{"id":12188,"date":"2014-05-23T09:14:57","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T13:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=12188"},"modified":"2014-05-23T09:35:31","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T13:35:31","slug":"happy-to-shoulder-blame-for-jacks-fault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=12188","title":{"rendered":"Happy to shoulder blame for \u2018Jack\u2019s Fault\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kennett music teacher one of many local ties to area band<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
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By Kathleen Brady Shea,<\/strong>\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The members of Jack\u2019s Fault, a local rock and blues cover band, include Sean Patton (from left), Jo Huxster, Ken Genovesi, and Robert Huxster.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Kennett Square resident who visited the borough\u2019s La Verona restaurant last month did so at the urging of friends who \u00a0recommended the band that plays there on First Fridays.<\/p>\n

As Bill Carl entered the restaurant, he stopped to hold the door for a person encumbered with equipment. \u201cThat was my hand doctor,\u201d he whispered incredulously. \u201cHe\u2019s the one who just did my surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more surprising for Carl, Dr. Robert Huxster turned out to be a member of the highly-touted band Carl had come to hear. On second thought, Carl suggested he\u2019d been at least subliminally prepared for that revelation: \u201cHe\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0have Beatles music on while he operated,\u201d Carl recalled.<\/p>\n

Such serendipitous connections are nothing new for Jack\u2019s Fault, a blues and rock cover band that has made a specialty out of forging and maintaining ties in the community as well as within one local family. The group was started by Huxster\u2019s 29-year-old daughter Jo, and his wife, Barbara Forney, helps with sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jack<\/a>

Jack Marshall (left) listens as Barbara Forney makes sounds adjustments during a performance by Jack\u2019s Fault at La Verona restaurant in Kennett Square.<\/p><\/div>\n

The true genesis of the band dates back more than two decades when lead singer and pianist Jo Huxster was 6 and aspired to stage fame, she said. Fortunately for her, she says now, her parents supported her musical interests but not her ambition to be a child superstar. Higher education was a family absolute \u2013 her father is an orthopedic surgeon and her mother a veterinarian. So Huxster had to content herself with music lessons.<\/p>\n

Still, she managed to find limelight opportunities. She sometimes sang with her late uncle\u2019s rock \u2018n roll band \u2013 an odyssey that had her singing in bars with the Midnight Groovers when she was 9. As a teenager, she graduated to belting out \u201cTomorrow\u201d in a Unionville High production of \u201cAnnie.\u201d \u201cI loved acting and being on stage,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

But academics beckoned, and the 2003 Unionville High graduate headed to the University of Delaware. Ten years later, she left with a doctorate in marine studies. She now works as a visiting research professor at Drexel University and an adjunct in environmental science at St. Joseph\u2019s University. And with her thesis behind her, she said she realized she could return to one of her favorite avocations: music.<\/p>\n

Consistent with the band\u2019s unconventionality, the daughter provided the impetus for her father to join the fledging group about a year ago. \u201cI sucked him in,\u201d she acknowledged, adding that he plays bass guitar and harmonica. But he was the one most responsible for the name, she said. \u201cMy dad thinks it\u2019s the best joke,\u201d she said. It refers to revered Kennett Square music teacher Jack Marshall, who provided instruction to her, her father, and the group\u2019s first guitarist, Jon Cohen. Although the group\u2019s drummer, Ken Genovesi, never studied with Marshall, he\u2019s now guilty by association, Huxster suggested.<\/p>\n

She said it was her father who informed Marshall of the moniker, and since Marshall continued to attend their performances, he must have been OK with the slightly irreverent tribute, she decided.<\/p>\n

\"Jo<\/a>

Jo Huxster takes the mic and works the room during a performance of Jack\u2019s Fault.<\/p><\/div>\n

Asked about his reaction, Marshall, who\u2019s been teaching music in the area for more than 40 years, admitted that at first he thought the name was a joke. When he realized it wasn\u2019t? \u201cIt\u2019s definitely cool,\u201d he said, adding that Jo Huxster holds the record for participating in his recitals. \u201cAfter kids go off to college, I usually don\u2019t see them,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s come back and has done 22.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall, who plays at La Verona every Thursday night, is frequently in the audience when Jack\u2019s Fault takes the stage there. He said he enjoys listening to them, is \u201cabsolutely pleased\u201d with their work \u2013 and happy to shoulder any blame.<\/p>\n

In another chance link to the past, the group\u2019s new guitarist is Sean Patton, the grandson of Charles F. Patton, whose name appears on the Unionville-Chadds Ford district\u2019s middle school that Huxster attended. Cohen left Jack\u2019s Fault recently to pursue his dream of becoming a military diver, Huxster said.<\/p>\n

The group practices one night a week at Huxster\u2019s childhood home, a farm in Newlin Township that also accommodates three dogs, a cat, and 10 horses. She said the band works well together, despite age ranges from 20s to 60s. In addition to the standing, monthly gig at La Verona, Jack\u2019s Fault does selected events and private parties \u2013 and would like to do more. \u201cWe all have day jobs, but there\u2019s room\u201d for additional music events, she said.<\/p>\n

The group exudes a fun-loving vibe that is accentuated when Jo Huxster takes the mic and traverses the length of the bar at La Verona, stopping to give up-close performances to delighted fans.<\/p>\n

As for working alongside her father, she said his easy-going nature helps. She said he\u2019s comfortable relinquishing leadership to his daughter \u2013 as long as he has carte blanche to perfect the sound equipment, \u201chis new hobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides Marshall, she credits her parents for supporting her musical dreams. She said they met in college, both pursued medical degrees, and always nurtured their two daughters. With her younger sister living in Colorado, Jo Huxster says her proximity to home \u2013 she resides in Philadelphia \u2013 enables her to continue reaping the benefits of her parents\u2019 involvement. In its latest form, her father creates the sound system, and her mother monitors it on an iPad during performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we did it full time, it probably wouldn\u2019t work,\u201d Jo Huxster admitted. \u201cBut I\u2019m happy that it does.\u201d And so are the folks who\u2019ve heard them play.<\/p>\n

One of them, Unionville High Music Department Chair and Band Director Scott Litzenberg, remembers Jo Huxster as a talented student in the choir and musical programs. He said when he heard that Jack\u2019s Fault would be performing at Sovana Bistro, he wanted to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a real gift for singing and entertaining, and it\u2019s very fulfilling to see our alumni keeping music in their lives,\u201d Litzenberg said. \u201cIt was so nice to sit there and listen to her that evening and enjoy her talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kennett music teacher one of many local ties to area band By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times A Kennett Square resident who visited the borough\u2019s La Verona restaurant last month did so at the urging of friends who \u00a0recommended the band that plays there on First Fridays. As Bill Carl entered the restaurant, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,51,4],"tags":[4688,4689,4690,16,919,4691,1040,2180],"class_list":["post-12188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-arts-entertainment","category-featured","tag-jack-marshall","tag-jacks-fault","tag-jo-huxster","tag-kennett-square","tag-la-verona","tag-la-verona-restaurant","tag-newlin-township","tag-unionville-chadds-ford-school-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}