Dean of the Music Scene

Russell St. George, retired welder, plays with fire 

Any band would relish having a cheerleader like Shirley Maloney. At a recent show by Last Minute Soulmates at the Towne Crier in Beacon, she acted out the words, exhorted the crowd to sing along and pounded on tables during the final song, a funky cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”

A good portion of the rowdy crowd almost reached Maloney’s level of enthusiasm. House staff created an impromptu dance floor by clearing tables near the stage as people swung their partners with elbows locked together during “Maggie’s Farm” and danced in circles during a heavy version of “Hound Dog.” At one point, two men started screaming, ostensibly out of joy.

The group’s founder, Russell St. George, moved to town in 1986 and is a dean of Beacon’s music scene. He focuses on original songs but likes to mix in atypical versions of covers, including “Your Cheating Heart” as a deliberate shuffle.

“I’m not good enough to play them like the record, but I do like to shake things up with the arrangement or approach,” he says. “And I still write, including songs about what’s going on, like one about gun violence called ‘When’s it Gonna Stop?’ ”

His originals, some of which feature a reggae tinge, keep things simple and rely on hooky choruses that get people singing. At one point, almost the entire audience, including the waitstaff, belted out the words. 

Working as a welder in Peekskill, a job he held for 37 years, St. George heard that houses in Beacon could be had on the cheap. His first local band, Daarc Ages (an acronym of members’ first names), released a couple of CDs and opened for Dee Snider, Uriah Heap and Blue Oyster Cult at The Chance in Poughkeepsie and other venues. 

“We’d make a CD and someone would quit, so we had to keep finding musicians and never really got off the ground,” he says. “Besides, I was kind of shy.”

That’s odd because he sports flowing hair, a goatee and moustache. His fashion sense includes hats, big round glasses and black, accented with scarves, a look that leans more toward the hippie camp than the blue-collar world. 

Over the years, he played every local venue and hosted a 17-year monthly jam at Joe’s Irish Pub (now MoMo Valley) that he called St. George and Friends.

“The whole time, I never missed a date,” he says. “But I turned 60, COVID hit and the end arrived.” Last Minute Soulmates started as an acoustic duo that grew into an electric project by 2011. Self-effacing, he credits band members for any success.

Not shy about his left-leaning political views, he lost some followers over the years. He feels no compulsion to record his new tunes, in part because working in the studio is a drag compared to playing for a responsive audience.

“Streams and other delivery systems don’t get a lot of traction,” he says. “If people want to hear my songs in their best light, come see me live.”

Last Minute Soulmates, with St. George (vocals, guitar), Carla Springer (vocals), Rik Mercaldi (guitar), Harry Lawrence (bass) and Mitch Florian (drums), will perform at 9 p.m. on May 23 at Gleason’s, 23 S. Division St., in Peekskill.