by Adam Levine ‘20

Rock ‘n’ Roll has been a tradition at Sherwood for as long as many of its students and faculty can remember. But it wasn’t always the near three hundred person operation it is today. In 1971, the year of the first Rock ‘n’ Roll, the whole cast consisted of only 25 students, including Pat Sieg.

During Sieg’s senior year, he sang two songs by The Big Bopper: “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Chantilly Lace.”

Sieg explained that a choir teacher saw interest from students already involved in music through a survey, and thus, the show had a cast, consisting of anyone who was “willing to get on stage.” The rehearsal process itself wasn’t as extensive as students know it to be today either.

“We rehearsed, but it wasn’t … high stress,” Sieg said. “It was just fun. You wanted it to be good, and it was, but it wasn’t stressful.”

Because the first Rock ‘n’ Roll debuted in 1971, the group didn’t have some of the classic rock ‘n’ roll songs we think of today.

“When we thought of rock n roll revival we thought of Elvis and hair greased back,” Sieg said. “Maybe you still think about that, but back then it was a little fresher.”

The legacy of Rock ‘n’ Roll has continued to grow over the decades, and alumni have come back to reminisce about their Rock ‘n’ Roll memories. Sieg explained how “there was a reunion of sorts in ‘12 because that would have been 40 years, and I think a bunch of folks that were in the original one came. Unfortunately I wasn’t available that night so I missed it.”

Now, Sieg has strayed away from his musical days of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and after years of working in finance for the Marriott Corporation and traveling around the world, Sieg has decided to pursue art professionally.

“There was a time when they said ‘You could do this thing, which I’d done before, or that thing which I had no interest in, or you could consider early retirement,” Sieg said. “So now I’ve traded in my paying career for being a starving artist. But I’m doing a little better. I feel like I’m getting some kind of success.”

You can view his work at www.patricksieg.com.