HELLO, OCALA! Meet Your Neighbors: The Top Shelf Band
Members of the Top Shelf Band, from left, Paula Hayward, Joseph Yelich, Betty Hoornbeck, Richard Boelter and John Zucco, with “roadie” Joe St. Lawrence, pose together during a rehearsal in the Palm Grove Recreation Center in Oak Run in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, July 18, 2024. Members David Tomlin and Jim Seitzinger, and newcomer Dwight Braxton, are not shown. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
The Top Shelf Band is rockin’ and rollin’!
The eight band members are all residents of Oak Run, a 55-plus retirement community in Ocala, and all have interesting and varied backgrounds.
At a recent practice session, they came together as if they had played music together for many years, when, in reality, the band has been together a scant two years, with the newest member just joining the others at the rehearsal. He fit right in, however, and didn’t miss a beat.
The group branched off from Oak Run’s Acoustic Jam Club, according to band leader John Zucco, who is a vocalist and plays electric lead guitar. Several participants in that original group wanted to play rock and roll music using electric guitars and other instruments and so, two years ago, the Top Shelf Band was born. Credited with the name of the band is Paula Hayward, the auxiliary percussionist and a backup vocalist.
Joseph Yelich rehearses with members of the Top Shelf Band in the Palm Grove Recreation Center in Oak Run in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, July 18, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
Zucco was born in Medford, Massachusetts, and was a professional musician in the Boston area, singing and playing guitar. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Bay Community College with an associate’s degree in liberal arts. He attended Boston State University with studies in the elementary education discipline, but dropped out in his senior year and joined a band.
“The bug bit me,” he said with a smile.
Zucco worked for an entertainment agency in Boston, booking corporate events and weddings. He is “mostly retired,” but still does some of that work currently. His wife, Dianna, is employed by Medicare. They have two sons, ages 22 and 28, who live in Massachusetts.
The couple loves Ocala, he said.
“Moving here has changed my lifestyle. Instead of working late nights and sleeping in late, I now go to bed early and get up early. I love the peace and quiet here,” he added.
Hoornbeck, 74, admits to “drumming” from babyhood.
“I used wooden spoons and banged on pots and pans,” she said.
Hoornbeck has played in New Orleans Dixieland bands, which she loved. While there, she became a funeral director. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the area in 2005, she and her late husband moved to New Hampshire, where she opened and operated a “very successful bakery, selling Scandinavian fare,” since she is of Swedish descent. During that time, she also played with several bands. The couple later moved to Fort Myers in Florida and then to Oak Run in Ocala. Hoornbeck works at the Publix Super Market at Heath Brook Commons, and said, “I just love it.”
About the band, Hoornbeck said, “We all have fun, but we take the band seriously.”
“I’m a professional drummer,” she added. “Although I don’t read music, I play the cello, electric and acoustic guitars, and drums. But my love is drums.”
Betty Hoornbeck, Richard Boelter and John Zucco, left to right, play together during a rehearsal of the Top Shelf Band in the Palm Grove Recreation Center in Oak Run in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, July 18, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
“Percussion is healing and cathartic. It compliments every instrument in the band,” she said.
Of singing backup as needed, she shared, “I have sung my whole life.”
Professionally, Hayward worked with airport team management in 22 various locations in North America. She has lived at Oak Run for two-and-a-half years and has been part of the Top Shelf Band for a year.
“This is a massively talented group,” she said.
Yelich is a native of the Buffalo, New York, area. He received a Bachelor of Science in education from Buffalo State College and a master’s degree in school administration from Fredonia State College. He was a high school principal for 12 years and a superintendent of city schools in Oneonta, New York, for eight years.
“I liked getting results…getting kids to the finish line,” he said of that experience.
Yelich recalled singing in choruses in high school and college and played the trombone and guitar. He and his wife have two sons and a daughter, who all live in New York state. He retired in 2019.
“I love the Ocala heat!” he shared. “And I love to sing! Great stuff!”
Seitzinger has been with Top Shelf Band since its inception, starting out with the Oak Run acoustic band group. In addition to guitar, he sings vocals with Zucco.
Paula Hayward poses for a photo during a rehearsal of the Top Shelf Band in the Palm Grove Recreation Center in Oak Run in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, July 18, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
Seitzinger has four children and 10 grandchildren, all in the New Jersey area.
Boelter, a native of North Dakota, is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado and the Colorado University in Denver. He is a retired geologist. For 23 years, he was employed as an environmental geologist in New York state, responsible for “cleaning up superfund sites,” he said.
His wife, Tricia, is an administrator for a health care agency. The couple just returned from a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, where they visited their daughter and granddaughter, who was born on Father’s Day.
Ticia’s parents retired to Florida many years ago and, during visits to this area, the couple drove through Ocala and thought it was a perfectly sized town. They love the community.
Tomlin is a realtor for Oak Run, working with Decca Realty. His wife, Denise, is a retired licensed practical nurse and also works with the realty company at Oak Run.
Born in Port Huron, Michigan, Tomlin graduated from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, majoring in political science with a minor in sociology. In his professional life, he was in medical sales for about 30 years, he said, adding he became a licensed EMT, to familiarize himself with that aspect to expand his knowledge of the medical field. He had played in a band in Michigan, he added.
Tomlin and his wife have five children, eight grandchildren and four great-grands, all spread out between Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The couple moved to Ocala four years ago because they liked that the area is “folksy, and we wanted to get away from the cold weather of Michigan. We enjoy that this is horse country, and we like being close to all the amenities here,” he shared.
Braxton, not an official band member, came to the rehearsal with his bass guitar and said, “I’m here!” He played with the band and seemed to fit in right away. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, he is a retired police officer. He moved to Oak Run in Ocala to care for his mother.
In regard to the band, Tomlin lauded leader Zucco, crediting him with originating the band and bringing him into the rock and roll and electric guitar scene.
“I love playing the blues,” he said, adding that the band is “low-key, with no pressure. I love jamming with the band here.”
“We are for hire,” Zucco said about the band. “We do private or neighborhood parties…simple rock and roll!”
To learn more about the Top Shelf Band, John Zucco may be reached by calling (352) 509-6407 or via email at [email protected].
Betty Hoornbeck plays the drums during a rehearsal of the Top Shelf Band in the Palm Grove Recreation Center in Oak Run in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, July 18, 2024. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.
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