Category Archives: Texas

Categories: Corpus Christi, English, Texas, US

The Stereo Shoestring

February 22, 2011 Chris Bishop 16 Comments

John Coco (vocals)
Jim Howard (lead guitar)
Richard Lalor (guitar)
James Noe (bass)
Steve Schultz (drums)

with the Buckle at the Coral Room, Corpus Christi Times, January 12, 1968 — with the Buckle at the Coral Room, January 12, 1968

The Stereo Shoestring were a Corpus Christi band, apparently only together for a short time during 1968. They cut one of the monster singles out of Texas in April of that year, a total reworking of the Pretty Things’ “Defecting Grey” titled “On the Road South”. On the other side was a version of the Zombies “Tell Her No”. The “English Records” labels give the band credit for writing both songs. They recorded in Houston, possibly at Doyle Jones’ studio.

The Clockwork Orange, Richard Lalor at far left, Ashley Johnson on bass. Photo from Not Fade Away #3[/caption]

Rich Lalor had played in the Clockwork Orange with Ashley Johnson, a hip record collector who owned the original of “Defecting Grey”. The fact that this song was covered by a Texas band is all the more remarkable, as it was one of the more obscure Pretty Things records of the ’60s.

Stereo Shoestring business card — Management by Vicki Jones Scanned from Not Fade Away #3

They are mentioned in an article from the Corpus Christi Times in July, 1968:

“Sensitivity sessions” are scheduled with a general airing of problems and exchange of ideas. After today’s discussion groups and an “in” at 4:30 p.m. in the Hemisphere Room, a dance featuring “The Stereo Shoestring,” a local rock band, is scheduled.

For some reason, Lalor left the band, followed by Schultz and Howard. Coco and Noe found new musicians and reformed the Shoestring in 1969, but soon changed the name to the Hendrix-inspired The Red House.

Thank you to bosshoss and Gyro1966 for the 45 transfers.

Shoestring - Sun Flower / Mary Ann tape box — Two songs by the reformed Shoestring, 1969 These would be released as by The Red House Scan from the collection of Andrew Brown

Update: I’ve changed references to James Coco to John Coco, as more than one person who knew him has commented that is his correct name.

Categories: Brownsville, Rio Grande Valley, Texas, US

Joey B. & the Silhouettes

February 15, 2011 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

Joey B. and the Silhouettes, January, 1963, from left: “Peewee” Lavoisier (only played with us for one or two gigs), Joe Barron (Joey B), Gonzalo Gonzales, Felipe Garza, Luis Maza, Joe “Papucho” Garcia and Jesse Guerrero

My name is Gonzalo Gonzales (GG for short) and I was a band member with Noe Pro and the Semitones together with Jesse Salinas during the early 60’s. Another band from the area that I had played with. This would be Joey B and the Silhouettes. Let me lay out a bit of history that maybe ties some things together.I had played in my high school band and had always been interested in playing with or forming a group. After graduating in 1961, I left Brownsville to attend college close to Dallas. After one semester, I returned to Brownsville and attended a junior college here. A friend of mine, another band member from high school, informed me that there was a group looking to expand their sound with horns (both of us played clarinet and saxophone). He introduced me to the group and I joined up. This group was called the Blue Valiants – this is the same group that Noe Pro joined as a drummer later on. The Blue Valiants were led by a guitar player named Marcos Rodriguez.
After playing with the Blue Valiants for about a year, the group broke up and several of the members, including myself, left to form a new group. This new group was called Joey B and the Silhouettes. This group consisted of the following members: Joe Barron (Joey B) (lead singer and rhythm guitar), Joe Garcia (nicknamed Papucho and who happened to be a cousin of Marcos Rodriguez – bass guitar), Jesse Guerrero (drums), Luis Maza (my friend from high school – alto sax), and myself (tenor sax). Later on we added a lead guitar player who also sang from time to time – Felipe Garza.
We played gigs all over for high school dances, birthdays, weddings, etc. but we also put on our own dances from time to time. We would rent a salon, hire a cop for security, and then put up posters all over town. We then had our girl friends or family members charge admission at the front door. Other local bands started doing this same thing.
The Silhouettes did make an unreleased tape but I don’t remember with who or what ever happened to it. I wish I did – would be great to dig that up.
Eventually, of course, group members started leaving for different reasons and the group disbanded. Luis Maza left and joined another group that was getting popular during this period – Lenny and the Bellaires. Lenny was the stage name for Leo Silva. I hooked up with a couple of brothers that had started a group. This group was called The Staffs. This is the same group that Jesse played with later on after he played with Noe.
Meanwhile, Marcos Rodriguez brought on new members to the Blue Valiants including Noe Pro as a drummer. Noe tells me that he only lasted with the Blue Valiants for about 6 months or so before he decided to leave and form his own band which, of course, would be the Semitones.
Noe Pro and the Semitones started to make a big splash in Brownsville and, really, all over the Rio Grande Valley. The gigs that the Staffs were getting were getting less and less. So I got dissuaded with them and decided to join up with Noe. I then played with Noe and the core group until I had to leave for the service in mid 1966. I played with the Staffs way before they ever made that recording on the Pa-Go-Go label. In fact, I was surprised that they had recorded – I kind of lost track of them once I went into the service.
When I joined the Air Force, I ended up in San Antonio based at Lackland AFB. While there, I looked around for a band to play with. I got a hold of Rudy “Tee” Gonzales (from Rudy and the Reno Bops) and his brother to see if they could hook me up with someone and they did. They introduced me to Danny Martinez from Danny & the Tejanos and I ended up playing with them for a couple of years. In fact, I was on the recording of “Mustard Greens” which was recorded with Tear Drop.
Gonzalo Gonzales

Categories: Michigan, Pa-Go-Go, Saginaw, San Antonio, Texas

Pa-Go-Go Discography

February 8, 2011 Chris Bishop 18 Comments

Story of how Cameo acquired “96 Tears”, Billboard, October 1, 1966 note “Bago Records” (sic)

Any help with the discography or info on Pa-Go-Go in general would be appreciated!

Lillian Gonzales and her husband Joe “Pato” Gonzales owned the El Pato grocery store in Saginaw, Michigan, and also ran the Gonzales & Gonzales artist management company. Joe, whose name I’ve seen in print as Jose Gonzales or Victor Gonzales, owned half of Bego Records with Paulino Bernal, which had been releasing conjunto records in McAllen, Texas since the early ’60s.

Joe started the Pa-Go-Go record with brothers Rudy “Tee” Gonzales and Manuel Gonzales (apparently no relation to Joe – see comment from Cisco below), basing the label out of San Antonio where Rudy Gonzales had his group, Rudy & the Reno Bops. Pa-Go-Go’s focus would be less specialized than Bego’s, with rock, soul and r&b releases.

Lillie Gonzales brought ? & the Mysterians to Art Schiell’s Recording Studio in Bay City, Michigan in April, 1966 to record a version of “Midnight Hour” and their original song, “96 Tears”, with Rudy Gonzales producing. The first pressing was 750 copies, but there were additional pressings as the single broke out on stations in Saginaw, Flint, Windsor and Detroit.

According to Billboard, Neil Bogart, a twenty-three year old sales manager at Cameo-Parkway flew to McAllen, Texas to purchase the master of “96 Tears” from Bego, winning out over a verbal agreement with Roulette’s Morris Levy.

Although Pa-Go-Go’s address of 408 Hazel St. San Antonio, Texas was on the labels of every release, about half the acts were from Michigan. A Billboard item from October, 1967 even mentions the label being headquartered in Saginaw. Pa-Go-Go only existed for about a year and a half, but released some fine music in that time, with the last single I can find mention of, Count & the Colony’s “Say What You Think” being sold to SSS International.

Pa-Go-Go Discography:

101 – Danny & the Tejanos – “Mi otra movida” (Polka) / “Con esta copa” (Ranchera)
102 – Question Mark & the Mysterians – “96 Tears” / “Midnight Hour” (April, 1966)
103 – Sir David & His Knights – “Shotgun” / “All My Love” (David Camarillo, published by Ed Arguello Pub.)
104 – Fernando Y Juan – “Se te llego tu dia” / “Vuela vuela Palomita”
105 – Chavez & the Chevelles – “Buscando Una Estrella” / “El Trenesito (The Train)” (D.A.R.)
106 – Danny & The Tejanos – “Confecion” / “Mundo raro”
107 – Little Henry & His Band – “No soy tu arroz con pollo” (Isidrio Lopez) / “Amor sin medida” (Jose A. Jimenez)
108 – Sonny Ace- “Ya volvio la Palomia” (Lonnie Guerrero) / “Sandra” (Martin Linan)
109 – ?
110 – Al Pinckney & the Exclusives – “Coasting” / “La-Hai”
111 – Chavez & the Chevelles – “Pido” / “Angelitos Negros”
112 – Danny & the Tejanos – “Listen, Sweet Thing” / “What’s the Word” (Danny Martinez)
113 – Conjunto Los Galantes de Manuel Gutierrez – “Contestaction a ‘Me Voy Lejos'” / “Ellas”
114 – ?
115 – Freddie Fender & His All Stars – “Cool Mary Lou” / “You Are My Sunshine”
116 – ?
117 – ?
118 – Staffs – “Another Love” / “I Just Can’t Go to Sleep”
119 – ?
120 – ?
121 – Count and the Colony – “Can’t You See” (Dick Brown, Butch Burden) / “That’s the Way” (Larry Wheatley, Butch Burden)
201 – Count and the Colony – “Say What You Think” / “Symptoms of Love” (October, 1967)

#101 shows only “Go-Go” on the label.

Little Henry Pa-Go-Go 45 No Soy Tu Arroz Con Pollo

See the entry on the Staffs for more about that band.

At this point I’m not sure if the missing numbers were actually issued, as I haven’t found any evidence of them, nor has Davie Gordon (see his comment below) or Mike Markesich.

? & the Mysterians, Sir David and His Knights, and Count and the Colony were all Michigan acts. Danny & the Tejanos, the Staffs and Al Pinckney & the Exclusives were from Texas (see comment from Robert Villarreal below).

Sources: background on Bego from Wikipedia, most complete account of the early days of ? & the Mysterians I could find was at MichiganRockandRollLegends.com, with further background from the ChicagoReader.com, Fredric Dannen’s Hit Men, and info on Danny & the Tejanos and Sir David & His Knights from I’m Shakin’.

Thank you to Martin Hancock for info on the Little Henry 45 and to Antonio of La Plebe for his contributions to the discography. Thanks also to Francisco Candia, Shane, Alfonso, and Josh (jollyrarestuff) for their help with the discography.

Categories: Brownsville, Pa-Go-Go, Rio Grande Valley, Texas

The Staffs

February 8, 2011 Chris Bishop 21 Comments

Raul Altamirano (vocals and bass)
David Ceballos (guitar)
Jesse Salinas (bass)
Ruben Ceballos (keyboards and harmonica)
Emilio Reyna (drums)

Jesse Salinas joined the Staffs on bass, after playing rhythm guitar for Noe Pro & the Semi-tones. Although the band did not record while Jesse was in the group, they did cut one excellent 45 in October 1966 for the Pa-Go-Go label out of San Antonio. One side is “Another Love”, an excellent original by singer Raul Altamirano, backed with a Kinks song, “I Just Can’t Go To Sleep” that I haven’t heard yet.

Thank you to Jesse Salinas for the photos and to Mike Markesich for the label scan and information on the Pa-Go-Go release.

Categories: Bego, Benja, Brownsville, Falcon, Harlingen, Ideal, McAllen, Mercury, Norco, Pharaoh, Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Noe Pro and the Semi-tones

February 1, 2011 Chris Bishop 14 Comments

Jesse Salinas, rhythm guitarist for Noe Pro & the Semi-tones writes about his time with Noe’s band and his later group, the Staffs:

I joined Noe Pro’s band in 1963. Original members started with inexpensive instruments mostly Sears Silvertone, Harmony or Alamo guitars and amps. Guitars, bass and microphone were plugged into one Silvertone amplifier. What started out with mostly high school musicians, Noe turned into “Noe Pro and the Semi-tones”.
“I’m Gonna Leave This Town” excellent soul-funk number
The band recorded several 45s on the Pharaoh label in McAllen, Texas in 1963, ’64, ’65 and ’66 at a small two or four track studio owned by Jimmy Nicholls. English record “Yesterday’s Dream” and flipside “Come Along My Baby” was the first recording for the Semitones, picked up by the Mercury label. The band also recorded the single “I Know” and its flipside “Reina De Mi Vida” and “I Know What’s Been Going On” and flipside “I Love You My Darling” at the Pharaoh Studio. All records had some local success.Noe Pro and the Semi-tones recorded most of the Spanish 45s at Ideal Records Studios in San Benito, Texas. I recall recording engineer and owner of Ideal, John Phillips had Baldemar Huerta (Freddy Fender) working the recording equipment. We spent numerous nights at the Ideal studios recording until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. The LP was done at Falcon Studios.
Semitones, L-R, front: Gabriel (Gaby) Garza (sax), Gilbert Colunga (trumpet), Bobby Vill (bass); back: Jesse Salinas (guitar), Noe Pro (singer, drummer) and Carlos Cantu (sax)
Noe was also a great guitar and bass player, he could play numerous instruments, he arranged all the melodies for our horn section. Noe was known as the singing drummer which was unique for that time. Everyone loved to hear Noe sing and could dance to the music we played in English and Spanish.
In 1965 Noe was picked up by an orchestra service agency in Dallas that arranged for him to tour. They used their musicians. Some of us were either still in school or were not hired. Noe Pro’s band had new beginnings, and his music played on. Noe’s roots are in the Rio Grande Valley where he continues to record, and entertain his fans with tejano, country, rock, blues and big band music. Though it’s been over 40 years, this is some of what I recall about the early years of Noe Pro and the Semi-tones.
I played bass guitar with another school band The Staffs. By the middle of 1966, most of us were drafted into military service. It seems everyone left Brownsville, Texas.
Sadly, we have lost two of the early years Semi-tones, Gregorio (Goyo) Reyes: trumpet and Guadalupe (Lupio) Hernandez: lead guitar.
I ask anyone with knowledge of the band to submit photos, stories or any information about Noe Pro’s band “The Semi-tones”.
Jesse Salinas

Q. Were you part of the Blue Valiants with Noe? “I Know (You Don’t Love Me Anymore)” / “Reina de Mi Vida” is credited to Noe Pro and the Blue Valiants.

Jesse: I was never with the Valiants. Noe joined the Valiants as a drummer. The Blue Valiants did record for Jimmy Nicholls at Pharaoh when he was with them. Later Noe formed his own band the Semitones and we recorded “Yesterday’s Dream” and its flip at Pharaoh, it was the first recording for the Semitones. Noe tells me that “I Know” and its flip was actually the second recording. We all noticed the error on the label at the time we got copies but it was too late to change.

Noe Pro’s 1960s record releases

45s:

Noe Pro and the Semitones:

Mercury 72341 – “Yesterday’s Dream” / “Come Along My Baby (and Dance with Me)” (1964)

Pharaoh 118 – “I Know (You Don’t Love Me Anymore)” / “Reina de mi Vida” (credited to Noe Pro and the Blue Valiants)
Pharaoh 124 – “I Know What’s Been Going On” / “I Love You My Darling”

Noe Pro y Los Semitones Bego 45 Para Ti — “Para Ti” for the Bego label, a wild adaption of the Animals “I’m Crying”

Bego BG-167 – “Para Ti” / (as Noe Pro y Los Semitones)

Benja 103 – “Oh Darling” / “What Shall I Do” (both written by Benny C. Mendez and credited to Noe and the Semitoness)

Norco 110 – “If You Would See Me Tomorrow” / “I’m Gonna Leave This Town”

Ideal 2163 – “En Que Pierde una Mujer” / “Gracias”
Ideal 2285 – “Usted” / “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas”
Ideal 2370 – “Gorda” / “Mi Baby”
Ideal 2372 – “Extraños en la Noche”
Ideal 2382 – “El Destgastado” / “El Soltero”

Falcon 1656 – “Yo Te Daria Mas” / “Llora”

Album:

Falcon FLP-2055 – La Voz Internacional de Noe Pro

songlist: Llora, Mi Razon, Sin Verte, Incomprendida, Humo en los Ojos, Yo Te Suplico, Yo Te Daria Mas, Yo Soy Aguel, Aunque Me Hagas Llorar, Ya No Me Quieres, Cuando Comienza Elamor, Que Injusticia

Thank you to Jesse Salinas for the photos and scans in this article, and to Chad Burnett for the scan of the Bego 45 “Para Ti”.

Categories: Texas, Waco, WMC

The Veskants

January 29, 2011 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

Jack Benner, drummer with the Veskants and the Silvertones wrote to me about his career:

I started out playing piano as a kid, but didn’t like conventional music lessons. After a couple of years with Mamie B. Forkel (I swear), I quit. Later I found Geneva Hamilton, about as round as she was tall, well into her 60’s, coal-black dyed hair and smoked Camels, but she could PLAY piano! That was my start-out instrument (professionally). The problem with piano in a “movable” band back then was the equipment you had to buy and carry. Not every place you needed to play had a piano and if it did, it usually meant re-tuning the whole band.
When I met Mickey Sharp in the 9th grade and I was so impressed with his natural style on drums, I asked if he would teach me as much as he could. We struck up a life-long friendship and he taught me as much as I could learn. I was never quite in his league … he was the best, I was just good.
I started playing professionally while attending Richfield High School. My first job was with Jeweldine Taylor & The Rockets and first job was at James Connally AFB. Later we played at The Flame Room Lounge. When I was with the band, Augie Roundtree was on bass and I think Wallace Pelton may have been on lead guitar, she played rhythm guitar (Fender Jaguar). Started on piano but Rex Boehme took a radio DJ job in Dallas, so I took over drums.
Q. Did you play on her 45, “Look Who’s Talking (About Love)” on the TRC (Texas Record Company) label, backed by Bogle & the Beaumen?
Did not play on the Jeweldine Taylor record. Don’t remember hearing it or knowing about it until now. Her dad was her booking agent and manager and he repaired typewriters for a living. A few years after I worked for her, she went deeply religious and carried a Bible around with her. If you spoke to her, just a “hello”, you got “saved”!
I worked part-time at Waco Music Center in Southgate for a short time. Later we formed a band called Veskants with Larry Nichols (keyboard/sax), Ted Richardson (guitar), Richard Travis (bass), me on drums and Ronnie Byrd as vocalist. We recorded “Little Miss Heartbreaker” and “More Than Love” at Goodson McKee’s recording studio. Songs were written in part by Byrd. “More Than Love” was supposed to be the “A” side of the record but for some reason “Heartbreaker” got the most request/play, go figure. Pressed a few hundred records on W.M.C. label. Sold a few – gave away most. I still have a couple. Larry Nichols made up the name Veskants … who knows what goes through that mind of his!
Next band was The Silvertones featuring Little Anthony. He claimed his real name was Anthony Fontaine, who knows, but we were soon packing them in at The Red Carpet Club. Several talented players came and went in this band. I played trumpet, Mickey Sharp drums, Rick Jensen tenor sax, Ronny Cawthon lead guitar for a while, later Ted Richardson, Richard Travis bass (got drafted) so Jerry Rierson took bass – later Frank Tate. Larry Nichols played keyboard and for a while we had a 3rd horn (bari-sax) but can’t remember his name.
While in school, I took “Band” and learned to play the Coronet. Never really figured on using it professionally – weren’t many bands at that time using brass. Then as if by magic, Herb Alpert came along and then the R&B (soul) bands and all of a sudden there was a need for brass-players. It was light and easy to transport and I loved it for traveling all over the country. I can’t tell you the number of times I played “Lonely Bull”! Because I could play several instruments fairly well, I was never without “work” if I wanted it. That was nice.
Q. Was the Silvertones you were with the same group that recorded with Gaylan Ladd, “Get Out of Town” / “Something Is Strange”?
The Silvertones I played with did not record while I was with them but Gaylan came along after I left the band and the band Heather Black had a core of Silvertones in it so that’s possible. When we picked up Little Anthony and the extra instruments we were mainly a “showband”.
We toured many clubs & military bases. Gaylon Christy was our first agent but we got picked up by Sam Gibbs – Wichita Falls. Lots of work/travel! After band broke up (Dec. ’68) I moved to Arlington, took a day job and started working as “fill” on drums or keyboards, got married and was transferred to Wichita Kansas where I formed a 3-piece club band to keep my sanity.
When I got back to Texas (Hurst) I quit playing for a while. Then got a call from Frank Tate and Richard Travis to play organ/front a band called Bandana. Their rhythm guitar got transferred and they had a contract at Franks Lakeview Inn on Lake Belton. Just wanted me to help them out to the end of the contract – about 10 weeks. This was in 1973 – four years later we were still going strong.
Smil’n Jack Benner

Thanks to Mike Markesich for the scans and transfers of the Veskants single.

Categories: Houston, Paradise, Texas, Waco

Paradise discography

January 24, 2011 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

The Paradise label out of Houston, Texas is known for garage 45s by Thursday’s Children and the Warlocks, which came late in the label’s run. Most releases are r&b or blues, but there are even some country singles in the series.

any help with this would be appreciated

1000 – Joe Medwick – Second Time Around / Alabama Blues
1001 – Perk Williams – I’m Hanging My Teardrops Out / Release Me
1002 – Jimmy Nelson – Her Last Bye Bye / Tell Me Who
1003 – Frankie Anthony – Goin’ to the River (Frank Argento) / Brenda
1004 – Joe Medwick – You Little Heartbreaker You / I Cried
1005 – Willard Burton – The Last Buffalo / Cuban Cane Fields
1006 – Joe Hill – Just Not My World Anymore / Give Me a Reason
1007 – Link Davis – You Were Only Pulling My Leg / Whenever You Find Your Love My Love (1963)
1008 – Gashead – I’m Too Good / I Want to Get into Something
1009 – The Impellas – Five Plug / Sailing High
1010 – Gene Allison – Not Even Judgment Day / Fading Love
1011 – Gashead – You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone / Why Do You Treat Me Like a Tramp
1012 – Jimmy Nelson – Sweet Sugar Daddy / I’ll Be Ready
1013 – Johnny Copeland – I Need You Now / Heebie Jeebies
1014 – Link Davis – Orange Blossoms / Feu Follet (1963)
1015 – Larry Martinez – Borquinho / Melinda Café
1016 – Jim Post – Every Once in a While / Look a Long Way
1017 – The Rendevous – Ruby Baby / Ram-Bunk-Shus
1018 – Willard Burton – The Freeze / No Name
1019 – Interns – Sally Met Molly / Have Mercy
1020 – Chris Funston with the High Hopes – Summertime / There’s Nothing Left
1021 – Warlocks – Life’s a Misery / Splash Day
1022 – Thursday’s Children – You’ll Never Be My Girl (Jan Pederson) / Try Girl (Charles Helpinstill, Brown) (also released on Kidd 1334)
1023 – Interns – Don’t Make Me No Mind / Life With You
1024 – Leon Mitchison – The Sheek Part 1 / Part 2

5000 – Tommy Hammond – Ride This Train / Beging to You
5001 – Jim Jones and the Chaunteys – Sparkle and Shine / Three Squares
5002 – Johnny Copeland – Night Time Part 1 / Part 2
5003 – Oscar Perry – I’m on My Way / I Want to Get Old with You
5004 – Julius Jones and The Riverea’s – Eimmer Line / Soulin’ with the Riverea’s

With thanks to Texas Soul Recordings for filling in some missing gaps in my discography, and also to Myskatonic for confirming the Chris Funston disk, and to Bob for the listing of 5001.

Categories: El Paso, Frogdeath, New Mexico, Texas, University Park

The Imposters

January 4, 2011 Chris Bishop Leave a comment

Writing about Danny and the Counts has brought in a lot of information about the Coronado and Frogdeathlabels, so I’ll feature some more artists from these companies, starting with the Imposters.

The A-side is “Wipe In”, their take on the surf standard “Wipe Out” of course, with plenty of reverb and a deranged introduction. It was written by E. Teleheny, published by Conte Music. The flip is a standard blues, “Tulsa”, written by L. Miller.

I can’t find any info or photos of the band, if anyone has one, please let me know.

Although a DJ in El Paso, Steve Crosno’s Frogdeath label was based in University Park, New Mexico. At least some records were cut at his house. He usually put a witty quip on the label, this one has “Produced by Shteve [sic] Crosno”.

Thanks to Sam Stephenson for the scans and transfers of this 45.

Categories: Houston, Texas

The Deuce Is Wilde (the Deuces Wild)

December 17, 2010 Chris Bishop 15 Comments

The Deuce Is Wilde in front of the Catacombs photo — The Deuce Is Wilde in front of the Catacombs. Photo from Not Fade Away #4

Updated December 2010

The Deuces Wild (who became the Deuce Is Wilde) performed “You’re All Around Me” with footage from the Catacombs and Love Street in a short 1968 film directed by Charles Burwell, titled Deuce Is Wild.

From people’s comments it seems the band included these members:

Charles Webb – lead guitar
Paul Viviano – rhythm guitar
Harold Bailey – keyboards
Gordon Barnette – bass guitar
Rick Slaydon – drums

One early member of the Deuces Wild was Clark Clem, who also played guitar in the Chancellors Ltd. Charles Burwell contacted me to say that Clark Clem recently told him he’d left the band a year before the film was made.

In December, 2010 James Donnelly, who was in Jim Henley & the Thymes, wrote to me about the band:

I always knew them as the Deuces Wild. I went to high school and played in the HS band with two of the members, drummer Ricky Slayden and bassist Gordon ‘Boo Boo’ Barnett. They also had an guitarist named Charlie Webb. Also Harold Baily (keyboards), I think he left the group in ’68 or ’69 and moved to Las Vegas to become a blackjack dealer! Lost track of them years and years ago, although I know the Gordon passed away in the 70’s.
The Deuces were one of the best cover bands around, and covered everybody from James Brown to Paul Revere and the Raiders to the Music Machine. They played the Catacombs on a regular basis. Boo Boo was the comedian of the group, and the bass he played was almost as big as he was, Ricky was one of the best drummers I ever played with.

Margaret Jackson Graeff commented below with information I’ll repeat here:

The Deuces Wild changed their name to the Deuce Is Wilde around 1967. The rhythm guitar player in the picture, who is also doing vocals, is Paul Viviano. The bass player in the photo is Gordon Barnette. Contrary to what was said previously, Gordon did not die in the 1970s. He died in April, 1992. In the early 1970s, their roadie, Howard Lehman died. He lived down the street from Gordon when they were in their teens. I think that is where the confusion is. I knew the Deuces very well.
Charles Webb was their lead guitar player, but left the band when he was a freshman at Rice University. He now has a PhD and is a professor at California State University at Long Beach. He also goes by the name Charles Harper Webb and is a published author. Charles also played in the Houston based band, Saturnalia. Rick Slaydon played drums. Rick also played drums for the Houston-based band, The Starvation Army Band. James Lucas was the lead singer. Harold Bailey was the keyboard player. Paul Viviano, in 1969, formed the band ICE, with Stacy Sutherland, of the 13th Floor Elevators.

Thanks to Charles Burwell for info on Deuce Is Wild and the frame image from the film, and to James Donnelly for the info about the group.

Categories: Coronado, El Paso, Frogdeath, Texas

Danny and the Counts

November 19, 2010 Chris Bishop 32 Comments

Danny Parra – guitar and lead vocals
Javier Valenzuela – lead guitar and vocals
Eric Huereque – bass and vocals
Joe Huereque – drums
Joe Martinez – tambourine and vocals

Danny and the Counts “You Need Love” is a signature tune of the mid-60s, with its unforgetable buzzing guitar riff and opening “Oh, yeah!”. Not to mention the cool bending lick after the chorus, or the lyrics about seducing a rich girl. The b-side “Ode to the Wind” is slower and moody, again with good fuzz guitar.This was their second single, from 1966, on the Coronado label. Danny Parra wrote both songs. Chiyo Music BMI published many of Coronado’s releases at this time.

Their first 45 was more sedate. “For Your Love” is the Ed Townsend ballad, not the Yardbirds song, and on the flip is another mellow one, “It’s All All Over”. KELP DJ Steve Crosno’s Frogdeath label released this single.

The band consisted of Danny Parra, the song writer and lead vocalist, plus the Huereque brothers and (I believe) their cousin, Javier Valenzuela, along with Joe Martinez on tambourine and backing vocals. They were from the Clardy neighborhood in the east side of El Paso, along Delta Drive. The article by Susie Dominguez in the the KELPaper states that the band formed two years before “You Need Love”, though I’ve also read that the band formed as early as 1960, originally performing soul and Tejano music. The article also says that both Javier Valenzuela and Danny Parra played lead guitar.

After these records, Danny Parra went into the Navy and Ken Prichard joined on lead guitar. I’ve also seen two other members listed, but don’t know the accuracy of these: Javier Venisula – organ (same person as Javier Valenzuela?) and Irene Porras – vocals.

Ken Prichard later joined Brand X. Danny Parra moved to California. Eric Huereque passed away in 2003 at the age of 56.

Since first posting this I’ve heard from “Danny”, front man Danny Parra:

Although I was indeed interested in R&B type music back in the day, it was an absolute nightmare to put together and organize a large (8-12) R&B band in El Paso that could ever hope to compete with the likes of The Night Dreamers, The Valiants, The Premiers, etc. which were all fantastic bands in that genre of music in El Paso. One summer after a dismal year of trying to pull together R&B bandmates for rehearsals and even actual gigs to perform I’d pretty much gave up the quest for a large band with a powerhouse brass section.
My interests and my best friend Eric Huereque started to notice the music trends going on in England via the Beatles and Stones, etc. Not only was their music cool and different but their groups were usually only four or five guys! Much more attainable we thought ….. so we one summer Eric and I were jamming on guitars and we noticed Eric’s little brother Joe drumming in the corner of the room with a couple of yellow lead pencils …. and keeping pretty good time at that. We eventually enlisted (after much persuasion) him to try learning some basic beats for our jam sessions. Took a while but we encouraged him.
Spurred on by by his potential and the knowledge that at least we could count on him showing up for practice we realized Eric’s cousin Javier Valenzuela was also an aspiring guitar player and that we might be able to recruit him if an audition proved him viable. Note that at this time the big draw of the eventual band’s members was that most keys guys were Eric’s family and therefore more dependable in contrast to the people we had been trying to recruit and pull together as a viable band from all walks of life and all parts of sprawling El Paso!
Somehow, after countless hours of practice (weeks, months, lifetimes it seemed sometimes) and many horrible and worse experimental gigs we started to focus more on the “English sound” and less on R&B. To make a name for ourselves with this new image and music direction was a herculean task in El Paso because we were all latinos. If you were a band with latinos it was expected that you played only R&B style music back in those days.
Up to this time we had a first record under our belt which was recorded on Steve Crosno’s Frog Death label. We recorded “For Your Love” / “It’s All Over” in a single live take in Steve’s home without a drummer! Unbelievable! The recordings were meant to be a dry run but Crosno decided to put them on vinyl since he could promote them on KELP airwaves where he pretty much reigned as the biggest disc jockey around in those days.
Interestingly, our “For Your Love” was released at the same time the Righteous Brothers released the same song nationwide and the two records were being played back-to-back on KELP. In short order, both records made it up to number ten on KELP’s top 20. KELP published a brochure listing of popular records and music events found all over town that I wish I’d kept a copy of!
Although we got some modest notoriety because of his help on KELP and numerous appearance on his TV “Crosno’s Hop” show, we ultimately made it clear to him [Crosno] that we wanted to pursue the English music trends as a group and abandon R&B. He wasn’t happy about this because his whole market niche was R&B …. so we had an eventual parting of the ways. We produced and recorded our next record “You Need Love” / “Ode to the Wind” using the Coronado label and our own funds.
I’ve seen many comments & references of people who liked our music but were not impressed by the “production” and/or “sound quality” of the tunes. Guess what? These have been very accurate statements since the songs were recorded as live single takes in a dumpy downtown El Paso recording studio for the princely sum of $75.00 (included master tape). The fee was for an hour of recording studio time with a very bored, spectacled, bald geezer that was truly bored out of his gourd during our session. Did he kick up our audio or segregate the instruments and vocals for a sweeter mix? Hell no! What you hear on those tracks was raw, one take, wham-bam-thank-you-maam sounds. We didn’t know any better and the audio engineer simply didn’t care squat or know any more than we did! He might’ve even been the janitor for all we knew.
Q. Is that you playing the lead guitar line on “You Need Love” or Javier?
It was Javier. Many have assumed over the years that the sound was a sitar but I can assure you that we didn’t even know what a sitar was in those days. I recollect that he used either a small glass bottle or lipstick cover on his finger as a “slide” to get that sitar-sound you hear. The fuzztone sound was one of the few guitar effects available back then … made trendy by the Rolling Stones on “Satisfaction”.
Our tape was sent through Steve Crosno’s contacts. He was a bit reluctant to help at first because we weren’t following his R&B recommendation on his FrogDeath label, but he was still cool enough to get it pressed for us with Coronado.
Ironically, I am astounded and flattered that our music seems to somehow endured through other band’s interpretations on their albums and through some compilation albums that you can still buy today that showcased much of the music happening in those days in Texas. There have even been some interesting video efforts (YouTube) made to fit our music. Hmmm, wonder where that audio engineer dude ended up after all these years?
I was drafted in late 1966 (Vietnam) and ended up serving eight years serving my country (Navy) all over the world …. including London, England. Moved with family to California, worked for years as an electronics engineer. Due to a layoff (1985) re-invented and established myself as a much published fashion and beauty photographer in L.A. and authored a book “Model Mystique Unraveled” in 1995-96.
I regret that I lost touch with the band after going in the service after 1966. But I heard that Eric (bass/manager) perpetuated the band for years in spite that I was obviously missing as the frontman!

Article scan from Rick Kern’s El Paso Musicians site, used with permission. Photos of the Frogdeath single courtesy of Danny Parra. A special thank you to Oktay for the scans and help with this article, and to Sam Stephenson for letting me hear “For Your Love” and “It’s All All Over”.

Garage Hangover