Category Archives: Kansas

The Downbeats “Trying to Get Through” on Kanwic

January 23, 2022 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

Best-known lineup of the Downbeats: Marty Ford, Dave Gaston, John Bowman, Don Sailing, Gary Bolen, and Lann Gaston

The Downbeats came from Wichita, Kansas, and released one single “1-2-3” / “Trying to Get Through” on Kanwic HFCS-137 in early 1968

The Downbeats were active from 1964 until 1970, with the horns added in 1966. Members were:

Gary Bolen – lead guitar and lead vocals
Marty Ford – bass
Don Sailing – organ
John Bowman – drums
Dave Gaston – sax
Lanny Gaston – trumpet

Gary Bolen and Marty Ford composed “Trying to Get Through”. It’s a stomping soul performance, with a steady beat, funky rhythm guitar and bursts of horns. A scratched copy is audible on youtube:

Early lineup of the Downbeats, from left: Marty Ford, Jim Holmes, John Bowman, Gary Bolen, and Barry Sigars

Early members included guitarist Barry Sigars, vocalist Jim Holmes, John Clampitt on organ and Mike Brittain on bass. Later members included Wayne Avery, Mike Musick and Gary Heitz

Rob McKnight managed the band, and co-produced the single with Don Clyne.

There’s also video of the band performing “1-2-3” live on the All American College Show, and a half-hour tape of the group doing covers of the day live in the studio at KFDI.

The Downbeats with their 1937 Cadillac La Salle hearse

The Downbeats in the Beacon, February 14, 1968

While looking into the Kanwic label, I found the news feature on the band above, Downbeats Pick Up Pace by Cathy Henkel, from the Wichita Beacon of February 14, 1968:

Working at High Fidelity Recording, Inc., the band has done radio jingles, and acted as a studio band for other singers.

For more info on Kanwic, an item from the Wichita Eagle & Beacon Magazine on December 12, 1965:

A Wichita recording firm, High Fidelity Recording, Inc, at 445 N. Oliver, has issued its first album under the Kanwic label…
High Fidelity has been in operation for about a year. It is owned and operated by Raymond Creely and Jim Strattan, both natives of Wichita.
The company, which has issued previous recordings under other labels, makes its own tapes and handles promotion and distribution for its recording artists. The pressing of the albums and jacket production is done by other companies. There are no pressing firms in this part of the country.

First photo of the Downbeats after Don Sailing joined: Marty Ford, Don Sailing, Mike Brittain, John Bowman, and Gary Bolen

In July, 2022, Don Sailing wrote to me with an update, and sent photos of the group:

We weren’t able to make any other recordings, but I remember making several commercial jingles … one really good one for Uhlik Music.
In 1999, after almost thirty years after we disbanded, we had a wonderful reunion at Marty Ford’s place in Lampe, Missouri. To have all six of us “brothers” together again was surreal!
After a great weekend of playing music again, and thinking we were getting “old” at around 50 years of age, we made the decision to get the band back together. After many months of rehearsals and hard work in Missouri and Wichita, we booked a two night debut show at Ahoys in Kimberling City, Missouri in August of 2000. It was an unbelievably awesome gig!
After a few more gigs in Missouri, we all decided we had reached a pinnacle that few old bands are blessed to experience, and we decided to hang it up.
Sadly, only four of us remain today. We lost Marty Ford about nine years ago, and we lost Lanny about five years ago. The four of us remaining have all been married to our first wives, and we all have grown kids and growing grandkids!

Downbeats reunion, from left: Gary Bolen, Lanny Gaston, Dave Gaston, Marty Ford, Don Sailing and John Bowman.

Categories: Emporia, Kansas, Osage City, Webb Records

The Rain “Love Me and Be Glad” on Webb Records

January 22, 2022 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

The Rain, from left: Owen Evans, Jim Bond, Ron Hall and Steve Croucher

Rain was a quartet from Osage City, Kansas. The members were:

Steve Croucher – lead guitar and vocals
Owen Evans – keyboards and vocals
Ron Hall – bass
Jim Bond – drums and vocals

In August 1967 they traveled about a half hour southwest to Emporia to cut a record in the basement of 15 year old engineer Tom Webb.

“Love Me and Be Glad” is a great soulful number with lead vocals by Owen Evans and Steve Croucher. “Little Boy Blue” is a gentle song sung by Steve Croucher. Both are originals by the group.

The single was released on Webb Records No. 5667A, with dead wax L-270-1/2.

From right to left: Steve Croucher with headphones, Tom Webb “fingering the control panel”, Jim Bond seated next to him, Owen Evans, Bill James and Ron Hall.

Amazingly one of their recording sessions was documented by the Emporia Gazette on Thursday August 31, 1967:

Young Emporians Doing Record Business
Webb Records, named for the senior partner, Tom Webb. Fifteen years old. A student at Roosevelt Junior High School … Tom has been playing around with tape recording as a hobby for about a year…
Headquarters for him and for Webb Records is the basement of his family’s home…
…the truly impressive sight lines fully half of one wall. It is a large handmade electronics control panel, sporting built-in tape recorder, gauges, flashing lights, tone controls and several trays of toggle switches. On one side of the control panel is a work table, buried beneath an avalanche of printed order forms, contracts and information sheets … On either side of the whole squat huge speakers.
Tom’s partner in Webb Records is Bill James … Bill keeps a sharp eye on the company finances while Tom wears the earphones and flips toggles at the control panel…
Here recently a rock-and-roll band from Osage City came to set up its equipment for a recording session.
The band goes by the moniker, “The Rain.” All four members are young, in their teens, not unusual for today’s rock combos. “The Rain,” however, is no ordinary back-yard garage band … Last spring, when they still went under the name, “The Imperials,” they carried off top honors from a marathon “battle of the bands” held in Topeka. Just before their last recording session with Tom Webb, they had completed their first extended tour, a three-week trip that included Garden City, Pratt, Hutchinson, Dighton and a thrust on up into Nebraska.
Although Tom has done recording work with a number of young bands – the “Red Dogs” from Lawrence, the “Ides of March” from Kansas City, the “Coachmen” from Oklahoma City, the “Intruders and the “Esquires” in Emporia, for example, he has spent most of the summer concentrating on “The Rain.”
“Love Me and Be Glad”
The hit record that has been Webb Records’ main claim to fame so far was cut by “The Rain.” The 45-rpm disc features a big beat song called “Love Me and Be Glad,” with “Little Boy Blue” on the flip side. The record has been plugged on several radio stations … in Topeka, Osage City and Emporia. Tom has a list of 16 stations he has been working with.
The manager and lead guitarist for “The Rain” is Steve Croucher, a quiet, reserved chap who even wears his brown hair short. Even more reticent is the bass guitarist, Ron Hall. Owen Evans, the heavy-set, long-locked organist, pounds out chords and beams all over … The fourth band member … is Jim Bond, a short mop-topped extrovert who lays into his drums like they were going out of style. Owen, Steve and Jim handle most of the vocal roles.
The system Tom and Bill have set up is simple and efficient. Occasionally Tom moves his recording equipment to the band, as he did with the “Red Dogs” (their organ was too large to squeeze into the Webb basement)…
When the jam session finally chruns out a good tape, Tom takes it to Audio House in Lawrence. There the tape is used as a master to cut a record on a metal disc covered with acetate. Up to 25 copies are made this way, Tom says, but because acetate records are expensive – $4 each – larger quantities are pressed.
Up to Listeners
After the records are cut, Audio House ships them to Tom, who then makes the rounds of radio stations, leaving a free record at each station…
Once the song goes out on the air, Tom’s fortunes rest with the listeners. If they like the song, they will go downtown to their friendly local record store – where they will be told the disc is not stocked … The retail dealer then contacts the distributor, who in turn contacts Tom. Webb Records then ships the disc directly from Tom’s basement…
“I sure would like to get my own cutting machine,” Tom remarks, adding with a crestfallen expression, “but they cost around $40,000 … But say, if I had my own equipment, I could turn out records for only about two cents each.”

Circa early 1969, the Kanwic label out of Wichita would release a single by Rain, “I’m Free” / “London” on Kanwic HFCS-151. Publishing was by Doree, Johnny & Bill Music.

I believe this may be an entirely different band. The two songwriters, Larry Ulin and Mike Carney, were not in the Rain who recorded on Webb. Also, the sound is much different on “I’m Free”, featuring driving lead guitar without the organ and sweetness of the earlier single.

Wichita is about 100 miles from Emporia, and further from Osage City, though it was not unusual for bands to travel long distances to record.

As for Webb Records, in 1968 Tom Webb would produce a single by Friar Tuck & the Monks on Webb 5668, featuring an original song “Escape” (by Ron Bowell) with a slowed-down cover of “Help”, vocals by Ron Bowell and Rich France. I don’t know if Tom Webb and Bill James continued in music after that.

Categories: Austin, Casino, Kansas, Sonobeat, Texas, Topeka

The Thingies on Casino and Sonobeat

April 22, 2020 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Thingies were a peripatetic band, settling and playing shows in a number of locations, and occasionally recording. A full story of the band is on the Cicadelic site. I wanted to include a brief post on the Thingies because of their single on Casino Records.

In late 1962, Larry Miller formed the TR4 while he was stationed with the Air Force in Topeka, Kansas.

The TR4 were:

Don Ferguson – lead guitar
Dave Daws – organ
Larry Miller – bass and vocals
Joe Rodriguez – drums

The TR4 released a single in 1963, “Peter Rabbit” backed with a stomping instrumental, “Surfin’ TR” on Exclusive Records.

In 1964 the band added Phil Weaver as lead vocalist and changed their name to the Coachmen. Gordon Marcellus replaced Joe Rodriguez on drums.

By 1965 the lineup changed again along with the band name to the Thingies:

Fabulous Thingies Emporia Civic Auditorium Emporia Gazette Nov 11, 1966 — Fabulous Thingies at the Emporia Civic Auditorium, Nov 11, 1966

Phil Weaver – lead vocals
John Dalton – lead guitar
Ernie Swisher – organ
Larry Miller – bass
Gordon Marcellus – drums

They released “It’s a Long Way Down” / “Merry Go Round Of Life” on Casino in early 1966. The group played often in Omaha, Nebraska, where the band first learned about psychedelics. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band played at The Tiki Club in Topeka, and they helped the Thingies get a light show together according to Larry Miller.

In December, 1966, the Thingies recorded two original at Fairyland Studios in Columbia, MO, “English Eyes” / “No Matter What The World May Say” that were not released at the time, but “English Eyes” appeared on the CD “The Thingies Have Arrived” on Collectables. That CD also features one vocal and two instrumental takes of another original, “I’m Going Ahead”.

The Thingies spent the summer of 1967 in Miami, playing regularly at a huge teen club called The World.

Thingies Love-In Georgetown Megaphone Sept. 29, 1967 — Georgetown Megaphone Sept. 29, 1967

They went to Waco, where Phil Weaver had family, then moved to Austin, Texas in September. One of their earliest shows in Austin was at a Love-In at Zilker Hillside Theater on September 24.

In an article headlined Capital Cops Tops With Hippie Love-In, reporter Mary Callaway gets a little carried away, but still presents a great window onto the Thingies stage show:

Freak-out music dramas presented by the Thingies, a national psychedelic band.
Dressed in a collage of costumes from full monk garbe to Daniel Boone, the Thingies presented a trip experience in which an amber light caught on the jags and peaks of a lump of raspberry jello one into a dream of all worldly objects and abstract concepts merging into one single sound which becomes dust, spirals, and creates a new being. Then the drums and guitars pick up the poet’s rhythm and “Gloria” crashes in in full orchestra.
In “Suzi Creamcheez, What’s Got Into You” the female member of the band expresses a trip experience in which for twenty minutes, with wailing guitars, computer sounds, and aggressive band members, throw her absurd world into supersonic gear, and pathetically enough she screams frantically throughout the drama.

The Austin Daily Texan writer Merry Clark had a more sober account, and named the other bands on the bill:

The Jackels from Dallas began the afternoon playing a new sound for the group formerly known as the Chessmen. They were followed by the Austin Conqueroo …. then a newer Austin band composed mostly of University architecture students, Shiva’s Head Band … A group of men from Bergstrom Air Force Base called the Afro-Caravan [with] Robert King, the leader of the group.
The evening program began and ended with a light show, “Mothers of Invention” sound, and freak out of the Thingies band from Miami.

Jackals, Conqueroo, Shiva's Headband, Afro-Caravan, Thingies Austin Daily Texan Sept. 26, 1967 — Austin Love-In with the Jackals, the Conqueroo, Shiva’s Headband, Afro-Caravan, and the Thingies, Austin Daily Texan, Sept. 26, 1967

Over the next six months, the Thingies would play many live shows at the Matchbox, the Vulcan Gas Company, the Pleasure Dome and other venues. Their manager (Night Productions) owned the 11th Street Folk Club, and the group recorded some live shows but the tapes have apparently been lost.

The band signed with Sonobeat, who recorded them at the Swinger’s Club during the club’s off hours, and did overdubs at KAZZ-FM studios. The single featured Gordon Marcellus and Larry Miller’s original “Mass Confusion” backed with Phil Weaver and Bob Cole’s “Rainy Sunday Morning”. Recorded in December, 1967, Sonobeat didn’t release it until the spring of 1968, by which time the Thingies had split up.

Unreleased songs from the Sonobeat sessions include “I Died”, “Mrs. Baker”, “Richard’s Song”, all without finished vocal tracks. You can hear “Mrs. Baker” on the Sonobeat page for the Thingies.

Gordon Marcellus passed away in 2004, Phil Weaver passed in 2014, and Larry Miller passed away at 74 in 2017.

Thingies at the Match Box Austin Daily Texan, Nov 29, 1967 — Thingies at the Match Box, Austin Daily Texan, Nov 29, 1967

An additional source was Mojo Mills’ interview with Larry Miller in Shindig.

Thingies Night Productions Austin Daily Texan Sept. 24, 1967 — Night Productions: the Thingies management in Austin

The Thingies, partial gig list:

September 3, 1966 – at the Skyline Club, Manhattan, Kansas

November 12, 1966 – The Fabulous Thingies at the Emporia Civic Auditorium

June 30, 1967 – Atchison, KS Memorial Auditorium

September 24, 1967 – Zilker Hillside Theater, Austin, TX, Love-In with the Jackals, the Conqueroo, Shiva’s Headband and the Afro-Caravan.

September 29 and September 30, 1967 – the IL Club, Austin, TX

October 3, 1967 – New Orleans Club, Austin
October 20 and October 21, 1967 – The IL Club, Austin (“After Hours 1 a.m. – 4 a.m.”)
October 31, 1967 – New Orleans Club, Austin (“Halloween Ball … wear mask”)

November 29, 1967 – The Match Box, Austin

December 15 and December 16, 1967 – The Pleasure Dome, Austin

December 29 and December 30, 1967 – Hilltop Club, Atchison, KS “The Thingies out of Austin … Just back from the Bahama Islands” ?!

Thingies Fort Stockton Pioneer Nov. 30, 1967 — Notorious even in distant Fort Stockton, TX, reported in the Pioneer, Nov. 30, 1967

Categories: Atchison, Kansas

The Ferraris of Atchison, Kansas

February 23, 2018 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Atchison Globe ran a feature on the Ferraris of Atchison, Kansas on April 19, 1964.

Members were:

Doug Stillings – rhythm guitar
Glenn Seever – drums
Jim Jeffries – lead guitar
Bill Wallace – bass

They may have never recorded their “Ferrari Stomp”, but there could be a connection to some later band.

Categories: Casino, Kansas, Topeka

The Rockin’ Continentals “The ‘309’”, “Cobra 284” and “Count Dracula” on Casino

May 22, 2015 Chris Bishop 10 Comments

The Rocking Continentals, with Bill Doyle on drums. Photo courtesy of Bill’s daughter Tracy.

The Rockin’ Continentals made two 45s for the Casino label in 1962 or 1963. The group came from Topeka, Kansas.

The original group were:

Johnny Thompson – lead guitar and vocals
Melvin Ralston – rhythm guitar
Chuck Dumerous – bass
Bill Doyle – drums

Rockin’ Continentals and the Fabulous Concepts at Township Hall in Valley Falls, August 10, 1963.

The Rockin’ Continentals’ first release was a great rockabilly song with fierce drumming and scorching guitar and piano breaks called “The ‘309’”, written by Johnny Thompson. The singer has a strong southern accent that doesn’t appear on their other songs. The original A-side was “2-3-4”, written by Melvin Ralston, which in comparison is simple riffing on blues changes.

Bill Doyle was 17 when he joined the group, and left the group near the end of 1963, when he married. Chuck Dumerous seems to have left the group around this same time.

The second version of group were:

Johnny Thompson – lead guitar and vocals
Melvin Ralston – rhythm guitar
Chuck Smith – bass
Bob Stanley – drums

The Rockin’ Continentals second and last single was “Cobra 289” written by Ralph Sandmeyer in tribute to the Ford/Shelby AC Cobra sports car first manufactured in 1962. Bob says that “Ralph Sandmeyer was a songwriter and close friend of Johnny Thompson”.

“Count Dracula” is mainly instrumental with a spooky reverbed riff. Like “The ‘309’” it was written by Johnny Thompson.

Bob Stanley wrote to me:

I was the drummer for the Empalas band back in the early 60s. Melvin Ralston, the rhythm guitar player, wanted to know if I would drum for the Rockin’ Continentals. We began playing throughout Kansas for VanT car shows during the day and in the night we would play in their parks or auditoriums. From there we played the Municipal Auditorium in Topeka, Kansas City auditoriums and various other cities.
I am playing drums on “Cobra 289” and “Count Dracula”. My stepfather financed the record and was repaid with the sales. Bob Bobo was the piano player on the record. Bob Bobo was not a member of the band but did guest appearances on the records on piano and recorded the records in his studio. Johnny Thompson played lead guitar and is the vocalist on both songs, Chuck Smith was the bass player. Melvin Ralston is the rhythm guitar player and is the laughing voice on “Count Dracula”.
The girls screaming in the background were girlfriends of the band members. The girls later bleached the band member’s hair. Mine turned out platinum because I was blonde, but Johnny’s turned out orange red, which made him extremely unhappy. It was comical, but not to him.
I did know the Jerms and their lead singer Bill Senogles who was a classmate of mine and later took on my guitar player, Russ Wilcox, from the Empalas when I went to the Rockin’ Continentals.

Bob Stanley left the group for Vietnam. In later years, the Continentals had regular gigs on cruise ships.

Rockin' Continentals Will Play At Council Grove Armory December 1963

The Good Time Trio photo, Kenny Stone, Johnny Thompson and Bob Stanley — The Good Time Trio: Kenny Stone, Johnny Thompson and Bob Stanley

Bob added:

Later on country became popular and Johnny started switching over and we became the Good Time Trio (Johnny Thompson, Kenny Stone on bass and me on drums). I also drummed for Dickie Lee (“Patches”) in Kansas City.
I still have the snare, sticks and drummer’s throne that I played when we recorded the records. At the end of “Cobra 289”, you will hear a drum run and fade out done with single stroke roll with rim shots.

Special thanks to Bob Stanley for contacting me with information on the Rockin’ Continentals.

Both Rockin’ Continental releases have been bootlegged, along with another Casino release, the Argons’ “Do the Dog”.

See my article for more information on the Casino record label. Thank you to Volker Houghton for contributing the Valley Falls show ad.

comparison of original pressing to bootleg reproduction of Casino 1010, the Rockin’ Continentals “Cobra 289”

Categories: Casino, Kansas, Topeka

The Casino record label of Topeka, Kansas

May 22, 2015 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

Gerald Dyche (aka Jerry Dyke) in the Emporia Gazette, February, 1958

The Casino Records label started in 1957 with a single of Jerry Dyke singing two songs written by Bob Bobo and Carl Lewis for Southern Belle, BMI, “Deep Within My Heart” and “My Empty Heart”. That release, Casino 1001/1002 had a gothic style font for Casino and an address on McGavock St. in Nashville, Tennessee.

In a comment on the Rockin’ Continentals page, Jerry Dyke notes that he designed the original Casino label.

An article in the Emporia Gazette from February 1958 discusses how Jerry Dyke was the stage name for Gerald Dyche, a student from Topeka who was singing songs written by Topekan disc jockey Bob Bobo for demos to be sent to Southern Belle publishing in Nashville, which led to the Casino single, presumably recorded in Nashville. Although the article makes something of the Casino Recording Corporation of Nashville, Bob Bobo and Carl Lewis were at least part owners of Casino. They produced the Jerry Dyke single on their own hoping for attention for their song writing.

Bobo seems to have recorded all the Casino records in the basement of his house on SE Ohio Street.

Dyke does not seem to have worked with Bobo after this single. Bobo started working with Ronnie Pearson of Osage City. Pearson’s first single on the Herald Label in April of ’57 included Bob Bobo’s song “Hot Shot”.

Bobo would place other songs in the late ’50s, including “I Close My Eyes” (co-written with Lewis) for the Wilburn Brothers on Decca in August of ’57, “The Answer” and “Warm as Toast” (co-written by Lewis) for Russ Veers on the Trend label, and “Let Me Go to the Hop” (co-written by Russ Veers) by the Sweethearts on Power.

By the early 1960s, Bobo seems to have stopped pursuing a career as a song writer, but kept the Casino label active. I don’t know what Casino 1003/1004 is, but 1005/1006 is the Nubbins doing two standards, “The King’s Highway” / “Stormy Weather” with a different font for the logo and no address.

The Rockin’ Continentals “The ‘309’” from 1962 is numbered 1007/1008. This and all future release feature Kansan artists; there is no longer any Nashville connection that I know of.

Casino 1001/1002 – Jerry Dyke – “Deep Within My Heart” / “My Empty Heart”
Casino 1003/1004 – no release (?)
Casino 1005/1006 – The Nubbins – “The King’s Highway” / “Stormy Weather”
Casino 1007/1008 – The Rockin’ Continentals – “The ‘309’” / “2-3-4”
Casino 1009/1010 – The Rockin’ Continentals – “Cobra 284” / “Count Dracula”
Casino 1011/1012 – The Argons “Spiked” (Bryson, Myers) / “Do The Dog” (Mikkelsen, Wilcox) 1964
Casino 1321/1322 – The Jerms – “That Word” (G. Senogles) / “Love Light” (Sept. 1965)
Casino 2305/2306 – The Thingies – “It’s a Long Way Down” (L. Miller, Dalton) / “Merry Go Round of Life” (August 1966)

One interesting oddity about the Casino discography is that the RCA code for the Jerry Dyke single, HO8W-0066/67 would be adapted for later releases, even though most later releases were not pressed at RCA but at Wakefield Manufacturing in Phoenix, AZ. Another code on the 45s, 2 AFM also increases with each release, though I’m not sure the meaning of that code.

Bobo also owned a restaurant called Bobo’s Drive In in Topeka from 1948 until he passed away sometime in the 1980s. Bobo’s Drive In remained open under that name until recently.

I want to thank the discussion of Casino on 45Cat, which gave me some leads to follow up and confirm.

Both Rockin’ Continental releases have been bootlegged, along with another Casino release, the Argons’ “Do the Dog”.

Categories: Beloit, Hays, Kansas, Sully

The Dinks “Nina-Kocka-Nina” and “Kocka-Mow-Mow” on Sully Records

November 9, 2010 Chris Bishop 3 Comments

The Dinks photo — The Dinks, from left: Bob Bergmann, Bill Hollingsworth (seated with glasses, Dean Dietz, Bruce Brown, Mike Moran (seated) and Gale Scanlon. Photo courtesy of Bob Bergmann

Pat Waddell – lead vocals, replaced by Dean Dietz
Steve Kadel – lead guitar, replaced by Bill Hollingsworth
Bob Bergmann – rhythm guitar and vocals
Gail Scanlon – organ
Bruce Brown – bass
Mike Morrand – drums

The Dinks’ “Nina-Kocka-Nina” takes the repetitive nonsense of “Surfin’ Bird” and adds a bizarre parody of an Asian accent. The soft-spoken opening has the Japanese inflection down well, even if most of the words are gibberish. Once the song gets going the tone shifts to something that sounds like no real language except variations on “papa ooh mow mow”. The few lyrics in English, “get out your pencils, get out your books, try to catch all the teacher’s grubby looks” and “I’m taking English, History, Biology and Chemistry” imply that school is turning him into a raving idiot! Ironically, the writer of the song would become a teacher himself after leaving the Dinks!

“Penny a Tear Drop” is very different, and the contrast between the twelve-string guitar and organ sounds great. It’s something of a shame that the success of “Nina-Kocka-Nina” put the Dinks into the novelty category and ended their chances of making it as a sincere pop act. Song writing credits for “Penny a Tear Drop” go to Ray Ruffin (a variation on Ray Ruff’s name I hadn’t seen before) and Jack Dunham, whose name also turns up on the Dinks second 45.

Needing a follow up to “Nina-Kocka-Nina” they predictably cut another song in that vein. “Kocka-Mow-Mow” lacks the magic of the first record. Instead of being a band original, it was knocked off by two of Ray Ruff’s associates: Jack Dunham again, and Royce Taylor, a singer who had his own 45 for Sully as part of Gaylen & Royce, “I Can’t Stay” / “Modern Day Fools”.

Oddly it comments directly on their first disc: “all the DJs across the nation, thought we had a bad creation, they just thought we were up in smoke, but that’s kind of funny because we’re on all the charts” … “radio stations started getting calls, they said our band made their skin crawl, they didn’t like the music ’cause it made them sick, but everybody wanted to hear it, kids” … “they said ‘Nina-Kocka-Nina’ was the most … you better think twice before you put this one down.” On the flip is an incredibly insensitive song by Royce Taylor, “Ugly Girl”, sung in the sweetest voice.

Dink’s rhythm guitarist Bob Bergmann answered some of my questions about “Nina-Kocka-Nina” and the band:

I am Bob Bergmann, the writer and lead singer for “Nina-Kocka-Nina” on the Sully label. I played rhythm guitar for the Ragging Regattas and the Dinks back in the 60’s out of Beloit, Kansas.
The band was started earlier by Steve Kadel, from Beloit, Kansas. He was one of my best friends growing up in the 60’s. We graduated together in ’62. We learned guitars together during high school, by ear. We learned with 5-strings on our guitars–THANK GOD–there was no little E-string.
After graduating, Steve went to Fort Hays College which is now Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas and I went to St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas. Steve started the band The Ragging Regattas in Hays. After two years, I transferred to Fort Hays State College and joined the band. Steve was the person who should be giving credit for starting the band.
I was in my froshmen year in college at Dodge City, Kansas and came up with the song “Nina-Kocka-Nina” and the jibberish language. We put the song together after a performance somewhere in Nebraska. We were sitting there on our amps, very tired, and I got up and started to sing the song which the band had never heard. They all plugged back in and the song was created. I had no idea what the jibberish meant, but at some performances, I was asked by orientals if I knew what I was saying and I think they agreed, I was saying some real words. Pat created his own background words during the recording. Pat’s name should have never been first on the record [writing credit] and he will admit that.
The reason we went to Texas to record, two different times, was our so call it manager had contacted Ray. We did not write “Penny A Tear Drop”. It was written by a person in the 30’s. The song was the reason we were asked to come to Texas to record. I would say it got us in the recording field. “Penny a Tear Drop” took hours. [We] needed a flip side and we did “Nina-Kocka-Nina” in a few minutes and it went over the best.
We were called the Regattas when we went to record, but Ray sent our contract back and changed our names to the Dinks because Ragging Regattas didn’t match the “Nina-Kocka-Nina” song. I did sign a contract with BMI in New York after “Nina-Kocka-Nina” came out. There was a nice writeup in one of the top record magazines in the US about the song. Full page showed a picture of the record and around the record were comments from DJ’s around the nation about the song.
We were mainly an instrumental band. The song list was very long and mixed between vocals and instrumentals. Our main songs were by the Ventures, and other instrumental groups, many from England. We recorded an album of instrumental songs at Sully Studio after the two 45s, but it never came out.
Somewhere I have one of the many sheets of songs we had taped to our our Fender Dual Showmans. We all had Fender instruments and amps. I did have a Country Gentleman at one time. I also played rhythm on a Fender 6-string bass that was owned by one of the guys in the Blue Things. It had a very funky sound and the frets were very far apart which made it tougher to play.
One of the hardest songs that I remember doing was “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” by the Ventures. Our lead guitar, Bill Hollingsworth was the greatest, and I don’t think I could have learned the rhythm without his help. You mention “Surfing Bird” by The Trashmen: Bill was first cousins with their lead guitar player.
After a few years, Bill Hollingsworth replaced Steve on lead guitar, and Dean Deetz replaced Pat Waddel on vocal. I left the band in ’66. I got married in January 1967 and finished my teaching degree. I am a retired business teacher here at Jetmore, Kansas of 35 years.
If my memory serves me correctly, [the Dinks] went on a year or so before some of the guys were drafted. After that, they split company and two bands were started – I think the Beasts and another Dinks band. I was one of the junior high school sponsors and we hired the Beast for our high school prom. I remember joining the band for “Nina-Kocka-Nina”. The students and staff couldn’t believe it. One student came up to me and said “Mr. Bergmann, I didn’t know you had that in you”!
On March 7, 2009 the Dinks were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in Lawrence, Kansas. It was a gala celebration for our band who I had not seen for forty years. Steve could not make it to the induction ceremony.
Bob Bergmann

Thanks to Brian Kirschenbaum and Christian for scans of the Dinks original 45s.

Full page ad in Billboard, December 4, 1965

The Dinks – Bob Bergmann at bottom left of photo

Categories: Kansas, Topeka

The Noblemen (Kansas)

December 17, 2009 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

The Noblemen, 1965 from left: Jim Anderson (partially visible) on bass, Frank Wright, Landis Dibble, Randy Rahberg

I was in a band called The Noblemen in the 1965-67 time period. We had no recordings or anything, just played dances etc. Basically we weren’t very good, but we had a good time. We just did cover songs, nothing original.
Noblemen (KS) business card
Regular members were myself on guitar, Landis Dibble on drums, Frank Wright on guitar, and Clint Laing on electric piano. We started out with Jim Anderson on bass. Other bass players were Blair Honeyman and Michael Brunton.
We played in the Topeka area, and traveled as far as Alma.
The pictures I have are ones that Landis’ mother took when we played for the parents on their back patio.
Randy Rahberg

The Noblemen, from left: Randy Rahberg and Clint Laing — from left: Randy Rahberg and Clint Laing

Categories: Cavern, Kansas, Topeka

The Burlington Express

August 19, 2007 Chris Bishop 28 Comments

The Burlington Express from Topeka, just west of Kansas City, released an excellent double-sider on the Cavern label from Missouri in 1967. Members of the band were Greg Gucker, Blair Honeyman (replaced by Bruce Lynn), Eric Larson and Mike West.

Greg Gucker wrote most of their material including “Memories”, though Mike West co-wrote “One Day Girl”. Michael Chapman, guitarist for the Bluethings produced their 45 on Cavern, and also played lead guitar on the unreleased song “If I Were Free”. The address on the label, 16400 E. Truman Rd, Independence is the location of Cavern Studios.

Besides the Cavern 45, at least eight demos have been discovered. A version of the Byrds’ “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” is competent, but their take on the Yardbirds’ “Stroll On” is spectacular, and suggests they were an excellent live band.

Bruce Lynn wrote to me:

I played bass for the Burlington Express from 1966-1970 when we ended the band. I took Blair Honeyman’s place and sing lead on “Stroll On” and “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better”. I was in the band when we opened for The Who in 1968.

Four later demos, “Mr. Destiny”, “If I Were Free”, “Black Hearted Woman”, and “Listen Closely”, were recorded at Audio House studios in Lawrence in August 1968. These display psychedelic touches, but with the band’s fine pop sense and fuzztone intact. “If I Were Free” is an intense song that uses horns to good effect. Check them out at Audio House’s website.

A 7″ Audio House acetate contains a cover of the Blues Project’s “I Can’t Keep from Crying”, but I haven’t heard that yet.

Another group called the Burlington Express recorded a brooding song called “Comin’ Home” b/w the maudlin “A Girl” on the Roach label, but they’re supposed to be a different group altogether – songwriting credits list D. Gray, G. Niebur and J. Turner.

Categories: Kansas, Wichita

The Moanin’ Glories

July 12, 2007 Chris Bishop 46 Comments

Ritchie Kunkle (guitar) and Andy Gore (bass) formed the Candelles in Wichita, Kansas in 1965. They changed their name to the Moanin’ Glories after Karl Berkebile (keyboards) and Marc Mourning (drums) joined in 1966.

The Moanin’ Glories recorded just one 45 for the Yorkshire label in 1967. The organ and harmony vocals give a dense sound to “She Took The Rain Out Of My Mind” and “You Better Watch Out For That Girl”. Both sides were written by Kunkle and Gore, and produced by Ken Ham.

Andy Gore had the band filmed performing both sides of the 45, using the set of KAKE-TV in Wichita for a promotional reel. The photos here are screen shots I took, but I unfortunately didn’t try to save the videos themselves. These were up on YouTube until a few days ago, hopefully they’ll be made available again soon.

The band relocated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, and toured Japan that year, but I’m not sure what they sounded like by that point. They broke up in 1971.

Garage Hangover