I came across this ticket stub for a “Double-Up” concert produced by Koncepts Cultural Gallery on October 16, 1993 at the James Moore Theater in the Oakland Museum. The concert featured two duos, Roscoe Mitchell & Malachi Favors Maghostut; and Horace Tapscott & Roberto Miranda.
I can still hear Roscoe playing the soprano sax (or was it sopranino) without pause using circular breathing.
I’m posting this in the hope that photos or a recording of the event exists.
The Long Island Sounds came from Branford and East Haven Connecticut. They achieved a fine surf sound on their two singles on Wonder Records 165 and 166.
Their first single was “Tiger” / “Lucky Guy”, followed by “Don’t Cry Linda” / “(Ballad of) Marvin Crump”.
Members were:
Fred O’Brien – lead vocals
Tony Pragano – harmony vocals
Angelo Frisketti – lead guitar
Tom Hanlon – guitar and harmony vocals
Bobby Pasternak – keyboards
Jack Russell – drums
Fred O’Brien wrote all their songs, published by Checkmark Music, owned by Arthur Czech, which also published the North Atlantic Invasion Force “Blue and Green Gown” / “Fire, Wind and Rain” among others.
“BRS” etched into the runout of the second record indicates it was likely recorded at Broadway Recording Studios in New York.
I’ve seen Tony Pragano’s name spelled Pregano, not sure which is correct.
Anyone have a photo of the group?
Gary Steffins & the Fugitives 5 “I’m a Lover” / “Back Track” on RMP is an obscure 45 from one of the suburbs of Chicago, from March, 1966.
The lead guitar is strong on both sides, especially the neat instrumental “Back Track”.
A couple of photos have turned up on youtube videos, but I haven’t seen a list of band members.
On August 16, 1975, about nine years after the record, the Atlanta Constitution ran a profile of Daphne’s Lounge at the Sheraton near Hartsfield airport, with an interesting paragraph:
The band of the moment is Crystal Ball, a group formed five years ago in Chicago and now relocating to Atlanta. Gary Steffins handles most of the vocals and plays the congas. Other personnel are Steve Farrell, lead guitar, his brother Bill [Farrell] on drums, Joe Grimm on keyboards, and Greg Curbow on bass.
Surely the lineup changed in the intervening years, but I would like to know the names of the original group on the single.
A number of lacquer demos (commonly called acetates) of various sizes remained when Kennett Sound Studio closed and the property sold. Many of these demos are of the Cleaners (later known as the East Coast Clique), the group Kennett worked with the most. Others duplicate the recordings that would be released on 45 rpm records.
Below is a list of demos by unknown artists, in approximate chronological order. Because Earl was blind, many were unlabeled, though Earl’s young daughters sometimes added names or titles. Many song titles below are my guesses based on the lyrics.
Please take a listen to the audio excerpts and contact me if you know any of these artists.
Claude Steward (Claude Stewart?)
“I’m Going Your Way, I’ll Walk You Home” (excerpt)
“Goodbye Girl” (excerpt)
Jimmy Morse / James Morse
(two 8″ acetates, circa 1967)
“Can’t You See I Want You (Time After Time)” (excerpt)
“Back Alley Blues” (excerpt)
“Hey Little Girl” (excerpt)
Horvath family song, 1967 – Excerpt
7″ lacquer acetates:
Unknown rock group circa 1968
“Goodbye” (excerpt)
“Girl” (excerpt)
Chain Reactions (circa 1967)
“Black and Blue” (excerpt)
Group from “The Office” (circa 1968)
“He Was a Friend of Mine” (excerpt)
“Who Do You Love” (excerpt)
Unknown soul group – male lead with female backup
“Baby” excerpt
12″ lacquer acetates:
The Pink Sydel, 4/20/1968
“Memories”
“The Pink Sydel” (excerpt)
“Happy Together”
“We Gotta Get Out of this Place”
Unknown rock band circa 1969
“Darling Please” (excerpt)
“Please Try” (excerpt)
Folk singer Greg (surname?), associated with Hudson River Clearwater Sloop, circa 1969. Five songs, may not have been recorded at Kennett as it sounds like a radio broadcast.
Hear “My Dirty Stream” with discussion of Sloop restoration
Unknown band with horns, circa 1970:
“Vanilla on My Mind” (originally done by the Yellow Payges)
“Lady in the Night” (excerpt)
“Forty Million Dreams” (excerpt)
“It Will Take Time” (excerpt)
The Coachmen – “Green Green Grass of Home”
Unknown (The Coachmen?) – “Green River” (excerpt)
Unknown (The Coachmen?) –“You’re Gonna Be My Girl” (excerpt)
Unknown female vocalist with acoustic guitar, flute & drums, early ’70s:
“Lonely Eyes” (excerpt)
“If There’s No You Baby” (excerpt)
Unknown lounge/pop singer with combo:
“Lonely” (excerpt)
“Around the World” (excerpt)
Those Two Plus – “I’ll Be There” / “It’s Rainin’ (Where I’m Bound)” (both by Alex Rotter, arranged by “Those Two”) Kennett Sound 0017, 1969.
Alex Rotter and Dawn Mickle performed as simply “Those Two” in a couple news reports. The Oneonta Star noted on August 10, 1968 that the duo took second place in the Folk Music Contest at the Otsego County Fair.
The Schenectady Gazette ran a photo of the duo on September 17, 1968:
Those Two, folksingers Dawn Mickle of Warnerville and Alex Rotter of Schenectady, who won top honors at the Cobleskill Fair and first in the semi-finals of the State Fair, entertained patients at the Eden Park Nursing home …
I have a 12″ acetate from the Kennett Sound Studio that includes both songs from the single. Another 12″ acetate contains five songs performed by Alex and Dawn which were not released.
From listening, I believe four of these to be original songs: “If I Were Free”, “Take Me to the Land of Lovin'”, “I Can Tell”, and “I Know What You Mean to Say” (titles are based on the lyrics), along with a version of Fred Neil’s “The Other Side of this Life”:
The Kennett Studio labels are blank.
Thank you to Peter Aaron for loan of the Those Two Plus single, and for finding the Gazette article on the duo.
Update: I’m pleased to say I was able to send the 12″ acetate of five unreleased songs to Alex Rotter’s family. Thank you to Sherry Rotter for contacting me.
The Venus Flytrap came from Redwood City, CA. Info on the group is a scattershot, so I’ve decided to compile what I’ve found in the hope of getting more information.
They made one great single, “The Note” / “Have You Ever”, released on two different labels.
The original release came on Jaguar Records J-103, owned by Barry Wineroth. It was a hit in the Santa Barbara area, but the band also had a following in the South Bay, which may be why Mijji repressed it on Mijji M-3005, adding a production credit to Gilbert Day, drummer with the Bundles.
The Redwood City Tribune announced the release of the single on August 3, 1967, but copyright registration came later. Both songs have words by Don Danielli (not sure of the spelling – Donald Danelli ?), and music by Dan Sanchez, copyrighted on April 15, 1968 with publisher by Wren Music BMI, and again a week later with new publisher Guard Music BMI, part of Golden State Recorders.
At the time of the single, the Venus Flytrap members were:
Nancy Morgan – lead singer
Peter Sessions – lead guitar
Dan Sanchez – rhythm guitar
Ken Czapkay – bass
Debbie Binetti – drums
Bard Dupont of the Outfit replaced Ken Czapkay when he was drafted, and Michele Sevryn replaced Nancy Morgan shortly before the band split.
The Venus Flytrap recorded two other songs, “California” and “Gentle Breaker” at Pacific Recording Studios in San Mateo, with Karen Jenson on backup vocals.
There is also a live recording from Redwood City (which I have not heard) with a different lineup: Nancy Morgan and Dan Sanchez joined by Jacque Aknin on drums, Charles J. Ashton on bass and Ralph Pena on organ. Songs include “Whiskey Train”, “Paraphenalia” and “Brand New Dress”.
The group played many venues in the area, including the Mt. Carmel Teen Club on December 1, 1967 with the Mourning Reign, and Light show by the Brothers Grimley. I can find notices for the band’s shows as late as May, 1970.
Darline Elswick, Bonnie Borelli and Marge Boutwell headed fan clubs for the group.
Members would join other groups such as the Great Society, Phoenix, New Generation, and Howl & the Raven.
Nancy Morgan (now Nancy Coggins) sent a pdf with b&w collages of photos, business cards etc. Hopefully the originals will be located for better quality images. There’s also a somewhat blurry photo around of Peter Sessions and Nancy Morgan standing in front of the hieroglyphics wall of the Matrix.
The Bay Area Bands site reprints Alec Palao’s article on Bard Dupont from Cream Puff War No. 2, February 1993.
Eddy and the Upsets had a number of singles beginning in 1966, sometimes as Eddie Dimas & the Upsets. Most of their singles are Mexican guitar instrumentals or ballads, but “I Got News” sounds very garage. Recorded at Audio Recorders in Phoenix, it was released on Dektr ARA-41668 in 1966 with the ballad “Cry Cry Cry” on the flip.
The band formed at Phoenix Union high school. Eddie Dimas played lead guitar and sang some lead vocals. His older brother was Benny Dimas of the Majestic Five.
Jesus Escoto is on bass in the black & white photo and wrote “So Long”.
I don’t know the names of other members of the ’60s version of the band.
Dave Rivero wrote “I Got News” and the ballad “Don’t You Ever”.
Arthur Castro co-arranged “El Mitote”, and Benny Dimas co-arranged “La Vieja Seca”. Ross Benavidez produced a 1970 single on the Lance label.
Johnny Collins produced the Dektr singles, while G.G. Hardin gets production credit for most of the Cristy singles. Christy collected a number of instrumentals for an album El Mosquito on Christy CR 5007.
Edward Dimas passed away on March 8, 2013, and his brother Bennie Dimas on April 12, 2018.
Thank you to Francisco Candia for suggesting this post and for providing info, photos, and scans of the singles.
The Sprites were students at the Charles Springmyer school in Mack, Ohio, a suburb west of Cincinnati.
Buckeye Beat covered the Sprites first single, listing the people involved:
the schools ‘vocal director’ Donna Buel … Linda Tyra, Nancy Schunk, Janet Miller, Norma Sumner, Shirley Mangold, all 8th graders, Diane Rodenburg, Diane Schwander, Jill Lampe, Mary Schleue, Diane Spencer, all 7th graders, and Jane Labanz, a first grader … An eleventh member was added … in time for the studio ‘take’ … Melody Stinson now a ninth-grader at Oak Hills High School.
The Percussions backed the Sprites for their recording of “Little Latin Lupe Lu” / “On a Slow Boat to China”. The tape was sent to Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix, Arizona to be pressed, and the Wakefield code 7234 dates it to 1965.
Even more obscure is their second record, which probably features a different group of children, as the Wakefield number 14360 dates it to 1969 or 1970. “Consider Yourself” (from Oliver!) is about what you’d expect, and features backing by the Percussions (definitely not a rock group). The flip is the gentle and affecting “Jim’s Ballad” featuring guitar by Jim Wenstrup.
This must be the same Jim Wenstrup who played lead guitar with the Electros, a group from nearby Elder High School and Oak Hills High School. The Electros included Frank Luckey on rhythm guitar, Gene Yuellig on drums, Rick Clark on bass and Ed Holloway on vocals. The Cincinnati Enquirer ran a photo of the group on April 8, 1967, and mentioned that the Electros planned to cut a record “Chase Around the World” – but if they did I haven’t seen it.
I would like to know more about how the Sprites came to record what seems to be an original song by Jim Wenstrup.
The Ill Bred Mind were high school students from Sayreville, New Jersey, making their only single in 1969. There are no credits on the label, but I believe “How Can You Be Happy Today?” is an original song. The flip is a fine version of “Walk on By”.
My copy is autographed by another member, possibly Gary Jensen. Another copy (see below) has other names & spellings: including Greg Evigan (who became a well-known actor), Garry Jenssen, George B (?), Jimmy Smokey (?). I would appreciate help with deciphering the names. Youtube comments lead me to the name of another possible member: Bruce Elacqua.
The Ill Bred Mind recorded at Photo Sonics Laboratories at 236 Walnut St. in nearby South Amboy, releasing it on P.S.L. 20171.
Marty Ruszala owned or operated PhotoSonics Laboratories, also known as Triple A studio, where he engineered the Jerry Rivera “Lovin’ Man” single on Kim, and Brian O’Connor “How Was I To Know” / “Missing You” on Sayne Records 20168.
I can find two notices for live shows from the Home News, on August 1, 1969 at the Emma L. Arleth School, and at the Sayreville VFW Post 4699 on August 20.
Anyone have a photo of the Ill Bred Mind?
The Panics started in 1963, formed at Huguenot High School in Richmond, Virginia.
The lineup was
Jimmy Sherwood – lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Bill LaRue – lead guitar and vocals
Bill Lyell – bass
John Herbig – drums
Dwyane Givens was their equipment manager.
Their only single contains two original songs by Bill Lyell and Bill Larue, the mid-tempo “I Pretend” shows some Beatles influence, and the fast-paced “No More” opens with a Lennonesque “Oh!”
It was released on Shoestring Records SHO 107 in 1965, a styrene record from the Columbia Records plant at Terre Haute, Indiana.
Clyde Atkinson of the Wild Ones and Mickey Russell of the Fugitives also went to Huguenot High. The Fugitives had a single on Shoestring.
After the Panics, Bill LaRue would form a three-piece blues band, Blue Alfred. He would have one more record that I know of as Snelson & LaRue “I’m Tired of Getting Put Down” / “Making Your Mind Up it’s Over” with David Snelson and Cynthia LaRue, recorded at Audio Communications in Richmond.
Anyone have a good photo of the group?
A couple of very small photos of the group are in the booklet to Aliens Psychos & Wild Things vol. 2.
