Will the Max Weinberg 7 Join Conan in L.A.?

The Max Weinberg 7 is the house band for the television program on NBC featuring Conan O'Brien which is called Late Night. It is known that Conan O'Brien will be soon replace long-standing late-night television host Jay Leno. This is scheduled to happen on June 1 of 2009. Thus Conan will become the new host of the Tonight Show on NBC. Jay Leno is not particularly happy about this as NBC announced in 2004 that he would no longer be host come 2009. Conan O'Brien will tape his first show in Los Angeles in the Universal Studios backlot which will and the era of taping in Burbank. What is not clear is whether or not the Max Weinberg 7 in its entirety will join Conan O'Brien on his new set.

The current members of the Max Weinberg seven include Max Weinberg on drums, Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg on trombone, Jimmy Vivino on guitar, Jerry Vivino on saxophone, Mark "The Loveman" Pender on trumpet, Scott Healy on keyboard, and Mike Merrit on bass guitar. The Max Weinberg 7 is a prominent addition to the late-night show with Conan O'Brien and adds its own elements of style and comedy, in addition to strong music. Max Weinberg has been a long time member of the Bruce Springsteen and the E-street band and occasionally take tours with the band. During his absences, he is usually replaced by James Wormworth, and the band is led by Jimmy Vivino.

Max Weinberg has already said that he will join Conan and is planning to live part time in the Los Angeles area, while continuing to live with his wife and two children in New Jersey. LaBamba lives with his wife and five children in New Jersey. All of the other members also live in either the New York or New Jersey area including backup drummer James Wormworth. This begs the question as to whether or not these members will relocated to the Los Angeles area.

Several of the members also have their own bands and play with bands. LaBamba has his own band LaBamba and the Hubcaps which Mark Pender often plays with. Mark Pender has his own band the Mark Pender Band. Both Pender and LaBamba also play for the Miami Horns. Jimmy Vivino also plays with several bands including the Fab Faux which is a Beatles Tribute band. The band members often sometimes join up the performance by a musical guest at the end of the show. Particularly the horn section adds extra flavor to many performances.

Members of The Max Weinberg 7 often participate in skits on the show which mostly includes La Bamba, Mark Pender, and Max Weinberg. Pender often sings a tribute to one of the show's guests and always launches into hysterical shrieking as he climbs the scaffolding of the theater's seating area. Max is often involved in short and very awkward banter with host Conan. Conan makes jokes about LaBamba's supposedly perverse sexual habits, and mustache, and is featured regularly in the "In the Year 2000" skit. Mike Merritt often is included in skits where Conan talks about race, to which Mike's voice-over is used. The other members of the band are very infrequently used in skits.

While it is not clear whether or not the Max Weinberg 7 will relocate with Conan to Los Angeles, hopefully NBC will encourage them to do so. The group adds great musicmanship to the show and is an integral part of the comedic routine. Any member who does not join up with Conan in L.A. will be greatly missed, including replacement James Wormworth.