Believe it or not, sometimes we manage to slip some erstwhile representative of the local press corps a $20 on the sly for some favorable coverage; the results are posted here for your perusal...many gratitudes are owed by the band to certain reporter(s), and...oh yeah...the check is in the mail! I swear! Really...

Ripple cascades through Region jam nights Saturday, July 31, 2004 12:36 AM CDT BY TOM LOUNGES Times Correspondent Northwest Indiana's Ripple has begun to make ripples on the lake of local music since introducing themselves 10 months ago via local jam nights. "Ripple is NOT a Grateful Dead tribute band. We're just a group of guys who want to play for the people and put on a good show," explained guitarist Don Hiemstra of Dyer, who co-founded the band two years ago with Schererville drummer Gerard Gomez. "Gerard and I met through an ad posted up at Royal Music on Broadway," continued Hiemstra, whose only experience prior to Ripple had been playing guitar in his church. "We talked on the phone and realized we had the same interests." It took the pair the better part of two years to find players who simply wanted to make music for the sake of having fun. Keyboardist-vocalist Brian Piorkowski of Portage explained that he joined last July after his old friend Hiemstra e-mailed him to consider playing in the band. "Don and I knew each other from working together years before, so I figured why not give it a shot," Piorkowski recalled. "I'd just re-located back to the Region after living for 10 years in Jacksonville, Florida," said bassist Rob Joseph, of Crown Point. "I'm a guitar collector and visit pawn shops a lot. The owner of a shop, Mark Cannon, sings with the local band Pokerface and he told me about these guys looking to put together a band," Joseph said. Joseph had flirted with the "big time" while in Florida playing with The Units, who nearly signed with Mercury Records in 1994, before that label got swallowed up in mergers. Disinterested in chasing that elusive dream again, Joseph fit the Ripple mind set, explaining that he "just wants to play music and have a good time." The toughest position to fill was frontman-vocalist. Ultimately, Hiemstra found that he needed to look no farther than the front door of his glass business in St. John, where Ripple practices twice a week. "I was frustrated and put a 'Singer Wanted' sign up on the front door of the business," Hiemstra recalled. "My UPS delivery man told me about Mike, a good singer that had been doing acoustic stuff, but who wanted to get with a band and sing rock 'n' roll." Griffith resident Mike Raketich was behind the microphone by the end of September and Ripple's "jam night" pub crawl began. "We started going to jam nights all over the place to get our name out there. Our first real gig was at Spanky's in Dyer last November," Joseph said, noting that now they play an average of three weekends a month all over Lake and Porter counties. Though Hiemstra and Joseph both write songs and speculate about one day recording them, Ripple is a 100 percent party band. Their song list ranges from country music (Johnny Cash, Travis Tritt) to classic rock (Doors, Beatles) to oldies (Roy Orbison, Elvis) to modern rock (Staind, Goo Goo Dolls). The anchor of their live show, according to Hiemstra, is their upbeat block of 1980s rock -- "Melt With You" by Modern English, "867-5309" by Tommy Tutone, "My Sharona" by The Knack, "The Break-Up Song" by Greg Kihn, etc. "People love that stuff," he said. The ripples of popularity are getting wider by the week for Ripple because of the live show. "We're five guys with five distinct personalities and individual quirks. We tend to celebrate that in front of a crowd," Hiemstra said. "I'm wireless and I go out and dance with people and do what I have to do to get them up and having fun with us," Joseph added. "We want everyone who comes to see us to have a great time!" http://nwitimes.com/articles/2004/08/06/features/your_saturday/1f85f68b8b79cd3286256edf00739a0b.txt

Rodney 'Ripples' with rock 'n' roll Saturday, March 24, 2007 1:13 AM CDT BY TOM LOUNGES Times Correspondent Weekend warriors who like to dance and revisit the less-complicated days of their youth can do so this evening at Rodney's in downtown Highland, for supplying the musical soundtrack to slurping down slices will be The Ripple Band. This writer has caught Ripple doing "that thing they do" three times during the last few weeks and, on each occasion, I left with a goofy song stuck in my head and a silly smile on my face. It's not Stravinsky folks, but it's fun. "(Our) band plays songs from the vast history that is rock 'n' roll," said bassist Rob Joseph of why he feels Ripple has such wide appeal and the ability to please so many diverse tastes and age groups. Banging through the five decades of rock-era hits alongside groove master Joseph is drummer Mark Bishop and guitarist Don Hiemstra. Broadening out their sound and adding pizzazz is the group's keyboardist and resident snappy dresser, Brian Piorkowski. All four members of the Northwest Indiana-based band share in the lead and backing vocal duties. Having four distinct voices is what makes the current incarnation of the Ripple Band capable of covering so much musical ground. So how diverse is the band's songbook? Let's review ... Fans of sweatin' to the oldies can bring their blue suede shoes for a dance-floor workout to songs like Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," Elvis Presley's "Little Sister," J. Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss," Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'," Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" or one of the many early hits in the Ripple set list from The Beatles or the Rolling Stones. Classic rockers will flashback on songs like Eddie Money's "Two Tickets To Paradise," Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," The Doors' "L.A. Woman," Aerosmith's "Walking The Dog" or other '60s and '70s favorites by the likes of Steppenwolf, Creedence Clearwater Revival, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, or, believe it or not, Simon & Garfunkel. And ladies ... the retro '80s and dance hits are there for you too. There's Semisonic, Modern English, Prince, INXS, Rick Springfield, plus a handful of more modern rock numbers by Weezer, Gin Blossoms, Fastball, Matchbox 20 and The Foo Fighters. "When we play, we like to go out and have as much fun as we can," Joseph said. And clearly, so do the people who wind up on the band's dance floor. The opinions expressed solely are those of the writer. He can be reached at beatboss@aol.com. http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/03/24/your_saturday/your_saturday/docc4bb9b7deabc9984862572a6006743e3.txt

A BAND FOR ALL TASTES Monday, July 23, 2007 12:31 AM CDT BY TOM LOUNGES Times Correspondent Northwest Indiana-based Ripple Band can easily rock through the five decades of hits during a typical show, covering enough musical ground to appease and please a multigenerational audience and keep a dance floor moving and grooving. In the groove department, those who like to shake it down will find dance-floor jams by Semisonic, Prince and others; New wave dance tunes by the likes of INXS, Modern English; and catchy pop chart hits by Rick Springfield, Gin Blossoms, Matchbox 20 and The Foo Fighters Those rockers who once slicked back their hair and sported blue suede shoes will find many hits from the early era of rock 'n' roll on the Ripple playlist too, including big ones from the songbooks of Roy Orbison, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and the Spencer Davis Group. Rockin' baby boomers are especially well covered during a typical Ripple show, as the band tosses out a good deal of Rolling Stones and Beatles tunes, spiked with classic rock favorites by Aerosmith, The Doors, Eddie Money, Pink Floyd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin and Steppenwolf. A big part of what makes this group so diverse in sound is that all four members of the band -- bassist Rob Joseph, drummer Mark Bishop, guitarist Don Hiemstra and keyboardist Brian Piorkowski -- share in the lead and backing vocals, allowing them to shift gears whenever needed, so it's not the same voice warbling all night. "A typical Ripple set list includes songs from throughout the history of rock 'n' roll," Joseph said. "Between the four of us, we have a lot of influences. We love playing music and we love seeing people have a good time." Together for four years now, the Ripple Band has come a long way from their first gig in the fall of 2003, evolving from a bunch of guys looking to just have a good time playing together, to a certifiable crowd pleaser and popular club attraction. http://nwitimes.com/articles/2004/08/06/features/your_saturday/1f85f68b8b79cd3286256edf00739a0b.txt

Local band makes waves By: Mark Farner Issue date: 4/20/09 Few things are as heartening as best friends sticking together. One band is just that - four best friends who enjoy playing rock music together and having fun while they do so. In this way, Ripple entertains Northwest Indiana with their impressive sound. Described as "the world's greatest 3-car garage band," Ripple consists of Rob Joseph on bass, Don Hiemstra on guitar, Mark Bishop on drums and Brian Piorkowski on keyboard; with the vocals shared between them. Joseph met for an interview and gave some unique insight into what Ripple is. The name Ripple apparently started life as an inherited name that was already in existence. Although the band has certainly thought about changing the name a few times, it has already been established. "People have asked if Ripple is a Grateful Dead cover band," Joseph said. However, they've never played anything by Grateful Dead. Ripple "sticks with songs that are tried and true, songs that people like to hear." Although the song list on the website (ripple-band.com) is impressive, it has been doubled. The band plays even more songs live, including hits from such bands as, "Green Day," "Pink Floyd," "Lynyrd Skynyrd," "ZZ Top" and "The Beatles," among many others. Influenced by late 70s punk and power pop, Ripple also has elements of early 50s and anything rock and roll - "the whole history of rock and roll from the beginning to present time," Joseph said. Ripple's key influences include "The Knack," "Cheap Trick," "The Cars," "The Beatles" and "The Rolling Stones" along with Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. Ripple also has some original songs, but none that they play live. A writer with a studio in his basement, Joseph has always been interested in engineering and recording. In fact, Ripple hopes to have a CD of original material someday and even have a few songs on their Myspace (Myspace.com/rippleband). For now, however, they are concentrating on "getting out, playing live and entertaining people." For all their diverse song choices, Ripple boils down to simply a rock band. "[The band] is not soft, but not hard," Joseph described. "Not Metallica, but not Neil Diamond. It's an edgy rock sound but it's still not gonna scare Granny out of the room fro the most part." The band members have a lot of fun when they play and it shows. The website features pictures of past performances as well as a couple intimate looks into the members' lives. For instance, Joseph and Bishop have been best friends since early childhood. They celebrate their differences, the performances end with a smile and nobody gets twisted in the wrong way. Ripple is a different kind of band from what's usually seen. The stuff they play is "classic, timeless stuff, in demand now." An "edgy and guitar driven four piece" who like to have a good time, their music is serious and professional, yet it is a representation of what they are. For a list of upcoming shows or to simply learn more about the band, visit ripple-band.com. http://media.www.pucchronicle.com/media/storage/paper1082/news/2009/04/20/Entertainment/Local.Band.Makes.Waves-3716353.shtml