party at the start of the school year at the home of psychology professor Bart VanVoorhis.

VanVoorhis had a drum set in the basement from his younger days that he hauled up to the living room for the party.

It had been about 21 years since he handled the sticks but as the night progressed, VanVoorhis began jamming with UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow on the electric guitar. Attorney Nizam Arain, the husband of a UW-L professor, thought they could use a bass player.

The group decided to start rehearsing in Gow’s basement. VanVoorhis suggested the name Dazed and Furloughed, while Arain offered Gow and the Vice Chancellors. But it was Fur Low Riders that stuck.

Friday will be their first public appearance. Gow said he hasn’t been in a “real band” since he was in graduate school at Penn State University about 20 years ago.

But the chancellor kept practicing and is a regular solo guitarist at various venues, including the Cellar of the Cartwright Center where UW-L students mingle.

Arain has played for about 15 years, and was in various bands in Chicago until he moved this year to La Crosse with his wife.

“It was a pleasant surprise to be able to continue my music here,” he said.

They aren’t looking for money, just a chance to play together and “keep those youthful fires burning,” Gow said. They didn’t ask for compensation to play at the tavern.

“We drove a hard bargain with them,” Arain joked.

Their performance will wrap up about 1:30 a.m.

It will keep Gow, who typically rises at 4:45 a.m., up far past his usual bedtime, but suspects it won’t be a problem.

“When you’re playing up there, you are not tired. You are in the moment,” he said. “Now, moving the equipment afterward, that won’t be so fun.”