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  • Members of the ’90s band Quantum Leap, including (from left) David Cooper, Penny Dunne-Muzi, Bob Rogers, Kenny Mullikin and Lynn Hebal rehearse for a reunion concert Friday at The Mine Company. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

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June 22, 2011

Band plans reunion concert

By Robert Barron, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — Friday night will be nostalgic for five former band members.

Members of Quantum Leap, a popular Enid band from the early ’90s that has not played in 20 years, will join up for a reunion concert. Members are Kenny Mullikin, guitar; David Cooper, bass and backing vocals; Bob Rogers, drums and lead vocals; Penny Dunne-Muzi, lead vocals; and Lynn Harrel Hebal, keyboards and backing vocals.

The reunion got started on Facebook when Cooper and Hebal began talking to each other. They discussed a reunion of the band and it grew from there.

“The computer made it easy,” Cooper said.

Muzi is flying in from Milwaukee and Hebal from Dover, Del. The concert will be 9 p.m. Friday at The Mine Company in Oakwood Bowl, 4709 W. Garriott. Admission is free, but audience members must be 21 to get in the bar.

The band played with four or five different members over the years. They were popular at Vance Air Force Base events, local lounges, proms and private parties, Rogers said. The original group played together for the last time in 1991, when Hebal’s husband, a member of the Air Force, was transferred to Delaware.

The group plays alternative rock, along with some traditional rock music. They played music by REM, the B-52s, the Cars, Depeche Mode and other groups popular during that time. Friday they also will play Aerosmith and some Billy Joel, Rogers said. Rogers’ wife, Leilani, also will perform.

“With the popularity of the B-52s, it was a good thing to have two girl singers in the band,” Rogers said.

All of the original members are in their mid-40s to 50s now, and Rogers said the years have had an effect. They did not want to wear glasses on the bandstand, so the words on their “cheat sheet” are larger.

Cooper still plays and is a member of the Lost River Band, a country band that performs regularly in the Enid area. Hebel and her husband formed a group called The Mips, and also will perform Friday night as a warm-up act.

Rogers recalled the days of performing when computerized instruments were used. He said it made it harder to sing because they could not miss a beat, the computer would not wait for them. Sometimes they simply stopped and started over. He remembers having a good following among the Air Force and playing at many pilot class graduating parties.

All of the members have been rehearsing their parts on their own, but they began rehearsing together Tuesday. They will do the show, then some of the members must leave.

“I always thought it would be a big deal if we could play at Jay’s Lounge, that was the popular place then, and have people dancing on the tables. Then, when we performed there, it happened and I remember thinking, ‘That’s cool,’” Cooper said.

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