By Carol
Schaal '91M.A.
For
Joanie Mendenhall '00, a career in New York City's publishing
world landed her solidly in the ranks of what she calls "a glorified
secretary." She pursued her passion for music on the side, writing
and performing whenever possible. For Matt Curreri '99, a career
in New York's education system landed him a job as a high school
algebra teacher. During his spare time, he wrote, recorded and
performed music.
"I knew Matt at Notre Dame, but we weren't good friends and
weren't playing music together," says Mendenhall.
As
it happened, their sisters were roommates at Dartmouth. And so
Mendenhall and Curreri were informed, relatively speaking, that
they had a musical soul mate in New York. The two began performing
together.
Little more than a year ago, the two musicians moved to San
Diego, where Mendenhall was raised. "That's really where the music
has taken off," she says.
What's also taken off are the duo's appearances in the four-person
rock band The Exfriends. "Matt came up with the name," says Mendenhall.
"In New York, people were always moving in and out. You make these
great friends and inevitably someone always moves away."
The two write songs played by the indie group, which is fronted
by vocalists Curreri, who plays guitar and sometimes drums, and
Mendenhall, who plays guitar, Rhodes electric piano and sometimes
the accordion. An upright-bass player and violinist complete the
group. San Diego media have been effusive in their praise of the
"delightfully disheveled" band and its two lead songwriters.
On a recent trip, the Exfriends performed in Virginia, where
Curreri grew up, in Washington, D.C., and in Chicago. They plan
to do a show in South Bend and hope to release a CD this year.
Both Mendenhall and Curreri recently came out with solo debut
albums. Mendenhall's is appropriately named Secretary Waltz;
it was released by Spinster. City Salvage Records has released
How to Play the Songs of Matt Curreri.
More information on the two rock 'n' rollers, including show
dates for The Exfriends and sound clips from their individual
CD s, is available at their websites: www.joaniemen.com or www.mattcurreri.com.
(January 2005)
