The Casket held weekend teen dances from June to November, 1967. The Casket had been the Rialto Theatre, which was built in 1938 on Water Street in Kerrville, Texas. Around 1957 it stopped showing movies, and for the next ten years was used for infrequent events like bingo games.
On June 7, 1967, the Kerrville Mountain Sun gave an introduction to the club by Edith Jennings:
Several young people with the assistance of the Kerrville Jaycees are renovating the building for use as a dance hall. The exterior has been painted a shocking wild pinkish-purple, and inside the theatre, the old seats have been stacked in the rear or lined against the walls. The theatre renamed “The Casket” has an ideal location for teenage dances and the added effects of the somewhat sloping floor (not too steep for dancing) and the murals, contributed by artist Ben Gebhardt, make it a place where teenagers feel they can really have a “blast!”
Friday, two weeks ago, the kick-off dance was held, another on Tuesday when a nationally famous band performed with the “Chapter 16” group… admission $1.25 stag and $2.50 drag. Dance times are eight to midnight…
A June 25, 1967 profile of the club by Frank Stevenson headlined “Teenagers ‘Rock’ In Jaycee Project’ is worth quoting in detail:
As you arrive at the door, you pay your money and your hand is stamped, apparently by a stamp which makes no mark. Then, when you pass through the lobby into where the band is playing, an area which appears to be a theatre with the seats removed, the place on your hand where you were stamped does indeed bear a mark, a mark which glows slightly.
Many other things are glowing too, and they are glowing a great deal more than slightly. Your clothes glow if they are the right color, as well as specks of lint unnoticed before, and the strange designs on the wall. Radium watch dials go crazy, glowing ten times brighter than they have ever shown before. And meanwhile the rock ‘n’ roll band plays on and the teenagers all around you dance and appear to be generally enjoying themselves…
The Casket, so named as a result of the contest held to rename the Rialto building, is the final product in the Jaycees project which began in May with a dance held at the National Guard Armory in co-operation with San Antonio radio station KTSA [Jim Jones & the Chaunteys according to the Daily Times on April 30, 1967]…
… the average attendance at the Casket dances runs more than 300, and has been up to 410 at one of the dances.
Working through Devine attorney Brock Huffman, who runs an establishment similar to the Casket called the Shaft in Devine, and who acts as agent for the Kerrville Jaycees, is contracting bands, the Jaycees are able to provide music by rock ‘n’ roll bands such as the Playboys of Edinburg and the Chayns.
Neal Ford and the Fanatics on August 18, 1967 – band name rendered as Neil Ford and the Sanatics!Serving as emcee for the dances is Bruce Hathaway, KTSA disc jockey, who gives out free albums during the dances, and occasionally passes out even bigger prizes, such as the free tickets to the Jefferson Airplane performance in San Antonio several weeks ago…
Jim DeSha and Joe Schmerber … head up the operation…
What [parents] will find is a large number of teenagers having the right kind of fun in a wholesome atmosphere. The only thing to watch out for are the occasional strobe light shows, which although harmless, make walking difficult during the shows.
Some legendary Texas bands played the Casket in those five months.
Three members of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators came from Kerrville, but the band didn’t play any live shows in Kerrville to my knowledge, until a partial reunion in 1977.
Below is a list of show advertisements I have found from the Daily Times and the Mountain Sun:
1967:
Friday, June 9 – Chayns
Friday, June 16 – The Other Side
Saturday, June 17 – Jim Jones & the Chaunteys
Friday, June 23 – Zakary Thaks and Back Row Majority
The Laughing Kings – possibly the Laughing Kind featuring Max Range, September 1, 1967Friday, September 1 – The Laughing Kings (The Laughing Kind?)
Saturday, September 9 – The Grim Reaper
Saturday, September 16 – The Outcasts
Saturday, September 23 – Translucent Umbrellas
Saturday, September 30 – The Chayns
Saturday, October 7 – The Absentees
Saturday, October 14 – The Extremes
Saturday, October 21 – Wink Kelso & the Kaleidoscopes
Saturday, October 28 – The Spiedels
The Proof – formerly the Outcasts – is this the San Antonio band with Galen Niles?Saturday, November 4 – The Proof (formerly The Outcasts)
Saturday, November 11 – The South Canadian Overflow
Saturday, November 18 – Madison Review
Last show at the Casket? The Union Jacks, from San AntonioAn article in the San Antonio Express and News on December 16, 1967 mentioned Billy Joe Royal would be playing the Casket as well as the Shaft in Devine, but I don’t believe the concert occurred.
The Casket was used for one further show, on August 1, 1969 with the Union Jacks (“Notre Dame Youth Dance … Music by ‘Untion Jacks’ from San Antonio”), a band I’m not familiar with.
Rialto Theatre, Kerrville, seats for sale, August 1967
The Casket name may have been appropriate for the club. Joe Herring wrote in a 2018 post on the Rialto, “We neighborhood children found a way to get inside the place and explore; it was dark and spooky in there.”
The Rialto Theatre was torn down in 1974 and the space is still empty as of 2020.
In July, 1969, Jim DeSha organized a live show at Louise Hays Park with two bands, the Green Fog and Blue Cherry, according to the Kerrville Daily Times on July 3, 1969.
Does anyone have photos of the Casket or the Rialto at that time, or of any bands that played Kerrville during the mid-late ’60s?
Bob Galindo, brother of 13th Floor Elevators bassist Danny Galindo, wrote on a now-defunct San Antonio music history site, “Max Range was not the ‘Stepfather’ of Texas pyschedelia, he was ‘THE GODFATHER’. He was a very influential guy, in a subversive sort of way, if you know what I mean.”
On the same site, Margaret Moser posted, “Max Range gets no credit as one of THE visionaries of South Texas music”.
I have not found much detail on how Max Range influenced the Elevators and the psychedelic scene in Texas, but one thing is certain, Range fronted three bands that included five future members of the Elevators.
Max Range’s full name was George Max Range, born in Beeville, TX, an hour’s drive from Corpus Christi (also birthplace of John Ike Walton, who moved to Kerrville in 1950). Max went to school in Beeville, and became an Eagle Scout.
Max moved to Kerrville in the early ’60s, perhaps with his family to finish school, or as an apprentice printer for the local newspaper the Daily Times.
Traditions, Kerrville Daily Times, July 23, 1963 In Kerrville he would join a group called the Traditions. The Kerrville Daily Times featured a photo of the Traditions on July 23, 1963 with the accompanying text:
The Arcadia Theatre of Kerrvile will present a Summer Stage Show during the intermission of two big twist hits, “Don’t Knock the Twist” and “Twist Around the Clock” July 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. The music of “The Traditions” will be presented.
“The Traditions” is a group of young local musicians that produce an activated tempo-type sound. Five members comprise the band.
Max Range, 19, from Beeville is the vocalist. Max has had four years experience in the musical field and has performed in two bands before organizing the Traditions.
Bobby Hunter, 19, from Freeport, plays the lead guitar. He has had four years of training…
Bobby Sanchez, 16, from Kerrville, is the rhythamatic drummer with a set of “talking” drums. He has put three years into the mastery of the drums and has won several awards in the Tivy High School Band.
Randy Jackson, 18, from San Juan … plays the bass guitar and has had two years of experience.
Stacy Sutherland, 17, from Kerrville provides the basic rhythm … which enables The Traditions to give that special sound quality necessary for a top grade band.
All of these band members from various parts of Texas are now combined into one soundsation group…
Marvin Taylor, “The Traditions” manager and the assistant manager of the Arcadia …
I’d like to know more about Max Range’s two earlier bands from his four years experience in music, but have not turned up any info other than a group with Stacy called the Signatures, mentioned in Ben Graham’s A Gathering of Promises.
Although the Daily Times article states Max organized the Traditions, it seems the group formed in 1961 or 1962, well before Max joined. An early photo shows Stacy Sutherland, Bob Schmerbeck, Eddie Flores, Bobby Sanchez and Randy Jackson.
In April 1964, the Kerrville Daily Times runs an ad for the Grove restaurant “now under new management, Grady and Shirley Sharp” with “Live Band – Max Range and “The Traditions” featuring Joe Burkett III and His “Backwoods Fiddle”.
On August 23, 1964, the Kerrville Daily Times makes the first mention of Max Range appearing with the Penetrators (as the Penetrations):
Jamey Ryan of San Antonio, Miss KTSA, is schedule to appear at the Arcardia Theatre on Thursday, Aug. 27 in connection with the Gigantic Hootenanny Stage Show. Headlining the show will be Denny Ezba and the Goldens; Bruce Hathaway of KTSA as master of cermonies; Max Range, local vocalist; and the Penetrations, a local group from Kerrville.
Range is band leader of The Traditions but will be appearing with The Penetrators.
April 6, 1965 Notices in the Kerrville Daily Times on September 20, October 2 and November 6, 1964; and on January 14 and 28, 1965 all include Max Range as vocalist of the Penetrators.
On, April 5, 1965 and earlier dates, the Kerrville Daily Times ran a 1″ x 1″ classified display ad “for Sale, Ideal for musical group. Premier P-14 PA System … Max Range, Daily Times.”
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, June 6, 1965
A Daily Times article from June 6, 1965 writes:
The Penetrators … have released their first record which is available to the public. The record, “Praying Till Then” and “Kurl” is on the Trater Record label. “Praying Till Then”, a slow ballad, was composed by Max Range, vocalist for the group. The flip side “Kurl”, was composed by all members of the ensemble, who are, Danny Klein, Bob Morrison, Ron Leatherman, Pat Morrison and Max Range.
The single was released as by Max and the Penetraters on Trater Records 650528. As far as I know, this is the only recording Max Range ever made.
In the spring of 1965, Kerrville musicians Stacy Sutherland and drummer John Ike Walton met violinist Benny Thurmond at Dirty Martin’s hamburgers in Austin. After a trip to Mexico together, they stopped at the Gulf Coast town of Port Aransas on the way home. There they met Ralph Plumlee and talked their way into a residency at the Dunes club. They brought Max Range into the group, which they named the Lingsmen.The Lingsmen at Bonnie and Dougs, Aransas Pass, September 1965
I’ve read that Tommy Hall was a member of the Lingsmen, but that seems to be incorrect, although the band would see Tommy and Clementine Hall in Port Aransas that summer.
I’d also read that Stacy, John Ike and Benny left Max to go form the Elevators, but it seems that Max was the first to leave the group. Tony Joe White filled in for some shows, and the Lingsmen may have recorded a demo with Tony, now lost.
Perhaps the last show of the Lingsmen with Sutherland, Walton, & Thurman at the Maison Rouge in Corpus Christi, November 16, 1965 Corpus Christi Times Nov. 1, 1965
Judging by local news ads, the group continued at least until mid-November, 1965. About that time Stacy, John Ike and Benny left Port Aransas, supposedly because of attention from local police. In Austin, they would form the 13th Floor Elevators with Tommy Hall and Roky Erickson, playing their first show on December 8, 1965.
June 16, 1966, Max and the Laughing Kind at the Dunes Annex and also at the Carousel on 10th St.Max Range however returned to Port Aransas, recruiting members of a San Antonio group called the Loose Ends circa January, 1966:
Dan Galindo – bass Bob Galindo – guitar Bill King – guitar Buddy Toscano – drums
This group may have performed as the Lingsmen initially, but by June had become Max and the Laughing Kind.
“Two of the Laughing Kind hitting the chords at the Dunes.(guit and bass)” – Max and the Laughing Kind profile in the Corpus Christi Caller Times, July 24, 1966
An article in the Corpus Christi Caller Times on July 24, 1966 lists the other members as:
Keith Miller – lead guitar Bill King – guitar Bill Smith – bass Tom McTaggart – drums
Hundreds Flock to Port Aransas Danceland Every Weekend
The popularity of the Dunes Danceland at Port Aransas appears to be climbing in its second season, and owner Ralph Plumlee says he has plans for a bigger place in the future.
On a Saturday night now it starts about 8 p.m. – a line of headlights heading down the Padre Island beach toward Horace Caldwell Pier, begins to turn into a laughing, dancing crowd of young peoople at the Dunes.
Plumlee, a retired Dallas business man, and head of White Marlin Enterprises in Port Aransas, said that the average Saturday night attendance ranges from 700 to 1,000. The July 4 weekend drew a crowd estimated at 2,700 on one night…
Max and The Laughing Kind provide the warmth and the music. The long haired band leader wears sunglasses for the evening performance.
… the five-piece band is composed of Max Range, from the Beeville area, who is leader and singer; Bill King, guitar; Tom McTaggart, drums; Keith Miller, lead guitar; and Bill Smith, bass.
The Danceland’s popularity has spread out of the immediate area. College students from Kingsville and even as far as San Antonio and Houston make the Saturday night dances.
Max and the Laughing Kind profile in the Corpus Christi Caller Times, July 24, 1966
Miller, Smith and McTaggart had been in a San Antonio group the Mysterions with Roy Cox. When the summer was over, they went back to San Antonio and continued to use the Laughing Kind name with Bobby Trevino on keyboards and Tommy Smith on vocals. Dan Galindo would soon join the 13th Floor Elevators in time to record much of Easter Everywhere.
1967: Max Range’s Lingsmen with a new lineup, back at the Dunes
The following year, the Corpus Christi Times announced “Max and the Lingsmen” for the grand opening of the new Dunes Danceland, on Friday, May 12, 1967; “main dance floor enlarged and redecorated.”
The lineup at this time was listed on the now-defunct Mike’s Band Archive site:
Max Range – vocals Chris Holzhaus – lead guitar Bill King – guitar Ronnie Huth – vox organ Mike Marechal – bass Sam Allen – drums
That is the last document of Max Range’s music career that I have found until 1970, when an International Artist list of bands includes Ice with Max Range, Stacy Sutherland, David Browne, Michael Marschell and Ron Viviano (reproduced in Paul Drummond’s 13th Floor Elevators: A Visual History). Ice reportedly went into a studio twice, but no recordings have survived.
According to an online obituary, “Max was a printer for the Houston Chronicle for many years. George Max Range of Copperas Cove died at 59, on July 10, 2003, after a long illness.”
Ronnie Leatherman is best known for playing bass on The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. Before that time, he had at least two other bands, the Penetrators and the Beau-Mondes, formed while he was at Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas, a town about 65 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Kerrville Mountain Sun, September 18, 1963
The Penetrators started as “The Counts”. On September 18, 1963, the Kerrville Mountain Sun reported:
“The Counts,” a small band group at Tivy, performed on the radio September 10. The group is composed of Pat Morrison, guitar; Ronnie Leatherman, bass; Danny Klein, guitar; and Bobby Morrison, drums. They played “Bulldog” and one of their own songs, “The Swing.”
Listed as the Penetrations, March 25, 1964
The earliest notice I can find for the Penetrators is from March 25, 1964, where the Kerrvile Mountain Sun lists the group name as the “Penetrations”. Members were the same as the Counts:
Danny Klein – lead guitar Pat Morrison – rhythm guitar Ronnie Leatherman – bass Bobby Morrison – drums
This quartet would be the heart of the band through several changes in lineup.
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, July 14, 1964
On July 12, 1964 the same lineup played a show at the Jaycee Center with the Reverbs, which included Bobby Schmidtke, Frank Lola and Pat Young.
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, October 2, 1964Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, November 6, 1964
A notice in the Kerrville Daily Times from August 23, 1964 is the first time Max Range is connected to the band: “Range is band leader of The Traditions but will be appearing with The Penetrators, local combo.”
On September 20, 1964, the Daily Times column Hill Top Village Views includes Max Range as a member, and also includes Bobby Solomon whose name I do not see in any other listing. The October 2 Daily Times includes a photo of the band with Max Range.
A notice from November 6 in the Daily Times for a Jaycee Youth Center dance the next day lists yet another short-lived member, Carlton White on rhythm guitar. Carlton’s name would also appear in notices from January 14 and 28, 1965. Carlton White had been in a folk group with Stacy Sutherland, the Travelers Four.
The Penetrators from left: Bob Morrison, Ron Leatherman, Max Range, Danny Klein, and Pat Morrison
On February 25, 1965, the Daily Times reused the photo from October, but noted:
Kerrville’s Penetrators made their first TV appearance Saturday afternoon on the Ricci Ware show … on Channel 5 … The boys have written several songs and played one composed by Max Range, “I’ll Keep Praying Til Then” on the TV show. Left to right are Bob Morrison, drummer, and student at Tivy High School; Ron Leatherman, bass player and Tivy student; Max Range, vocalist and harmonica player who is employed at the Daily Times; Danny Klein, Tivy senior and lead guitarist; and Pat Morrison, rhythm guitar and student at Schreiner Institute.
Penetrators, Kerrville Daily Times, June 6, 1965
A Daily Times article from June 6, 1965 writes:
The Penetrators … have released their first record which is available to the public. The record, “Praying Till Then” and “Kurl” is on the Trater Record label. “Praying Till Then”, a slow ballad, was composed by Max Range, vocalist for the group. The flip side “Kurl”, was composed by all members of the ensemble, who are, Danny Klein, Bob Morrison, Ron Leatherman, Pat Morrison and Max Range.
This is the last mention of the Penetrators I can find. The single was released as by Max and the Penetraters on Trater Records 650528.
By the summer of 1965, Max Range left to Port Aransas with the Lingsmen, a group featuring two other Kerrville musicians, Stacy Sutherland and John Ike Walton.The Beau-Mondes, Kerrville Mountain Sun, November 24, 1965
An article in the Kerrville Mountain Sun from November 24, 1965 on the Beau-Mondes shows the original Penetrators quartet has been expanded into a septet and renamed, featuring:
Mark Atterbury – vocals Danny Klein – lead guitar Pat Morrison – rhythm guitar and manager Bill Stacy – rhythm guitar Bob Schmerbeck – piano Ronnie Leatherman – bass guitar Bobby Morrison – drums
The Beaumondes, Kerrville Daily Times, December 29, 1965
The last mention I can find of the Beau-Mondes was from December 29, 1965, and mentions a single that I do not believe was ever released:
The Beaumondes … have recently cut a record. The name of the record is “Won’t You Cry for Me?” It will be released January 11. The lead singer, Mark Atterbury, wrote the song and sings it with the other boys providing the background The members are Mark, Pat Morrison, Bobby Morrison, and Ronnie Leatherman.
From an interview on It’s Psychedelic Baby by Justin Jackley, Ronnie Leatherman mentioned a trio with two friends who passed away the same year. He also said the Lingsmen asked him to come to Port Aransas for a few weeks to play with them and help Bennie Thurman learn how to play the bass, and that Stacy wanted Ronnie in the 13th Floor Elevators.
Thank you to Matthew B. for his continued help to access news sites.
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
Saturday, June 17 – Jim Jones & the Chaunteys
