The Rainy Days are known for a great version of “I Can Only Give You Everything”. They regularly won battle of the bands contests over Bob Seger and the Last Heard, and appeared many times on the Robin Seymour TV show, Swingin’ Time. The members were:
Tom Brzezina – vocals
Gary Rozycki – lead guitar
Alan Hafeli – rhythm guitar
Paul Isaacson – organ
John Einowski – bass
Jim Nosakowski – drums
In early 1967 the Rainy Days released two 45s on the Panik label. Their first 45 was supposed to include a version of the Fugs’ “Dirty Old Man”, which I would love to hear. Though acetates were made, that song’s uncommercial lyrics may have doomed a commercial release, and the song hasn’t surfaced in the years since it was recorded.
When their third release “Without A Soul” was shelved the band slowly faded away. Tom Brzezina joined Target with Dennis Wezalis, who had written “Without a Soul”, while the other members stayed active in music for some time. As yet, “Dirty Old Man”, “Without a Soul” and their appearances on the Robin Seymour show seem to be lost, but until they are found we have their Panik releases to listen to.
Jim Nosakowski, Gary Rozycki, Alan Hafeli wrote this description of the band:
In the wake of the British Invasion, interest in forming bands to play live music was rampant in Detroit as well as across the country. In 1965, two groups of enthusiastic, budding musicians, The Brimstones and The 69ers combined to form Mogen David and the Grapes of Wrath which soon became The Rainy Days. This hard-driving six man group was noticed by PANIK Records and in the fall of 1967 they released ” I Can Only Give You Everything” backed by the original song, “Go On and Cry”.
The single charted in Detroit and resulted in several appearances on CKLW’s (Windsor, Ontario) popular show “Swingin Time” with Robin Seymour. The Rainy Days appeared with James Brown, The Contours, Bobby Hebb, and others. Recordings of “Turn on Your Lovelight” and an original, “Without a Soul”, failed to chart and the band broke up shortly after a three year run of good fun and great music. Alan and Jim continue to play together after 40 years in various blues and oldies bands.
I asked Jim Nosakowski some questions about the band, and he responded with Alan Hefeli:
The 69’ers were experimenting with a keyboard player, John Issacson, who could not really play. His brother, Paul Issacson, was a friend of Alan and Gary from the Brimstones and was a very good keyboardist. Through these brothers, the two bands became aware of each other and ultimately Tom (lead singer), and Jim (drums) from the 69er’s, Alan (rhythm), Gary (lead guitar), and Paul (keyboards) formed Mogan David and the Grapes of Wrath. John (bass) was a friend of Tom’s. Dan Bayer (Brimstone’s drummer) joined some of the remaining 69er’s to form Mother’s Little Helpers, a good British-type rock band.
We had been trying to find someone to record us. We wanted to record “Gloria” by Them sensing a sure hit, but the Shadows of Night beat us to it. One agent was interested in Tom but not the rest of the band. A soul recording studio called Big Mack Records, as we recall, was interested in us as their first white group but nothing came of that.
One day our bass player, John, was hitchhiking with his guitar and was picked up by Tony Printz of PANIK Records (he was driving a very cool pale blue Continental convertible). He came to a few practices and decided to sign us. Soon after the decision was made to record “I Can Only Give You Everything”.
We recorded ICOGYE backed by an original credited to our manager, Tony Printz, though we all worked on it. The recording studio was United Sound, a Motown studio near Wayne State University. Our producer was Danny Dallas and as I recall, PANIK was paying $60 an hour for studio time.
When we heard the master we were really disappointed. The lead guitar was out of tune but Tony said it sounded ok. After much pleading by the band, he agreed to go back and redo the cut. The second effort was much better.
Shortly after we recorded, Tony got a call from someone at United Sound saying that the MC5 had also recorded a version of ICOGYE at the same studio two weeks after we did. This motivated PANIK to release our record as quickly as possible.
Thanks to Jim, Gary and Alan for sending in the photos and history of the band, and to Don Rozycki for putting me in touch with his brother. One source for this story was Koen Goossens interview with Tom Brzezina and Jim Nosakowski on his site devoted to the song I Can Only Give You Everything. The link for that is http://icogye.0catch.com/icogyeinterview1.htm – but be warned of ugly pop-up ads that can crash your browser!
seems as thow Beck borrowed heavily from this tune on his ‘Devils Haircut’ track
I want to give a huge thanks to my distant relative Alan Hafeli. I ran into him a few years ago at the Armada flea market in Armada, Mi. and was going to sell a vintage Gibson guitar & Geib hard case to a dealer there and he talked me out of doing it. I had a huge argument with my husband on the spot and ending up paying for the banjo he wanted and keeping the guitar. Years later I find out the guitar is a 1940’s Gibson ES-150 Charlie Christian with original Geib tweed case in like mint condition. I had owe him a major thanks for saving me from a big mistake! Alan if you read this if you are ever in Texas I’ll buy you dinner! Karla Koch Whisnant (Mary Garbarino’s Daughter)
I remember that incident well. I knew it was a good guitar but I didn’t know how good! Charlie Christian was with the Benny Goodman Band and as I recall, he only had three fingers on his fretting hand.
The guitar went out of production in 1956. If you have a chance, I’d like to see a picture of the guitar.
Good hearing from you,
Your some kind of cousin,
Alan
Alan, this is Kerstin Koch – Karla’s sister. My sister just told me about this story and contacting you. I hope this makes it to you somehow. My sister was killed in an automobile accident Friday, 1/30/09 and her husband is still in the hospital. Please pass this along and your thoughts & prayers are appreciated.
Quite recently I learned that the John Einowski who I’ve worked with off and on since the late 70s is THE John Einowski, bass player of the Rainy Days. At one time he played with Catfish Hodge.
Also, the Rainy Days and the GarageHangover website are mentioned in the 10th Annual Oxford American Southern Music Issue (on sale now for $9.95, including two cds).
Go figure and enjoy!
Hafeli was a teacher at the high school I attended, years back. Did a ‘phone interview with him for the Goldmine magazine article I wrote covering several 1960s MI garage bands. Recommend the article (it’s not online) for further info on this band and much more; everyone who helped in its development was wonderful and generous with their memories, and there was info that I hadn’t previously known of elsewhere, so check it out if you can. The issue appeared about ten years ago, part of a set of two MI rock-themed issues. Question Mark and others were interviewed, too–the book Grit, Noise, and Revolution ‘lifted’ several segments (including my specific phraseology, you can make the comparisons quite readily, take a look) by way of excerpting material originally published by myself and the many other writers whose work was paraphrased in that entertaining, but highly derivative book. (Among other writings, I also did an MC5 interview-based article which may be found online, at the “homepage” address I submitted here; this also was paraphrased in GNR). Was able to see these guys–the former Rainy Days–in their latter-day incarnation performing live a few years back. MI has long been a stronghold of great music, as those who frequent this page are probably well aware. Would love to be able to locate any old TV appearances of the Rainy Days.
This is the second time I’ve run into Jim Thompson ranting online as to his contributions to David Carson’s highly regarded book on Detroit rock history (Grit Noise & Revolution). As I pointed out elsewhere, Carson lists well over a thousand author citations in the chapter notes section. If you go through those as I have, you will find that Jim Thompson is cited only five or six times – just three having to do with the MC5 and those were for quotes from Dennis Thompson, so Jim Thompson’s articles were hardly a major source. Carson did interview all three members of the MC5.
Oh – really enjoyed the Rainy Days photos & info on this site.
Eric
No need to be excited, but I know other writers who were paraphrased in the book, too. All own their copyrights, none were consulted beforehand. All material; was from print publications. I was just one of them. All of my material was either original or used with prior permission.
I caught these guys several times at De La Salle Collegiate dances in the 1960s. Great band. Tight. Lots of soul.
.I was the kid brother of Tom and Jon Wearing who did a remake of Farmer John with a band called the TidalWaves.My brothers were at the beginnings of the scene and our home was nuts with visits from members of the Blues Magoos,Cold Blood,Vanilla Fudge ,Romantics,and many Michigan music makers as well.Tom and Jon went on to be in bands such as the Dick Wagner Band,Frijid Pink,Catfish,Bobby Lewis and the Crackerjack Band.Both knew everybody and everybody was welcome at our home,anytime.During those years I don’t know how ,why, where I came upon a guy named Tommy Brezzina.Right from the start I felt a connection with this guy.Maybe its because he came from the same kind of blue collar hard working background as the Wearing’s and there was absolutely no bullshit about this guy.I didn’t really keep up contact with Tom although I saw him once or twice with the Buzztones.In my opinion Tom created the persona of that band. I will say no more because I am aware some of the sidemen have reached some level of success and popularity and I don’t care to diminish their worth.I don’t know what happened to him but I remember his fire,tenacity and I hope he has done well.
Ricky Wearing
Nice to see this! A big hello to Al-you know my dad, Ford Thompson (as well as me).
Paul Isaacson passed away on Friday May 8, 2015 at the age of 64.
I was devastated to hear of Paul’s passing. He was a great musician and a great friend. I had dinner with he and John Einowski a few short years ago.
We had a great night, reminiscing and laughing. We closed the joint.
Hi Tom.. this is Stacy Thibodeau now French… just read a note from John Einowski… from 2018… well it is now 2020. I am now in Atlanta Ga.. got to reminiscing and found this site again. Is he still on this earth? I hope all is well with you. Love to hear how everyone is. I heard that Paul has passed away. So sorry to hear. I know he will be greatly missed by his loved ones and friends… such a great person. Well… let John know I dropped him a note if he is still walking on this earth… take care… hugs.. Stacy
Stacy, somehow I’m still here. I’m happy to hear you’re still around too. I live in Burney, CA. I have been in CA since 1983. You can contact me at redwingz@currently.com. I’d love to catch up with you sometime.
John
i own turn on your lovelight on red vinyl plain panic label. and currently have it for sale on eBay.
Steve Fournier – I’d like to get in touch with you about that classic vinyl of one of our songs. This is Alan Hafeli and I was in the Rainy Days! Give me a call at 248-628-7525.
Stacy T., if you ever stumble across this site, I’d just like to say “Hi”. The last time I saw you I wasn’t in a very good state. I have fond memories of the short time we dated and always wondered what happened to you. I really hope you’re doing great, with a loving family and a man who appreciated you. Remember the blue Ford truck with a passenger seat pearched on the spare tire that I use to drive out to Southfield to see you in. It wasn’t bolted to the truck frame and whoever sat in it risked crashing into the dashboard if the truck braked hard? How you’d dance on one side of the stage while the band played a set? Going to The Grande Ballroom, the greatest place to see big name bands close up in Detroit, like Cream, Jeff Beck Group with a teenage Rod Stewart as the singer, Stevie Winwood and Traffic, The MC5, etc. I find it hard to believe I’m still here, but I am. Anyway, I really hope things are well with you.
Regards, John Einowski
Hi John… so I know I haven’t been on this site in forever… I think of you often too… gosh to have one of those times back… you were a great base player… I am in Atlanta now… yes I am with a good guy.. with 2 children who are now 36 and 30… girl and boy … both play piano and my son is good on the guitar… I always wanted to play piano… my dad had 12 children and the last thing he wanted was a piano. I have been blessed in my life. Gosh I loved being your band’s groupie… the only band I was groupie to.. such a great group of guys.. Loved your truck and loved dating you… gosh we were so young… and I thought I was so grown up!
good grief what did I know? I hope you somehow come across this soon… I am safbham@yahoo.com… if you ever want to say Hey…. I hope all is well with you. It was quite a while ago when I was on this site… so I am hoping you are well and happy and still keeping music in you… so great to read this note from you… thanks… hugs… and please say Hi if you get this!
Sorry to hear of Paul.. I know he is greatly missed… such a great guy.
Hope you get my note…. hope to say hi… see how you are doing…
kindly, stacy
safbham@yahoo.com email to say hi. I am glad I found yr note. It would be fun to say hello… hope you are doing well and that your life is good too.
Uncle Gary give me a call..239-265-1799
Almost everyone in my generation was touched by rock n’ roll – some more, some less, but it definitely got into the water and left few unaffected. But sometimes one’s intersection with rock n’ roll history is pretty direct. In my case, it was a mere two degrees of separation. Let me explain.
You may have heard that Wayne Kramer, founder of the famed MC5, passed away last week. The MC5 (the name means The Motor City 5) are now hailed as one of the classic rock bands of all times, the acclaimed progenitors of punk rock. I don’t begrudge them their place in history – not every band from Detroit of 50 years ago is even remembered, let alone lauded. But the truth be told, back in the day me and my friends thought they sucked – just loud and noisy, with no musicality that we could ken. We used to see them all the time at various free concerts around Detroit – there seemed to be a free concert somewhere every weekend. When the MC5 came on, many of us thought it not a bad time to stand in line for the loo (assuming they actually had toilets – most often it was the woods or field). But that’s just my bias – there were plenty of people who liked them. And where would Iggy Pop and Johnny Rotten have been if old Wayne and the boys hadn’t broken the trail?
Anyway, back to the story. One of my older brothers, John, worked in a somewhat famous music store on the East Side of Detroit. Like Manny’s in Manhattan, Massamino’s was the go-to place for guitar players in Detroit. Originally a shop for accordion enthusiasts (large Polish and German communities in Detroit ensured quite a squeeze box market in the 40s and 50s), as Joe Sr. slowed down (though he could still squeeze a pretty dazzling Lady of Spain) and Joe Jr. took over the business, the shop became filled with more and more guitars. When you entered the shop, it looked like any other music store. But when you walked through the double doors to the space next door, you entered a wall of guitars of all sorts with many more in cases on the floor and spread around. It was heaven! It is actually one of the places I used to sit and learn to play guitar – if you didn’t mess things up, they would let you play the stock (and it didn’t hurt that my brother worked there).
John was modestly famous back in the late sixties as a member of a local band called the Rainy Days (originally called Mogen David and the Grapes of Wrath until they found out a West Coast Band was already using that name; but the lead singer of the Rainy Days – Tom Brzezina – was forever after called “Mog” as a result of the short lived name). They recorded a couple of records but never hit the lucky seven – though if you search Rainy Days, you will come up with some fan stuff on them – they really were quite good and developed a pretty sizable fan base.
As a result of playing in bands around town and especially because of his work at Massamino’s, John knew just about all the local rockers – Massamino’s being THE place in the city to check out some great guitars. Joe also use to supply equipment for the bands – not the full on sound systems that you see now a days at concerts, but amps, drums, etc (back then, they didn’t have the big PA systems, so each instrument was heard [if at all] through its own amp, and if there was PA system, only the singer went through it [which is why most often you couldn’t hear the singer; can’t tell you how many times I saw Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels without ever hearing Mitch sing, though you could tell by the veins popping out of his neck that he was screaming like a Banshee!]). John would often end up running the equipment around to gigs in a blue Ford van – not the modern type of van with a flat front, but the old fashion kind with an extended front; since Joe let John bing the truck home and knock around town in it, it no doubt became John’s traveling party pad, though I don’t think my mother cared to inquire too closely about the goings on.
In the course of working at Massamino’s, John would bring home a lot of really nice guitars. When he wasn’t around, I continued my guitar lessons on the instruments he brought home. No doubt the best one he ever had was an extremely rare triple pick-up Les Paul Black Beauty circa 1957. Originally, Gibson only made about five of these guitars, so they are really rare. You can buy a Gibson Custom Shop reproduction of one for around $6,000 to $8,000. But if you were lucky enough to come across an original, you would likely have to bid for it at a Sotheby’s auction and probably need to shell out about $200,000 or more. I remember that guitar so well. It was – without doubt of any kind – absolutely the easiest guitar to play. The neck was perfectly set up. And Gibson did something with the frets to make them almost disappear – the neck was referred to as the “fretless wonder” – if you ran your finger up and down the neck, you could barely feel the frets. And the triple pickup gave it a rock n’ roll growl that Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix would have envied. I remember playing it through a big tweed covered twin speaker cabinet (for you guitar fans, it was not a Fender, but some other brand – might have been a Gibson). The amp was unique for the time because it would distort at low volume – most amps back then had to be cranked to high heavens before the tubes would break up and distort; it was before the time of master volume controls and so I suspect the tubes in this amp were going and hence distorted easily. So it was a fab set up to play the few Clapton and Jeff Beck riffs I knew at the time.
Come 1969, Wayne and the boys – under the management of underground revolutionary leader John Sinclair of “Free John Sinclair” fame – went to record what would become their epic hall of fame album, done live at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom in October. The album began with the lead singer, Rob Tyner, yelling out their famous anthem: “Kick out the jams, Motherfuckers!” This became the title of their first album.
Now you wouldn’t believe it because the term is so widely used by Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and such and all over the media, but back then the word “fuck” and its variants were shocking to hear people say out loud – you just didn’t do that! Not that people didn’t use the word. But it was mumbled under the breathe, unless there were no females present, in which event you could shout it at the top of your lungs. So to see it in print (I still remember the first time I saw it printed in an underground newspaper – you can’t do that, can you?) or to hear someone record it on an album but shocking to the nth degree.
The thing about Kick Out the Jams is Wayne Kramer managed to talk my brother into letting him borrow the Black Beauty to record the album. So the sound you hear Kramer kicking out is that which filled my bedroom practice sessions (at much lower volume though, what with parents and all). After the album was recorded, the guitar wasn’t returned right away. After three weeks, John feared he had seen the last of it, but Joe Massamino assured him Wayne would return it. It was, indeed, deliver back to John by John Sinclair hisself!
But the story doesn’t end there – that wouldn’t be much of a rock n’ roll ending, now would it? Shortly after he got the guitar back, John traded it for a chopped (i.e., Easy Rider style) Triumph Tiger Cub motor cycle, replete with a metallic green tank and gold metallic flames. It was super cool, even though the engine was small for a chop (about 200cc as I recall). When John brought the bike home, his buddies from the neighborhood took turns riding it. A long time pal, Jimmy (who we called “Chief” because he had a Roman nose and in profile looked just like the Indian on the old Pontiac logo), took the bike for a spin and a short time later came walking back, explaining he had crashed the bike and it broke in two (no doubt a bad weld job on the neck post when it was raked and chopped). So in a way the Kick Out the Jams Black Beauty became a pile of twisted metal. Not that’s a rock n’ roll ending! (My brother would rather still have the guitar; you can still get the album.)
The Wayne Kramer referred to above is from the famous MC5. I realized I never mentioned the name of the band.
Just a note about Stacy Thibodeau French. Last week I learned Stacy passed away in July of 2023 at the age of 73 from cystic fibrosis. Stacy was a self proclaimed groupie of The Rainy Days. She would often show up at gigs we played. I dated her in ’67-’68 before I was drafted into the army in 1969. I have fond memories of her and finally reconnected with her in 2020. I learned she was happily married to a very successful business executive and living in Atlanta.
Stacy was a folk artist with a line of characters she hand molded, painted, and sold under her brand name, American Whimsies. She often traveled to the west coast to participate in folk art shows. Her work was published in magazines such as Art Dolll Quarterly.
I was fortunate to find her in 2020 but I’m sad to learn of her passing. I often thought of her when reminiscing about my time in The Rainy Days. She will be missed and my thoughts are with her.
John Einowski
One more thing about Stacy Thibodeau, a Rainy Days groupy Every time I heard the song In Your Wildest Dreams, by The Moody Blues, or saw the video associated with the song, I thought about the times I dated Stacy. The video tells the story of a young girl and a her band member boyfriend who were separated due to the band’s success. Of course I never had the fame like the guys in the video, but I often of Stacy while listening to the song.
I wish I could have connected with her in person, but alas, it never came to pass. My condolences to her husband and her family. It was a pleasure to hear from her after 50 years.