Category Archives: US

The Kalan Five

August 11, 2011 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

The Kalan Five did not release a record but toured throughout the Mid-West and cut some demos at Ray Ruff’s Amarillo studio in 1965. Drummer Kurt Johnson wrote about the band’s 1965 sessions and summer tour:

I know the bands of that era well because I was the drummer for one of them, K-5/ Kalan Five. K-5 was made up of students all from Chadron State College, in Chadron, Nebraska. Our chief rivals were The Drivin’ Dynamics from Scottsbluff, Nebraska; this was then Randy Meisner was still their bass player before he ended up as a founding member of The Eagles.
We got connected to Ruff and Ruff Records, and tangentially Mid-Continent Entertainment (that managed a lot of summer tours), each of which had people on the road that summer, through our contacts in Hays, Kansas, which was the home of the Blue Things and a major music equipment outlet at the time (can’t remember their name but they built all our sound equipment). We met Ruff when he recruited us (by our regional reputation) to play in a big KOMA (Oklahoma City radio station) Battle of the Bands at the big Hutchinson, KS arena, which featured, all in one night, Ray Ruff and the Checkmates, The Fabulous Flippers, The Blue Things, Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids and the Kalan Five (or K-5). This was in spring 1965.
K-5 had a huge instrumental sound (six Showman amps) and after that concert/dance Ruff invited us to Amarillo to talk to us about the summer tour with KOMA. I got to know Ruff’s drummer, Chico Apadocca, quite well (he was a great drummer!) after I used his drum set for a KOMA Battle of the Bands when there was not enuf time between sets for each band to set up their own. He also thought I was pretty good so we talked a lot – I was just college kid.
The bands that were on tour that summer (1965), and several of which are in your list of Ray Ruff discographies, all were in and out at his studio in Amarillo, and were in association with Ruff, and/or Mid-Continent Entertainment, and all advertising on KOMA.
These included a number of bands off of Nebraska and Kansas college campuses along with other, more purely professional bands, that had been on the road for some time. This list included Ray Ruff and the Checkmates, Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids, The Fabulous Flippers, The Blue Things (formerly The Blue Boys), The Drivin’ Dynamics, the Kalan Five, the Knu Castles, Spider and The Crabs, The Red Dogs and the The Misfits.
K-5 was short for the Kalan Five. Ruff made our ads into “the Kruisin’ Kalan Five” for that summer. The Misfits’ 1965 KOMA ad was “get a fit with the Misfits”; Spider and the Crabs’ ad was “Spider and the Crabs, a very weird band (said in a creepy voice)”; The Red Dogs was “The Red Dogs, direct from the Red Dog Inn”, Knu Castles radio ad was the “Newwwwwww Castles”.
We all arrived in Amarillo to record demos shortly after “Pretty Thing Oh” by the Blue Things had been released by Ruff Records. Ruff was pleased that it was then at #5 regionally (I believe that was a rank listing from Shreveport, LA, if I remember correctly from his going on about it). Ruff came out of his office and played it for us all in his lobby. This means that some of the unknown cuts in your list around the time where you list “Pretty Thing Oh” for 1965 may be tracks from these other, lesser known, groups that recorded their that summer. If Ruff never went anywhere with these demos he may have just left them unlabeled.
Those days at Ruff’s studio were also memorable because the Isley Brothers were also there, visiting. The groups that cut demos in those few days were Ray Ruff and the Checkmates, K-5, and the Misfits (a group with a folk rock sound)—there may have been more during that week but these were the only sessions I heard or took part in; lots of bands were coming and going. Again I remember that well because of having to keep setting up and taking down drums in the studio with Chico. Note that, in your lists, tracks by the Drivin’ Dynamics and the Knu Castles are listed under the Sully label; I have a feeling they were all cut in Amarillo, perhaps, because we saw those bands often.
We all played the same places on alternate nights and all knew each other—same with most of the bands on the road that summer, and in ’64 and ’66. Most of the members of these bands knew each other, esp. those who played regularly in Kansas and Nebraska which included the Knu Castles, King Bees, Drivin’ Dynamics, Fabulous Flippers, Spider and the Crabs, and later, as this era closed out, a very talented band from North Platte, Nebr. known as The Showmen. They were managed by the brother of our manager, whose names I’ve forgotten. We also got to know bands we met while doing major regional shows—most memorably the Beau Brummels (who were nice guys) and The Castaways, whom we played a gig with in Minnesota.
The touring band of K-5 was myself, along with guitarist Rusty Cope who really got Kalan Five together, in 1964. The other 1965 Kalan Five members were guitarists Gary “Meke” McMeekin, Jim Gype, and Denny Sonnenfeld. Gype and Sonnenfeld were the lead singers for K-5/ Kalan Five from 1965 on and replaced two original members of Kalan Five, Ron Davis and Glen Mitchell, when the group needed better singers for that summer 1965 tour with Ruff as agent.
Cope and McMeekin were from Crawford, Nebraska; Gype and Sonnenfeld from Ainsworth, Nebraska. Before touring with the Kruisin’ Kalan Five 1965 summer tour they had played in another Nebr. band “Banana Cream Weather Balloon” also from Chadron State College. That information also explains our close regional relationship with the Drivin’ Dynamics (from Scottsbluff Nebr.– 120 miles down the road– at Hyrum Scott College). The Drivin’ Dynamics have an ongoing tribute website and are in the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame.
No singles from the Kalan Five – our demos all died somewhere between Ruff’s studio and whatever his deals were with Tower, Capitol etc. He was a bit of a disorganized person.
At least, re: songs, we weren’t like many other groups who had great songs “stolen” by others, who then made money off of them; there wasn’t much legal protection for anything is those days. But we made enuf money that the guys who wanted to drive fancy cars could drive them. I bought a camping van– that was more my style.
The attached photo is of me “in the tunnel” at the Hutchinson, KS Battle of the KOMA Bands taken on someone’s old polaroid. All of my memorabilia from the era no longer exists and this photo just happened to turn up awhile back.
The Kalan Five played into 1966 (with the members from the 1965 summer tour) and then got separated by people graduating from college and moving on with their lives. Rusty Cope was the only member who went professional if I’m not mistaken. Rusty was a great guitarist. Rusty went on to play for Randy Sharp and, after us, and before Sharp, I believe with another mid-American group called “Spider” which got great early 70’s PR in Billboard (May 27, 1972) but whose debut album Labyrinths did not do well. No one has kept in touch.
Believe it or not I went on to get a PhD and to a rather distinguished career in scientific research [Wikipedia at Kurt Johnson (Entomologist)].

Categories: Fall River, Massachusetts, Tuff-Nuff

Bobby and the Farraris

August 9, 2011 Chris Bishop 33 Comments

Bob Hughes and the Galaxies, from left: Ron Barrera, Pete Vanasse, Ricky Philbert, Don Facciano and Bob Hughes

Bobby & the Farrari’s cut this great 45 in 1967. “Farrari’s” is a misspelling for “Ferraris” as in Ferrari, the car.

“In the Morning” has the dense, moody sound New England is known for. It was the b-side to “Pretty” a song in a somewhat older style of pop balladry. Both songs were written by Carl Gastall, Jr., who later joined Phase IV who had their own 45 on Tuff-Nuff, “Plastic World”, written by D. Bourguet and “It’s You”.

Two later 45s on Tuff-Nuff are Ray Gambio & the Darkest Hour “I’ll Be There” / “The Mountain” and Charlie Quintal’s “It’s a Crazy World We Live In”.

When I first covered Bobby & the Farraris a few years ago, I listed the group as from Bangor, Maine, an error I repeated from a guide to New England bands published in the early ’90s. Bob Hughes tells me the group was based in Fall River and played primarily throughout southeastern Massachusetts and around Providence, Rhode Island.

Bob kindly answered many of my questions and provided photos and a detailed history of his career with the Farraris and his earlier group, Bobby & the Galaxies, along with a cool demo they cut at Metcalf Recording, one side a weeper, “I’m Tearing My Heart Out” and the flip a great upbeat novelty “Giggle Wiggle” with lyrics like “she’s got long black hair way down her back, too bad there ain’t none on her head”. As an aside, Metcalf was the studio for Masada’s “A Hundred Days and Nights”, released on Sadbird in 1968 and written by Paul Brissette.

Bob takes the story from here:

The Farraris were originally a four piece group, me on guitar and lead vocals, Rick Philbert (deceased) on bass and back up vocals, Danny ? on keyboards and Vinny ? on drums. We later added Lenny ?, a sax player from New Bedford, MA. He had the unique ability to play two saxophones at once, and in harmony. Very cool.
The name Farraris was a misspelling. The band was only together for two years. I formed the band because of the breakup or my other band, Bobby & The Galaxies.
Bob Hughes
Carl Gastall was a friend of mine and a fellow local musician, and really good song writer. His [uncle] Tommy was a catcher for the Baltimore Orioles. Carl admired my work and approached me with these songs. He wanted us to record them and he would get the backer to finance everything. “Pretty” / “In the Morning” was recorded at Wye studios in Rhode Island. It was our only record. It achieved some local success in Providence.
It was the first release on the Tuff Nuff label which was created by a local business man Ritchie Martin, to promote our recording. Later Charlie Quintal and some other local musicians recorded on the label. Don Perry (aka Dino and Don DeCarlo) and Larry Santos also had record labels in Fall River: Honey Bee and Little Town Records. We only sold around 500 of them.
We played mostly in the bars in and around Fall River/Providence area. My day job caused me to transfer out of the area in April of ’69 and that ended the band. I don’t have any pictures of the group.
Ricky Philbert the bass player, and I had been together for quite some time. We first met at a talent show at Lincoln Park Amusement Park in Dartmouth MA. It was a big place and the main attraction in all of S.E. New England.
Ricky’s band and my band, Bobby & the Galaxies, were in the talent contest that was held every Sunday in the outdoor pavilion. My band won that week. Ricky approached me after about teaming up. Since I didn’t have a bass player, I agreed. He immediately joined my band and we went on to win the finals at the end of the summer. The park’s manager asked if we’d like to play in the park’s pub every Sunday and we agreed. We were a big hit in there.
After three weeks he approached us about playing in the large ballroom every Saturday night. We jumped at the chance. The place held 3500 people. He had Al Rainone’s 18 piece orchestra playing there, and drawing about 200 people. When they were fired and we were hired, Al, who was the head of the local Musicians union, threatened to close the park down since we weren’t union. Needless to say, we quickly joined the union. We played there every Saturday night to a packed house for at least five years.
Each week a different star artist or band would appear and do a 45 minute show. We played the rest of the time. We backed up most of the stars of the day. Jerry Lee Lewis, Freddy Cannon, Lou Christy, etc. We opened for The Kingsman, The Beau Brummels, The 4 Seasons, and many more. It was a great experience.
As an aside, I will tell you that after every Saturday gig, we would go to Dirty Nick’s hot dogs, in Fall River. A guy was working there who was at least 10 years older than us, and looked like a bum, and had horrible body odor. He seemed slightly retarded. His name was Joe Baker. Every week he used to beg me to let him sing with my band. He swore he sounded just like Elvis. Well after two years, I relented. He asked me if I could pick him up, since he didn’t have a car. I agreed. The next Saturday I picked him up and he had a bundle in his arms. I asked him what it was and he said it was his outfit. He opened it to show me. He had taken a suit and a pair of shoes and spray painted them gold and sprinkled on gold flecks. That night, he appeared with us, with no rehearsal and just a play list of Elvis songs in the original keys. I introduced him as Golden Joe Baker. So I named him. If you know of him, you know what a huge success he turned out to be (see goldenjoebaker.com. He was a big hit that night and not because he could sing like Elvis, but because he thought he could and went through all the motions and gyrations. He sang badly and the audience thought it was a put on and a hilarious one. But Joe was dead serious about being as good as Elvis. After that night I took Joe with us everywhere we went. He was a big hit at all the frat parties, etc. He ended up being a star of the longest running daytime show in Las Vegas history.
Besides Ricky and me, Bobby & the Galaxies also consisted of Pete Vanasse (Berklee School of Music) on sax, Don Facciano (New England Conservatory of Music) on Hammond organ, and Ron Kook Barrera on drums. Jerry Valle was the drummer for Bobby & the Galaxies for a few years. He ended up being the drummer/singer with the very successful Spi-Dells from Taunton.
Jonny Locks, backed by the Galaxies
We never released any records of our own, but we did back Johnny Locks on his local hit [“I Know You Want Me Baby” / “All I Want From You” from the second half of 1965], on the Locks label. Johnny was a local stock car driver at Seekonk Speedway. Our record would be played there every weekend. It also got some radio play.
Q. Someone on Youtube commented there may be a second 45 by Jonny Locks, “I Really Gotta Go” b/w “My Dead Girl”, and also a demo for “Long Hair and Mini Skirts”.
If Johnny Locks recorded other songs I am not aware of them, and they weren’t with my band.
Other than that we only recorded songs that were never released. “Tearing My Heart Out” / “Giggle Wiggle” is the only record we ever made. This was a demo recorded at Metcalf studios in New Bedford, MA around 1958.
This is the first iteration of Bobby & the Galaxies. The group consisted of me on vocals and guitar, Rick Philbert on bass and backup vocals, Dave Ray on drums, Boh Kiriutowski on sax, and Johnny Pastel on organ. “Tearing My Heart Out” was written by Carl Gastall, and I wrote “Giggle Wiggle”. This record was never released. [There was] a live taping that was done by the later and better version of Bobby & the Galaxies.
We did have offers for record deals, but could not work out a satisfactory deal. We were approached at our Lincoln Park gig, by some producers who wanted to feature us on a weekly TV show, out of Boston. They were going to call it Jamboree, and film it at Lincoln Park, but on a Tuesday night, not at the Saturday gig. It was to be a half hour show with one or two featured guest stars, and my band would be the house band, We would open and close the show with the theme song, Bill Dogget’s “Hold It”, do one featured song a week, and back up the acts that needed back up. It was filmed live with the kids dancing. We signed the contract and filmed four episodes that aired on WBZ, if I remember right. Unfortunately we couldn’t draw a large enough crowd on Tuesdays to finance the producers expenses so they stopped.
I was also involved with Jimmy Crane who owned Ribbon Records, and was a great song writer. He had hits with Elvis, Eddie Fisher, Timi Yuro and Joe Stafford. I was recording demos for him at Wye Records. We also represented WPRO in Providence at the Annual March of Dimes telethon and concert. We appeared on TV and also on the same bill with the Elegants, The Scott Brothers, Anita Bryant, Ritchie Adams and the Fire flies, and other stars of the day.
The Galaxies had an offer to go on the USO tour, for a year, which I rejected, and that caused a lot of dissension in the band. It was the start of the band unraveling. I had finished college, met my wife to be, and had planned on leaving town to get my Masters degree at U. Mass, in Amherst. I had already decided I was not going to pursue a career in music. Of course that meant leaving the Lincoln Park gig too. BTW, at U Mass I hooked up with a bunch of guys from Boston who had a band called the Esquires. I joined them while I was at U Mass. We were a Beatles tribute groups and we worked lots of frat parties. We were one of the two top bands there. The other was Taj Mahal.
After graduation I went home and reformed the Galaxies. I was able to get all of the original members back together. This was ’64. We worked at local clubs and bars, and started to do some society work in Boston. We worked with the Herb Zane Orchestra, as the “rock band” who would play during the orchestra’s breaks, at Debutante parties and such. In ’67 we had a disagreement about the musical direction of the band. The drummer Ronny was pushing to get Ricky out of the group and bring in his friend Manny, who was very good and sang well too, but the reason was to play more soul type music. Ronny didn’t think Ricky had the chops for that. He was wrong. However Ricky got so mad, he quit. Manny joined the group, and the arguments over the material we would play worsened. Three months later I left the group and joined Ricky again, and we formed the Farraris.
When I left the area in ’69, I was transferred to northern New Jersey. There I worked with many fine musicians playing parties and weddings, etc. I got to play at Sardis and the Empire room at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
The music scene in Providence and So. E. Mass. was very rich with lots of talented people and groups. The Cowsills came out of Newport R.I. – I actually repossessed their Silvertone Amps when I worked for Sears. To my ears, The Fabulous Raiders were the best band in the area. A few that were outstanding that I remember were Cal Raye, The Spidells, Talk of The Town, Johnny & The Blue Jays, The Royal Coachman, Frankie James, Benny King & the Royal Jesters, Charlie Quintal, Paul Chaplin & Emeralds (Ct.), The Fabulous Raiders, The Blends, The Videls, Jim Scott & The Crusaders, Golden Joe Baker, and more. The only other Tuff Nuff artist I know was Charlie Quintal. Charlie was really good and played with Dicky Doo & the Don’t for a while. I was a member of Johnny & Blue Jays for about a year.
My old sax player Pete and keyboard player Don are still plying music today. Pete is with an oldies group at Foxwood Casino. Kings Row contains original members from several local groups and is also still active in the area.
You can also view my video on You Tube, Live at The House of Welsh w/ Ketron synthesizer.
Bob Hughes

Categories: Delaware, Wilmington

The Geatormen

August 6, 2011 Chris Bishop 4 Comments

Clockwise from bottom left: Martel Day, Reese Gwynn, Art Travis, Jeff Cooper, Dan Toomey, Jay Jacobson and Collis Alford

The Geatormen featured in the movie “Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows”, a fun and innocent comedy about a group of Catholic schoolgirls accompanied by nuns crossing the country to a youth rally. The screen shots (below) are from a scene where the band is lip-synching to the title song by Boyce and Hart.

The Geatormen included:

Collis Alford (trumpet
Ray Jacobson (trumpet)
Art Travis (trombone)
Jeff Cooper (saxophone and rhythm)
Rees Gwynn (guitar)
Dan Toomey (bass guitar)
Martel Day (drums)

They were students at Brandywine High School in the suburbs of Wilmington, Delaware, where they played with the Brandywine Blazers. Somehow they met up with Jerry Blavat, “the Geator” and became the Geatormen, performing on Blavat’s TV show Discophonic Scene and appearing with him in live shows.

An article in the Delaware County Daily Times from April, 1968 also mentions them appearing on WFIL-TV’s The World Around Us, a daily morning show in Philadelphia hosted by Anita Klever.

They weren’t credited for their appearance in “Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows”, so it doesn’t seemed to have helped their career much. I believe only five of them are featured in the movie. After the filming, Martel Day was replaced by Bob Howe and Max Rarigh. A later lineup of the band included Nino Puglisi from the Stairways. I don’t know of any records released by the band.

Jeff Cooper posted a few additional photos of the band at the bottom of this page.

Categories: Gaye, Georgia, Unknown, US

The Mondels

July 21, 2011 Chris Bishop 19 Comments

There’s no denying the power of the Mondells 45 on Gaye, “I Got a Feeling” / “You’ll Never Come Back to Stay”. Both songs have thick distortion on the guitar, nice organ swirls, pounding drums, and good lead and backing vocals.

The code U4KM-5024 denotes an RCA custom pressing from the first half of 1967. The scan I originally posted showed no song writing credits on the label, but as Mike Markesich pointed out in his comment below, that scan was doctored to keep the writer’s name secret until the band could be found. From the scans I now have, Roy Farmer Jr. wrote “I Got a Feeling” and Benny Thomas wrote “You’ll Never Come Back to Stay”. Both sides are published by Margie Music, BMI, and listed as A Gaye Talent Production.

The group itself is still something of a mystery to me. I did find out that the Mondels, like Red Beard & the Pirates, came from the rural hills between Blue Ridge, Georgia (Morganton, Mineral Bluff, Epworth) and Copperhill, Tennessee / McCaysville, GA, about two hours drive north of the studio in Decatur, GA, just east of Atlanta. From the same area came The Blazers, who had a self-produced LP On Fire.

An old auction listing gives a couple names for Red Beard & the Pirates: Randy Queen and “Sea Dog”. The seller also mentioned two members of the Mondels: “Billy Suites (died from auto accident) and Lamar Harper (died a couple of years ago from cancer). Actually the name ‘Tootie’ written on the record is my sister-in-law and she dated Lamar.” I contacted the seller for more info, but I can’t confirm if these names are accurate.

The Mondels is one of the rarest and best 45s on the Gaye label.

Mike Dugo interviewed a member of the Penetrations who have a record on Gaye, “A Different Kind of Man” / “I Got A Girl” but they were from Belton, South Carolina, to the north east of Atlanta.

Thank you to Mike Markesich for the scans and info on the band. Transfers from Teenage Shutdown vol. 13.

Categories: Boston, Reviews

The Remains – ‘Let Me Through’ b/w ‘Why Do I Cry’ – Review

July 20, 2011 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

The Remains – ‘Let Me Through’ b/w ‘Why Do I Cry’
(2011 Sundazed S-231)

Review by Rebecca Jansen

“The new single by The Remains,” now doesn’t that alone sound good? Fortunately this vinyl debut of an original Barry Tashian and Vern Miller composition does sound very good indeed! Performed live on Ed Sullivan’s CBS television studio stage, Sunday December 26th, 1965, Barry’s snarling Guild lead guitar is in good form as the group soars (and sometimes stumbles, true) through some Psychotic Reactions style tempo changes. Very fearless on a national show with a song only cooked up a couple weeks before! Topo Gigio was probably forced into hiding while this punky racket was flowering, not that the sound quality is at all lacking with the minor exception of some audience applause at the start and again at the conclusion.

Sundazed’s sleeve is based on a vintage picture sleeve used by Epic, same design but different shot from the same photo shoot, and it’s that attention to detail that keeps Sundazed high in afficianados’ regard. The flip is a version of “Why Do I Cry” from the essential Session With the Remains LP also available through Sundazed. This single is more fun than Senior Wences’ plate-spinner eating goats; I predict it’ll be really beeg with all the kiddies in the garage!

This 45 is available through Sundazed.

Rebecca Jansen’s writing and artwork can be seen at Hippies stole my blog! *.

Garage Hangover accepts recently-released LPs, CDs, books and DVDs for review. Please contact us for a mailing address.

Categories: Atlanta, Gaye, Georgia

Gaye Record Productions discography

July 20, 2011 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

Gaye Records Atlanta Sound Recording Studios Lowery Music Billboard July 8. 1967 — Billboard July 8. 1967

Johnny Brooks owned the Gaye label, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and named it after his wife. The label started with pop releases, then added soul 45s and consistently strong garage singles by Little Phil & the Night Shadows, the Mondels, the Blades, the Penetrations and Red Beard & the Pirates. Some numbers have a prefix, usually ASR, which refers to Atlanta Sound Recording Studios, also owned by Brooks.

Troy Shondell recorded the Chips Moman song “This Time” for Goldcrest in 1961, released nationally by Liberty. I don’t know who Troy Shundell is, but his version on Gaye (#2010 from circa 1965) is a different recording than the Goldcrest/Liberty issue, and is likely a different singer altogether.

Any help with this discography would be appreciated

114 – Ken Springer – “You’re Faithful Anna” / “Lovely Love” (with picture sleeve)
210 – J.T. Ratcliffe With Shirley & The Swamp Bugs – “The Beatle Bug” / “Bill’s Friend”
212 – George Hughley – “Do The Beatle” / “My Love Is True”
2002 – Bobby & The Belmonts – “Drum Dog” / “He’s Home From College” (1964)
2004 – Beverly Taylor – “Sweeter Than Sugar” / “I Need Someone Like You”
2009 – Ken Springer – “Like A Child” / “Maybe”
2010 – Troy Shundell – “This Time” / “I Catch Myself Crying”
2018 – Frankie And The Play Boys featuring Arnold Sanford – “Two To One” / “Crying Towel”
3019 – The Blades – “I’ll Shead No Tear” (sic) / “Again”
3020 – Joe Dickey – “April In Atlanta” / “Walk With Me (Into Paradise)”
3027 – The Penetrations – “A Different Kind of Man” / “I Got A Girl”
3031 – Little Phil & the Night Shadows – “Sixty Second Swinger” / “In the Air”
3031 – Milford Fagg with the Penetrations – “Do You Still Remember Me” / “Mr. Ivory”
3032 – The Mondels – “You’ll Never Come Back To Stay” / “I Got A Feeling”
3033 – Joe Brown – “It’s All Over” / “Promise Me”
3034 – Ted Ford – “You Don’t Love Me” / “Hold On To the Key”
3041 – C. J. DeLong – “Goodbye Dreams” / “I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore”
3043 – Red Beard & the Pirates – “Go On Leave” / “Don’t Be A Loser”
3044 – Jerry Ashley – “Come On” / “Come On” (instrumental backing track)
3045 – The Blades – “Moving Out” / “I Need You”
3047 – Sheppard Brothers – “Hold Me Closer” / “Mess Up My Mind”
5001 – Johnny Jenkins – “Soul Boo-Ga-Loo” / “Ring-O-Ling”
5002 – Lee Mays & the Zonics – “Writing This Letter” / “Nothing Means Nothing To You”
5005 – Ernie Wheelwright – Begging You Back / “In Your Arms”
5006 – Automations – “World of Make Believe” / “Going Out of My Mind”
6001 – Betty Logan – “A Lot To Learn” / The Logan Sisters – “Flop Mop”

Gaye discography compiled from Georgia Soul with additions and corrections from Mike Markesich, Bob of Dead Wax, Drunken Hobo, George, and Chas Kit.

368 – Paula Grimes – “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart” / “Fancy Love Words” (George pointed out this is an unrelated NY label)

Categories: Green Bay

The Rice Paper Window

July 20, 2011 Chris Bishop 6 Comments

Rice Paper Window, Green Bay, Wisconsin

One reader sent in this neat promotional photo of the Rice Paper Window, a quintet from Green Bay, Wisconsin. I don’t know anything about the group, who was in it or if they recorded. Anyone have more info?Thanks to Bob Degutis for sending in this and other Wisconsin band photos.

Categories: Nokomis, Pana, Taylorville, Van

Oglethorp and Othelow

July 18, 2011 Chris Bishop 4 Comments

Oglethorp and Othellow (sic), from left: Greg Carlock, Don Bearup and Dick Dean

The Fade-Aways, taken in 1965: Greg Carlock (Othelow), lead singer David Brownback, Donnie Bearup (Oglethorp), and me — “A photo of my first band, The Fade-Aways, taken in 1965. From left: Greg Carlock (Othelow), lead singer David Brownback, Donnie Bearup (Oglethorp), and me.
Drummer Jim Lowe was not present.
That Stratocaster was my first real guitar, cherry red. Greg’s was a Guild.”

Last week I wrote about Van Recording of south Texas. For some odd reason, at least five singles on Van released between 1965-1967 were produced in Taylorville, Illinois, close to 1,000 miles northeast of Angleton TX, the base for the Van label.

Richard Dean played bass on one of those records, “Please Don’t Go Away” and “I’ll Still Love You” by Oglethorp and Othelow. We may never know how these recordings ended up on Van, but Richard provides a detailed account of the music scene in the area just south and east of Springfield, Illinois during the mid-60s:

Oglethorp was Donnie Bearup, age 17, on lead vocals and rhythm acoustic guitar. Othelow was Greg Carlock, age 17, on harmony vocals and lead acoustic guitar. I, Richard Dean, age 16, played stand-up bass. Mick Presnell, age 16, and not a member of the group, played percussion (two Coke bottles on “Please Don’t Go Away”, a salt shaker filled with gravel on “I’ll Still Love You”). I’ve always remembered it [the spelling of the group’s name] as Oglethorpe and Othello. I think Donnie was a distant relative of James Oglethorpe, who founded Georgia, and I have no idea where the Othelow came from, other than Shakespeare.
Donnie Bearup and Deb Lynch during the Fade-Aways era, 1966
Oglethorp and Othelow were supposed to be folk singers, but most of our songs were Everly Brothers, Beatles, oldies, and some current hits. We were an acoustic group and couldn’t play for dances, but we made three TV appearances (two in Decatur and one in Champaign) and we were on Oscar Wells Sunday morning radio show on WTIM many times. Donnie and Greg had that incredibly close harmony like the Everlys and John and Paul.I was told to show up at the American Legion Hall one summer evening of 1966, and that was where I met Oscar Wells. I think Oglethorp and Othelow’s connection to him probably came through Donnie Bearup’s mother, who did a lot to promote the group. Sometimes local country artists performed on his radio show and that is probably where Donnie’s mother heard of him. I had never heard of him before we recorded. I assumed he owned Van Records and that it was a local Taylorville label. If there was a contract it was only for that record. He paid for the record. We performed for free, I never made a single penny playing with Oglethorp and Othelow, though we were very successful as far as performing went.
with the second place trophy at the State Fair
from left: Don Bearup, Richard Dean and Greg Carlock
I remember Oscar Wells as a tall, thin, pale, almost cadaverous-looking, man who seemed ancient to me at the time, but was probably in his 50s. He had a very flat nasal voice and mumbled and said “uh” a lot on his radio show, not a radio voice or a radio personality. He had a very nice Ampex tape recorder, too big to be lugging around in his car, but it was portable.We did take after take of “I’ll Still Love You” and it was almost always a failure of the recorder or the tape itself that meant we had to re-do it. I would estimate we did as many as 30 takes, and even the one that was used had a flub in it. Oscar Wells was very patient, didn’t contribute anything to the music, just let us do what we did. I think he was most interested in recording my friend Mick on the Coke bottles on “Please Don’t Go Away”, there was a lot of natural echo on it and it took awhile to get the sound right. I think we may have done three takes on “Please Don’t Go Away”, it was intended to be a quick B-side, but it was the side that got airplay and that everyone loved. Donnie Bearup wrote both songs. Greg’s guitar was so out-of-tune on “Please Don’t Go Away”, but such a great punkish guitar solo, and acoustic! By the time we recorded that we had spent 2 or 3 hours on “I’ll Still Love You”, and we were just getting to a B-side. If we had known “Please Don’t Go Away” would become the A-side I’m sure we would have tuned-up!
If I remember correctly, Oscar Wells had 300 or 500 copies of “Please Don’t Go Away” / “I’ll Still Love You” pressed. We were getting daily airplay on the Taylorville and Decatur radio stations and he sold all of the copies very quickly, I’m sure he thought he was on his way to the big time. Then he had another 300 or 500 copies made and I don’t think he sold any of them. That first batch was the limit of Oglethorp and Othelow fans. I remember going to his studio on Sundays and there were boxes and boxes of our record sitting there. I think the major reason why the second batch of records didn’t sell was also because two or three weeks went by before they were delivered and by then we were no longer receiving airplay in Taylorville and Decatur. I seem to recall Oscar complaining about not having any records to sell. Then when they arrived it was too late.
Oscar Wells’ Sunday morning radio show on WTIM, Taylorville, was called “The Entertainers Bulletin Board”. I think it started at 6:00 or 6:30. Donnie and I played with the Reactions on Saturday nights, often didn’t get home until 1:00 or 2:00 AM, then had to get up about 5:00 to drive the 17 miles from Pana to Taylorville. Oscar had a great rockabilly version of “Swannee River Rock” as his theme song. Then he would introduce us as “these, uh, boys from Pana are, uh,” and so on. Then Greg Carlock would introduce the songs. Oscar would record the show on his Ampex and afterward we would go to his “studio”, probably where he did most of his recording, a storefront near downtown Taylorville. He had a record-cutting machine. like something that would cut onto wax but these were very heavy brittle plastic, and he would make one copy of the show for us. That was our pay. I received each third one. I kept one of them for many years, it eventually shattered during a move, but I did get it on a cassette tape, with so much static it is almost unlistenable. At the end of the show he played a song he had recently produced by a woman country singer, [Pauletta Leeman – “Little Bit” which was backed with “You’re Make A Fool Out Of Me”, released on Sims 309 in 1966], a very nice song. I found, on-line, that Oscar J. Wells died in 1984, at 71.
Oglethorp & Othelow on Oscar Wells’ show The Entertainers Bulletin Board on WTIM, November 13, 1966:
Intro (featuring “Swingin’ Swanee Rock” by Kenny Biggs)
Oglethorp & Othelow – Please Don’t Go Away
Oglethorp & Othelow – I’ll Still Love You
Oglethorp & Othelow – And She Went Away
Oglethorp & Othelow – English Moon
Oglethorp & Othelow – Cathy’s Clown
Oglethorp & Othelow speaking with Oscar Wells
Oglethorp & Othelow – Summertime
Oglethorp & Othelow – Blowing in the Wind
Oglethorp & Othelow – Stick With Me Baby
Conclusion (featuring “Little Bit” by Pauletta Leeman)
“English Moon” would have been the second single, with, maybe, “And She Went Away” as the B-side. I’m not sure. I know we had big hopes for “English Moon”.
A story I love to tell about Oglethorp and Othelow: one Saturday, in the spring of 1967, we performed for the Future Homemakers of America convention in Pana High School auditorium. There were several hundred girls there and they Beatled us, screaming and throwing things onstage. It was amazing. We signed autographs for awhile afterward, then had to leave to play a strip mall opening in Decatur. We performed on the back of a flatbed truck and our entire audience consisted of three about-12-year-old very bored boys. That’s showbiz!
Another story: one morning in the summer of 1967 I was hanging out in downtown Pana and Donnie and Greg drove by, saw me, and stopped and said they were going to the Illinois State Fair, in Springfield, to perform in the battle of the bands (acoustic or vocal group, not electric). They were just doing it because they could get into the fair for free. We went to my house and grabbed my stand-up bass and took off. We were wearing jeans and t-shirts, I had on a pair of brown jeans. We did ten minutes or so, mostly Everly Brothers and Beatles, then enjoyed the fair. When we went back to find out who won, we discovered we had finished second. The winners were a vocal quartet of frat boys from Eastern Illinois University, dressed in blazers and ties, singing like the Lettermen or the Four Freshmen. They got to open for Paul Revere and the Raiders that evening, in front of about 12,000 people. If only we had dressed better, been a little more professional, but we hadn’t taken it seriously. After the concert, we spent an hour or so having burgers with Freddy Weller, Raiders’ lead guitarist. When I got home, about 2:00 AM, and tried to explain to my mother what my day had been like, she wouldn’t believe me!
We were on TV three times. Twice on Davy Jones’ Locker, an afternoon kids’ cartoon show on WAND, Decatur, that sometimes had live local talent. It was embarrassing to be on a kids show, the host dressed as a pirate, but it was TV! We were also on The Hop, a Saturday afternoon American Bandstand-style show on WCIA, Champaign, that in 1967 was still using Danny and the Juniors’ “At the Hop” as its theme song. We had recorded what was going to be our second single, probably not on Van Records, in a garage studio in Sullivan, Illinois, but the tape wasn’t playable on standard tape recorders, so we had re-recorded the two songs at Greg’s aunt’s house on a tape recorder that allowed over-dubbing. Donnie sang lead and played electric bass and rhythm, Greg sang harmony twice and played lead, and I played organ and piano. As we were getting ready to lip-sync Donnie told me I should fake the extra harmony and I realized I didn’t know the words, nor did I know his bass part. And there had been a big thunderstorm just as we had arrived at the studio, we had to walk through a foot of water in the parkinglot, and I had taken off my wet Beatle boots and socks and performed barefoot. I was told the camera kept showing close-ups of my feet! The second record was never released.
‘The Re-Actions’, from left: Dick Dean (bass), Steve Westoff (rhythm guitar), Butch Hartel (drums), Monte McDermith (lead guitar) and kneeling, Vince Slagel (organ).
Not pictured, lead singer Donnie Bearup
A little about the music scene in Central Illinois in the 60s:
After the Beatles arrived, in February, 1964, it seemed that every teenage boy wanted to play in a band and I was one of them. Pana had a teen center and dances with live bands every Saturday night. Even smaller towns, like Nokomis and Assumption, had regular dances, and tiny towns, like Witt (pop. about 300) had dances at least once a month. The Fade-Aways, in 1965-66, didn’t work every weekend but we played frequently, and made money doing it. Pana, pop. 6000 or so, supported two rock bands, us and Comyk Book. Assumption had The Bluetones. Morrisonville, Dave and the Detomics. Nokomis, later, the Reactions. The summer of 1967, the Reactions worked three or four nights a week, putting on our own dances in the Morrisonville park on Thursdays, when there was nothing else going on, and splitting all of the money.
My favorite band, right after the Beatles arrived and the Pana Teen Center began having weekly dances, was the Classics, a six-piece band from Decatur, four white guys with two black singers, lots of great rock and roll and r&b. Then the Sting Rays, from Springfield.
Dave and the Detomics were several years older than me. As I remember them, they were a rockabilly crew that got on the British Invasion bandwagon, and they were pretty good when it came to rockers, not so good on melodies. When they played at the Pana Teen Center, many times in about 1965-66, they didn’t get much of a crowd. But I do remember they could rock, they had that garage band sound. My first band, The Fade-Aways, of which Donnie and Greg were members, also had that sound, just bashing it out, lots of energy.
I didn’t know Dave and the Detomics recorded for Van. When they broke up, in the fall of 1966, they became the Reactions. Donnie was the lead singer, I played electric bass. Monte McDermitt, former bass player for the Detomics, became the band leader and sang and played lead. Vince Slagel, also a Detomic, was on keyboards (Farfisa organ). Butch Hartel played drums. Steve Westoff was on rhythm guitar. The band was based in Nokomis, Illinois, though Donnie and I were from Pana and Butch and Steve from Litchfield. We never recorded, but we were very popular throughout 1967.
I don’t recall the Embalmers, but the Sting Rays were a favorite of mine. I’m pretty sure they were based in Springfield, Illinois. They were absolute pros, tight and solid, with a great drummer. When I was old enough to drive, in 1966, I would go anywhere around the area to see them. I remember when they washed the grease out of their Elvis pompadours and had Beatle haircuts. I remember seeing them at the Illinois State Fair, at the Teen Fair tent, probably in 1966, and they did a killer version of “Tossin’ and Turnin'”. Very much a guitar group, lots of rockabilly influence.
When I was 17 and could drive, and had a weekend night off when I wasn’t playing, I would drive anywhere to see my favorite group, a five-piece guitar band from Litchfield that did nothing but Stones covers and blues/r&b songs the Stones could have done. They were REO Speedwagon. If you look at their wikipedia page, this version of the group isn’t acknowledged. One Saturday in Taylorville, they were walking off-stage for a break and one of them pointed at me and said, “Reactions’ bassplayer.” I was surprised he knew who I was.
My biggest claim to rock and roll fame was that I was the original bassplayer in Head East, a heavy pop band that formed at Eastern Illinois University in 1969. I was a charter member, when the group was put together by Steve Huston (the drummer) and horn-player Steve Derry. When I showed up for the first rehearsal, it was about a 10 or 12 piece horn band, like Chicago or Blood Sweat and Tears, and I was given a music stand and sheet music. I quit at the end of the first rehearsal, that just wasn’t my idea of rock and roll. Their website doesn’t mention that version of the band.
I continued in music for several years. My last band was a country band, in 1973. I was always more of a lead guitar player, but I had my greatest success on bass.
I tried to track down the Reactions on the Internet. The only one I found was Vince Slagel, who was in the last version of Dave and the Detomics. I live in Denver.
Richard Dean, July 2011

Update: Greg Carlock passed away on December 29, 2019. Mike Choatie sent me the link to his obituary. RIP Othelow.

Thank you to Richard and his sister for the photos and clippings used in this article with the exception of the color photo provided by Donnie Bearup. Thanks also to Tom Fallon and Matt Baker for information on the Kenny Biggs 45.

Categories: Birmingham, Brooke, Ed Boutwell Studios, Tommy Tucker

The Ramblers

July 10, 2011 Chris Bishop 11 Comments

Bob Ellis from the Alabama Record Collectors Association sent me this history of the Ramblers of Birmingham, written by Chip Sanders.

Back in 1961, the guitar playing Terrell brothers, Tommy and Eddie along with classmate Chris Covey found a junior high school drummer, Johnny Robinson, to play music. It was decided that the eldest brother, Eddie, would be the bass player, and Tommy would play rhythm guitar. Fellow Ramsey High School classmate, Van Veenschoten joined in to round out the group and play lead guitar. The group named themselves The Ramblers, and began playing for high school functions and fraternities and sororities in the Birmingham area. When Eddie Terrell received a tennis scholarship and headed to The University of Alabama, The Ramblers had no trouble in convincing Chris Convey, with the unusual nickname “The Spook,” to take over on the bass.

By mid-1962, The Ramblers were playing weekends regularly in and around Birmingham and cut their first record, “Stop That Twisting” / “Hundred Miles Away”, at Boutwell Recording Studio in Birmingham. Shortly thereafter, guitar player Van Veenschoten met Chip Sanders, a junior at neighboring Shades Valley High School, who was a piano player. The Ramblers auditioned Chip on a Sunday afternoon at Van’s parents home in Mountain Brook, and the nucleus of the group, that would become synonymous with “party band” was established.

An important early performance by The Ramblers at a state-wide Alabama high school Key Club Convention gave the group name recognition throughout the state, and soon The Ramblers of Birmingham were playing in Alabama cities and towns from Huntsville to Mobile. Practicing in a store room in the back of Johnny Robinson’s garage in Mountain Brook, Alabama, or in the basement of the Sanders’ home in Vestavia, The Ramblers were truly the proverbial garage band.

By fall of 1963, it was time for more of The Ramblers to make a decision, music or college! They decided on both, and as Tommy and Spook headed off to the University of Alabama and Johnny and Chip still in high school, the group began playing college fraternity parties at the University of Alabama.

By 1965-1966, The Ramblers were working regularly, primarily at Fraternity Parties around the southeast. Eddie, Tommy, Spook, and Chip had all become members of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at The University of Alabama, while Van was at Samford University and Johnny at the University of Montevallo. No longer rehearsing on a regular basis, the guys would meet up whenever and wherever the group might be playing.

In 1967, the group recorded another record at Boutwell Recording Studio, “Come Back, Come Back” / “Whole Lot Of Woman” written by keyboardist, Chip Sanders. The record experienced moderate success in the Alabama area, but college priorities prevented the group from properly promoting the record. Ed Boutwell, Birmingham recording pioneer, continued to use The Ramblers as back up musicians on many recording sessions at his studio.

Throughout this period, local radio station “sock hops” gained popularity amongst the Birmingham teenage population, and The Ramblers worked with local personality Duke Rumore of WYDE radio at Duke’s sock hop at the Ensley National Guard Armory, as well as Dave Roddy, from WSGN Radio at the Aporto Armory, across town. Also during this period the Ramblers were the backup band of choice for singers passing through Birmingham like Bobby Goldsboro or Billy Joe Royal.

As a “special added attraction” The Ramblers added a new set, featuring “Little John,” Chip’s kid brother, 11-year-old John Lee Sanders, who sang and played harmonica. John Lee Sanders, is now a successful song writer, performer and composer in the Bay Area of California. For the last 20 years he has worked with Long John Baldry, Starship, Paul Williams, Linda Arnold, and other popular entertainers.

As 1966-1967 came along, the world was quickly changing and The Rambler’s music began to change as well. Inspired by the psychedelic sounds coming out of the west coast, The Ramblers found a new sound with a young female vocalist, Vicki Hallman. Covers of the Jefferson Airplane, Linda Ronstadt and other female artists were added to their repertoire. After a brief marriage to drummer Johnny Robinson, Vicki continued her career in Nashville as a member of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos group and as a permanent cast member of the long running TV series, Hee-Haw.

With the Viet Nam War continuing to escalate in the late sixties, members of the group began to worry about the draft. This was definitely not the time to quit school and loose a student deferment to become a rock ‘n roll star. At various times during the next few years, Tommy joined George Bush in the Alabama Air National Guard, Chris joined the Coast Guard Reserve, Chip got in the Army National Guard three days before his draft notice, and Johnny became a reluctant member of the Talladega National Guard.

During their respective intermittent absences the group stayed together, with Terrell brother, Eddie, rejoining the group, along with a variety of substitute and fill-in players. As the sixties came to a close, one by one, the group began to graduate from college, get married and begin careers other than music. All the members of the group initially took jobs in Birmingham so that the band was able to stay together, but soon, the pressures of new careers, new wives, and even children began to put a strain on the group. “I don’t remember us ever officially deciding to break up. I just recall playing in a little town somewhere in South Alabama. We all brought our wives. It was a fun weekend. I remember staying in some ‘Bates Motel’ place and we all went swimming in their pool. That’s the last band job I can recall, but there may have been others,” said Sanders.

Johnny Robinson, who had tried to hold things together began touring with a new group, The Homestead Act, and subsequently moved to California to help his new wife start a music career. Chris moved away to seek his fortune, Chip moved near Memphis to start an insurance agency, and Tommy became a bank examiner for the Treasury Department.

The Ramblers were history, or so they thought. They stayed in touch with one another and by 1978 all of the remaining members of the group were thinking the same thing. They wanted to play again.

In 1979, the band regrouped as The Rambler Reunion Band adding Jim Burford on lead guitar to replace Van who died in a motorcycle accident in 1972. Chip moved out of state and was replaced by John Livingston on keyboards. Eddie rejoined the band to replace Chris who resides in Treasure Island, Florida. During the 80’s and 90’s the band continued working around the southeast entertaining at events with their 60’s music. Currently the RRB entertains at wedding receptions, reunion parties, company parties, club dances, and most any event that requires authentic 60’s rock and roll music.

Chip Sanders, 2011

The Ramblers, left to right: Chip Sanders, Chris Convey, Johnny Robinson, Tommy Terrell, Van Veenschoten

Johnny Robinson answered some follow-up questions I had about the photos and recording sessions.

The picture of the four of us [top of page] was taken at Highland County Club in December 1961. Van played lead guitar, Tommy rhythm guitar, Eddie bass. At this time we had very few vocals. That one mike and the small guitar amp (lower right corner) was our PA system. We bought the vests at Pizitz downtown.
The two professional photos were taken by Ken Ives at his studio in English Village down the street from Boutwell Recording Studio, where we recorded “100 Miles Away”. Chris Convey replaced Eddie on bass when Eddie left for college on a tennis scholarship. We have tons of other pictures through the years.
B.Temple is Brook Temple. He went to Shades Valley High School. We met him through Lee Shook, a mutual friend. Brook wrote “100 Miles away” with words about a girl he dated in Montgomery (100 miles from Birmingham) and asked us to record it. His mother paid for the recording session and the cost of the records. We did not like the words to the song, so we made it an instrumemtal. He also wrote “Stop That Twisting”. The Brook record label is his name. After all his mother paid for everything.
The second record, “Come Back, Come Back” was made in April 1967. The total for the packing slip was $123.10 for 510 records. That made them 24 cents each. The studio time was $300 as I remember. That made the total cost 83 cents each. Of course we did not made the records to make money, we gave most of them away to try and book more jobs. We have other studio recordings and live recordings.
The music scene in Birmingham was very active at this time – 1961 to 1968. The Distortions, Sammy Salvo, Willum Fowler, The Tremolos, Larry Parker, The Nomads, The Strangers, The Reflections, The Brood, and The Gents are just some of the local bands that recorded and released records on labels like Jo-Jo, Vibrato, Vesta, Lemon, Gold Master, Modern Enterprises, Malone, Vaughn-LTD, Malcolm Z. Dirge. There were many more. The ones I listed are part of my 45 collection. Others we were friends with: The Bassmen, Larry and the Loafers, The Kingsmen (not the famous ones), Daze of the Week, and Circus.

Packing list for the Ramblers 45 “Whole Lot Of Woman” / “Come Back, Come Back”

The Ramblers, left to right: Johnny Robinson (seated), Chip Sanders, Chris Convey, Tommy Terrell and Van Veenschoten

Categories: Houston, Texas

The Pacers (TX)

July 10, 2011 Chris Bishop 2 Comments

Here’s another fine instrumental from Texas.

“Settin’ the Pace” has some sharp guitar playing, though the horn lines basically reprise James Brown’s “Good Good Lovin'”. I still haven’t heard the flip side to this, or even know the title, so if anyone has a copy please contact me.”Settin’ the Pace” appeared on a 1988 LP on Gulf Coast Records LP Texas Guitars. Most of the songs on that compilation came from the Van Recording label, which originally led me to think this was a Van release as well.

One of the comments on my post about Van pointed out this was actually issued on Gemini Records from Freeport, close to the location of Van. DrunkenHobo sent me this scan from on an old auction of the 45, thanks! It provides me with a little info, but I have no clue as to who was in this band or their history.

The ACA-5112 number indicates the Pacers recorded at Bill Holford’s ACA Studio in Houston. “Settin’ the Pace” was written by someone named McQuarter, published by Glad Music, BMI. I’m not sure of the date, but from the sound and catalog #6301, 1963 is a good bet.

The site for '60s garage bands since 2004