Houlton native gets groovy for Potato Blossom Festival

17 years ago
    HOULTON, Maine — The Maine Potato Blossom Festival is right around the corner, and the groovy disco band of a former Houltonite, The Motor Booty Affair, is headlining at the event.
    The Motor Booty Affair, a funky afro-wig wearing disco band that will knock you back into the late 1970’s, is set to play this Friday at the festival, with Houlton native Steve Ellis playing guitar.
Ellis, Houlton High School Class of 1977, has traveled all across the country playing for the Motor Booty Affair for the last 13 years. Ellis took guitar lessons from Scott Emack as a kid, and got his start in high school playing in small garage bands and the Houlton High School Band.
“Steve was a fantastic player. He was pretty young when I taught him, but even at that age he would pick up things that I showed him very quickly,” explained Emack.
Although he is from Houlton, Ellis’ band has never had a gig in The County.
“The farthest north we’ve ever gone is Millinocket, but we’re slowly venturing up that way,” said Ellis.
The Motor Booty Affair, is made up of four members, who are all from Maine, and is based around the Portland area. They most frequently play shows around the state of Maine, but it is not uncommon for the band to travel down the Eastern seaboard for big time gigs.
“We play from Florida to Maine, and everywhere in between. We’ve done celebrity parties … we get calls to do movie wrap-up parties … we’ve been featured on MTV Real World. So we do some pretty fun stuff,” said Ellis.
You can experience the funkadellic tunes of Motor Booty Affair first-hand at the Potato Blossom Festival Friday starting at 7 p.m., or check out their Web site, www.motorbootyaffair.com for more information.