Category Archives: US

Categories: D-Rea, Rice Lake, Spooner, Wisconsin

Jim Curran with the Lonely Ones

January 19, 2009 Chris Bishop 8 Comments

Here’s a contribution from JP Coumans, who writes:

Here’s an over-the-top-as-garage-music-should-be record: Jim Curran with the Lonely Ones – “Aren’t You Happy” – on the super obscure D-Rea records!
Probably dating from ’65 – ’66 and besides the incredible crude production it’s got great kinda “girl put me down” or is it “put the girl down” lyrics! And they definitely listened very well to “Twist and Shout”… since they took it over and changed it into their own song … with an incredible cool loud break!!!!!
This Jim Curran probably was a rich man’s son who invited the Lonely Ones to release a record together with him. While looking at Jim he’s probably some university dude who really wanted to make a record.
The B-side is something completely different … instead of “Let there be drums” it’s “Drums Send Me” … with only Jim Curran credits. Is this drum instro music? Definitely Jim hasn’t drummed before because that’s how it sounds … completely off rhythm and it sounds more like a space filler!

I’ll repeat Edward Scalzo’s comment about this release, as it gives the most information about it:

This record was recorded in 1966 in the basment of Jim Curran’s home is Rice Lake, Wisconsin. It is correct that he was a rich man’s son that wanted to make a record and asked the band to take part.
The Lonely Ones were a very popular band from Spooner, WI that played gigs all around northern Wisconsin 1965-66 and a little bit in ’67. Originally known as The Epitaphs the band loved doing Rolling Stones and the like. This song is not typical of the band. I played bass with the band ’65-66. The guys had a bit of a bad boy image, but not me. I am the young gentlemen wearing glasses upper right.
I do not have a copy but would like to have one. The flip side is Jim trying to learn to drum, it was just filler.

Categories: California, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Sara, Tide, Wisconsin

The Darnells

January 18, 2009 Gary E. Myers 15 Comments

These Darnells (unrelated to the ones on Gordy) began in Milwaukee as Denny & the Darnells circa 1959, with various musicians (including future Legends drummer Jim Sessody) passing through the band. The line-up that went into the Cuca studios to record the first single consisted of lead guitarist Denny King, tenor saxophonist Tom Fabre, singer Gary Lane, Bruce Wells on piano, Norm Sherian on rhythm guitar, and Jerry Sworske on drums. The A-side is their remake of Gene Vincent’s “Little Sheila”, while the instrumental flip is a Latin standard, featuring the jazz oriented sax-man Fabre.

Mike Blattner eventually replaced Sworske on drums, and singer Kim Marie was a member when they played off-night gigs at the Spa on 5th & Wisconsin in September 1962. Our Florida band, the Nightbeats, was touring through Milwaukee’s ACA agency, and they had booked us into the Spa for two weeks. We were looking for a different guitar man and King was looking for steady work, so he joined our band, putting a temporary end to the Darnells. However, five months later King and I left the Nightbeats to reform the Darnells as a trio, with bassist Tom Hahn. Hahn had already been out to Southern California with the Bonnevilles and he wanted to make another trip in order to obtain a Mexican divorce from his estranged wife. A SoCal trip sounded great to Denny and me, so in May 1963 we headed west and landed a gig for the summer at the Firehouse, a beer bar on 17th Street in Costa Mesa.

On the referral of the Nightbeats’ bass player, we connected with the Tide label in L.A. and recorded eight sides – two instrumentals and a pair of vocals by each of us. “Spooner”, the first instrumental, is an up-tempo, surfy, 12-bar blues guitar rocker. The flip is another 12-bar blues, this time a slightly jazzy mid-tempo swing. Denny King’s “She’s My Girlfriend” is teenish, while the flip has the flavor of Troy Shondell’s “This Time”. My own release is teen pop with added strings and voices. To my knowledge, Hahn’s vocals were the only cuts not released from those sessions.

We returned to Milwaukee that fall and, in January 1964, Hahn and I left to join the Cashmeres, bringing a final end to the Darnells. The Cashmeres metamorphosized into the Mojo Men (who later evolved into the Portraits with releases on Sidewalk). Hahn left the Mojo Men and did some work in Memphis with Ace Cannon (“Tuff,” 1962) before leaving the music business and settling in Michigan. After doing some club work with country singer Johnny Carver, Denny King returned to California and teamed up with the Canadian Beadles (sic), whom we had previously met in Ishpeming, Michigan. That combination recorded one single for Tide as the Mojo Men, but they had no connection with the Milwaukee Mojo Men. (It seems that Tide Records, having had their only national chart appearance with Larry Bright’s “Mojo Workout” in 1960, tried to capitalize on the “Mojo” name in every possible way).

After his solo recording for Specialty in 1972, King moved to the Sacramento area and formed a booking agency. He later imported medical supplies from Korea and had other business involvements before he died in 2000; Mike Blattner died in 2004. Gary Lane had gone on to work with the Mad Lads and the Saints Five, and later owned a club in Milwaukee. Besides the Darnells, Jerry Sworske had drummed with several other Milwaukee bands, including the Noblemen and Junior & the Classics. He later became a police officer. Tom Fabre moved to Los Angeles and continued in music until his death in 2007. Kim Marie has organized frequent oldies shows in Milwaukee since 2000. This writer has lived in the greater L.A. area since 1965, played full-time until 1982, and part-time since then.

Darnells releases:

Sara 1055: Little Sheila/Besame Mucho, 11/61
Tide 1090: Spooner/Sleepy, 9/63

Tide 1091: She’s My Girlfriend/Long Lonely Night (Denny King), /63
Edit 2005: Poor Little Baby/If (You’d Only Be Mine) (Gary Myers), 11/63
Tide 2000: Surfin’ Fat Man/Paula (Mojo Men), 2/64
Tide 2001: Mojo Workout/I Got A Woman (Tommy Hahn & the Mojo Men), 5/64
Specialty 726: Bessie Mae/Go Down Moses (Denny King), /72
Specialty LP 5003: Evil Wind Is Blowing (Denny King), /72

Gary E. Myers is author of two histories of Wisconsin music of the 50’s & 60’s, “Do You Hear That Beat” and “On That Wisconsin Beat”, as well as two instructional books, “Understanding and Using Chords and Chord Progressions” and “Understanding and Using Scales and Modes”. Check Gary’s website for more information.

Darnells in Appleton: Tom Hahn, Gary Myers, Denny King

Darnells 1963: Tom Hahn, Gary Myers, Denny King

Categories: Dellwood, Hackensack, Hampton Bays, New Jersey, Saddle Brook, Suffolk County

The Yorkshire Puddin on Dellwood Records

January 11, 2009 Chris Bishop 5 Comments

Yorkshire Puddin Photo Dellwood — The Yorkshire Puddin, from left: R. Ponce de Leon, Danny Jolin, Bob Heinich, and Bob Cotherin

The Yorkshire Puddin cut two 45s on Dellwood Records in ’67 and ’68. Their first 45 is the fine “Good Night Day” backed with “Ain’t Gonna Love Ya No More”. They updated their sound for the second release, “Keep Me In Mind”.

“Keep Me in Mind”, like both sides of their first 45 were written by Cotharin – De Leon and produced by Woody Gardella. “Black Jacket Woman”, the flip of “Keep Me in Mind”, is the same moody pop number also done by the Zone V and the Tropics (the original?). I hear a female voice on the harmonies on this song only.

Dellwood was based in first Hackensack then nearby Saddle Brook, New Jersey.

Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Frank DePauw left a detailed comment about the band below, that I’ll repeat here:

Bob Cotharin, left hand Hofner bass player, and head singer and spokesman of the group.
Reynold Ponce De Leon, keyboards, (harpsichord), rhythm guitar, and harmonies.
Robert Heinick, lead guitar, and vocalist.
Gail Koennemann did some backup singing, and wed Bob Cotharin in ’69 or ’70. No longer together.
Daniel Jollen, drummer, drafted into the Army in the summer of ’68
Frank DePauw, second guitar, harmonies, backup keyboards, and in spare time, light show producer.
The group was the “house band” for the “Castaway” in Hampton Bay, Long Island, N.Y. in the summer of “68, when the drummer was drafted. A mad search went out, but no one could fill Dan’s job, and the group, after trying to get the “sound” back, broke up.

The photo of the group gives Danny Jollen’s name as Danny Jolin, I’m not sure which is correct. Also it’s hard to read the hand writing, but is it Bob Heinick or Bob Heinich? The photo also has what may be a manager’s name, George Appleyard, as well as a second address for Dellwood at 10 Banta Place in Hackensack.

Can anyone fill in more history on how they came to record for Dellwood and play at the Castaway?

Thanks once again to JP Coumans for the scan of “Keep Me in Mind” and transfer of “Black Jacket Woman”.

Special thank you to Harvey Kornbluth for sending the photo of the group.

Yorkshire Puddin Photo Dellwood Back — Back of 8 x 12 glossy photo of the band with Dellwood Music info

Categories: Houston, Paradise, Texas

The Interns “Sally Met Molly” on Paradise

January 6, 2009 Chris Bishop 18 Comments

The Interns playing a dance at Spring Branch High School

Updated December 2009

The Interns have two 45s on the Paradise label, both have A-sides of straight up rock n’ roll. “Sally Met Molly” is a cool medley of Long Tall Sally and Good Golly Miss Molly. The flip is a a good version of Don Covay’s “Have Mercy”. What’s that someone shouts during the fadeout at the end of the song? Anyway, it’s like they were doing a song the Beatles covered on one side, and one the Stones cut on the other.

Their second 45 has “Don’t Make Me No Mind”, which sounds much like “Out of Sight”, backed with an original by Jack Durrett and Graham Hill, “Life With You”. With its harmonies and lighter sound “Life With You” is much different than their other material.

I knew nothing about the group until bassist and vocalist Graham Hill wrote in with info about the group (see comment below):

Lead singer- Jack Durrett, lead guitar- Reid Farrell, drummer- Rusty Dobson and I were the group’s main players. Ernie Graham from Kinkaid H.S. and Albert Dashiels from Lee H.S. played guitar and Tony Pryor and Johnny “The Rabbit” Bundrich [John Bundrick] from North Shore H.S. played organ at various times. We attended Memorial High School and graduated in 1967.
We primarily played private high school parties and after football game dances but we were the opening act for the Animals, Hermann’s Hermits, Neal Diamond, The Byrds, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs and other groups at concerts at the old Houston Colliseum. We also played the Houston Club scene. The other bands of our time were the Coastliners, Neal Ford and the Fanatics, Thursday’s Children, and Fever Tree. Roy Head and BJ Thomas were a few years older than us. Billy Gibbons was a little younger and he would hang out at our practices-Reid still stays in touch with him.
The recording you have was on a 4 track machine at Gold Star Studios. We double tracked the lead vocals on Have Mercy and added the hand clapping and back up singing on Sally Met Molly. We did hit the KILT radio top 10 list and were on the Larry Kane TV show several times.
Johnny has been playing with “The Who” since the mid-70s. Reid toured with Archie Bell and the Drells after graduating from high school. Jackie, Reid, Rusty and I still play once or twice a year in Houston.

Thanks to Graham Hill for info and photos of the band and for sending me their second 45 to transfer and scan.

Graham Hill and Reid Farrell of the Interns, opening for the Animals and Herman’s Hermits at the Houston Coliseum

Categories: Ann Arbor, CRI, Michigan

Dick Curtis

January 5, 2009 Chris Bishop 6 Comments

As far as I know, Dick Curtis (Richard S. Curtis according to song publishing credits) only put out this one 45. The A-side, “Funny Girl” is kind of outsider pop, and interestingly it’s in stereo, primarily for the string arrangements. Most people reading this will prefer to skip that song and just listen to the quick moving “It’s Not the Same”.

The label is Colortronics Recording Industries, out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a label that was active until at least 1972. I’d like to know who was backing Dick Curtis on this track.

In a comment below Brenda mentions a 45 Curtis produced by J & B Ware, which I haven’t heard yet. J & B were R. Joslyn and D. Baisch.

Categories: AAA Recording Studios (Boston), Astor, Fleetwood Recording Studio (Revere), Marlboro, Massachusetts, Polaris

The Bugs “Pretty Girl” and “Slide” on Polaris

January 4, 2009 Chris Bishop 7 Comments

The Bugs had a reputation as jokers, but are solid professionals on their excellent first single. “Pretty Girl” is a fine British-influenced pop number that apparently hit the charts of local radio stations from Maine to Chicago to Florida. The flip is the raucous “Slide”, supposedly written in the studio but the band sounds too rehearsed for it to be a spontaneous performance. It must have been a staple of their live sets.

Both songs were written by Eddie and Rose McGee. I believe the drummer of the group was James McGee, another family member. This 45 was engineered by Ray Fournier.

From Erik Lindgren’s notes to The Polaris Story:

The Bugs were a quartet from Marlboro, MA that cut two singles for Astor records (Pretty Girl/Slide was also issued as Polaris 001) along with one unreleased track, ‘Gonna Find Me a Girl’. They were a ‘wacky’ group that included a female bass player by the name of Rose, who was in her early 40’s and married to guitarist Ed McGee. Polaris booked them throughout greater Boston and Rhode Island, including an appearance on Channel 12 in Providence.
‘Strangler in the Night’, originally credited to Albert De Salvo [the Boston Strangler], was actually written by a ghost writer, James Vaughn, who got drafted three weeks after the making of the single. The narration for ‘Strangler’ was done by Dick Leviatan, a well-known radio personality from New York City.
‘Pretty Girl’ and ‘Slide’ were recorded at Fleetwood Studios in Revere, MA., while ‘Strangler’, ‘Albert’ and ‘Gonna Find Me a Girl’ were recorded at Triple A [AAA Recording Studios] in Dorchester. The organ on the tracks done at the Triple A session was played by the engineer, whose name remains lost for posterity [actually it was Ray Fournier].

Producer Joe Melino dropped the Polaris label in the aftermath of the under-attended state-wide 1966 Battle of the Bands competition. The Astor label was named after the Astor Motor Inn, where Joe and his new partner had their office.

“Strangler in the Night” failed to get the hoped-for notoriety in the press. The single’s failure led to the end of a great run of 45s on the Polaris and Astor labels. Hear both sides of that novelty as well as the Bugs’ excellent unreleased track “Gonna Find Me a Girl” on The Polaris Story CD.

Categories: Centerville, Ohio

More updates

December 27, 2008 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

Bittervetch at Town Hall in Centerville, Ohio, 1966

Some of the recent updates and additions:

George Dilworth, drummer and vocalist for The Voxmen sent four photos of the band, including one with the Dave Clark Five.

D. Gordon Strickland gives a detailed history of his bands The Stains and Five Cards Stud.

Duke Freeman, bassist and lead vocalist for The Us Four talks about his time in the Louisville, Kentucky music scene.

Rob Hegel of the Ohio band Bittervetch sent in the previously unpublished photo above, which really captures the excitement of the early teen scene. Rob tells me this shot was “taken April of 1966 when Bittervetch played a concert to a capacity crowd at The Town Hall in Centerville, Ohio. This is the concert where The Chandells became Bittervetch and announced the release of their PIXIE single. My dad was an advertising guy in Dayton and he knew Mr. Freeman and everyone at the studio so we went there to record the record. MegaCity Music was the company that owned PIXIE.”

Bittervetch cut two great singles and a number of demos now collected on a Gear Fab release that I definitely recommend. Their website (www.robhegel.com/bittervetch.html) with an article by Mike Dugo is currently defunct.

Categories: Racine, Raynard, Wisconsin

The Sultans Five

December 13, 2008 Chris Bishop 20 Comments

Sultans Five - original mid-60s lineup on the records as noted on photo: Ken Allen, Lenny Juliano, Tim Mickna, Ray Polouski and Vic Weinfurter. — Sultans Five – original mid-60s lineup on the records as noted on photo: Ken Allen, Lenny Juliano, Tim Mickna, Ray Polouski and Vic Weinfurter.

The Sultans Five were based out of Racine, Wisconsin, originally a three-piece when they formed in 1963. Original members were Len Juliano guitar, Tim Michna on bass and Vic Weinfurter, Jr. on drums. With the addition of Ray Plauske from the Sensations on lead guitar they became the Sultans IV. Farfisa organist and saxaphonist Ken Allen made them the Sultans Five.

Their recording career consisted of all or nearly all original songs, with Victor Weinfurter the main contributer along with Ray Plauske and Tim Michna.

Their earliest releases include two on the RAL label “Tonight Is the Night” / “Hey Little Girl” and “Walk with Me” / “Who’s at Fault”. Of these I’ve only heard “Tonight Is the Night” from its later release on Raynard. The flip of that release is “With You”, an original by Ray Plauske.

Their second on Raynard was a good rocker, “Daisy” that features a raucous, booming guitar sound on the breaks. It was backed with “Life Is Like a River”. Both were Vic Weinfurter originals.

Both Raynard 45s, along with their last, came with custom sleeves reading “Enterprise Thirteen presents the Sultans Five”, along with the band’s first names, song titles and composers, the Baker Building address and the optimistic message “more to come”.

Enterprise Thirteen would be the label for their last and most famous release, the fabulous “You Know, You Know” a song that would grab everyone’s attention whenever my pal DJ Bossy Boots played it out in clubs. The flip is the gentle “Calico”, a fine moody number written by Weinfurter and Ray Plauske.

After the recordings Tom Zager joined on bass and Butch Kieffer on organ. The band broke up in 1968.

Thanks to JP Coumans for the scans and transfers of the Raynard 45s. If anyone has good transfers of their RAL releases, please let me know.

Update, November 2009

Ken Allen, who played Farfisa organ with the group wrote to me about his time with the band, and sent in the photo at top:

The picture I sent you was taken from the Racine Journal Times, advertising for us playing at Ligits Beach Bar at Browns Lake, Wisconsin.
Vic called me and asked if I would play organ for the Sultans and I said yes, but I would have to order a portable organ first. I ordered a brand new Farfisa Compact Duo, with two Gibson Saber Reverb amps. It was a great high tech fold up organ for the day. I had to wait for a month and a half for it to come over to the USA on a boat. I was told that my Farfisa was the second one sold in the USA.
We played at Earls Club in Kenosha, The Nitty Gritty in Racine, The Kraut Festival in Franksville, Wisconsin. We also would play for private parties etc.
Yes I was on our records. The records were recorded at the [Dave] Kennedy Recording Studio in Milwaukee. King Sabornick a D.J. at WRIT Radio was one of the arrangers we had and the other one was from New York, but I can’t remember his name.
To make a long story short… Tim Mickna and I resigned from the Sultans Five, and that is when Butch Keifer replaced me on keyboard and Tom Zager replaced Tim Mickna on bass. I can’t remember all the details, 44 years is a long time. We had a great time while it lasted though.
Ken Allen

A later lineup, standing from left: Len Juliano, Ray Plauske, Butch Kieffer, Tom Zager; seated: Vic Weinfurter. Photo from Gary Myers' Do You Hear That Beat, original from the collection of Vic Weinfurter. — A later lineup, standing from left: Len Juliano, Ray Plauske, Butch Kieffer, Tom Zager; seated: Vic Weinfurter. Photo from Gary Myers’ Do You Hear That Beat, original from the collection of Vic Weinfurter.

Categories: Daytona Beach, Florida, Marlin, Miami

Chuck Conlon & the Crawlers

December 3, 2008 Chris Bishop 14 Comments

Here is Chuck Conlon on two fascinating 1967 45s on Henry Stone’s Marlin label after leaving the Nightcrawlers and relocating from Daytona Beach to Miami. “I Won’t Tell” reworks the opening guitar line of “Little Black Egg” and adds similarly odd lyrics like “A teaspoon holds more than the fork does”, sung in the same naive style.

“You’re Comin’ On” has fine production, opening with distinctive percussion, allowing the bass carry the melody and keeping the distorted guitar as decoration. Though credited to Conlon and the Crawlers, I don’t know if any of the his former band the Nightcrawlers actually played on these songs. I’ve heard that Ron and the Starfires were backing him on some of these tracks.

The A-side of the second 45, “Won’t You Say Yes to Me Girl” is a pop gem. I don’t usually object to horns on songs but I wish the producers had kept to the simple arrangement of the intro for this one. The piano trills and organ are excellent and the trombone player’s solo lines blend well.

“Midnight Reader” is more obscure, an ode to introspection as far as I can tell: “He goes behind closed doors every night / all that shines is a small intensity light / there’s no one inside the room but him”. Another verse goes “All the persons who are drunk are asleep / he cares not if they leave him in peace”: the scholar surrounded by hedonistic students maybe?

Compare the opening lines to another that Conlon wrote for the Nightcrawlers, “A Basket of Flowers”: “She sits in a cell at the midnight hour / gatekeeper tied in the darkest hour / she seems so lonely there”.

“I Won’t Tell” entered the charts of Orlando AM station WLOF in April ’67 and reached as high as #19 in May. The first 45 was a Bard Shapiro / Steve Alaimo Production, the second credited to Marlin Productions. All four songs are Conlon originals, though “Won’t You Say Yes to Me Girl” is co-credited to Brad Shapiro.

Chuck released a few solo 45s that I haven’t heard about once every ten years beginning with “When God Comes to Call” in 1965, all as Charles Conlon. He also wrote “Eric Cleveland” which appears on a 45 by the Yak on Tooth 533 and Avco Embassy AVE-4514 with a cover of the Beatles “Every Little Thing” on the flip. I don’t know if he had any involvement with that group, it was pressed at Queen City Album Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio in August, 1969. There seem to be some unreleased recordings as well, including one titled “Poor Little Mixed Up Kid”.

Thanks to Joe Emery for suggesting this post way back in February.

Categories: Ascot, Cleveland, Euclid, Ohio, Redda, Veep, Wine and Roses

Barry Lee and the Actions

November 23, 2008 Chris Bishop 4 Comments

Barry Lee & the Actions Wine and Roses 45 Try Me Barry Lee is the stage name of Lee Cuilli, who came from the Italian section of Cleveland, like Bocky, both of them managed by Redda Robbins.

In 1964 Barry released his first 45 on the Redda label. One side is the upbeat vocal pop “Make It” which earned some radio play at the time and got the record picked up by UA subsidiary Veep. More interesting is “Things Gotta Change” a nice bit of r&b with guitar flourishes, credited to Lee, Redda Robbins and Tony Styles. The backing vocalists really getting a workout trying to keep up the bop-ba-shu-bop-ba-bas. The buckeyebeat site suggests it’s likely that Barry is being accompanied by Bocky & the Visions on vocals with their backing band Richie & the Fortunes.

Barry Lee found a group of teens from Euclid, a town northeast of Cleveland, to become his band the Actions. Members included Dave Zaller guitar, Vince Baskovic bass and Ken Ruscittio drums. With the Actions he released his second record in 1966, almost two years after the first. “For Such a Little Wrong” might best be called a power ballad, but on the b-side “Try Me”, Barry’s vocal blends perfectly with the band’s strong backing and harmonies. Production was by Kenny Lark, arrangements by Barry Lee and Fortunes guitarist Tony Styles (Tony Bodanza). Originally released on the Wine & Roses label, it too was picked up by a UA subsid., Ascot, for a quick ride to nowhere.

Interestingly, Barry Lee puts songwriting credits to both Barry Lee and Lee Allen Cuilli. Barry wrote a number of songs that he didn’t record himself, as BMI lists him as co-author of “Can’t Get You Home on Time”, “Down Down”, “I Can Dance”, “I’m Not Worth It”, “I’m Pickin’ Petals”, “Land Beyond the Moon”, “Little Wheel” and “When the Sun Goes Down”, all written with Tony Bodanza.

Info for this article from Buckeyebeat.com. Thanks to Mark Meinhart for the transfer of Things Gotta Change.

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