Mike and the Dimensions, from left: Jim Phifer, Mike Malonee, Ken Taylor, John David Kitts, and Foster Braswell. Ken Taylor writes: “This was our first picture. We had those suits made and mine wasn’t finished in time for the photo shoot so I was the only one dressed differently. I painted the name on the bass drum with nail polish.”
Ken Taylor gave me the history and photos of his first group, Mike and the Dimensions, also known as the simply the Dimensions, or the Fabulous Dimensions:
I was blown away to listen to “Little Latin Lupe Lu”. I haven’t heard it in 45 years! That is me singing and playing drums. We recorded it in one take with everyone playing live. No overdubs in those days! The guitars are horribly out of tune!
We recorded it at Frederick’s music store in Goldsboro before Doug [Farwig] joined the group. We only had 500 copies pressed and gave away most of those. We did manage to sell a few and they played it a few times on the local radio station WGBR.
We were called Mike and the Dimensions then and had a guy named Mike Malloney [Malonee] on guitar. The song “Why” was actually written by Mike with input from the rest of the band. Mike was moody and hard to work with. We replaced him with Doug after Mike broke a friend’s guitar at rehearsal one day.
Doug had been playing with another group called the Cobras at the time. They were more of a “surf” band and we were more “beach music” and R&B. We opened the first rock club in the area in an old abandoned county jail and called it “the Bastille”. I was still in high school at the time and we had studied Bastille Day which is where we got the name. We were the house band and also booked all the top Beach music groups to play there. The Embers performed there many times. We were just kids and had our own club! Pretty amazing at the time!
Doug Farwig’s Dad was our manager. He was so cool, he loaned us the money ($200.00) to buy our ’51 Cadillac hearse which was a party on wheels!
We used to go see the Counts IV at the teen club on Seymour Johnson Air Force base and wanted to be just like them. They wore black turtle neck shirts, tight jeans and Beatle boots and we thought they were the coolest thing we had ever seen! We started to play more rock and would go to their rehearsals to learn from them. I was the drummer and Chico taught me a lot!
We got Doug in the band and had a guy named Bill Stroud from a band called “The Spectaculars” on piano for a while. He was one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever known but … he would show up late or sometimes not at all so we had to let him go too.
We hired a local singer named Scotty Todd and started getting real popular, playing fraternity parties and other venues across the state. Meanwhile, Joe Booher quit the Counts IV and they broke up. Al and Chico went back to N.Y. We hooked up with Don Roof who had a bunch of gigs already booked to form the new Counts IV which later became the Inexpensive Handmade Look.
Ken Taylor
Click here for more on the Count IV and their later incarnation as the Inexpensive Handmade Look.
Thanks to Debbie Daniels for correcting the ID of the top photo above with David Kitts’ name.
The Dimensions, standing left to right: Jim Phifer, Foster Braswell and Ken Taylor, seated: Doug Farwig and Scottie Todd.
The Torquays, from left: Wendell Colbert, Barry Bicknell, Eugene Hayes, Steve Salord and Dale Aston
The Birmingham, Alabama based Torquays were formed in 1963 by two friends, Dale Aston and Wendell Colbert. Influenced by early rock and roll, Dale taught himself to play the guitar. Wendell also played guitar. They took the band’s name Torquays after a town in England and a song by The Ventures of that name. The initial band had several members, but eventually dwindled down to five, Dale on guitar and lead vocals, Wendell on bass, Barry Bicknell on trumpet, Eugene Hayes on drums and Steve Salord on sax.
The Torquays made two records. The first, “While I’m Away” was written by Aston backed by a great doo wop sounding “Pineapple Moon”. These were recorded in Muscle Shoals at Fame Studios and released on the Holly label. Both sides got significant air play in the Birmingham area. The second record, “You’re The One Who Loves Me” (also written by Aston) was recorded in Memphis. They played steadily all throughout the southeast, but disbanded in 1968. Dale and Steve went on to play with the Distortions, another popular Birmingham band.
The introduction above is from the Alabama Record Collectors Association, who suggested I cover the Torquays and put me in touch with guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter Dale Aston. It’s notable that the Ara 45 was produced by Roland Janes, probably recorded at his Sonic Sound studio where he also produced sides by Travis Wammack. Dale kindly answered my questions about the band:
Dale Aston and Wendell Colbert were 14 years old and their fathers worked at US Steel together in Birmingham. Both were starting to take guitar lessons and began practicing together. After a while they added a drummer (Eddie Rice) and bass player (Gary Quattlebaum). From there the band grew to a six piece dance group playing Motown and other R&B Top Forty hits of the day.
We played the Sock Hop circuit around Alabama which included National Guard Armories and Rec Centers in Birmingham, Sylacauga, Childersburg, Guntersville, Lanett, Huntsville, Montgomery and Columbus, GA. We played the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, many fraternity and soroities at University of Alabama, Auburn, University of Georgia as well as private parties for large companies and organizations. Around Alabama we were a back up band for acts like Billie Joe Royal; Chuck Berry; Bobby Goldsboro; Freddie Cannon and Travis Wammack.
We were best friends with the Distortions and competed with all of Birminghams’ many local area bands like the Rockin Rebellions, The Counts, The Premiers and others.
Dale Aston wrote and produced the original material (“While I’m Away”; “The One Who Loves Me”) and the songs were recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and at studios in Memphis, TN. We also used Boutwell Studios in Birmingham.
We were introduced to Roland Janes by Travis Wammack. We had been backing Travis a number of times and we became friends. He had a tune or two he had written and wanted us to record so he invited us to Memphis and provided the studio time because we were recording his songs. This was just after the Boxtops hit #1 with “The Letter” and I think Roland and Travis were searching for new talent. They produced the record “You’re the One Who Loves Me” on ARA but I never knew how much distribution it received.
“While I’m Away” received good airplay in the Birmingham area and reach the #1 requested song on a radio station in Jacksonville, Florida. Our other records received some airplay in Birmingham due to our local fan following. In those days bands did not sell records at their live performances but through local record stores like Rumore Records in Birmingham. I guess we were too busy setting up, playing and loading the equipment for the next gig.
Once The Chartbusters came to Birmingham for a concert at WSGN radio for Dave Roddy. Their lead guitar player had to quit the tour unexpedtedly leaving the band without a guitarist for the remainder of the tour. Dave Roddy set up auditions for a few local guitarists for the job. I was offered the position but had to make a career decision since I had been accepted at the University of Alabama for the Fall semester whether to go on the road with The Chartbusters or go to college. I finally decided to go to college and have never regreted it. However, I often wonder what my life would have been like had I chosen to go on tour!
We became burned out after practicing and working together virtually every weekend for four years. Eugene Hayes (drummer) quit music. Barry Bicknell graduated with a degree in music from University of Alabama and became a high school band director. Steve Salord went to the University of North Texas and earned a Masters degree in music theory. Wendell Colbert continued palying with other bands and still palys today. I graduated from the University of Alabama with a BA in Commerce and Business Administration and went into the National Guard. After active duty I formed a small three piece group (The Brood) to play occasionally. I got married and started a career in Consumer Electronics sales and management.
I am still involved in music as a hobby at home and love to record on my PC. I use Sonar software. Here’s a link to some of my recordings.
The Unidentified Flying Objects – what’s the story?! Clockwise from left: Lisa Kindred, Helena Tribuno, Ann Sternberg and Laurie Stanton.
Lisa Kindred was a New York folk artist with an LP on Vanguard in 1965. The story goes, cult guru Mel Lyman had his henchman David Gude, who was the engineer on the session, steal the master tapes for her second Vanguard LP. Warner Bros./Reprise unwittingly issued it in 1970 as The Lyman Family with Lisa Kindred: American Avatar.
Kindred became part of the blues scene in San Francisco in the late ’60s. What I didn’t know until I came across this clipping in KRLA’s Beat paper was that she was briefly part of a L.A. pop group, the Unidentified Flying Objects. They certainly didn’t make it big, as expected, but I wonder if they recorded any material – if so I’d like to hear it.
Happy New Year 2010!
I’ll be celebrating at the Roky Erickson show in Brooklyn on January 1!
The Medallions cut this one 45 on the excellently-named Warped Records, then split up, as far as I know.
“Leave Me Alone” is a tough number, heavy on the tambourine and group vocals. It was written by Ralph Mullin. The flip is “She’ll Break Your Heart”, a Buddy Holly-type ballad written by Byron Penn. Virian J. Wadford produced the 45.
It turns out this group was from Oak Park, Illinois, not Wisconsin as I originally thought, though there was another Medallions from Wisconsin. Members were:
Bill Pappas – lead guitar Lennie Pigoni – rhythm guitar Byron Penn – keyboards Ralph Mullin – bass Tom Lloyd – drums
I did receive an email from someone who did not give her/his name:
My brother Tom Lloyd was the drummer in the group. The other members were Byron Penn, Ralph Mullens, Len Pagoni, and Bill Pappas. They did only make that one record that you mentioned. It was unfortunately, the draft that broke up the band. Tommy and Len were drafted into the army on the same day. When they returned from the service the guys had gone their separate ways. Byron had moved to Florida for a while, Len got married and Ralph and Bill just lost touch. Sadly, Tommy, Byron and Lenny are all deceased. They sure made some great music in their day, and kept a lot of Oak Park kids dancing!
Ralph Mullin is apparently the same person who appeared in two of Herschell Gordon Lewis’ late ’60s films. In Blast-Off Girls, from ’67, he’s part of a band called the Big Blast. The band was a real group whose name was actually the Faded Blue, a much cooler moniker if you ask me. The Faded Blue’s members were Tom Tyrell, Ron Liace, Dennis Hickey, Ralph Mullin and Chris Wolski.
Blast-Off Girls actually features two interesting bands, first ‘Charlie’ who are shown in the opening credits and scenes doing a song that might be titled “A Bad Day”. ‘Charlie’ consisted of Steve White, Tom Eppolito, Bob Compton, Ray Barry and Tony Sorci.
In the film’s plot, sleazy promoter Boojie Baker rips them off, so the band quits. Boojie finds the Big Blast to replace them at a club called the Mother Blues, and they’re featured through the rest of the film. Stylistically the Big Blast / Faded Blue are a little more sophisticated than Charlie, showing some folk and psychedelic influences while Charlie are a straight rock n’ roll garage band. The Big Blast release a record in the movie, but so far no one’s found a 45 by the Faded Blue.
In another Lewis movie, 1968’s Just for the Hell of It Ralph Mullin has the role of Lummox, one of the gang who tears up the club in one scene.
The band in the foreground of the credits is not the Big Blast (the Faded Blue), but ‘Charlie’, the more primitive garage group that quits the gig and is replaced by the Big Blast.
This turns out to be one of the more awkward cameos in movie history
Charlie mocking Boojie Baker
The Mother Blues Club, where Boojie discovers the Big Blast – was this a real club?
Ralph Mullin of the Big Blast / Faded Blue
Guitarist for the Big Blast / Faded Blue
Bassist for the Big Blast / Faded Blue
Keyboard player for the Big Blast / Faded Blue
The Big Blast in the studio
The Big Blast’s 45, Marvelous Noise!
The Big Blast blowing off their big career opportunity!
Beep Beep and the Road Runners, from left, back row: Warren Anderson, Ron Manley and Tommy Falkner; front row: Donny Ouellette and Jay Bonin. Photo courtesy of Don Ouellette
Beep Beep and the Road Runners formed in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1962 when the members were only adolescents 10 to 12 years old. Originally they were a quartet: Tom Falconer on bass and vocals, Ron Manley lead guitarist, Louie Dansereau played rhythm guitar and Donny Ouellette drums and vocals.
Don Ouellette lived across Grand Street from Tommy Falconer, and Don’s friend since childhood, Ronnie Manley suggested to Tommy that they start a band. Ronnie knew Louis Dansereau, and the band started practicing in Tom’s living room until they refurbished a room in the basement.
They added their manager’s son Jay Bonin as a second drummer for a short time. (I had spelled his name Jay Bonen, but I believe Bonin is correct). I asked Don Ouellette if they worked well together musically and Don said no, it was more of a gimmick, which was also what Tom Falconer said in an interview with Fuzbrains magazine. More importantly, the band also added a lead vocalist, Tim Ralston who would be crucial to the sound of their first 45.
As for the ‘Beep Beep’ in their band name, Tom said that it did not refer to any particular member – “There was never a Beep Beep”. Don Ouellette says he was ‘Beep Beep’ but the band kept that secret from the public for a long time.
Early on the band covered surf and r&b instrumentals by the Ventures and Duane Eddy, then added Beatles songs to their repertoire, often playing Friday evenings at St. Peters (Worcester Central). The band backed Gene Pitney twice and competed with local acts the Joneses, the New Breed, the Nite Riders and the Personals at clubs like the Comic Strip, the Speed Club (Speedway Club?) on Mill St., the Red Pony Lounge on Franklin, the Peacock Club in Auburn, and Tatassitt Beach on Lake Quinsigamond in Shrewsbury.
Their first 45 in May 1966 for Vincent Records had an original instrumental by Ron Manley on the A-side: the Link Wray-like Shifting Gears”. On the flip was Tom and Ron’s original song “True Love Knows”. It was an instant garage classic with Tim Ralston’s vocals sounding desperate and at times incoherent, while his cries of ‘true love knows’ on the chorus are echoed by another band member. I hear some evidence of the band’s two drummers in the intro to “True Love Knows”, where the tom rolls sound distinct from the beat kept by the bass drum, hi-hat and snare. I’d like to know details on how the song was recorded. George Gell informs me that it was cut at Al Soyka’s studio in Somers, Connecticut, home of the Glo label (New Fugitives – “That’s Queer”/”She’s My Baby”).
“True Love Knows” was a hit locally, staying at #1 spot on the charts of WORC, 1310 AM. The band’s manager Ray Bonin knew WORC station owner Bob Beyer well. In return for airplay the band appeared at many WORC events, including an opening of a Bradlees store in White City.
Tim Ralston soon left the group: he was older than the rest of the band and became undependable about showing up at their gigs. Jay Bonin also left the band after the first record due supposedly to fainting spells during live shows and from friction caused by Don’s increasing success as lead vocalist.
By late 1966 or early ’67 they added an organ player, Warren Anderson, who can be heard on their second 45 from August ’67, the cool “Don’t Run”, an original by Manley and Anderson. To me the song really takes off as the guitarist kicks in with his distortion pedal for the solo. The flip is a bizarre version of “Watermelon Man” that strips out the light touch of the original and turns it into an r&b burner. Don Ouellette sang lead on both sides of this 45. Audio Dynamics 45s were recorded at an old theater in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Don remembers adding his vocals to the instrumental tracks.
A third 45, “Do You Remember the Way We Started” was recorded but not released. The band added horns and became the Lundon Fog with Barry Wilson on vocals then broke up in 1973.
Ron Manley and Don Ouellette continued playing, first in Easy Street with Elaine Christie and then in Breez’n. Tim Ralston died in the late 70’s.
If anyone has photos of the group, please email me
I’m sorry to report that Ron Manley died on February 4, 2020.
Thanks to George and Mop Top Mike for their comments to my original post, which I’ve incorporated into this revised text. Very special thanks to LB Worm for helping me locate the 1983 interview that the Rev. Joe Longone and Brian Goslow did with Tom Falconer in the first issue of Worcester fanzine Fuzbrains, a major source for this article. Lastly, thank you to Don Ouellette for taking the time to speak to me and correct some errors in the article.
Brian Tolzmann wrote this history of his adolescent group, the Midnight Riders, featuring what I can guarantee is the most bizarre version of Hanky Panky you’ve ever heard.
The Midnight Riders, which was active in 1966 and 1967, consisted of:
Brian Tolzmann – guitar, vocals, organ Terry Selleck – vocals Tracy Tolzmann – vocals John Petersen – drums Mike Petersen – bass
I bought a guitar on August 21, 1965 at ‘B’ Sharp Music in Minneapolis, the very same day that ‘B’ Sharp Music presented Beatles guitarist George Harrison with a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar, when the Beatles were in town to present a concert.
The members of the Midnight Riders were ages 13, 12, 11, 9 and 7 in 1966, when the group started playing birthday parties and Muscular Dystrophy carnivals around town. The musical repertoire included the normal garage band fare, with Kinks, Dave Clark 5, Paul Revere & The Raiders tunes coupled with some Brian Tolzmann originals.
The photo shows me on the left and John Petersen on the right. The fact that John’s zipper is partially open is rather amusing. Back in those days we really didn’t take many photos, which is really different than things are today. I have another of John and myself playing guitars.
One day in July of 1966, the Midnight Riders played a neighborhood concert, complete with a dozen screaming girls. Unfortunately, that concert took place at the same time as a funeral was being held at a church a half-block away. The screaming girls could be heard at the church, leading the band members to later dub this event “The No Respect For The Dead Concert”.
We used electric guitars at the end of 1966, but the recording actually has non-electric guitars. The song on the tape is “Hanky Panky”, which we actually did as kind of a joke. At one point in the song our youngest member, Mike Petersen, can be heard singing,”She was a standin’ there, pickin’ her nose.”
I brought a recording of that concert to Sweden in December of 1966 when my family vacationed there. One of my relatives worked for Swedish Radio in Stockholm. We had stayed at his home for a few days. He thought his fellow workers would get a kick out of the tape as a novelty. The tape wound up being played by Sveriges Radio in Stockholm late in 1966 and early in 1967. The tape was marked only with my name and hometown of Forest Lake on it. Some Radio Sveriges staffers looked Forest Lake up on a map, and saw that Highway 61 ran right through the town. Bob Dylan’s famous “Highway 61 Revisited” album had just come out a few months earlier, so the Swedish disc jockeys dubbed the Midnight Riders as “The Highway 61 Boys”. The “Highway 61 Boys” were said to have been the youngest band to have its music played on Sveriges Radio up until that time.
The young ages of the group kept the Midnight Riders from performing at additional venues, and it would be a few years until Brian Tolzmann, Tracy Tolzmann and Terry Selleck went on to form the rock band Phreen in 1969. Phreen had the thrill of having their 1971 recording of Cream’s “I’m So Glad” played for Eric Clapton himself in March of 1981, when Clapton was hospitalized with bleeding ulcers in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Brian Tolzmann and Tracy Tolzmann went on to form the rock band Liberty in 1972. Liberty won that year’s “Summer of Sound” battle of the bands, beating more than 200 other bands from around the U.S., including early amalgamations of such famed groups as Kansas and REO Speedwagon.
Thanks for your help in preserving the “legacy” of the Midnight Riders!
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 cardRegular 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.
Five of a Kind, from left: Jay Vestal, Mike Magruder, Jimmy Reese, Phil Patterson and Wayne Taylor
The Five of a Kind released one great double-sided 45: “Never Again” / “I Don’t Want to Find Another Girl”. For years collectors have listed the band as a Fort Worth group, but like their Vandan label-mates the Gentlemen, they were actually from Dallas, as their bassist Phil Patterson confirmed to me:
I was in Five of a Kind (1964-1967) in Dallas, Texas, I was the bass player.
The band members were:
Lead guitar and singer: Wayne Taylor (Rickenbacker 12 string and Vox 6 string) Rhythm guitar and singer: Jimmy Reese (Vox) Drums: Mike Magruder (Ludwig) Sax: Jay Vestal Bass: Phil Patterson (Fender Precision)
Rhythm Kings, from left: Jimmy Reese, Phil Patterson, James Parrish, and Wayne TaylorWe went to Bryan Adams High School in Dallas along with Kenny and the Kasuals and others you have listed. Our first band, ‘the Rhythm Kings’ with Wayne Taylor, Jim Reese, and Phil Patterson along with our first drummer, James Parrish, before Mike Magruder joined us. The Rhythm Kings never recorded, but became ‘5 of a Kind’ with the addition of Jay on sax and Mike on drums. James Parrish died in 1966 racing his Corvette at a local quarter mile track. He had left the band about two years before I believe.
Rhythm Kings, from left: Jimmy Reese, Phil Patterson, James Parrish, and Wayne TaylorThe music we played was probably typical of the period. We played mainly the popular British Invasion music – Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Animals, Dave Clark 5, etc. as well as Young Rascals, Beach Boys, and we did a great version of Sonny and Chers’ “I’ve Got You Babe” (sorta campy version really). Also some of the soul standards and rhythm and blues we needed to play depending on the crowd that night.
The Mystics beat us out for the record contract they received and I believe that would have been at Broadway Skateland in Mesquite, Texas. There were sixteen bands in that battle-of-the-bands. Ronnie Blocker was also a bass player for Ricky and the Royals who was the house band there, and his dad owned the place.
We also played at Louanns, the Sumpin’ Else television dance show (with Ron Chapman as host) and Panther a Go Go television show in Ft. Worth where also on the bill that night were the Bill Black Combo, Peter and Gordon from England, and Johnny Green and the Green Men. We also played at La Maison in Houston and Gilley’s as well, when they added rock type music. We also played at Dewey Groom’s Long Horn Ballroom in Dallas when they added rock music to their usual country schedule.
We played at all the usual skating rinks in the area (Twilighters in Oak Cliff and Broadway in Mesquite come to mind); the Vaughan brothers would have played at Twilighters. Also high school sock hops and graduation dances. Small clubs and private parties all over the metroplex. Bill Ware’s Pirates Nook, the Amber Room where Lady Wilde and the Warlocks also played (Frank Beard and Dusty Hill’s older brother Rocky Hill); we played with the Marksmen (Boz Skaggs and Steve Miller at my uncle’s airport in Garland with sponser KBOX and Scotty McKay I believe. Hate to call those guys a garage band but they probably were at one time. We played many times at White Rock Lakes’ Winfrey Point for private parties, etc.
Early photo of Five of a KindI remember the night we played La Maison in Houston and were playing the Rascals song “Good Lovin'” when we were surprised by the actual Rascals coming on stage and finishing the song and announcing they would be playing there the next night. That was a thrill for us.
Some nights were not so great such as the time we were booked into the NCO club at Ft. Hood. We were double booked with a soul band. The club manager said we could battle it out to see who played and would be paid for the gig and let the audience decide. We played to luke warm response and the soul band clinched it with some James Brown and the two sax players they had doing a front somersault off the stage. The crowd went wild and we packed up to head back to Dallas that night.
We played all the time and had a good local following. All the band members were good musicians but Wayne wrote the original songs. Wayne was a typical lead singer/guitarist with lots of ego going on, but I think you have to be that way. The girls all loved Jay’s blonde surfer locks. I, as the bass player had a good music following because I played my Precision bass by finger picking and could play fast Yardbirds riffs. Then there were the groupies (thanks Sandy and Sherri and all the others), they were probably the real reason we all became musicians in the first place.
We released one 45 on the Vandan label (Tom Brown manager, and recorded at Summit Studios [Sumet Sound]). The ‘A’ side was called “Never Again” and the ‘B’ side was “I Don’t Want to Find Another Girl” [both] written by Wayne Taylor.
We sold almost a thousand records at 10 cents per record going to the band. I remember one check for $16.00 for each of us. Wow…
At one time we had a booking manager who said his name was Andy Presley and was a cousin of Elvis. The guy had the pompadour and the look. We later found out he was a Mexican guy and may not have been Elvis’ relative after all. We dropped him as he was also not booking many gigs for us.
I have not heard from Wayne, Mike or Jay since not long after the band broke up in ’67. I do know that Mike Magruder became a successful local DJ in Denton, Texas. Jimmy Reese worked all his life at the JC Penney company and lives in San Antonio, now retired I believe.
I’m now practicing commercial real estate sales in Plano, and was formerly an owner of the San Francisco Rose restaurant (still open after 32 years) with Scott Fickling and Larry Smith.
Phil Patterson, December 2009
Thanks to Phil for sending me the history of his group, and for the photos and scan of the 45. Thanks to Jay Vestal for the two flyers and the photo at the bottom of the page.
Yearbook photo for a show with the Rafters, with band business cardfrom left: Wayne Taylor lead guitar, Jay Vestal on sax and Phil Patterson on the bass guitar he wishes he still had, and Mike Magruder drums. (caption by Jay Vestal)
July 4, 1965 gig at a barbecue place in Dallas
“I don’t remember, but I think we won. Anybody that was willing to play at 9:30 a.m. deserved to win!” – Jay Vestal
The Five Bucks, from left: Steve Hearn, Chris Rose, Bruce Kerr, Jerry Daller, and Bauchman Tom
The Five Bucks had two of the finest harmony songs of the mid-60’s: “No Use in Trying” and “I’ll Walk Alone”. The group had a third 45 as the Five Bucks, and then three more releases as the Byzantine Empire. Jim Heddle of Ann Arbor wrote to me and said I should cover the Five Bucks, “WPAG played ‘Now You’re Gone’, which was a ballad, but I remember WAAM playing the b-side, ‘No Use In Trying’, which is a great rocker.”
I contacted Bruce Kerr, the bassist and one of the principal songwriters, who kindly answered my questions about the group and provided photos:
We formed the band days after we all converged on University of Michigan/Ann Arbor in August of ’65. Chris Rose and I met in our dorm piano lounge and started harmonizing. He brought in his roommate from Glencoe, IL, Steve Hearn; we grabbed our guitars and had a trio. We then added Jerry Daller across the hall from me who had to call his parents and have his drums shipped up from Detroit. I called my parents to have my amp shipped over from Waukesha, Wisconsin. These are calls parents do not want to receive three days into a frosh year, as you can imagine.
“Now You’re Gone” makes #46 on Ann Arbor station WPAG’s chart on April 26, 1966We put up an ad for a keyboard player and Bauchman Tom from Akron, OH, also a frosh at U/M answered it. [He played] a Farfisa organ, that characteristic 60’s sound, but he could make it cook. He turned out to be very good, played rock, classical, and jazz, and was Chinese-American which gave the band’s look some uniqueness and, right in the middle of the Civil Rights era, some political correctness before that phrase was in use.
We decided to name the band, “The Five Bucks.” I recall it was Chris’s idea. Our band card was a fake $5 bill with our names and dorm phone numbers in the corners (plus 1).
Chris, Steve, and I were all rhythm guitar players so we decided I’d learn bass, Steve would sing lead and play rhythm, and Chris would play lead. The three of us started collaborating immediately and “No Use In Trying” was our first effort, “Now You’re Gone” was our second (misprinted as “Now You’re Mine. The band was plagued by label misprints, the “5 Bucs” [on the Omnibus single] was a misprint, we were never anything but the Five Bucks, then the Byzantine Empire).
And after playing frat parties, doing Beatles song with perfect replication of the harmonies, and getting a great reception, the thing in those days was to get out a single (as your website shows). An album was a distant dream but local bands who sustained nearly always got to a single. We had a date with Detroit’s Edwin Starr on a Sunday to record. We drove in and he didn’t show at the studio.
In the spring of ’66, as our freshman year was ending, we all decided to live in the Chicago area where Chris and Steve had their family’s homes and play for the summer. When we got to Chicago, Chris’s dad had arranged through a friend for us to audition for a label, which turned out to be Afton, eventually. The mistake, we felt, was the promotion ended up going for the ballad rather than “No Use In Trying.” So it got played on WLS a few times, got us some good gigs, but never made it.
The Five Bucks, from left: Bruce Kerr, Chris Rose, Jerry Daller, Bauchman Tom and Steve Hearn
Chris & Steve’s friend, Harlan Goodman, went to work for William Morris in Chicago and the next thing we knew that spring and summer, we were opening major concerts in Chicago and Indiana for the Animals, Turtles, Hollies and others.
“I’ll Walk Alone” reaches #1 on WCBN, March 19, 1967Harlan Goodman booked us in ’66 as Del Shannon’s band, backing him up at two county fairs in Minnesota and a small college, I think it was. It was amazing to be 19 years old playing bass behind “Runaway” and other hits that six years before I was dancing to at junior high dances.
Having flunked out of U/M Engineering, I had to go back to Ann Arbor for the second part of the summer and Steve Gritton filled in on bass on keyboards.
We played a bunch of venues like the Aragon Ballroom with other bands like the Shadows of Knight, Buckinghams, the Flock, the Real McCoys and a couple more that were popular locally that I can’t remember…ah, the Cryin’ Shames. Went between Ann Arbor and to Chicago on half the weekends and all summers.
There was camaraderie but competition too. Everyone wanted to be the breakout band, like American Breed finally did, and Chicago (Transit Authority) who became monster-big.
We hung back stage in Hammond, Indiana with the Hollies in ’66. I asked Graham Nash how long he’d be in the states and he replied, “about 6 feet.” everyone laughed and I shrunk back into the ranks of the opening acts.
“I’ll Walk Alone” a pick hit on WAAM’s chart on April 10, 1967Five Bucks opening for the Doors at the U. of Michigan Homecoming
The Five Bucks opened for The Doors, fall of ’67 for our U/Michigan Homecoming. Morrison got booed off the stage, he was drunk and the crowd wanted to DANCE. The student in charge came begging to us, “Please go back up and quiet down this crowd.” We took to the stage and opened with the Temps’ “Ain’t to Proud to Beg” and the place went crazy and the night was saved. Huge crowd, the old U/M gym, high stage, it was nuts.
That winter of ’66-’67, we recorded on Omnibus: “I’ll Walk Alone” / “So Wrong.” Came out in the spring, was #1 in Ann Arbor and some other places. In the fall we recorded “Breath of Time” / “Without Love” on USA Records.
Q. Where were the Afton and Omnibus singles recorded?
Both in Chicago, I forget the studio names. The Afton record was recorded in an old 4-track studio. I think Omnibus, as well. Only with Universal in ’68 were we in anything bigger, 12 track then. Still, the singles were mono, not stereo.
That fall, our agents, Bruce Shankman and Earl Glicken (the Monkees promoter in Chicago) hooked us up with Traut. We went in unplugged (another term before its time) to Traut’s office and played some new originals: “Whenever I’m Lonely,” “Girl In the Courtyard” and some covers and Traut was sold on us. Wanted us to be an answer to “The Association.” Even had the Asian-American. Bauchman briefly took on a Hawaiian stage personna as Kelly Kulukua, something like that.
The Byzantine Empire at Soldier Field, from left: Steve Hearn, Bauchman Tom, Bruce Kerr, Jerry Daller and Chris Rose
Bill said, rightly, we needed a new name. I was a history major and suggested the name [The Byzantine Empire], a weird choice of a name in retrospect, but what wasn’t that year?
In the winter of ’68-69, Traut signed us and booked us on spec into Universal Studios, a 12-track studio, state-of-the-art facility, hired members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. We recorded the two originals listed just above, plus the Association’s album song “Happiness Is,” “You,” “Snowqueen” by Carole King, and “Shadows & Reflections”, two sessions, a couple months a part, as I recall.
Traut sold us to Amy records, a sub of Bell Records in NY for $25K. Problem is, he had his pal, Eddie Higgins & Bob Schiff produce us. They were competent but not the visionary Bill was. We would have done better with Bill producing but he was trying to build up his team. He was partnering with Jimmy Golden but they had a falling out just as we were hoping to blossom, which caused problems for Bill, and ultimately, for us, I think.
The Byzantine Empire in the studio, 1967, from left: Chris Rose, Bruce Kerr, Bauchman Tom, Jerry Daller and Steve Hearn
Q. So Bill Traut set up the Universal Studio sessions but didn’t produce any of them?
Right, he gave us Eddie Higgins & Bob Shiff instead; we were let down by that.
Q. Were you all playing your instruments on the Amy recordings, or using studio musicians for the backing?
We all played except Jerry Daller on drums. Traut brought in a jazz club drummer, especially for the 3/4 beat on “Snow Queen.” not many drummers in rock bands played 3/4, Jerry included. He was really a garage band drummer, but he held his own. Still, Traut was right to replace him for the two sessions, three songs at each.
Q. I can see “Happiness Is” as an obvious commercial choice, but how did you decide to record “Shadows and Reflections”?
Traut, it’s a weak song, strange too, but we couldn’t find anything better in the stack of writers’ promo demo copies he gave us to choose from. “Shadows & Reflections” was during our second session with Bill, probably summer/fall ’68.
Q. Were you aware of the original version by Eddie Hodges (ironically on Sunburst, which was distributed by Amy) or the one by the UK group the Action?
Interesting, no, I hope they were better than our version.
Q. Would you say the band tried to cultivate a more refined sound over time, or was that mainly Bill Traut’s doing?
Yes, the Byzantine Empire went for harmony a la Association. We liked their sound anyway, from “Mary” to “Cherish.” We could do chords (correctly) and we could do harmony, this was no band of blues three-chorders. So part of it was Traut…definitely the “You” / “Shadows & Reflections” stuff…we thought it was square, like the Vogues, and wanted something rougher but he knew we were no Troggs, that our look and sound had to be melodic and pop sounding. The USA side A, “Breath of Time” before that, was an attempt to get a rougher sound, fuzz tone, etc.
“Snow Queen” was a Gavin pick but, being 3/4 waltz time, and with no major hook other than the title being sung at the end of each verse, our soaring harmonies weren’t enough. Then “Happiness Is” was released (we pretty much copied the arrangement of the Association) and it didn’t make it. Finally, per the contract, “You” came out close to our graduating and did zip.
Bill Traut once told us, in retrospect, that “Whenever I’m Lonely” could have been a monster ballad hit. I’m not sure if he was hoping for a flip hit after “Happiness Is” which he thought was a sure-fired hit, if “Snowqueen” didn’t hit. None of them did and we maybe should have stayed with our original sound instead of thinking we had to have a hit with an almost exact replica of “Happiness Is.” But, we were hungry to make it, felt we could shape our sound after we had a commercial hit.
Even “Courtyard” and “Whenever I’m Lonely” were our soft side. We had a rockier, Beau Brummels type sound that had more grit and might have served us better by ’68, with the way music turned away from pretty harmonies toward heavy guitars and, if any, soul harmony, or none at all.
We graduated, did one more gig that summer in Chicago, and went our separate ways. Chris and I have maintained our friendship for the next 40 years, he still is in contact with Steve, but Jerry’s totally gone, and Chris and I only kept up with Bauchman through the mid to late 70’s and he disappeared also.
Q. Are there any unreleased recordings? Any live recordings?
Somewhere there’s our third song ever from ’65, “Say It Now,” that I think could have been a hit. It was a recording session dub, nothing ever came of it. Chris had a great song, “Inspector Hayes,” another dub from a session that never became a record. No one knows where these two are. Nothing live ever, too bad.
Q. Lastly has there been interest in re-releasing the records? I know they’ve come up on bootleg compilations, but I don’t think they’ve ever been legitimately released, at least not together.
Nothing I’ve heard about. Frankly, there may be more interest in our stuff now than from the record buying public back then (apparently)!
Q. Finally, I find it amazing that the group was able to stay together all four years of college with no changes, other than that short time “Stubs” subbed for you.
Yeah, we all got along pretty well. Steve, Chris and I were fast friends which was the core. We all liked the money (lots of gigs) and (mostly) not having to work other jobs in the summers or during the school year. Helped with meeting girls on campus since the band was popular there…
Mostly, it was the age-old (well…) bit of the dream to become like the Beatles or Stones, on the radio, songs people would love and hum, and the life of a millionaire rock star, as we envisioned it. All of this with the Vietnam War draft in the background. And there was no deferment for rock star. Some of the best moments were when we were in the studio, it seemed like we were about to make it, there with all the tools and “old guys” at the controls (they were probably in their 30’s), telling us, “it could be a hit!”
When you get played on WLS, you pretty much figure it’s just going to keep going up from there. It was a great time, and I’m probably happier today for our not making it and having to play state fairs now with REO Speedwagon.
When the band broke up, I went to law school and am a lawyer today (though I took 20 years off, ’73-’93 to be a solo performer, “Loose Bruce Kerr,” so the itch was not entirely scratched in the band years). Easier now as a lawyer than living in motel rooms and touring!
Bruce Kerr
Chris Rose adds:
It was Steve Hearn’s girlfriend’s father, Jerry Wexler, real estate tycoon, who got us the audition with Milt Salstone, owner of Reprise records [actually owner of M-S Distributors]. Milt started the Afton label as a subsidiary for rock and roll music.
I haven’t heard from or about our keyboardist in many years. His name is Bauchman Tom (people used to frequently mispronounce his name as “Tom Buachman”). He was, by far, the best musician in the group. He was up there with the best of the day in keyboard talent. On one mini-tour with The Iron Butterfly, Doug Engle (the composer of “In a Gadda Da Vida” ) told Bauchman that he played the song as well, if not better than Doug did. Our road managers [were] Terry Gano and Dean Suffka – they went on to work for The Seeds, Friend and Lover, Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, The People, Kansas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Blues Image, The Doors, and Captain Beyond, and others after our group broke up.
The Seeds, Friend and Lover, Iron Butterfly, Blue Cheer, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, The People, Kansas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Blues Image, The Doors, and Captain Beyond.
The Byzantine Empire at the Jaguar, April 6, 1968 with the Strawberry ExpressAdding to the list of groups and artists we played with or opened for: Del Shannon (opened and played as his band, the second set), Edwin Starr (he told Barry Gordy he wanted to manage our group because we could harmonize), Bobby Head (Sunny), People, The Iron Butterfly, Paul Revere and the Raiders (Lake Geneva), The Vogues (opened and backed them up instrumentally), Eric Burdon and The Animals, The Turtles (one concert at the Hammond Civic Center – crowd: 10,000, and one TV appearance), The Hollies, The Royal Guardsmen (they hated the Snoopy songs), Friend & Lover, colleagues of Herb Alpert (from our manager’s stable of talent) – he even went to Arlington Park racetrack with my Dad, all the Chicago based groups, multiple times – The Flock, The Buckinghams, The New Colony Six, The Shadows of Knight, The Mauds, The Ides of March with Jim Peteryk (they used to wear long-haired wigs when they were 17 – their parents wouldn’t let them grow their hair), Baby Huey and the Babysitters, The American Breed, Brenda Lee (a TV show in Windsor, Canada), Siegel-Schwall Blues Band, Sam the Sham, The Knickerbockers, The Kingsmen, The McCoys. I am sure I have left a few out.
The Byzantine Empire, 1968 from left: Chris Rose, Jerry Daller, Steve Hearn, Bauchman Tom and Bruce KerrThe Byzantine Empire, from left: Chris Rose, Bruce Kerr, Bauchman Tom, Steve Hearn and, Jerry Daller.
45 releases:
The Five Bucks
No Use In Trying / Now You’re Gone (erroneously printed as Now You’re Mine) (Afton 1701) May 1966 I’ll Walk Alone / So Wrong (Omnibus 1001) November 1966 (band listed as The Five Bucs) Breath of Time / Without You (U.S.A. 882) 1967
Byzantine Empire
Girl In The Courtyard / Snowqueen (Amy 11,018) 1968 Happiness Is / Whenever I’m Lonely (Amy 11,034) 1968 You / Shadows and Reflections (Amy 11,046) 1968
All photos courtesy of Bruce Kerr. Thanks to Jim Heddle for scans of the radio charts and Omnibus 45.
The Portraits in New York, 1968, from left: Gary Myers, Jerry Tawney, Stan Ray and Phil Alagna
The Portraits, by Gary E. Myers
Milwaukee Roots
The Capitol, Liz, Nike, RCA, Sidewalk and Tri-Disc record labels all released singles by groups called the Portraits between 1959 and 1968; I was a member of the Portraits on Sidewalk.
The Portraits, 1967The roots of the band began in January 1964 in Milwaukee, when rhythm guitarist Duane Smith put together a new lineup for his band, the Cashmeres: singer/guitarist Doug Weiss, bassist Tom Hahn, and myself on drums. The new Cashmeres landed their first gig backing Tommy Roe in the Skyroom at Monreal’s on 16th & National, and soon moved into the regular six-night-a-week gig there. Hahn and I had recorded for Tide Records in Los Angeles the previous summer (’63) while working with Milwaukee’s Darnells in Orange County. Around April 1964 Tide contacted Hahn about cutting two more sides for them. The Kingsmen had placed Tide’s copyright, “Mojo Workout” on their “Louie Louie” album, and Tide wanted to put out a single with one of their signed artists. We cut the song and a B-side at Dave Kennedy Studios (augmenting our session with three members of the Skunks) and changed our name to the Mojo Men to help promote the record.
Nothing happened with the record, but the Mojo Men worked steadily in and around Milwaukee, along with gigs in Grand Rapids and Detroit. We backed Johnny Tillotson and Chuck Berry, and worked opposite Jerry Lee Lewis. In summer 1965 Doug Weiss was hit with a 30-day jail term (driving with a suspended license, I believe), so the Mojo Men had to make a move. Guitarist John Rondell (Beilfuss) and bassist Phil Alagna were looking for work, having returned from a Southern California trip along with singer Billy Joe Burnette. (Rondell and Burnette had also worked with Milwaukee’s Legends on their 1964 Florida trip). Duane Smith and Tom Hahn had begun to be at odds, so the Mojo Men let Hahn go and added Rondell and Alagna, expanding to five pieces when Weiss was released,
Move to Los Angeles
In August 1965 the Mojo Men relocated to the L.A. area. On the drive out we heard “Off The Hook” by another Mojo Men, but it didn’t chart nationally so we paid little attention to it. By October, however, that same San Francisco band did chart with “Dance With Me”. We were not happy about that, but the record only reached #61, so we took no action – except that an agent booked us on a few of their gigs. (We later learned that the record got airplay in Milwaukee on our reputation). Doug Weiss adopted the stage name of Doug Masters and left to join a Las Vegas style review. The Mojo Men briefly replaced him with Billy Joe Burnette and then Tim Welch, but Paul Stefan (Stefaniak), an excellent singer and another old friend from Milwaukee (where he had regional hits with the Royal Lancers and the Apollos), was also in the area. He joined around March 1966.
During a steady gig at the Tip Top in Inglewood we backed the Coasters, Penguins, Rivingtons, Dick & Dee Dee, and Jerry Wallace. The schedule included Friday and Saturday after-hours sessions where many musicians and music-biz people hung out, and we were getting a good local reputation. One of the frequent sit-in’s (possibly Bobby Mason) was a Mike Curb protégé and he convinced Curb to come and see us. Curb liked what he heard and we signed a record deal with him and a management contract with Clancy Grass, who had an office in Curb’s suite and some sort of connection with him.
This was not the most opportune time for the band to head back to the Midwest, but Smith’s wife was pregnant and wanted to be near her family back home, so off we went. By the end of the summer everyone but Smith was itching to be back in California; the four of us decided to make the move while Smith stayed. Phil Alagna became the new leader mostly by default, being the only one interested in handling the business aspect.
Name Changes
The Mojo Men went back into Curb’s studio, and returned to a five-piece lineup with the addition of another old Milwaukee friend, B3 player Pat Short (Cibarrich). John Rondell had written “Runaround Girl” and we cut it with Paul Stefan’s lead vocal. We also recorded the vocal for “Hiding From Myself”, a filler song for the Dr. Goldfoot & the Girl Bombs soundtrack LP. By this time (fall 1967) the San Francisco Mojo Men had hit Billboard’s top 40 with “Sit Down I Think I Love You”; now we needed to change our name. Stefan wanted it to be “Paul & the (something)”, so at a meeting in Mike Curb’s office, we began tossing out names. We thought it would be good to have another “P” word, and it got down to Paul & the Pack. I didn’t like it, but I was the lone dissenting voice so it won.
I had been a subscriber to Billboard Magazine for several years and, within a day or two of the Curb meeting, I discovered that “I (Who Have Nothing)” by Terry Knight and the Pack was edging its way up the Hot 100. This was no good! After our gig that night I began looking in the dictionary under “P” for another name. When I got to “picture” I noticed the synonym “portrait” and thought, “That’s it!” I called a couple of the guys at 3 AM (having just gotten off the gig at 1:45) and they agreed that Paul & the Portraits would be a good name. The next day I called Curb’s office and he understood, but said he had already ordered 20,000 record labels showing Paul & the Pack. So, the Dr. Goldfoot LP bills the Portraits as Paul & the Pack, while the photo on the back cover shows us holding a picture frame to go with the name Portraits. Members depicted (L-R) are Phil Alagna, Gary Myers, Paul Stefan, John Rondell and Pat Short.
Then came another typical 60’s setback – Paul got drafted. We did a few gigs, and even another recording session, as a four-piece band, but we were lacking a strong lead singer, and then Pat Short also left. Clancy Grass had previously managed singer Jerry Tawney, who had come to L.A. from West Virginia and released a 1966 single on Liberty. Tawney had since gone back to WV, but Clancy convinced him to return to the coast to join our band. We re-recorded “Runaround Girl” with Jerry and we did the vocal for “Devil’s Angels” (as “Jerry & the Portraits”) over the same track used for Davie Allan’s instrumental version. We also cut a remake of “A Million To One” along with one of Jerry’s songs, “Let’s Tell The World”.
Recordings
The Portraits always used much vocal harmony, influenced by the Four Seasons, the Happenings, the Buckinghams, Jay & the Americans, and others. Most of the band’s sessions began with a basic track of bass, guitar and drums (Phil, John and me), and then instrumental overdubs: Phil on piano or organ, John with a second guitar part, and I sometimes added acoustic rhythm guitar. On one or two sessions I added vibes, and we used studio horn men on a few songs. The four of us would lay down our background vocal parts and then double them before putting Jerry’s lead on top. Once, when John was gone, we used our friend Larry Carlton, who went on to become one of the top studio guitarists in the business. Phil Alagna and I also played on two sessions for the Mystic Astrologic Crystal Band, another group managed by Clancy Grass. The Portraits recorded several unreleased songs and we sang on a Curb-produced commercial that was never used.
The Four Seasons had hit with their update of Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” in 1966, and Jerry came up with the idea of re-doing “Over The Rainbow” in a similar fashion. We incorporated a bit of the arrangement from the Demensions’ 1961 hit, but added much of our own, along with the switch to the up-tempo rock beat. I did the group arrangement and studio guitarist/arranger Don Peake wrote the charts for the “sweetening” – French horn, chimes and strings.
The record was released December 1967 and everyone involved was excited about it. However, we were not happy about coupling it with “Runaround Girl”; we felt that both songs were A-sides. This turned out to be a valid belief, as each side got airplay in different areas. One or the other charted in several cities, but neither charted nationally. There was also some talk that December was not a good time to release it. Airplay was more limited that month because of Christmas music, and perhaps by January some stations would have already put it aside. The Portraits did a Beverly Hills show with Mike Clifford, Ian Whitcomb, Boyce & Hart, and Don & Goodtimes, and appeared on TV8 Dancetime in San Diego, but little else developed. The band probably should have toured, especially to the cities where the record was played.
In early 1968 John Rondell left to join a San Diego band and Stan Ray (Hartford) replaced him. Around March I saw a trade ad for the Schaefer Talent Hunt, a large advertising promotion seeking new talent to record the Schaefer Beer jingle in New York. Without even mentioning it to the other members, I filled out the entry blank and sent it along with our two Sidewalk singles. To my great surprise, a few weeks later I received a telegram stating that we were one of the 10 winners. We were flown to New York and, because our selection was based on our “Over The Rainbow” vocals (they didn’t know that we were a self-contained band), studio musicians (including noted drummer Mel Lewis) cut the tracks, which were arranged by Peter Matz in the style of our “Over The Rainbow” version.
At A&R Studios in New York, from left: unidentified, arranger Peter Matz, Stan Ray, Jerry Tawney, Gary Myers and Phil Alagna.
Beyond the 60’s
For the remainder of 1968 into 1969 the Portraits had a six-nighter at the Water Wheel in West Covina with little or no involvement from Clancy. However, we were still under contract to him and, when he learned of our beer commercial, he wanted a cut. We disagreed, but at some point, Jerry went back to him for more recording sessions without telling the rest of the band; the esprit de corps was fading. John Rondell had rejoined the band, but in August 1969 he and I left to join Duane Smith (original Cashmere’s leader from 1964), who now had a Nevada-based show group, the Cee & Dee Review.
The Portraits continued with more changes under Phil Alagna (now going as Phil Anthony). In December 1972, after I had left Duane Smith and worked many other gigs back in SoCal, I rejoined. The band had just joined forces with Sanetti & Rueda, a Stockton-based music/comedy team. Over the next few years we worked Reno and Lake Tahoe several times, along with Las Vegas and many other showrooms in California, Oregon and Arizona. I was replaced in March 1975 when a drummer who had previously worked with two of the other members was looking for work.
I continued playing full time in and around the greater L.A./Orange County areas until March 1982, and then joined a “casual” band led by Stan Ray, the guitarist from the Portraits’ beer commercial period. Phil Alagna kept the Portraits going through many more personnel shifts until that summer, when he disbanded the group and joined Stan and me on the casuals. By summer 1983 I was also doing occasional gigs as a leader, for which I exhumed the Portraits name. One day that summer, as a surprise to Phil and Stan, I called Jerry Tawney to see if he could come to our gig. He made it down and the four of us got together for the first time in 15 years.
Epilogue
Duane Smith, always a hard-working businessman, quit performing in the 80’s and opened a studio rental business in Portland, OR. That venture grew into West Coast Event Productions with major clients and a second office in Las Vegas.
Doug Weiss (Masters) gigged for many years in the Twin Cities and then returned to Las Vegas, where he was the Bobby Hatfield part of a Righteous Brothers tribute act. He died October 2007 (b: 8/3/42; Milwaukee).
Tom Hahn (b: 1939; Tipton, IN) had left the music business by 1970 and settled in Michigan.
Phil Alagna (b: 1943; Milwaukee) worked in piano sales and later as a piano tuner, while continuing to gig part-time. He was still playing in 2009 as the Phil Anthony Band, mostly for senior dances and functions.
John Beilfuss (Rondell) (b: 1945; Milwaukee) returned to Wisconsin in the 70’s and continued playing until 1996. He subsequently began a wedding photography business in the Eau Claire area.
Billy Joe Burnette had releases on many labels from at least 1965-79. He scored a big success in 1976 as the co-writer of Red Sovine’s “Teddy Bear” during the CB radio boom.
Tim Welch (b. 7/41; Wichita, KS and was shot & killed in W. Hollywood in 2/72) had previous releases on Edit and Reprise and a later release on Attarack.
Paul Stefaniak (Stefan) (b: 1941; Milwaukee) had rejoined the Portraits after his military duty, but left the music business by the mid-70’s. He was last known to be living in the Yuma, AZ area.
Pat Cibarrich (Short) had relocated to Louisville, KY in the late 60’s and subsequently returned to Milwaukee, continuing to play music. He died January 1998.
Jerry Tawney connected with writer/producer Jerry Fuller in the 70’s and had several solo releases on Bell. One of his songs appeared on Al Wilson’s La La Peace Song LP, and he was also in Yellow Hand on Capitol. Tawney left the music business in 1982 and became a mortgage loan consultant for Countrywide.
Stan Ray became a successful attorney in Los Alamitos, CA, specializing in estate planning.
Gary Myers (b: 1942; Milwaukee): I worked for a large music store in Arcadia, CA from 1985-2006, while continuing to play a variety of gigs in the greater L.A./O.C. area, including occasional work with Phil Alagna. As of 2009 I had written and self-published four books (see here for more information); still playing, and as recently as January 2008, had used the name “The Portraits”.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
Ken Taylor gave me the history and photos of his first group, Mike and the Dimensions, also known as the simply the Dimensions, or the Fabulous Dimensions:
The Medallions cut this one 45 on the excellently-named Warped Records, then split up, as far as I know.
Beep Beep and the Road Runners formed in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1962 when the members were only adolescents 10 to 12 years old. Originally they were a quartet: Tom Falconer on bass and vocals, Ron Manley lead guitarist, Louie Dansereau played rhythm guitar and Donny Ouellette drums and vocals.
As for the ‘Beep Beep’ in their band name, Tom said that it did not refer to any particular member – “There was never a Beep Beep”. Don Ouellette says he was ‘Beep Beep’ but the band kept that secret from the public for a long time.
“True Love Knows” was a hit locally, staying at #1 spot on the charts of WORC, 1310 AM. The band’s manager Ray Bonin knew WORC station owner Bob Beyer well. In return for airplay the band appeared at many WORC events, including an opening of a Bradlees store in White City.
A third 45, “Do You Remember the Way We Started” was recorded but not released. The band added horns and became the Lundon Fog with Barry Wilson on vocals then broke up in 1973.
The Five Bucks had two of the finest harmony songs of the mid-60’s: “No Use in Trying” and “I’ll Walk Alone”. The group had a third 45 as the Five Bucks, and then three more releases as the Byzantine Empire. Jim Heddle of Ann Arbor wrote to me and said I should cover the Five Bucks, “WPAG played ‘Now You’re Gone’, which was a ballad, but I remember WAAM playing the b-side, ‘No Use In Trying’, which is a great rocker.”
