Da Yoopers

Jim "Hoolie" DeCaire and Joe Potila, two songwriters from Ishpeming, Michigan, began writing music together in 1975. After unsuccessful attempts at getting songs cut by other artists, they began recording as Da Yoopers in 1985.{{cite web | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/319097938/ | title=Da Yoopers | work=The Country Today | date=June 14, 1995 | access-date=December 6, 2019 | pages=24}} The band's original lineup consisted of DeCaire on drums and Potila on guitar, with both also handling songwriting and production duties; completing the initial lineup were keyboardist Lynn Anderson and bassist Jim Pennell. All four founding members also alternated as vocalists.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p30907/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=allmusic Da Yoopers: Biography |access-date=July 21, 2007 |last=Weber |first=Barry |work=Allmusic}} They were originally known as the Joe Arkansas Band, but chose to change their name to one more reflective of their sound.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/189516128/ | title=Area fans say 'yah' to U.P. Band's music | work=Green Bay Press Gazette | date=November 29, 1987 | access-date=December 6, 2019 | author=Dave Tianen | pages=Scene 1}} The band took their name from the word "yooper", a term for people of the "U.P.", an abbreviation for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and "Da" came from the Yooper dialect pronunciation of "the".{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/14/us/upper-peninsula-journal-yes-they-re-yoopers-and-proud-of-it.html |title= Upper Peninsula Journal: Yes, They're Yoopers, and Proud of It |access-date= August 14, 2008 |last= Binder |first= David |date= September 14, 1995 |work= The New York Times}}

The band toured throughout Michigan's Upper Peninsula for several years, before recording their first album, Yoopanese, in 1986 on their personal label, You Guys Records. At the time, Potila was a student of film at Northern Michigan University in nearby Marquette, where Anderson was also manager of an optometry center and Pennell repaired engines.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/273493683/ | title=Come and say, yah hey: 'Rusty Chevrolet' rolls into holiday hit | work=Wausau Daily Herald | date=December 24, 1986 | accessdate=November 28, 2022 | author=Tom Berger | pages=1A}} Following Yoopanese, the band released a stand-alone single titled "Rusty Chevrolet". The song is a parody of "Jingle Bells", and is about a man who owns a run-down Chevrolet automobile. DeCaire distributed copies of the single to radio stations for $2, with half of the proceeds from single sales being donated to the local Salvation Army. The song received airplay on WIFC, a radio station in Wausau, Wisconsin; in response, DeCaire visited the station in December 1986 and sold approximately a thousand copies of the single to listeners. The Wausau Daily Herald also reported that the song began receiving airplay on stations in Alaska and Maine.

A second album, Culture Shock, was released in 1987. In addition to the existing "Rusty Chevrolet", the album included "Second Week of Deer Camp".{{cite web |url=http://personal.ashland.edu/~jpiirto/da%20yoopers.htm |title=Da Yoopers Deconstructed |last=Piirto |first=Jane |access-date=July 21, 2007 |work=A Location in the Upper Peninsula}}{{cite news |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9bYLAAAAIBAJ&pg=6725,9069818&dq=da-yoopers&hl=en |title= Da Yoopers Sing U.P. 'Classics' |agency= Associated Press |date= December 29, 1987 |work= Ludington Daily News |access-date=August 22, 2010}} This song also received considerable airplay throughout the Midwestern United States and on Dr. Demento's radio shows.{{cite web | url=https://www.vulture.com/2015/12/beer-guns-and-rusty-chevrolets-the-comedy-music-of-the-upper-midwest.html | title=Beer, Guns, and Rusty Chevrolets: The Comedy Music of the Upper Midwest | work=Vulture | date=December 3, 2015 | access-date=March 19, 2020 | author=Joe Blevins}} According to The La Crosse Tribune, "Second Week of Deer Camp" received airplay on stations in South Dakota and West Virginia, as well as on the Satellite Music Network's Pure Gold radio show, at the time based out of Dallas, Texas, and airing on more than 160 radio networks in the United States.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/833724891/ | title=Novelty makes records go gold | work=Valley News | date=March 6, 1989 | accessdate=November 28, 2022 | pages=29}}

By the release of Camp Fever, the band's third album, Joe DeLongchamp had replaced Pennell on bass guitar.{{cite news |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oWkaAAAAIBAJ&pg=7000,4134957&dq=joe-delongchamp&hl=en |title= Let's Hear it for Da Yoopers, Once |last= Kloss |first= Gerald |date= July 30, 1989 |work= Milwaukee Journal |access-date= October 13, 2011}} In addition, Lynn Anderson married Jerry Coffey, who joined as percussionist and occasional drummer. It also included the first song of the band's career not to be written by Potila or DeCaire, as DeLongchamp wrote the title track.{{cite AV media |people=Da Yoopers |title=Camp Fever |type=Cassette insert |publisher=You Guys Records |id=LA-82359}}

This was followed in 1989 by Yoop It Up, their fourth cassette. The album features DeCaire's son Jesse singing lead vocals on "Yooper Kid".{{cite AV media |people=Da Yoopers |title=Yoop It Up |type=Cassette insert |publisher=You Guys Records |id=MP-10347}} Another track on the album is "Diarrhea", cited by Pam Tonge (then the manager of the band's office) as a fan favorite. The band promoted this album through concert tours in 1990, by which point Dave "Doc" Bradbury had replaced DeLongchamp on bass guitar.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1121602865/ | title=Musical comedians 'yoop' it up | work=The Grand Rapids Press | date=July 22, 1990 | accessdate=January 29, 2025 | author=Tim Steele | pages=D1, D6}}

Yoopy Do Wah, released in 1991, was the band's first album on compact disc. This album was promoted through a single titled "DJ Blues". Also that year, a compilation titled For Diehards Only was released, featuring a selection of songs from the group's first four albums. Da Yoopers' 1993 album One Can Short of a Six-Pack featured both regular and Christmas songs, including a parody of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" titled "Grandpa Got Run Over By a Beer Truck". Potila retired in 1995 and was replaced by Jim Bellmore, who also assumed Potila's former role as co-writer and co-producer with DeCaire. Also at this point "Cowboy" Dan Collins joined as rhythm guitarist and occasional vocalist.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/319097938/ | title=Da Yoopers | work=The Country Today | date=June 14, 1995 | accessdate=February 6, 2025 | pages=24}} Bellmore's first studio appearance was on We're Still Rockin' that same year. Potila died in 2001.{{Cite web|url=http://www.genealogybuff.com/mi/marquette/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/52|title=Marquette County, Michigan Obituary Collection - 52}}

Two albums were released in 2000: Jackpine Savage and Naked Elves in Cowboy Boots, the latter an album of Christmas music. By this point, Bobby "Sy" Symons had become the band's touring drummer, although DeCaire continued to play drums in studio. Both Dan Collins and Jerry Coffey left shortly after Naked Elves in Cowboy Boots. Songs for Fart Lovers and Diehards II (a second compilation composed of songs from the first four albums) both came out in 2004, with the two-disc 21st Century Yoopers in Space following in 2006. This album also featured several guest contributions in both performing and songwriting. Lynn, who divorced Jerry in 2005, was again credited as Lynn Anderson on 21st Century Yoopers in Space, and married Bellmore shortly after that album's release. The last touring lineup consisted of the Bellmores, Lusardi, Symons, and DeCaire.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/293346156 | title=It's music to your ears | work=Manitowoc Herald Times | date=August 19, 2010 | access-date=December 6, 2019 | author=Suzanne Weiss | pages=B1, B2}}

Lusardi died May 8, 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/639783/Reginald-W---Reggie--Lusardi.html?nav=5007|title=Reginald W. 'Reggie' Lusardi|date=May 10, 2016|work=Mining Journal|access-date=11 May 2016}} The band's 2018 album Old Age Ain't for Sissies! features the Bellmores and DeCaire as the remaining three members. Symons died August 20, 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.miningjournal.net/obituaries/2020/08/robert-symons-2/|title = Robert Symons}}

File:2009-0617-DaYooperTouristTrap.jpg

Da Yoopers also own and operate a gift shop near Ishpeming called "Da Yoopers Tourist Trap", featuring various Upper Peninsula-themed merchandise.{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MWSB&p_theme=mwsb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB8272A6724938B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Da Yoopers' Store Offers a Yoo-nique Tourist Experience |access-date= August 14, 2008 |last= Maller |first= Pete |date=July 15, 1992 |work= Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel }}

Da Yooper's tourist trap not only contains merchandise, but two museums as well. The first museum is a mineral museum that contains various minerals found in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It also has exhibits related to the local mining culture. This museum is found inside of Da Yooper's Tourist Trap. The other museum is an outdoor museum that is more oriented towards humor. It contains such things as a large chainsaw, called Big Gus, a large rifle, called Big Ernie, and Da Two-Holer (a very special outhouse). This comical museum has various other displays which tourists are encouraged to see in order to understand the humor of the Yooper culture.

The band's membership is:{{cite news |url=http://dayoopers.com/bios.html |title= Da Yoopers Biographies |publisher= Da Yoopers |access-date= January 3, 2010}}

• Jim Bellmore: guitar, bass guitar, vocals
• Lynn Bellmore: keyboards, vocals
• Jim "Hoolie" DeCaire: drums, vocals

• Glen Adams: sketch comedy
• Jim Boyer: sketch comedy
• Dave "Doc" Bradbury: bass guitar, vocals
• Matt Bullock: sketch comedy
• Dick "Dick E. Bird" Bunce: bass guitar, sketch comedy (died 2022)[https://www.miningjournal.net/obituaries/2022/12/richard-d-dick-e-bird-bunce Richard D. "Dick E. Bird" Bunce]
• Steve Calhoun: sketch comedy
• Jerry "Cuppa" Coffey: drums, percussion, vocals, sketch comedy
• "Cowboy" Dan Collins: rhythm guitar, drums, vocals, sketch comedy
• Art Davis: sketch comedy
• Joe DeLongchamp: bass guitar, vocals, sketch comedy
• Chris Kukla: sketch comedy
• Jerry "Mungo" LaJoie: sketch comedy
• Pete "Casanova" LaLonde: sketch comedy
• "Billy Bob" Langson: sketch comedy
• Reggie Lusardi: bass guitar, vocals, sketch comedy (died 2016)
• Robert "Dill" Nebel: sketch comedy
• Jim Pennell: bass guitar, vocals
• Joe Potila: lead guitar, vocals, sketch comedy (died 2001)
• Mike "Mikku" Powers: sketch comedy
• Bobby Symons: drums (died 2020)

All albums released on You Guys Records.

;Studio albums

;Compilations

{{Reflist}}

• [http://dayoopers.com/ Da Yoopers' Official Website]
• {{Cite news|last=Carlisle|first=John|date=August 20, 2017|title=What's a Yooper? Michigan's Upper Peninsula tourist trap aims to define it|work=Detroit Free Press|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/john-carlisle/2017/08/20/da-yoopers-tourist-trap-upper-peninsula/530044001/}}

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Category:Musical groups from Michigan

Category:Musical groups established in 1975

Category:People from Ishpeming, Michigan

Category:American comedy musical groups

Category:American novelty song performers

Category:1975 establishments in Michigan