Richard Van Vliet (drummer), Ronnie Hill (our bassman), Mark Kaye (lead guitar), and myself made up the Pageboys.

Richard and Mark were part of a group call the Trespassers, which broke up. We started jamming together and got along well, so we started a group, originally called The Others.

We heard a song written by Val Stecklein called “Silver and Gold” that was on one of their albums and liked it so we went down to Tommy Allsup’s studio in Odessa in 1966 and recorded it again, along with one Mark and I wrote, “All I Want”. Tommy was the bass player for Buddy Holly and the Crickets. He’s still in the business I think, in Nashville. I’ve got a mono master and an unmastered 4 track tape from the Tommy Allsup session, but I bet they would disintegrate if anyone tried to play them. They’re 43 years old.

We tried to get Liberty Records and several other labels interested to no avail, and then went to talk to Ray Ruff one day to see if he would be interested in us. Ray Ruff (given name: Ray Ruffin) had a recording studio in Amarillo at the Trades Fair shopping center at N.E. 24th and Grand. Ray was a Buddy Holly look-alike/wannabe who toured the mid-west with the Checkmates. If memory serves me right, The Checkmates had pretty well disbanded by 1966 which is about the time I met Ray Ruff. They were really a good group. Larry Marcum, their lead guitarist, was a good musician and a nice fellow. Galen Ray (full name was Galen Ray Englebrick) was the bass player for the Checkmates.

He didn’t want us “covering” other groups so we ditched it and started writing our own songs and recording them at the Checkmate Studio here in Amarillo. Unfortunately, I do not have any of the tapes or demos from those sessions, but am going to try to find them. I found some demos of groups that I think I did some backup work on with Ray.

Ray brought the group Them over from Ireland around that time. They actually lived in Amarillo for the better part of a year and we were all running mates during that time. I did a cello track on the song “Square Room” that was on the Sully record and the “Now and Them” album that was released in 1968 on the Tower label. Marty Cooper was involved with Ray on the production of that album. That was the beginning of what turned out to be a wild summer with all these guys. Alan Henderson (he and Van started Them) and I are starting a search for the tapes of all the recording sessions Them did with Ruff, but we’re just getting started.

Ray Ruff and Marty Cooper decided to try out concert promotions back in the summer of 1967 and booked bands like the Yardbirds, Beau Brummels, Turtles, Everly Brothers, Castaways, Tommy Roe, Them, and a bunch of others. My band got to be the opening act for all of them. We played 6-7 nights weekly and toured all over the mid-west and as far down as El Paso with them.

Of all the bands we toured with, The Turtles were the most fun! The Yardbirds were not fun at all. Jeff Beck was on bad behavior every night we played with him, and he was really into destroying every piece of equipment on the stage. He was a wild man. Beck didn’t like us much as we would not let him use our Vox Super Beatle amps when he would tear up his own equipment. We had brand new amps and were not about to let him tear them up. We had to pay for our equipment, Vox paid for the Yardbirds' equipment. He was really PO’d about that and we didn’t care.

The Everly Bros. didn’t like each other, so they weren’t much fun to tour with. Ray also signed us up to be J. Frank Wilson’s backup group. J. Frank had a little problem with whiskey and we spent most of our time trying to keep him sober enough to go onstage. His one hit was “Last Kiss”, Ray Ruff recorded that for him.

The Beau Brummels had a drummer whose name I cannot remember, but one night while we were on tour with them, their equipment didn’t make it in so they had to borrow guitars and bass from a music store that was good enough to loan them to them. Our drummer (Richard Van Vliet) told theirs he could use his set since they didn’t have a reputation for destroying equipment. The Beau Brummels' drummer de-tuned Richard's floor tom and snare without asking permission or telling him ahead of time (that was part of their sound on most of their songs). When Richard sat down at his drums right before we went onstage, he was pissed to find out that their guy had messed with his tuning. Richard re-tuned his heads, so our set worked out fine. When the Beau Brummels went onstage and started playing, their sound was almost comical.

That’s when all of us in the rock ‘n roll business would have to pack up by ourselves after each concert, and then immediately drive to the next city and be there in time to set up for the next night’s concert. Fortunately, Wolfman Jack, broadcasting from station XERF in Del Rio, TX, was always there on the radio to keep us awake. Back then, KOMA was the big radio station (Oklahoma City) that all the Midwest bands like the Checkmates, Blue Things, etc. advertised their upcoming appearances on, as it had a HUGE broadcast area. So did WLS out of Chicago. But we ALL wanted to be sure to hear the “Wolfman”.

It was a great experience and a lot of fun, but I was still in college at the time and decided to quit the band and go back to school in September 1967.

Tom McCarty

The Page Boys - All I Want
The Page Boys - Sweet Love

Special thanks to bosshoss for the transfers of both songs.

The Lower Deck first got together in 1965 or 66, I really can't remember. We played the same places the Satellites did, school Homecomings, college frat parties, teen clubs, you name it. The Lower Deck's bass and drummer went to the same school as the Satellites; Mike Mac and I went to St. Frances Cabrini in Allen Park, Tom Lojewski went to UD High. There was something about Allen Park in those days, seemed like everyone was in a band and most of them were really good. 
 
Here's a breakdown of personnel:
 
Mike Mac: keyboards and lead vocals
Tom Lojewski: rhythm guitar and vocals
Rick Rawson: bass
Danny Balas: drums and vocals
Tom Madigan: lead guitar and vocals

We did a show at a place in Indiana called "The Swinging Gate" which touted itself as the first teenage country club in the US. Both the Lower Deck and Satellites played and we also were televised live the next day on a local TV show.
 
Both bands were managed by Ann Marston. It mentions in her biography in "Shooting Star" that the Satellites were her bad boys and the Lower Deck were her good boys. We did as she asked and the Satellites did as they saw fit. We did some recording but I believe Ann Marston had the tapes and when she died they were either given away or pitched. I was in the Air Force by then and really have no idea where they would be.

The Satellites were together for a very long time. I remember them being an opening act for the MC5 at Weaver's Music at the corner of Allen Rd and Southfield, now Marshall's Music. They were a great band in every respect, singing, playing, showmanship, they were a blast to go and see. So were we. We did costume changes every set, going from shark skinned suits to hippie garb to herringbone walking suits.
 
I remember we did a party for one of the guys we went to high school with, he had a pool and we played on the roof of his house. We all had Vox Super Beatles and dragging them up was tough. The guy's dad nailed in 2x4s so the equipment wouldn't slide off. I wish I could remember his name, oh well.
 
Equipment: Rhythm player had a Mosrite and Vox Royal Guardsman. I had a Fender Jazzmaster and Vox Super Beatle. Bass player had a Gibson bass and Vox Super Beatle. Though the picture doesn't show it the lead singer had a Vox Continental organ played thru a Bogan per-amp and Leslie. Drummer had a Ludwig set.
 
PA was a Vox Superbeatle head and two Vox Grenadier columns with 4 12's each.

I've included a pic of the band from 1967 I believe, this was taken at The Chatter Box which was a teen nightclub in Allen Park. It's now an ACO. That is Tom Lojewski with the Mosrite, I'm in the upper right corner, playing a 1964 Jazzmaster. Bought it for $100 from Dave Fero.

In '69 I got my draft notice and joined the Air Force, didn't want to go to Nam, spent 5 1/2 years in London instead.
 
Danny Balas was the best drummer I ever played with, not sure what he is doing now.

Tom Lojewski still dabbles in music, last I heard he was in California writing software.

Mike Mac is in either Denver or Portland, he's a marine biologist, he still plays.

Rick Rawson still lives in Allen Park, not sure what he's doing.

I'm still playing, currently in a band called The Calcutta Rugs.  We're a 6 piece group, keyboards, horns, two guitarists, bass and drums. We play 6-7 times a year, working on a CD and Facebook site.

Tom Madigan

I played in an Oklahoma City based seven-piece horn band called Phoenix, from March 1969 to late 1970. The band that became Phoenix was originally called The Soul Authority. Then they changed drummers about 1968 and became The Continentals. The Continentials then changed drummers again in 1969, (this is where I got into the band at the age of 14) and we became Phoenix.

We played all over Oklahoma and parts of southern Kansas. Some of the OKC bands that were doing that Kansas circuit in those days were sponsored by 1520 KOMA in Oklahoma City. Phoenix, and several other bands however, were sponsored by 930 WKY, also out of Oklahoma City. We probably played every National Guard Armory and VFW Hall in Oklahoma during the two years 1969 - 1970.

In 1969, we released a 45 rpm single in the Oklahoma City market, and it received airplay on WKY 930 AM for several weeks before dropping off the local charts. It was a cover of a Uniques tune called "Every Now and Then I Cry." The flip side was a cover of a Porter & Hayes tune called "Love Have Mercy."

For about a two-year period, Phoenix and The Midnight Rebels were the two top dogs in Oklahoma City. They had a great vocalist by the name of Mark Keller, and they had released a cover version of "Smiling Phases" by Blood, Sweat, and Tears some months before we released "Every Now And Then I Cry", and they were in fact, to some degree, a motivating force to us in getting our own record completed and out there in the record shops.

Sullivan Studios, where we recorded both tunes was in a suburb of OKC called Capital Hill. The studio was owned and operated by Gene Sullivan, who at one time had been part of the duo Wiley & Gene. In 1941, Wiley & Gene recorded the country hit "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold". Sullivan's was a three-track studio. We had the rhythm section on one track, the horns on a second track, and the vocals on the third track. Benson Studios in OKC had an actual four-track studio, but the hourly fee of $20 was prohibitive at the time.

Everything we did was cover material. We did throw in some novelty tunes however such as  "A Boy Named Sue" "Long Tall Texan", and "Folsom Prison Blues" to name three.  

The photo of us playing at the ballpark was The Oklahoma City Pop Festival, just two months after Woodstock, and two weeks after the Dallas Pop Festival. We got to play early in the day with the other local bands, and then toward evening, the big name bands took the stage. I remember watching and listening to Grand Funk Railroad, The Grass Roots, Smith, a band called "Texas" who would later be renamed Blood Rock, and others.

I went on to College at CSU in Edmond, OK and learned how to play jazz, and big band. In 1976, I was the #1 drummer with the #1 CSU Jazz Ensemble. I joined the Music Union in Oklahoma City, and did a lot of what I call "Vegas On The Road" gigs. These Vegas acts would come in to OKC for two weeks, and many times they would not bring their own musicians with them, choosing to rely on local union players instead. Those gigs were lots of fun.

John Proctor

The Phoenix - Every Now and Then I Cry
The Phoenix - Love Have Mercy

I was the founder and lead singer of The Pentagons; a four-man group (yes, I know, a pentagon has five sides) based in Montville, Connecticut between 1964 and 1969 (our high school years at Montville High School). We featured Steve Morse on Kent guitar, Gary Lamperelli on C-melody sax (until I, uh, accidently kicked it down the stairs so he had to go buy a tenor sax like the Dave Clark Five had), Dave Lemieux on drums and me on Doric portable organ (it had the most bass notes of all the portables and there were no bass guitar players at Montville High).

We originally recorded on acetate at Thomas Clancy Recording Studio in New Haven studio before Audio Dynamics; “Summer’s Over” and “The Walk”, a pretty good vocal rock tune with a good hook. It predates our Audio Dynamics effort by about a year.

The Pentagons - The Walk (© 1974 by John Coggeshall, used with permission)

We cajoled my grandfather into springing for some studio time in Stafford Springs, CT. Audio Dynamics was the only close and easily accessible studio we could find (Stafford Springs up a country road or two from Uncasville, if I remember correctly. There were no recording studios in the Norwich/New London area at the time, ya know, there was next to nothing in the way of any professional music business in that area at the time).

We recorded two songs I wrote on the Audio Dynamics label: “About The Girl I Love” and “Summer’s Over.” “Summer’s Over" the “A” side of our record is pretty depressing and forgotten. “About the Girl I Love” is the tune that has legs. Who would have thought that song, a “B” side, done in a few hours one afternoon, would be remembered and currently on two limited release compilation CDs [Gravel vol. 3 and Quagmire vol. 5].

The Pentagons - About the Girl I Love
The Pentagons - Summer's Over

Audio Dynamics seemed somewhat fly-by-night to me (set up in an old theatre with obviously moved-in equipment, difficult to reach by telephone, vague publishing promises, very rough-cut 45 rpm records, etc.). I think the huge theatre is what gave us that reverb sound. Also, can’t complain about the heavy density bottom, since we never had a bass player except my left hand and, that early on, I didn’t have the best concept of how to imitate a real bass guitar player, (on “Summer’s Over”, which was supposed to be the “A” side, I was playing three-note chords for the bass part on some of the song---real dumb), but the studio made my left hand sound pretty bass guitar-ish on “About The Girl I Love”.

We got the local Norwich record store, Gaffney’s, to carry it for awhile by sending our girlfriends to the store every day to breathlessly request copies. We sold it at gigs, too. I recall we weren’t happy with the very rough pressing of the record, which gave turntable needles difficulty at times. Maybe we sold most copies.

I also had ties to The Breakers out of New London, CT, who took a song I wrote, “She Left Me” through various Battle of the Band competitions, eventually landing an MGM Records contract, releasing a bubblegum tune, “Jack B. Nimble” that went nowhere and is barely mentioned on the Internet and un-findable. I have “She Left Me” and “An Always Time” written by me and performed by The Breakers on acetate, before they became The New York Thruway.

The Breakers - She Left Me (© 1968 by John Coggeshall, used with permission)

Then there’s New London based Davy Jones and the Dolphins, who actually did a soundtrack to a “B” Hollywood movie, “Hellcats”, that barely survives mention, and who actually had Columbia Records release their song, “Shannon” a pretty good number, and that’s NOWHERE on the Internet. And yet, beyond all those major league labels, better recordings and “A” sides, “About the Girl I Love” is the one that survives for posterity.

We play New London’s meaner nights,
The “backdoor” clubs, the dance floor fights,
Rowdy Norwich Rooftop fans,
Who punch Steve out whilst in the can.
That high school gym was so fantastic,
Tossing chairs and making baskets,
Trashcans on the roof by Dave,
Who claimed we were “The Purple Sage”,
And after we had done all that,
How come they never asked us back?

(from My Garage Rock Band ‘65 – ‘73, © by John Coggeshall)

It was a backstreet New London club on the first floor of an old house, and people would walk by and throw lit firecrackers through open windows onto the dance floor while we played and people danced. Talk about a showstopper. My dad came to pick us up at the end of a gig one night, and a fight broke out on the hood of our family station wagon.

In regard to “Burnt Toast,” that’s The Pentagons minus our original drummer, Dave Lemieux, and with our original sax player, Gary Lamperelli, taking over on drums and us playing as a threesome. After we all graduated from high school in 1969, the group split up and three of us went to colleges in different states, and one went to air conditioning school (I think). After the end of our freshman years, we, for the first time in our teenage lives, had to get REAL summer jobs (during high school, our weekend Pentagon gigs made us enough money to keep our parents quiet regarding that “Get A Job!” syndrome). But now, it was GENUINE WORK time: me at the Thermos Factory on swing shift, Steve at McDonald’s, I think, and Gary sweeping up at his dad’s famous nightclub, “Lamperelli’s 7 Bros.” on Bank St. in New London.

About halfway through those backbreaking months, I met up with Gary and his dad and we hatched a brilliant scheme: for the following three years, his dad (and the other 6 brothers) would hire us for the summer, every night, at less than what the club was paying other bands, and for advertising purposes we would re-name the band every week and say we were from a different big city (“Burnt Toast from Miami”, “Direct from Las Vegas, ‘Fistful of Worms’, etc. etc.). We cut our personnel to three to make more money apiece, and the club always let us pick the band name and didn’t much care what it was, thus, “Running Sores” from Boston, “Prep H” from Detroit—I remember making posters: cardboard stock with a real slice of burnt toast nailed to it, to place outside the club. Actually, the scheme worked great for three summers, and none of us had to get anymore real jobs through college. I loved that New London club (pretty well-known, it turns out), and Gary’s dad and uncles.

At the end of our run (around 1973), I wrote a three-page epic poem about the beginning, middle and end of The Pentagons. It covers every highlight and lowlight we experienced. I have had a lengthy time in the entertainment field, the legal profession and even politics (the meeting place of law and entertainment) since then.

John “Cog” Coggeshall.

A special thank you to John for his help with this article, including all photos and the transfer of the acetate of "The Walk".

Dan Norton, lead guitarist and song writer for Expedition to Earth, spoke to me at length about the band and provided the photos for this article:

My musical history started at age four taking classical piano lessons in a small town in southern Manitoba called Crystal City. This continued until age 14 then I ran out of teachers. I got my first guitar at age 14 for Christmas. The year was 1961. I immediately ordered a crystal pick-up from a catalogue and proceeded to build my own amp out of an old tube radio.

A friend of mine, LLoyd McTaggert, and I thought we should form a band with the result of my first band named the Chromatics with Dave Anderson on bass and LLoyd McBurney on drums. This band evolved over the next few years into the Fanthoms (Pilot Mound). Various members included Bob Werry (vocals), Ron McTaggert (bass), George L. Patterson (C-sax), Elgin Schram (bass), Bob Leslie (drums). We used to play local school dances known as "sock hops" and "barnstorm" meaning we would rent a hall and charge admission. Usually 75 cents.

In 1966 I moved to Winnipeg and through an ad in the paper met Dave Mitchell. A friendship formed then lasts to this day. We tried with limited success to start a band. The timing wasn't right, but through these efforts we did meet some interesting people.

Bernie started the Expedition with Brian Levin and then added Dave. Their manager at that time was Ted Carroll and he suggested that they should add another guitar player. I was invited to join the group. After intensive rehearsals we contacted an agent in Winnipeg to find us some gigs. This turned out to be very fortuitous for us as it was Frank Weiner of the Hungry I Agencies. He had started the Franklin label for recording.

I wrote two songs then and we headed off to CKRC radio station to record them. At this time Frank suggested that he knew of a female singer that had just left her band (The Feminine Touch) and would be interested in joining us. This was, of course, Gail Bowen. She joined the group at the tail end of the recording session and added the whispering voice at the end of "Expedition to Earth". Frank then sent the master tape to Montreal to have the new effect known as fuzz added to the guitar work and the phasing [to the end of "Expedition to Earth"].

The record was then published by a new publishing company called Sabalora Publishing. This started a decades long friendship with Lorne Saifer. The record did reach #9 in New Glasgow, NS one step ahead of Hey Jude by the Beatles.

The total system that I used back then was: '65 Mosrite guitar fed through an altered "Y" cord to 2 seperate amplifiers and a new invention of Gar Gillies called a HERZOG. I believe Randy Bachman was also using this device. It was a pre-amp and provided the fuzz overdrive sound that we used on stage shows. The two amps were a Garnet Pro Series with two bottoms and a Fender Super Reverb using 3-10" speakers and an 8" horn. The pro bottoms each had 2-12" speakers. Using an extra guitar tuned to respond to harmonics gave me the ability to reproduce just about any sound effects we needed. The second guitar was set on a stand in front of the amps. With this set-up I never needed a fuzz buster, wah-wah pedal or foot switch.

Other songs were written for the group but never recorded. The band was generally happy with the record but felt we could do better. The songs definitely formed part of our live performances. Cover tunes in the play list included: Sky Pilot (album version) White Rabbit, Magic Carpet Ride, Soul Man, Jumpin Jack Flash, Swalbr, It's Alright, Monterey, Born to be Wild, Hold on I'm Comin', and Norweigan Wood.

The Expedition to Earth was predominately a touring band, however we did play a place called Jay's Disco on Smith Street, various schools and community centers in Winnipeg. We toured extensively in and around the Yorkton, Sask. area including Canora, Togo, Priestville and Langenberg. We also toured in Northern Ontario, Kenora to Sioux Lookout. Manitoba dates were covered by playing in the Roblin - Russell area, Brandon and Pilot Mound.

As far as memorable shows, most of them were but for different reasons. Three shows come to mind:

Anytime we played Jay's Disco was exciting because of the elevated wing stages that allowed me the freedom to wander.

Canora, Saskatchewan when we played to an over-soldout crowd. The hall would hold 300 people and I think there was 600+ paid admissions. We finished our set and you could have heard a pin drop. I actually heard my pick hit the stage. It was the longest 15 seconds of my life. Seemed more like 15 years. Then one person started clapping, then two, then the roof came down. Very unnerving but extreme rush.

Pilot Mound, MB: It was just after the record had been released and was getting airplay and it was like going home to my roots where it all started. It felt good to justify the faith that my friends had in me when I was starting out.

The music scene in Winnipeg at that time was so alive you could taste it. There were so many talented musicians it was incredible. The legacy that was created then is still alive with the second generation picking up where we left off.

Some of the bands from back then: The Mongrels, with my friend Duncan Wilson, The Devrons, with Ron Savoie, The Quid, Blakewood Castle, Justin Tyme, The Shags, The Shondells, Logan Comfort Station, The Gettysberg Address, Sugar and Spice, The Eternals (members of this group went on to found Century 21 Recording Studios), The Vaqueros, The Canadian Downbeats, and of course the power group The Guess Who. There were many more to add to this list.

Getting back to The Expedition. Bernie was the first to leave the group and was replaced by a singer from Edmonton, Gerry Dayle. The group still under the management of Ted Carroll then decided to move our base to Edmonton. We played in Moosejaw Sask and Prince Albert Sask. on the way there.

Once there Gerry decided to change the name of the group and the musical direction to blend in with the Edmonton scene. I disagreed with the decision and returned to Winnipeg to form a band called Seventh House. This band comprised of three singers: Cheri-Lyn Nathanson, Susan Brown and Fred Peterson backed by four musicians, integrating ascending and descending harmonies to get a chorale effect on some of the songs utilizing all the vocalists in the band. A couple of the cover tunes of the live show were Piece of my Heart and Think.

It was the first group to record at the brand new facility Century 21 Recording Studios, getting in there before the doors were officially opened. The master tape from that session was given to me by John Hildebrand when they shut down the studio at the end. I still have that session of unreleased material on a 16 track 1/2" tape. The group was folded in spite of having a USO tour booked.

After that came a four-piece group known as McFadden. It gained a certain amount of local fame as a club act. The next group was Madd Hatter. This group lasted until the mid-80s.

The last gig I played was in Grand Forks, BC on Dec 5, 2009 for the folks down at Home Hardware Building Center. This particular gig was memorable to me because it marked the first time in 40 years that I had the pleasure of performing on stage with Brian Levin of the Expedition to Earth. We were joined by Miles Bayley of Grand Forks on bass. The multi-talented Brian played drums. The original Expedition to Earth have talked about a reunion. [There may be] one concert in the summer here in Grand Forks.

Dan Norton

The birds and the flowers of yesterday gone by,
The clouds and the aeroplane way up in the sky,
They're out of sight my friend, never to return,

So if you want out take an expedition to,
If you want out take an expedition to,
If you want out take an Expedition to Earth

Tomorrow will be brighter, and hopes will never die,
Forgotten things occur again to remind us we should try,
You'll never make it 'til you're hurt, you've only got one chance,

So if you want out take an expedition to,
If you want out take an expedition to,
If you want out take an Expedition to Earth

(whispered)
Take a look at your life and see how you stand,
Examine your past and know your future...

lyrics by Dan Norton

Time, time, time is all that I have
Time, time, time is all that I have

If you want me to remember when,
Or if you want me to forget,
The crowds of life are lonely days,
They leave you no choice except another way,

'Cause time is all that I have,
And all I want from life
Is a girl to open wide,
The doors to paradise

The girls of yesterday are gone,
Their race against time has been won,
Their minds are blown too many times,
And all the things seem twice their size,

Time, time, time is all that I have
Time, time, time is all that I have

'Cause time is all that I have,
And all I want from life
Is a girl to open wide,
The doors to paradise

Time, time, time is all that I have
Time, time, time is all that I have