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Recovery in the News
Colchester musician lives his dream with 'recovery band'
Deborah Straszheim
Norwich Bulletin
August 16, 2009
Colchester, Conn. — In the news: Doug Bartkowski of Colchester is a drummer with the band Selfish Steam, which won a 2009 PRISM Award for outstanding accomplishment in depicting drug, alcohol and tobacco use and addiction.
Background: Bartkowski, 40, works in Norwich at Reliance House as a community outreach liaison. He was born and raised in Manchester and is a graduate of the University of Connecticut. He’s been playing drums since age 9, and joined Selfish Steam last spring.
About the band: The six-member band plays acoustic rock, and is considered a “recovery band,” which means the members are recovering from drug or alcohol abuse. Bartkowski does not have a drug or alcohol problem, but works with others who are recovering. The band’s founder and guitarist, Tony Marossie of Stafford Springs, grew up in California, lived for a time in juvenile hall in East Los Angeles and spent 25 years in and out of treatment before coming clean and searching for recovering musicians to start the band.
The award: The Entertainment Industries Council Inc. presents the PRISM Awards in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, FX Network and News Corp. Bartkowski went to the awards April 23 at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and they will be broadcast Sept. 26 on FX at a time to be set. The band has a Web site at www.selfishsteam.net.
Quotable: “It was a dream come true to be nationally recognized for something I believe in, with the recovery piece, and to involve it around music, which is what we all love in the band,” Bartkowski said.