So, it went like this….
One night, at a benefit show for Sonoma County Legal Aid, Jim Bertoli is performing solo, doing Buck Owens covers. Two trial lawyers are playing bass and guitar in another act at the same show. The piano player, also a trial lawyer, is performing in a duo on the same stage.
So the bass player says to the guitar player, “Jim needs a back-up band.” After Jim roped in a court clerk to play second guitar, a banker to play drums, a lawyer’s wife and a spa owner to sing backup… Court ‘n’ Disaster was born.
Larry Moskowitz is the band’s piano player. Larry is a preeminent matrimonial trial lawyer who spends much of his time traveling the world while remaining in contact with his first love, Major League Baseball.
Mark Peters is a trial attorney by day and a lead guitar and pedal steel guitar player in the band. Although Mark has been playing that same Telecaster for over forty years, he says you’d never know it if you heard him.
Danielle Noble, the CnD “Momager”, sings lead & backup vocals, & plays percussions. Away from the band she works as a Substitute Teacher in Santa Rosa’s public schools, has a Teaching Credential in Physical Education, speaks French, & sings regularly in French for French Clubs in SF. Danielle is also raising two preteen bilingual kids & is married to an attorney/judge pro tem.
Jim Bertoli is CnD’s bandleader and lead singer. His love of Buck Owens tunes was the catalyst for the band. In his spare time Jim plays catcher in a local men’s hardball league and bowls regularly with a local league team. Jim has written a number of the band’s tunes.
Russ is Court ‘n’ Disaster’s “sound guy,” occasional drink fetcher, and backup bass and guitar player. He hails from Seneca Missouri, where Mrs. Shreves, his 4th grade teacher, repeatedly beat him with a short length of garden hose for bringing his crystal radio with him to class so he could listen to the Grand Ol’ Opry. Russ started playing guitar at age 18 to pass the long sleepless nights, at one point playing Jorma Kaukonen’s “Embryonic Journey” 27 hours straight! After a stint at KSJO radio in San Jose, CA, he became the bass/rhythm guitarist for Bay Area local band Pegasus, featuring Matt Shaw. He later played bass for the bluegrass band Piney Wood, featuring Tennessee home boy Eric Holcomb. Russ has also played with members of Pure Prairie League, Cold Blood, Daddy-O, and the Heartbeats. He is currently a member of Youngblood & Co. playing an offbeat mixture of Southern blues, a tinge of country, and some gospel.
Joseph Pachorek, in addition to playing lead guitar for the band, has helped compose a number of the band’s songs. Joseph is a court clerk for the Sonoma County courts. In his off time Joseph builds and repairs guitars and amplifiers and follows his son, Jonathan, at youth sporting events.
Jim DeMartini is the band’s bass player and a backup singer. Jim writes most of the music for the band and produced the band’s first album “Guilty As Charged”. In addition to bass guitar, Jim plays string bass, guitar, and tuba in a variety of jazz and concert bands. Jim is a trial lawyer based in Cloverdale. He is usually found on his boat, fishing and diving abalone offshore, or chasing waterfowl, turkeys, pigs or deer, according to season.
Kevin Borges, the band’s drummer, is a recovering banker who now owns Tiny Town Coffee shop in Forestville. Kevin teaches all forms of drumming, from jazz to classical, and has a wealth of recording experience.
