Second Wind: A brief history of Second Wind, a classic rock band from Long Island, NY

1977 - 1979
Second Wind was founded in 1977 by Mike Adams (guitar, bass and vocals), Bill "Buzz" Abelson (drums), Thorne Ventura (guitar, bass and vocals) and Steve Schimoler (drums). One of the only four-piece rock bands in history with two drummers, the band was formed to play two gigs that had already been booked at Jericho High School (3/19/77) and at The Holiday Cafe (5/20/77).

1979 - 1980
Dave and Mike played a few acoustic shows at some low-key clubs like The Park Bench (Stony Brook) and Horsefeather's (Northport) in the Winter-Spring of 1979. Before long, the electric band was reborn as the Buzz-Mike-Dave trio for many low-paying club performances through the end of 1979 and into 1980, including such memorable venues as Solomon Grundy's Frigate (Massapequa), The Sandstone (St. James), Rumrunner's (Oyster Bay), Wooden Ships (Glen Head) and Arthur's (Massapequa), with Thorne often making a guest appearance.

In late 1979, an experiment added Guitarist Neil Bellinger and Singer Lani Roye to the band in an effort to broaden the repertoire. Early in 1980, there was even one show which included all of the past and present members of the band, but, by that time, the regularly-scheduled days of Second Wind were winding down.

The last few months reverted to the Buzz-Mike-Dave trio and, after Buzz left the band, Ronny "Hubba" Warren filled in on drums for the last two scheduled performances at The Arizona Saloon (Long Beach) and Wooden Ships (Glen Head).

Early Second Wind

In April of 1979, the band played their final regular show as the Buzz-Mike-Thorne trio at SUNY Stony Brook. Opening the show that night, playing some acoustic ragtime was Dave Saronson. Click Here for Thorne's gig chronology

Several reunion shows were played in 1983 and 1987 (Buzz-Mike-Dave), 1988 and 1991 (Buzz-Mike-Dave-Thorne) , two shows in 2002 (at the Village Pub in PJ and Levy's in Huntington) and one on 8/23/03 (Buzz-Mike-Dave).

After that last nostalgia/reunion show at The Sand Cafe' in Bayville, we had so much fun that we added Gary Q to the band on keyboards, Paul Shields on Harmonica, Mike Hogan on guitar and vocalsand started playing out again, and it's been better than ever!

This "early history" is relying on our extremely unreliable memories of the era. If you have ANYTHING to contribute; from antecdotes to recordings to photos, PLEASE CONTACT US !

Second Wind
Lives Again

Later in 1977, after just a few more shows, Steve Schimoler left the band in pursuit of a college education and, eventually, a successful career as a chef and restauranteur.

Buzz, Thorne and Mike rocked-on as a trio, playing many of the shit-hole Long Island rock clubs of the day, including Marshall's (Locust Valley), The Holiday Cafe (Bayville), The Brass Penny Pub (Hempstead), Chester's (Setauket), Buzzard's Bay (no relation, Hempstead), The Wayside Inn (Glen Head), Sullivan's Pub (Hempstead) and My Father's Place (Roslyn). There were also some memorable college gigs at Hofstra, C.W. Post, SUNY Farmingdale, Pratt Institute, SUNY Stony Brook and two road trips to Franklin Peirce College in Ridge, NH.

Thorne recently found and posted on his site a kick-ass version of Second Wind playing Todd Rungren's Utopia from 1978!