Category Archives: New York City

Categories: Astoria, Marko, New York, New York City, Queens

The Primates

August 15, 2006 Chris Bishop 28 Comments

I lived in Astoria, New York, in the borough of Queens for three years beginning in 2003. In the mid-60s Astoria was also home to the Primates.

Members were:

John Demetrious – lead vocals and guitar
Gus Kaselis – organ and tambourine
Barry Bozzone – lead guitar
James Hartofilis – bass
Joseph Ferdinando – drums

Prior to the Primates, John Demetrious had been performing by the stage name Johnny Michaels and was on the Ford Startime TV show. Next he formed the Panthers with Jimmy Hartofilis, Joe Ferdinando and Gus Kaselis, all later of the Primates, along with Paul Cavounis on rhythm guitar

Joe Ferdinando told me, “The Panthers never recorded, they were a weeding out process that became the Primates.”

By the time Barry Bozzone joined on lead guitar, they had become the Primates. Members of the band went to William Cullen Bryant High School on 31st Ave and 48th St.

Hy Fenster managed the band; he also ran Universal Rehearsal and Recording studio on 20th Street in Manhattan. Joe commented, “Hy Fenster I believe passed away about three years ago. He was a good manager, got us alot of gigs and wasn’t afraid to invest cash if needed.”

The Primates waxed two 45s for the Marko label (“The Long Island Sound”), owned by Jack Hansen who is credited with production. His son Mark Hansen was bassist for the Poor Souls. Rick Grande, guitarist for the Poor Souls writes that Mark “joined the Poor Souls and would come to Astoria on weekends for rehearsals. Around that time, Barry joined The Primates and Mark got to know Barry. Mark told his Dad about The Primates and not long after, they landed the recording contract with Marco Records.”

“Knock On My Door” is their first A-side, released in September 1965 with the moody flipside “She”.

Their second was “Don’t Press Your Luck” / “Cathy” released in early ’66. All their songs were written by John Demetrious.

At some point the Primates became the People of Thee with some of the same members. Joe Ferdinando eventually formed a group called Pier 86 with Ralph Raiola. Joe said, “Panthers, Primates, & People of Thee [were] basically the same group. Pier 86 [was a] totally diferent group of guys except for me. Pier 86 made an album and then women split us up.” John Demetrious had a later group called Jericho with a 45 on MCA.

Marko Records had two singles by Jack Hansen & His Orchestra, plus these releases:

M-920 – Tommy Carberry and Joe Ross – “(Seems to Me) I’ve Been Here Before” / “Wait” (both by Carberry for Darl Pub. Inc.)
M-925 – Vic Pierce Quartet ‎– “Idaho” / “Mr. Ghost Comes to Town”

Thanks to Lynn for sending the news clipping on the band and to Joe Ferdinando for the images of the band photos and business card.

The Panthers: Jimmy (?), Jimmy Hartofilis, John Demeteious, Joe Ferdinando and Gus Kaselis bottom: Unidentified, unidentified, Jimmy (?), and Teddy Laselis — Before the Primates a similar lineup was known as the Panthers. From left at top: Jimmy (?), Jimmy Hartofilis, John Demeteious, Joe Ferdinando and Gus Kaselis bottom: Unidentified, unidentified, Jimmy (?), and Teddy Laselis

The Primates at the Astoria Music Store from left: Jim Hartofilis, Gus Kaselis, Barry Bozzone, Joe Ferdinando and John Demetrious

Categories: De-Lite, Ethiopia, New York, New York City

The Mauroks

July 26, 2006 Chris Bishop 17 Comments

The Mauroks were a psychedelic white group on a label better known for soul and funk. On “Susan” the opening keyboard riff combines with reverbed guitar strumming over deadened strings and a great drum beat to make a instantly arresting groove. A quick, wild chorus with excellent distorted guitar and it’s right back to that fine opening pattern. A great and danceable obscurity, it was written by bassist Tom Kaup and keyboardist Larry Keiser.

Richard Babeuf and Frank Szelwach produced the record. [See my article on Sportin’ Life for more detail on Babeuf’s music career.]

Their guitarist Howard G. Salada (“Butch”) was stationed at Kagnew Station, a U.S. military base in Asmara, Ethiopia (now Eritrea) in 1966-67.

On a Kagnew veteran’s website he wrote “I played in several bands at the Top 5 and the Oasis [nightclubs on the base] as well as a few of the clubs downtown. First with the Counts, then the Mauroks and then the Remains. We had a good time. The Mauroks joined together again in ’68 in NYC and made an attempt at the BIG time. The other members of the group were: Larry Keiser (linguist), Tom ‘Tuck’ Kaup (Navy) & Vic D’Amore. Bobby Ward, who was there before me also joined us in NY. Our first drummer was a Navy guy called Willy. The only one I’ve kept in touch with was Tuck. The others are lost in America. Maybe someone knows where they are?”

The reformed Mauroks in the States, 1969

The photos below show the Counts playing live at the Oasis in 1966 while stationed at Kagnew in Ethiopia. Larry Keiser and Butch Salada played in the Counts before forming the Mauroks.

Mauroks photo, from left: Tony from Asmara on sax, Lauren 'Larry' Keiser going wild on the keyboards, Daniel Pomerleou on guitar, unknown playing the tambourine, Howard 'Butch' Salada playing the left-handed Gibson SG guitar, and Al Trautman is playing bass in the striped shirt on the far right. — l-r: Tony from Asmara on sax, Lauren ‘Larry’ Keiser going wild on the keyboards, Daniel Pomerleou on guitar, unknown playing the tambourine, Howard ‘Butch’ Salada playing the left-handed Gibson SG guitar, and Al Trautman is playing bass in the striped shirt on the far right.

Mauroks photo, Willy is on drums in the back. — Willy is on drums in the back.

Al Trautman played bass guitar for the Counts. He writes:

I heard Jerry Lee Lewis on the Steve allen Show, told Grandmaw that I wanted to play piano and she GAVE me the upright in her living room. Dad put the piano in the shed (was working midnights) and 3 months later the Del Royals were driving down John Lewis Road, heard me and hired me on the spot.
I joined the USAF the day JFK was assassinated. When I got to Asmara, I had the bass guitar and a GOOD amplifier. Larry auditioned me and the following week I was playing. It beat the Nam thing, that is sure.
The guys were GOOD people, great musicians. I was MORE in the Fats Domino/Lil’ Richard/Jerry Lee Lewis vein BUT doing the Beatles, England thing was what the Mauroks was all about.
I volunteered for Asmara, did 6 months and stayed messed up with the VERY cheap beer that was so popular there. Tuck came in right about then, used the bass system and I went back to Turner AFB.
Danny (don’t remember the LAST name) was a great guitarist. Butch has a good technique.
Nov. 22, 1967 I got out, got married to a high-school sweet-heart from the pass and have been married to her 35 years. Damned, how time flies, God bless, please keep in touch…AL

Nowadays Al is busy fixing up his home after Hurricane Rita hit in 2005 and is back to playing his first instrument, the piano. More photos of the Counts and Mauroks are available on the Kagnew Station website.

Thanks to Dirk Sermeels of Belgium for alerting me to the Kagnew Station site.

French 45 sleeve - can anyone give an accurate who's who in this photo? — French 45 sleeve – can anyone give an accurate who’s who in this photo?

Categories: Manhattan, New York, New York City, Verve

The Magic Plants

June 11, 2006 Chris Bishop 7 Comments

The Magic Plants were a New York City group connected to Harry Lookofsky, owner of World United Studios.

The only band members whose names I could find are Peter Schekeryk and Tom Finn, but since first posting this, Tom Finn contacted me to say that Mick Wexler was lead singer and also guitarist on the record. The band’s drummer was Warren David Scherhorst who became the first drummer for the Left Banke.

Finn stated in a later interview that he was just 16 at the time, not a good bassist yet, and only sang backup vocals on the record. Very likely then, at least some of the musicians on the record were studio pros. Contrary to prior publications, this record was never released with a World United label, but went straight to Verve in December ’65, making no impression on the public at the time.

While recording “I’m A Nothing”, Finn met Lookofsky’s son, Michael Brown, also just 16, who was working as an assistant at the studio. They started composing songs with Finn’s friends, drummer George Cameron and singer Steve Martin. Together they became the Left Banke, managed and produced by Harry Lookofsky.

John Abbott, who arranged this single, also arranged and played bass and guitar on several early Left Banke recordings done within a couple months of the Magic Plants record. This leads me to believe there’s a good chance that he played bass on “I’m a Nothing”. I had thought maybe Hugh McCracken (another local studio pro) played guitar – though Tom Finn says he did not.

The b-side here, “I Know She’s Waiting There”, hints at something of the future Left Banke sound, and also has a beautiful fuzz guitar solo. Harry Lookofsky, by the way, also recorded interesting jazz discs and provided backing for doo-wop groups under the name Hash Brown and His Orchestra. John Abbott was involved in some of these as well.

Peter Schekeryk passed away on October 26, 2010.

Tom wrote to me and also commented below, I’ve edited them together for clarity:

I think I can help you with this, as I was in the group. The lead singer of the group was Mick Wexler. The only thing I can tell you about him is, he was from an area of Philadelphia called Mount Airy. I don’t think his real 1st name was Mick, because he thought he was (Mick) Jagger.
I believe he wrote both songs. Harry Lookofsky did produce them. The reason it got onto a major label so quick is: 1. Harry’s reputation. 2. Longhaired bands were few and far between back then. 3. It was sort of commercial.
I didn’t play on the record, you are correct there. We also had a blond haired drummer named Warren David Scherhorst, who was the 1st drummer of The Left Banke. No photos exist of Warren or Mick.
When Warren & I Joined The Magic Plants, the records were already done. There was no group, just Mick. But he had to put something together, because he needed to act as if there was a group.
So we got together and Mick planned a few shows. He booked us in Philly, at some movie houses that were owned by a relative of his, named Nate Milgram. I think it was called, The Milgram Theatres.
You’re right about John Abbott [playing bass on the Magic Plants 45]. Hugh McCracken didn’t play guitar on The Magic Plants recordings. I remember seeing Mick Wexler playing guitar, he was actually a pretty good guitar player.
Peter Schekeryk was Harry’s talent scout, and I think he brought Mick to Harry. Harry Lookofsky was always on the lookout for talent to record so he could make some dough. Nothing wrong with that, right? So one day Peter took Warren and I up to meet Harry. But, I can’t recall how I met Mick or Michael. Probably at the studio. Or maybe in Greenwich Village.
Back then, we just wanted to be in a band. It was pretty sick, but we all had long hair and wanted to be like The Stones or Beatles. I think I just turned 16. I was a good singer because I’d been in doo-wop groups in Brooklyn for a few years. So the new culture was pulling us in. We were learning how to live our lives, we didn’t know what we wanted to be, but we knew what we didn’t want to be, Old fashioned greasers. Those bands were speaking our language.
By the way, I was responsible for putting together the elements and members of The Left Banke. I met all of the members separately and introduced all of them to each other. I lost power in the group after “Walk Away Renee” became a hit. The money started to come in, and Michael Brown (then Lookofsky) and his father Harry made a power play to keep only the lead singer Steve Martin-Caro and fire the rest of us. Well it didn’t work. But it did destroy the trust and comradery we had. -Tom Finn

Does anyone have a photo of the group?

Categories: Bronx, Bruno-Dean Recording Studios, Dawn, New York, New York City, Studio

The 3rd Evolution, and Dawn Records discography

February 23, 2006 Chris Bishop 7 Comments

The 3rd Evolution were from the Bronx, NY, beginning as a doo-wop group the Hi-Dells.

Argot Meyer founded the group, singing and managing it. He first found Mike Saglimberi (Mike Henderson) to sing and play rhythm guitar. Mike brought in his good friend from Junior High (PS 98), Manny Colon on drums. Louis Bonilla (bass) and Ron Lupi (lead guitar) joined last.

They began rehearsing in Argot’s basement, then met Phil Rosano, owner of Dawn Records at Music Makers Record shop on Fordham Road, who released two of their records.

The first has both “Gone Gone Gone” with its ripping guitar solo and their most original work, “Don’t Play with Me”. Mike Henderson is given song writing credit on both of these, and R. Miller is credited with A&R. This was one of the first garage 45s I ever bought, for $10.

“Don’t Play With Me” made the local radio charts of WLOF 950.0 AM in Orlando, Florida in 1966. The Third Evolution played at the World’s Fair, and there’s talk of these guys opening for Jay and the Americans.

The second 45 has the weird slow version of “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love” which I still find pretty cool, backed with a ballad, “You’re Gonna Lose the Only Love You Ever Had”.

They also have a good demo acetate recorded at Bruno-Dean Recording Studios in New Rochelle, NY, “Help Me” / “Turn Around” that has not yet been released.

Anyone have a photo of the group?

Dawn discography (garage-type 45s only):
Any help with this would be appreciated

Dawn 303 – Derbys ” People Say (She’s No Good” b/w The Bondsmen “Wipeout ’66”
Dawn 306 – 3rd Evolution – Don’t Play With Me / Gone Gone Gone (June 1966)
Dawn 309 – Creation’s Disciple “Psychedelic Retraction” / “I’ll Remember”
Dawn 312 – 3rd Evolution – Everybody Needs Somebody (to Love) / You’re Gonna Lose the Only Love You Ever Had (December ’66)

The Creation’s Disciple had their own unreleased Bruno-Dean acetate, “Strings of Rhyme”

Source: Mike Henderson’s notes in Psychedelic States: New York vol. 1

Categories: GWP, New York, New York City

The Pazant Brothers

September 15, 2005 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Pazant Brothers’ “Juicy Lucy” / “The Work Song” have a free, New Orleans brass band spirit, though the Pazant Brothers were originally from South Carolina, and as professional musicians were based in New York.

Working with producer Ed Bland, Al and Ed Pazant and their band created a lot of great music for RCA, GWP, Vanguard and other labels. They even played the Museum of Modern Art.