Old time Rock ’n’ Roll

MORRIS – The year was 1977, and Roger Hoegger of Dwight invited fellow high school student Pat Halloran over to his house to help form a band. Today, the two are at it again, playing in area bars and eateries, reliving some of their favorite classics from their high school days.

“Roger had a guitar and an amp in his bedroom and a microphone,” said Halloran, now of Coal City. “He invited me over because he knew I liked to sing.”

The rest was high school history.

They said that there was another popular area high school band at the time named Desert Heat, and a classmate jokingly said they should call themselves Mountain Chill. After adding some more band members, they were then known as Mountain Chill.

“It’s funny because if you look back in our yearbooks, Mountain Chill is listed as the favorite band by many of the students,” Halloran said.

Their senior year, they were even asked to play a gig at a local high school, where they sang their two most requested covers, “Long Train Running” and “Sweet Home Alabama.”

Today, Halloran has a “Dr.” in front of his name and works as the Morris Community High School superintendent, and Hoegger is a buyer for a metal fabricator. Both are respectable jobs, they said, but are not nearly as much fun as belting out their favorites live on a stage.

During past years, they’ve met up at Christmas and also held reunions while they were in college. They’ve played at Gardner Days – but then they became adults, with families and careers. Hoegger continued playing professionally, while Halloran, for the most part, hung up his microphone, with the exception of singing in six musicals and performing the national anthem.

“Halloran said that he received a call from Hoegger about a year ago.

“When Roger called, I had no idea what he wanted. Then he asked if I was interested in singing with him again,” Halloran said.

Hoegger said he knew Halloran had it in him if he could just steer him to the right music, the music he knows and likes.

Halloran said it’s Hoegger who is the creative genius who can play a six-string or a 12-string guitar and can listen to a song once and pick it up. He has to work much harder to get to where Hoegger is.

The duo started off practicing at Hoegger’s home, where the guitar and amp have been replaced by professional equipment, and Halloran realized how fun singing with his old partner was again.

“I’m proud of where we’ve come,” Hoegger said. “I took Pat out of his comfort zone and, when everything comes together, it comes together.”

The two started off practicing several times a week until they hit the point they were ready to go public. They’ve been playing publicly ever since in local bars and eateries.

Halloran said that whenever he isn’t sure how a song goes, Hoegger starts to play and he doesn’t have to worry about it because their backup singer, Krissy Hoegger, Roger’s wife and originally a resident of Morris, kicks in with vocals from the sound booth where she helps run the show.

Halloran said that his family has been some of his biggest fans and supporters and even have watched via FaceTime from college.

Neither of the men knows what is in store for them in the future, but with just one year left at Morris Community High School, Halloran said they might have more time to play a few more gigs.

“When everyone in the bar is singing along with you, you know you’re doing something right at that moment and at that time,” Hoegger said.

Today, that’s what they are experiencing when they take the stage locally, and they hope it continues under the new band name BOGO Free.

BOGO Free will be performing at 7 p.m. May 20 at the Coal City High School auditorium as part of the Megan Bugg concert series.

Proceeds from ticket sales will support the Megan Bugg Concert Series, hosted by the Unit 1 School District.

Bugg is the daughter of Coal City Superintendent Kent Bugg. The fundraiser is a way for the family to give back to the community, which has given the Bugg family, especially Megan, support during Megan’s 2½-year battle with cancer.