The Next of Kinn, 1966, from left: Steve Brajak, Paul Softich, Jerry Centifanti, Joe Centifanti
Joe Centifanti, guitar Jerry Centifanti, guitar Steve Brajak, bass Paul Softich, drums
The Next of Kinn’s “A Lovely Song” is a favorite of mine. Buckeye Beat has the full story on the band, including the photo above – below is a quick summary of their story:
The Centifanti brothers were from Youngstown, and Steve Brajak and Paul Softich other members were from nearby Struthers and Boardman respectively. These kids were young! No older than 10 when they started, and all of 10-14 when they cut “A Lovely Song” at WAM/United Audio studios in the fall of ’67.
Pete Pompura, bassist for the Pied Pipers (who cut the wild 45 “Stay in My Life” on Hamlin Town) contributed the lyrics for “A Lovely Song” and helped the Next of Kinn write “Nosey Rosie”. Jerry Centifanti sang lead on both songs, with Pied Piper vocalist Dennis Sesonsky on backup.
However the band went back into the studio, and the feedback-laden “Nosey Rosie” was dropped in favor of a good version of “Mr. Soul” for the record’s release in January of ’68, with the band’s name abbreviated to Next of Kin on the labels.
I finally heard a dub of the WAM acetate of “Nosey Rosie” not long after I first wrote this post about the Next of Kinn. Let me say it’s all that I had hoped it could be – three minutes of tough feedback layered over a simple backing with vocals similar to “A Lovely Song”. Wow! I can’t think of any other examples of guitar sounds this wild before the second side of the Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat, released several months later in early ’68! Time to rewrite music history again!
The Liberty Lads, from left: Andy Arguello, Eddie Williams, John Lujan, George Tomelloso, and Mike Mendoza. Photo courtesy of Vicki Bowlin George Tomelloso, lead guitar and vocals Andy Arguello, guitar Mike Mendoza, guitar Eddie Williams, bass John Lujan, drums
The Liberty Lads were from the Liberty Farms and Dixon area east of Vacaville. In 1965, like many bands from the area, they recorded at Bill Rase’s studio on Franklin Blvd in Sacramento, a package deal of a few hours recording time and 45s on a custom label to sell at their shows.
George Tomelloso, who passed away some time ago, wrote both sides of their only release. “Too Much Loving” has great tension created by the repetitive bass line and sitar-like lead guitar line. The immense reverb makes the sparse instrumentation seem even thinner. The vocals don’t start until nearly a minute in, and Tomelloso delivers them in a weird snarl with another member echoing the lines deep in the background. A lone handclap accompanies the chorus. At 3:55 this is one of the longest independent singles of the day, and unlike any surf music ever recorded.
All the qualities that make “Too Much Loving” so great are nearly absent on the flip, “I Need Believe In”, a ballad that drags along for over three minutes with only a fine reverb guitar sound to help it along.
The excellent Big Beat CD The Sound of Young Sacramento has a great photo of the group, along with thirty great tracks by bands from the region, and I recommend it highly.
Eddie Williams (Eddie Guilherme) joined the Tears who cut “Weatherman” on Scorpio and “Rat Race” on Onyx.
Thank you to Vicki Bowlin for the photo of the group at top. Vicki commented below that her mother Bobbi Madrid helped manage the band, and had them practice at their house in Vallejo.
Back row: Tom Cosgrove, Billy Dennis and Pete Santora. Front row: Dennis Sousa and John Tomany
From the Bronx, the Elegant Four were also known as the Elegants. Tom Crosgrove was lead guitarist and vocalist, and wrote both songs on their only 45. Other members included Bill Dennis and Pete Santora.
The chanted vocals and echoing chords give “Time to Say Goodbye” a downcast mood, brightening momentarily during the chorus where the singer gives the boot to the girl holding out on him.
On the flip is the uptempo “I’m Tired”, with more fine harmonies and a good guitar solo.
These songs were originally released on the Cousins label, produced by Mike Barbiero. It was picked up for a December ’65 release on Mercury, but doesn’t seem to have made much chart impact.
Sources: photo from Pete Santora’s site. Thanks to Tom for clarifying the photo IDs.
A couple other photos are available on Tom Walsh’s site Bronx Bands of the Past (warning: Angelfire sites like this one always have pop-up ads).
Lamar Collins at home with his mother’s piano All photos are courtesy Jeanette Bleckley, except where noted.
James and Lamar at the high school promSam Camp writes this tribute to Lamar Collins, bassist and vocalist with the Chashers and the Avalons:
The first time I met Lamar Collins was in 1963 at Bell’s Drive Inn in Toccoa, Georgia. I was a curb hop there at the time and just happened to walk to his car to take his order. Lamar asked was I the guy that played saxophone and I shyly replied, ‘yes’. I was barely 14 years old and Lamar was in his very early 20s. We started a conversation about music and the rest is history.
Lamar was already jamming with several musicians from Hartwell, Georgia – David Conway, Calvin Coker, Larry Mayo, and a saxophone player whose name I do not recall. Little did I know at the time, I would soon replace the nameless saxophone player. We began to practice at the house where Lamar and his wife Shirley were living on Prather Bridge Road. Occasionally, we would travel to Hartwell to practice. After joining the band, I recall playing at Lake Rabun Georgia for a party and making near nothing and then driving the car back to Toccoa. This band, the name which I do not recall, played a couple more meaningless gigs and soon fizzled out.
Evelyn Bowden-Spencer, Jeanette Bleckley, Lamar Collins & R.J. Spencer at Jeanette’s home. “We often played and sang together.”Calvin Coker continued to drive to Toccoa to keep the enthusiasm going, but something was obviously missing. Two weekends later, Lamar brought in another musician named Jimmy Sipes. I could tell right away that Sipes was a seasoned musician and that he and Lamar had a lot in common. When the four of us practiced I could sense that there was a little competition between Coker and Sipes and, soon after, Coker did not return to any more practices. Sipes was to play keyboard, “Wurlitzer piano”, and Lamar quickly bought a bass guitar and we continued to practice. The group was not complete without a drummer and guitar player. Somehow Ronnie Crunkleton (drums) and Roy Thompson (guitar) made their way into the band.
After several months of rehearsing, we started sounding like a real rock and roll band. We called ourselves “The Avalons”. We were ready to gig. I recall our first gig at the ELKS Club in Toccoa, Georgia where we had to stretch 33 songs into 4 sets, but all went well. They wanted us to come back!
Lamar and Jeanette Bleckley at the J-S Prom;We began playing regularly in Northeast Georgia and South Carolina. Lamar Collins and Jimmy Sipes could give The Righteous Brothers a run for their money singing, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”. We were popular for this quality of vocal harmony and on occasion we were labeled as the Righteous Brothers of Georgia.
Lamar was very popular among the ladies with his blond hair, blues eyes, and strong tenor voice. He was endowed with a gift that enabled him to sing straight to your heart and make you remember that feeling the next day. Without question, Lamar was the driving force of the band and well respected among his fellow musicians.
Lamar Collins at the Chicken Shack Photo courtesy Sam CampThe Avalons gained much popularity as the house band at a local teen club called “The Chicken Shack” located in Seneca, South Carolina. It was not uncommon to pack a thousand fans in on Saturday night where our records and pictures were sold.
I remember our opening song, an instrumental of “You Can’t Sit Down”, by The Dovells on which I played the sax. As its title suggests, it’s an amazing dance number that would heat up any dance floor. This was our signature song and always got the crowd going. They would start to scream the minute we began to play.
During the band’s popularity, we opened for several national acts including such names as The Swinging Medallions, Billy Joe Royal, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Keith, and The Impressions.
Lamar was the lead singer of the band and you can see him in the picture inside the Chicken Shack playing his red Gibson bass guitar. Lamar loved to perform. Folks that came to The Chicken Shack in the late sixties will certainly remember this setting.
The Avalons’s “Come Back Little Girl” was No 1 at WHYZ radio station in Greenville South Carolina. The group brushed closely to fame, but due to conflicts of interest, they sadly chose to split in 1968.
After a period of time, everyone went their separate ways. Soon after, Lamar and Roy Thompson collaborated and put their heart and soul into two songs “The Wind” and “Without My Girl”.
Lamar was a “star” that shined from Toccoa, Georgia. He was loved and respected by many for his musical abilities, but those who knew him closely could tell you what a kind and gentle heart he possessed as well. It was this that shone through in his character. Lamar was responsible for getting me started in my music career and I still play today. During the years I knew him, the man ate, slept and lived for his music. He inspired a surprising number of us to continue in the gift of music God had placed in each of our souls, and for that I will always be grateful.
Lamar Collins gave birth to The Avalons. Essentially, Lamar Collins was The Avalons.
Lamar passed away in 1982 of a brain tumor. To say that I miss him would be an understatement. I think of him often and can testify of many others who do the same.
This is written in tribute to my dear friend, Lamar Collins.
Sam Camp
A special thank you to Jeanette Bleckley for the additional photos of Lamar.
Lamar, with Mike Stephens on guitar “Lamar & his niece at my old home place”
Lamar & R.J. Spencer
Lamar Collins, photo courtesy Sam Camp
The Satellites: Mike Stephens (guitar), Trig Dalrymple (drums), Horace Baker (trumpet), Ray Deaton (trombone), Gary Huth (clarinet), Lamar Collins (piano). Photo courtesy of Mary Stephenson.Lamar Collins and Mike Stephens. Photo courtesy of Mary Stephenson.
Mary writes, “My brother, the late Mike Stephens and Lamar started a band around 1958-1959, and it was called the Sattelites. They mainly played for school dances.”
The Doors and Elektra Records’ producer Paul Rothchild is reported to have once lamented that Toronto R&B outfit, Luke & The Apostles were the “greatest album I never got to make”. Indeed, the group’s lone single for Elektra, released in early 1967, a year after it was recorded, hardly does justice to a band that provided a training ground for several notable musicians who went on to McKenna Mendelson Mainline, Kensington Market and The Modern Rock Quartet (MRQ).
Luke & The Apostles found their roots in the blues band Mike’s Trio, which had been formed in 1963 by school friends, guitarist Mike McKenna (b. 15 April 1946, Toronto), formerly a member of Whitey & The Roulettes, and bass player Graham Dunsmore. Together with drummer Rich McMurray, Mike Trio’s started gigging at the Cellar club in the city’s Yorkville Village playing Jimmy Reed covers. Sometime in early 1964, McMurray introduced Luke Gibson (b. 5 October 1946, Toronto), a singer with great commanding power and presence, who was joined soon afterwards by classically trained keyboard player Peter Jermyn (b. 6 November 1946, Kingston, Ontario).
It was Jermyn who coined the name, Luke & The Apostles, in imitation of another local act, which had chosen a biblical reference, Robbie Lane & The Disciples and soon became a regular fixture on the local club scene. At first the group found work at the Cellar in Toronto’s hip Yorkville Village before moving on to the El Patio and ultimately the Purple Onion. In fact, such was the demand from local fans that, according to respected Canadian rock journalist Nicholas Jennings, the band was still playing at the Purple Onion a year on from its debut!
Before Luke & The Apostles started its run at the Purple Onion, Jim Jones was brought in to replace Graham Dunsmore on bass while Ray Bennett augmented the line up on harmonica for several months. Bennett ultimately composed “Been Burnt,” the a-side to what would become the band’s solitary ‘45 for Elektra, before moving on during the summer of 1965 (later joining The Heavenly Government).
It was shortly after Bennett’s departure that Paul Rothchild caught the group at the Purple Onion one evening in September. As Gibson recalled to Nicholas Jennings in his book, Before The Goldrush, Rothchild was so enthused he asked the band’s front man to audition the band to label boss, Jac Holzman by singing “Been Burnt” down the phone!
Boris’ Coffee House promo, courtesy Ivan Amirault
McKenna remembers the audition vividly. “He actually called Jac and said, ‘listen to the guys’. I don’t know if it was too much smoke or whatever, but at the time they were just starting to get going and I think they were releasing that album that had all those bands on it, including [Paul] Butterfield. That was the first time we heard Butterfield and Rothchild brought it up to us and let us hear it and we were knocked out!
Inking a deal with Elektra, the band flew down to New York in early 1966 and recorded two tracks, Bennett’s “Been Burnt” backed by McKenna’s “Don’t Know Why” for a prospective single. The two recordings were readied for release that spring but then tragedy struck. Paul Rothchild was arrested for marijuana possession and the band’s single was put on hold for a year while he served a prison sentence.
Undeterred, Luke & The Apostles resumed gigging in Toronto and began to extend their fan base beyond Yorkville Village, performing at venues like the North Toronto Memorial Arena on 28 May. But uncertainty over the single’s release and the band’s long-term future began to take its toll, and in early summer Jim Jones announced that he was leaving because he wanted to give up playing. Former Simon Caine & The Catch bass player Dennis Pendrith (b. 13 September 1949, Toronto), who was still in high school at the time, had the unenviable task of filling his idol’s shoes.
With Pendrith on board, Luke & The Apostles found a new home at Boris’ coffeehouse in Yorkville Village where they made their debut on 21-22 July. The group also began to find work beyond the city’s limits, travelling east to Oshawa on 24 July to play at the Jubilee Auditorium.
Later that summer, Luke & The Apostles returned to play several shows at the North Toronto Memorial Arena, and on one occasion (23 August), shared the bill with Montreal’s The Haunted and local group, The Last Words. But the most prestigious concert date during this time was an appearance at the 14-hour long rock show held at Maple Leaf Gardens on 24 September 1966, alongside a dozen or so local bands.
The show proved to be Pendrith’s swan song. The following month, Jim Jones had a change of mind and returned to the fold, leaving the young bass player to find work elsewhere – he subsequently rejoined his former group before hooking up with Livingstone’s Journey in mid-1967. At the same time, Gibson and McKenna decided to dispense with McMurray’s services and recruited a new drummer, Pat Little. The changes, however, did not end there. Sometime in October or November, Peter Jermyn briefly left the group and was replaced by future Bedtime Story and Edward Bear keyboard player Bob Kendall before returning in December 1966.
Amid all the changes, Luke & The Apostles resumed its weekly residency at Boris’, sharing the bill at various times with The Ugly Ducklings and The Paupers among others. They also got the opportunity to perform at the newly opened Club Kingsway on 15 October, opening for singer/songwriter Neil Diamond and travelled to Montreal at the end of the year to play some dates.
By early 1967, Luke & The Apostles’ single had still not been released. Nevertheless, the opportunity to return to New York in mid-April and perform at the Café Au Go Go buoyed spirits. The previous month, McKenna’s friend, bass player Denny Gerrard was opening for Jefferson Airplane with his band The Paupers and during that band’s stay in the Big Apple, Gerrard had met Paul Butterfield who was looking for a replacement for Mike Bloomfield in his band, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Gerrard immediately suggested McKenna and passed Butterfield his Toronto number.
“Denny had met Paul Butterfield and said, ‘if you’re looking for a guitar player’ because Bloomfield had gone into hospital or something,” remembers McKenna …[Paul] called me and I actually thought it was a joke! When I realised it was Paul I was absolutely blown away that he had called me.”
With Bloomfield looking to form his new band, The Electric Flag, Butterfield asked McKenna to come down to New York and audition but the guitarist kindly declined the offer. “I couldn’t go because that’s when Luke and I were going to go back to do some recordings and I said, ‘well if I leave Luke and the guys now, the band will probably break up and we’ve got recordings to do.”
While Elektra had not seen fit to release Luke & The Apostles’ first recordings, the label still expressed an interest in recording the band. During its time at the Café Au Go, the label booked the group into its New York studios for a day to record an album’s worth of material, including the tracks, “I Don’t Feel Like Trying” and “So Long Girl”.
During its first stand at the Café Au Go Go (where incidentally the group shared the washroom with The Mothers of Invention who were playing at the Garrick Theatre upstairs) Luke & The Apostles backed folkie Dave Van Ronk but were so well received that the club owner asked the band to return for a second week in late May-early June, opening for The Grateful Dead.
During this engagement, McKenna stuck up a friendship with Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who hounded McKenna to sell him his recently acquired Les Paul Special.
“I think it was the one that was on the Rolling Stone cover,” recalls McKenna. “I bought it in one of the stores in New York and he paid me a handsome sum for what I had paid for it.”
One night Paul Butterfield and his lead guitarist Elvin Bishop turned up to check out the band. According to Suzi Wickett, McKenna’s first wife, both were extremely impressed with McKenna’s guitar-playing style and unique sound. When Bishop asked McKenna how he created such “a sound”, the guitarist graciously explained his secret was in his mixture of Hawaiian and banjo strings used in combination, along with controlled feedback. “It was something I learned from Robbie Robertson and The Hawks,” explains McKenna. “The big thing in Toronto was playing Telecasters but you couldn’t get light gauge strings so what Robbie did was use banjo strings.”
The following night at the Café Au Go Go was standing room only remembers Wickett and everyone who was “anyone” had turned out to see this new band from Toronto. Among those attending were Bob Dylan and Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s manager Albert Grossman and rock promoter Bill Graham who each wanted to sign Luke & The Apostles to a management contract. Bill Graham even offered the band a slot at the Fillmore West in California that summer.
But behind the scenes the band was slowly disintegrating, as Wickett explains. “The pressure was ‘on’ for Luke & The Apostles to decide which manager they were going to sign [with]. The band had been away from Toronto for three weeks; they were in a prime position for national exposure [and] the hottest people in the industry were vying for their commitment to a management contract. Unable to reconcile differences of opinion and personal ambitions, the group fragmented returning to Toronto disillusioned and hostile.”
Luke & the Apostles, RPM, August 15, 1970
Transfusion, clockwise from top: Danny McBride (with Gibson ES335), Tom Sheret, Pat Little, Simon Caine and Rick Shuckster.
Luke & The Apostles, however, were not quite ready to implode and resumed their regular gig at Boris’. More importantly, Bill Graham approached Luke & The Apostles and asked the band to open for Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead on 23 July when both groups performed at Nathan Phillips Square in front of 50,000.Graham was suitably impressed by the band’s performance that he asked Luke & The Apostles to repeat their support act at the O’Keefe Centre from 31 July-5 August. During the show the band performed covers of blues favourites “Good Morning Little School Girl” and “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover”.
The concert, however, proved to be the group’s swan song and after a final show at Boris’ Red Gas Room on 6 August, Luke Gibson accepted an offer to join the progressive folk-rock outfit, Kensington Market where he would develop his song writing skills.
Peter Jermyn was also ready to move on. After passing on an offer to join The Blues Project because he would have been liable to be drafted, he subsequently moved to Ottawa to join the band Heart, which evolved into The Modern Rock Quartet. Jim Jones meanwhile played with several bands, including The Artist Jazz Band.
Left with only the band’s name, McKenna and Little decided to go their separate ways. McKenna immediately found work with The Ugly Ducklings before forming the highly respected blues outfit, McKenna Mendelson Mainline the following summer.
Little became an early member of Edward Bear before joining forces with future Blood, Sweat & Tears’ singer David Clayton-Thomas in his group Combine (appearing on the original version of “Spinning Wheel”). In June 1968, however, he joined The Georgian People (later better known as Chimo!) before moving on to Transfusion, the house band at Toronto’s Rock Pile.
Although it was a sad end to what was a great band, the story doesn’t end there. In December 1969, Gibson, McKenna and Little met up to discuss reforming the group. “People didn’t forget,” Gibson explained to Bill Gray in an article for The Toronto Telegram on 19 February 1970. “We used to get asked constantly, all of us, about The Apostles. Everyone seemed to have good memories of the band. We were, after all, kind of unique around Toronto.
“The trouble was, it was only after we broke up that the scene here started to change. Other bands started to come around to the kind of things we had been doing. The blues and rock thing began to dominate and I guess our influence was recalled, that’s why our posthumous reputation has remained so high.”
Completing the line up with former Transfusion guitarist Danny McBride on second lead guitar and McKenna’s pal, ex-Paupers bass player Denny Gerrard (b. 28 February 1947, Scarborough) during January 1970, the group enlisted Bernie Finkelstein (today Bruce Cockburn’s long-standing manager) to represent them.
But the new line up remained unsettled and by the end of the month former Buffalo Springfield bass player Bruce Palmer (b. 9 September 1946, Toronto) came on board in time for the band’s debut shows at the Café Le Hibou in Ottawa from 10-14 February. After opening for Johnny Winter at Massey Hall on 15 February and playing several low-key dates around the city, Palmer dropped out and Jack Geisinger (b. March 1945, Czechoslovakia) from Damage, Milkwood and Influence arrived in time to play on a lone 45, issued on Bernie Finkelstein’s True North Records.
The resulting single, Gibson, McKenna and Little’s “You Make Me High”, is arguably one of the best records to come out of the Toronto scene from that period, and even managed to reach #27 on Canada’s RPM chart in October of that year. The b-side, “Not Far Off”, written by Gibson has a Led Zeppelin feel and some tasty guitar interplay between McKenna and McBride.
The band returned to Toronto’s live scene, supporting Lighthouse at a show held at Convocation Hall on 1 March. A few weeks later, the group performed at the Electric Circus (13-14 March) and then towards the end of the month appeared at the Toronto Rock Festival at Varsity Arena (26 March) on a bill featuring Funkadelic, Damage and Nucleus among others.
In the first week of April, Luke & The Apostles embarked on a brief tour of Boston with Mountain but behind the scenes, the band was slowly unravelling. Following a show at the Electric Circus in Toronto on 9 May, McKenna dropped out to rejoin his former band, now going by the name Mainline.
The band ploughed on appearing at the Peace Festival at Varsity Arena on 19-21 June on a bill that also included Rare Earth, SRC, Bush and George Olliver & The Natural Gas among others. But soon afterwards McBride also handed in his notice and later became a mainstay of Chris de Burgh’s backing band.
In his place, Luke & The Apostles recruited Geisinger’s former Influence cohort, Walter Rossi (b. 29 May 1947, Naples, Italy), who had played with The Buddy Miles Express in the interim.
With Rossi on board Luke & The Apostles made a prestigious appearance at that summer’s Strawberry Fields Pop Festival held at Mosport Park, Ontario on the weekend of 7-8 August 1970. A short tour followed, including several appearances at the CNE Bandstand in Toronto where the band shared the bill with Lighthouse, Crowbar and Dr John among others. Then on 1 September, the group headed down to New York to perform at the popular club, Ungano’s.
In an interview with Peter Goddard for Toronto Telegram’s 17 September issue, manager Bernie Finkelstein was confident that the band had a promising future ahead. “We’ve been asked to go back to Ungano’s in New York City for the middle of October,” he said. “But we might wait to get the material for our first album ready so that we can release it around mid-October.”
Unfortunately, the promised album never appeared and soon after a show at Kipling Collegiate in Toronto on 9 October, Luke Gibson left for a solo career followed shortly afterwards by Pat Little. The remaining members recruited ex-Wizard drummer Mike Driscoll, performing as The Apostles before splitting in early 1971. Rossi subsequently recorded a brilliant, Jimi Hendrix-inspired album as Charlee in early 1972 with help from Geisinger and Driscoll before embarking on a successful solo career which continues to this day.
Gibson also embarked on a solo career and in 1971 recorded a lone album for True North Records with help from Dennis Pendrith, Jim Jones and Bruce Cockburn. Gibson continued to gig throughout the 1970s and 1980s with his bands Killaloe, The Silver Tractors and Luke Gibson Rocks before eschewing a singing career to become a film set painter. Little rejoined Chimo! for the band’s final single and then hooked up with Rick James in Heaven and Earth for two singles on RCA Victor in late 1971. He also reunited with McKenna to record an album with the band, DiamondBack.
Legend surrounding the band, however, has grown over the years and in the late ‘90s, early members Gibson, Jermyn, Jones and McKenna reformed the group with future Downchild Blues Band drummer Mike Fitzpatrick for the “Toronto Rock Revival” concert held at the Warehouse on 2 May 1999. Later that year Jermyn, Jones and McKenna became house band at Yorkville club, Blues on Bellair and were joined intermittently by Gibson.
As recently as 1 June 2002, Luke & The Apostles were playing at the club and local label Bullseye Records recorded one of the shows for a proposed live CD, comprising the old favourites and more contemporary material but so far nothing has been released. Nevertheless, the band still commands a loyal following and hopefully a full length CD release detailing the group’s colourful career will finally do justice to one of Toronto’s most overlooked and talented bands.
Recordings
45 Been Burnt/Don’t Know Why (Bounty 45105) 1967
45 Been Burnt/Don’t Know Why (Elektra 45105) 1967
45 You Make Me High/Not Far Off (TN 101) 1970
45 You Make Me High/You Make Me High (TN 102) 1970
Advertised gigs
September 1965 – The Purple Onion, Toronto
May 28 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto
July 21-22 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
July 23 1966 – The Hawk’s Nest, Toronto
July 24 1966 – The Jubilee Auditorium, Oshawa, Ontario
July 26-29 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
July 31-August 1 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
August 2 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto with Bobby Kris & The Imperials and the Stitch in Tyme
August 18-21 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
August 23 1966 – North Toronto Memorial Arena, Toronto with The Last Words and The Haunted
September 8 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
September 11 1966 – El Patio, Toronto
September 15 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
September 16 1966 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Tripp, All Five, Klaas Vangrath and Al Lalonde
September 17-18 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
September 22-23 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
September 24 1966 – Maple Leaf Gardens with Little Caesar & The Consuls, The Ugly Ducklings, The Tripp, The Paupers, Bobby Kris & The Imperials, The Stitch In Tyme, The Spasstiks, R K & The Associates, Little Caesar & The Consuls, The Big Town Boys and others
September 25 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
October 1-2 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
October 8-10 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
October 14-15 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
October 15 1966 – Club Kingsway, Toronto with Neil Diamond, The Counts, The Big Town Boys and Canadian Dell-Tones
October 22-23 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
November 4 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with The Orphans
November 5 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with The Vendettas
November 6 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with The Ugly Ducklings
November 18-20 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
November 26-27 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
December 2-4 1966 – Boris’, Toronto
December ?? 1966 – Montreal
December 23 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with The Spectrums
December 24-27 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with The Paupers
December 28 1966 – Boris’, Toronto with The Vendettas
December 29-1 January 1967 – Boris’, Toronto with The Paupers
January 6 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room (newly opened), Toronto with The Vendettas
January 7 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto with The Ugly Ducklings
January 8 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto with The Vendettas
January 13-15 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
January 21-22 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
January 29 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
February 4-5 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto
February 10 1967 – The Villa Inn, Streetsville, Ontario
February 12 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto with The Paupers
February 17-19 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
February 24-26 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
February 26 1967 – Club Isabella, Toronto
March 3-5 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
March 10 1967 – Boris’, Toronto with The Vendettas
March ?? 1967 – Ottawa
March 29-April 2 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
March 31 1967 – Gogue Inn, Toronto with The Wee Beasties and The Citations
April 8-9 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
April ?? 1967 – New York dates
April 14-16 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
April 22-23 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
April 28 1967 – YMCA Inferno Club, Toronto, Willowdale, Ontario
April 29 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
May 7-?? 1967 – Café Au Go Go, New York with David Van Ronk
May 13-14 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
May 19-20 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
May 21-?? 1967 – Café Au Go Go, New York
June 4 1967 – Café Au Go Go, New York with Eric Andersen
June 16-18 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
June 22-24 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
July 6-7 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
July 8 1967 – Broom and Stone, Scarborough with The Midnights and The Trayne
July 9 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
July 13-16 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
July 21-22 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
July 23 1967 – Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto with Jefferson Airplane
July 28-29 1967 – Boris’, Toronto
July 31-August 5 1967 – O’Keefe Centre, Toronto with Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane
August 6 1967 – Boris’ Red Gas Room, Toronto
February 10-14 1970 – Café Le Hibou, Ottawa
February 15 1970 – Massey Hall, Toronto with Johnny Winter
February 20 1970 – WM L MacKenzie Collegiate, Toronto
February 21 1970 – WA Porter Collegiate, Toronto
March 1 1970 – Convocation Hall, Toronto with Lighthouse and Mother Tucker’s Yellow Duck
March 13-14 1970 – Electric Circus, Toronto
March 26 1970 – Toronto Rock Festival, Varsity Arena with Funkadelic, Nucleus, Damage and others
April 2-4 1970 – Boston Tea Party, Boston with Mountain and Ronnie Hawkins
April 15-16 1970 – East York Collegiate, Toronto with Five Man Electrical Band
May 1 1970 – St Gabe’s, Willowdale, Ontario
May 2 1970 – Cedarbrae College, Toronto
May 9 1970 – Electric Circus, Toronto with Fear
June 16-21 1970 – Café Le Hibou, Ottawa
June 19-21 1970 – Peace Festival, Varsity Arena with Rare Earth, SRC, Bush, George Olliver & The Natural Gas, Nucleus and others
August 7-8 1970 – Strawberry Fields Pop Festival, Mosport Park, Ontario
August 13 1970 – Woodbine Arena, Woodbine, Ontario
August 20 1970 – CNE Bandstand, Toronto with Soma, Lighthouse, Crowbar, Mashmakan and Dr John
August 27 1970 – CNE Bandstand, Toronto with Mashmakan
September 1 1970 – Ungano’s, New York with Charade
September 25 1970 – Hamilton Forum, Hamilton, Ontario with King Biscuit Boy, Crowbar, Whiskey Howl and Brass Union (Hamilton Spectator)
October 9 1970 – Kipling Collegiate, Toronto with Cheshire Cat
Many thanks to Mike McKenna, Peter Jermyn, Mike Harrison, Carny Corbett, Bill Munson, Craig Webb, Suzi Wickett, John Bennett and Walter Rossi.
The Toronto Telegram’s After Four section has also been invaluable for live dates and reviews. Also thanks to Ross from www.chickenonaunicycle.com for the scan of the San Francisco Scene program. Thank you to Ivan Amirault for the scans from RPM.
Yet another surprising find from the KRLA Beat archive! August 13, 1966.Yuzo Kayama was a movie idol and rival to premier ‘eleki’ guitarist Takeshi Terauchi. Eleki was an instrumental genre influenced first and foremost by the Ventures.
“Black Sand Beach” is maybe his most perfect composition, while “Los Angeles no Nisei Matsuri” certainly his toughest. “Violet Sky” is like Davie Allen channeling Johnny Kidd and the Pirates.
My copy is a scratchy Peruvian pressing! As I’ve pointed out before, stereo sound was standard for major Japanese labels by the mid-60s, if not before.
Kayama cut a number of vocal tunes that were among his biggest hits. They’re not as hip as the instrumentals, but for fans of Japanese pop from this time, they have their charm, and some good guitar work as well.
As the musical style was changing to vocal combos in the wake of the Beatles, a new term was needed to replace eleki without using the the difficult-to-pronounce phrase (for the Japanese) ‘rock ‘n roll’. Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler recounts how Kayama, who had his own TV talk show, was interviewing drummer and band leader Jackey Yoshikawa (best known among rock fans for “Psychedelic Man” with the Blue Comets):
Yuzo Kayama – right there on live TV – demanded of his guest how could any of them possibly become true to their chosen art form if they couldn’t even manage to pronounce ‘lock’n’lorr’! … the media-savvy Kayama was surprised when Yoshikawa admitted his difficulty. But instead of merely sweating and looking foolish, Jackey turned the tables … and challenged his TV host to come up with something more appropriate. Raising his eyes heavenwards and blowing out several lungfuls of hot air, Kayama fell silent briefly before asking: ‘Why don’t we call the music “The Group Sounds”?’
If this is true, then he named a whole genre of music while it was still underway – a rare feat.
Kayama’s musical legacy is well preserved on video, with a dozen or more great performances available with a quick search, including some that were never released on record.
In early 1963 our Milwaukee band, the Damells, was appearing in Ishpeming, MI and we became good friends with the Blue Echoes from Sarnia, Ontario. There were two places with live music in Ishpeming, the Venice and the Roosevelt, and although both bands played the same nights, we managed to get over to hear a couple of songs on our breaks once or twice (the two clubs were very close together), and we got together a few times in the afternoons. In May the Darnells headed for Southern California and, on the referral of a former band mate, we connected with Tide Records in Los Angeles.
We eventually returned to Milwaukee and the band broke up. Denny King, guitarist and leader of the Darnells, went back out to L.A. in early 1964, and invited Vic Blunt (aka Vic Miller), guitarist and leader of the Blue Echoes, to join him as bassist. Blunt and King recorded for Tide as the Mojo Men. (This record has no connection with any other Mojo Men; it was just Tide’s way of trying to get more mileage out of that name, since Larry Bright’s “Mojo Workout” was their only national chart record). Both sides are instrumental, except for Blunt’s Jackie Gleason impression of “And away we go” to kick off the A-side. Blunt then left a tape of his Blue Echoes with Tide owner Ruth Christy (aka Ruth Stratchborneo) and returned to Sarnia. A few months later Christy sent for the group and they came to Los Angeles with Blunt on guitar and vocals, Paul Case on drums and vocals and Bruce Pollard on bass and vocals.
Blunt (b: 12/18/43; Vancouver, B.C.) credited the Ventures and Fireballs among his early influences, as well as his father, who was a CBC studio guitarist. Blunt had previously recorded with Edmonton DJ Barry Boyd for the Quality label. Drummer Case had a strong Roy Orbison flavor to his vocal style and the group’s entire LP (probably the only LP ever released on Tide) was recorded in only 10 hours of studio time, according to Blunt.
It was early 1965 and Tide booked the group into a show at the L.A. Coliseum titled KFWB’s Beatle Alley. Requirements were that the groups had to be from outside the U .S. and had to have some sort of Beatle tie-in, hence the name change to the Canadian Beadles. (Perhaps the spelling was in order to avoid any claim of name infringement). Christy and Rena Fulmer (a partner in the Tide label), acting as an agent/manager team, booked the band, and Blunt said that both of the group’s singles got airplay. I saw Blunt’s band (I don’t recall if they were still using the Canadian Beadles name) at a bowling alley lounge in the South Bay area of Los Angeles around 1966.
One of Blunt’s songs, “Questions I Can’t Answer”, was covered by Don Atello (Tide 2002), and by German singer Heinz, whose version had some success in his home country. Los Angeles country artist Tony Treece, who was a later member of the Canadian Beadles, cut another of Blunt’s tunes, “Before I Lose My Mind”. Blunt later formed a show group called Center Stage and did additional unreleased recordings. As late as 1985 he was still playing full-time and living in Sequim, WA.
List of releases: Tide 2000: Surfin’ Fat Man/Paula (as the Mojo Men) /64 Tide 2003: I Think I’m Gonna Cry/I’ll Show You The Way /65 Tide LP 2005: Three Faces North /65 Tide 2006: I’m Coming Home/Love Walk Away (as Vic, Paul & Bruce) /65
Mastin and Brewer, Spring 1966. L-R: Tom Mastin, Billy Mundi, Michael Brewer and Jim Fielder. Unknown lady.
Following the overnight success of “Mr Tambourine Man”, a generation of folk musicians abandoned the traditional form to follow The Byrds’ lead and merge folk with rock elements. One of the most promising outfits was the little known, and decidely short-lived Mastin & Brewer, formed in the spring of 1966 by aspiring singer/songwriters Tom Mastin and Michael Brewer (b. 14 April 1944, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, US).
Both had been active on the nation’s folk circuit since the early ‘60s and had met at the Blind Owl coffeehouse in Kent, Ohio in 1964. With the folk scene on its last legs, the duo, abetted by Mastin’s friend and fellow singer/songwriter Dave McIntosh, decided to head out to San Francisco the following year to check out the emerging West Coast scene. Following a brief spell in the city, Mastin and Brewer, parted company with McIntosh and travelled to Los Angeles to visit some old folk friends working with New Christy Minstrel Randy Sparks and manager Barry Friedman (later better known as Frazier Mohawk). While there, they recorded a three-song demo comprising original compositions “Bound To Fall”, “Need You” and “Sideswiped”. Suitably impressed by the quality of the songs, Friedman (who had produced the recordings) took the recordings to Columbia Records, which immediately expressed an interest in signing the duo.
With a recording deal in the can, Friedman hastily organised a support band, so that they could take the songs out on the road, and duly drafted in ex-Skip Battin Group member Billy Mundi (25 September 1942, San Francisco, California, US) and former Tim Buckley bass player Jim Fielder (b. James Thomas Fielder, 4 October 1947, Denton, Texas, US).
During this period, the newly formed band rehearsed in an apartment on Fountain Avenue, sharing the accomodation with like-minded souls Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, then in the process of forming Buffalo Springfield with Friedman’s assistance. Shortly afterwards, Mastin & Brewer and Buffalo Springfield ventured out on the road together as support acts for The Byrds and The Dillards on a six-date tour of southern California.
Mastin & Brewer also played at the Ash Grove and the Whisky-A-Go Go on a few occasions, during which time, they went under the rather unusual name of The Elesian Senate.
Sadly, the group’s initial promise was shattered by internal problems; Mastin reportedly flipped out on a few occasions, and ultimately walked out of the group during sessions for the band’s debut album. With the group’s future uncertain, Mundi moved on to rival folk-rockers The Lamp of Childhood leaving Brewer to soldier on (abetted by Fielder when he wasn’t doing sessions for Tim Buckley or filling in for Bruce Palmer in The Buffalo Springfield) until late 1966.
Amid all this activity Elektra Records released Tim Buckley’s eponymous debut album (featuring contributions from both Jim Fielder and Billy Mundi) and when Mastin failed to turn up for a show at the Whisky-A-Go Go, Fielder decided to take up the offer to rejoin Mundi in Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention.
With the group in tatters, Brewer recruited his brother Keith to replace Mastin (who later committed suicide) and the duo, abetted by Barry Friedman readied the Mastin & Brewer single “Need You” c/w “Rainbow” (45 4-43977) for release, with Keith Brewer overdubbing his vocals over Mastin’s. Columbia duly released the single, albeit in limited numbers, as Brewer & Brewer that autumn, but it failed to attract much interest.
Early in the new year, the duo began work on a new batch of material, including “Love, Love”, and for a brief period called themselves Chief Waldo and The Potted Mum, although they never performed or recorded under this name.
By the summer, Keith had moved on and Mike found work as a songwriter at Good Sam Music, an affiliation of A&M Records. He was soon joined by another old friend from the Blind Owl coffeehouse, Tom Shipley, who had just arrived in Los Angeles in search of work and together they forge a new partnership, Brewer & Shipley.
Working on fresh material at Leon Russell’s house, the duo also recorded “Love, Love” and Mike Brewer’s “Truly Right”, written about Tom Mastin. The latter song was also recorded by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, while The Byrds recorded an instrumental version of “Bound To Fall” for their album ‘The Notorious Byrd Brothers’, but it was not used. Group member Chris Hillman later revived the song in Steve Stills’s Manassas.
Thanks to Mike Brewer for additional additional information on the group’s career, to Billy Mundi for use of the Mastin & Brewer photograph and to Carny Corbett for information on the Brewer and Brewer single.
The Group Sounds scene was contrived, commercialized, and controlled to the point of absurdity. Record companies wouldn’t let bands associate with each other! There are exceptions, but even my favorite groups have picture sleeves that are downright embarrassing.
The Japanese folk-rock movement of the late ’60s was partly a reaction against Group Sounds. By 1968, the record-buying public was looking for ‘authenticity’ and more complex lyrics, while the authorities preferred the subdued music. As a commercial genre, however, folk-rock seems to have been short-lived.
This 45 from Norihiko Hashida and the Shoebelts shows how closely ‘folk-rock’ could adhere to pop standards. “Nanimo Iwazuni” works very well on a pop level, but gives just lip service to any idea of ‘folk’. The A-side, “Kaze”, is similarly orchestrated and even more sentimental. There’s a film clip that shows the band earnestly working in the studio, playing acoustic guitars and standup bass on stage in some ridiculous garb, and receiving a gold record and munching sushi at a press party!
Norihiko Hashida had started out with the Folk Crusaders, a little more earnest but no less commercial. In the Crusaders video clips he’s the short one in the middle. With the Shoebelts he had several more releases that I haven’t heard.
Those searching for authenticity had to look underground or overseas. Most of the public followed the next pop trend, a diluted r&b sound. Folk stayed vital into the ’70s as a contrast to heavy blues and rock, but the mainstream ignored the best artists (like the Jacks) as much as their heavier rock contemporaries.
From Daytona Beach and named after the San Francisco nightclub, of course. The Hungri I’s were regulars at the Beachcomber Nightclub and the Surf Bar, as well as the Vanguard Club in Titusville. The lineup was Neil Haney lead vocals and organ, Danny Rowdon lead guitar, Chris Drake guitar, Allen Martin bass and Lou Shawd drums.
They cut some tracks at the Bee Jay studio run by Eric Schabacker, and “Hold On” was released on Bee Jay Demo vol. 2, on Tener. It’s a good organ-led version of the Sam and Dave hit (thanks for sending me that Ad Z.)
At Bob Quimby’s studio in Ormond Beach they recorded a fine original by Neil Haney, “Half Your Life”. Danny Rowdon’s lead guitar really gives the song some momentum. The flip is a relaxed cruise through How Come My Dog Don’t Bark, retitled “Comin’ Round” and credited to Danny Rowdon.
The band paid Gil Cabot to release the two songs on his Paris Tower label, supposedly because he offered to make them famous. Paris Tower was known as a vanity label, however, and never did any promotion for its releases. Years later you could say Cabot’s words have come true, as this 45 is very well known amongst fans of 60’s 45s.
Some Paris Tower singles were issued with a sheet with a photo of the band on one side and a bio &the Paris Tower logo printed on the back. I’m not sure if the Hungri I’s 45 came with this – could anyone verify that insert exists?
It was up to the band to distribute the 500 copies pressed in November of ’67, so for some reason they took to the road and toured Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana.
Fuzz, Acid and Flowers lists Ralph Citrullo and Allen Dresser as later members, but I believe it was Neil Haney and Chris Drake who left the I’s and joined the Third Condition, previously known as The 2/3rds, which already included Citrullo and Dresser.
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
The Next of Kinn’s “A Lovely Song” is a favorite of mine. Buckeye Beat has the full story on the band, including the photo above – below is a quick summary of their story:
The Liberty Lads were from the Liberty Farms and Dixon area east of Vacaville. In 1965, like many bands from the area, they recorded at Bill Rase’s studio on Franklin Blvd in Sacramento, a package deal of a few hours recording time and 45s on a custom label to sell at their shows.
From the Bronx, the Elegant Four were also known as the Elegants. Tom Crosgrove was lead guitarist and vocalist, and wrote both songs on their only 45. Other members included Bill Dennis and Pete Santora.
After a period of time, everyone went their separate ways. Soon after, Lamar and Roy Thompson collaborated and put their heart and soul into two songs “The Wind” and “Without My Girl”.
Undeterred, Luke & The Apostles resumed gigging in Toronto and began to extend their fan base beyond Yorkville Village, performing at venues like the North Toronto Memorial Arena on 28 May. But uncertainty over the single’s release and the band’s long-term future began to take its toll, and in early summer Jim Jones announced that he was leaving because he wanted to give up playing. Former Simon Caine & The Catch bass player Dennis Pendrith (b. 13 September 1949, Toronto), who was still in high school at the time, had the unenviable task of filling his idol’s shoes.
From Daytona Beach and named after the San Francisco nightclub, of course. The Hungri I’s were regulars at the Beachcomber Nightclub and the Surf Bar, as well as the Vanguard Club in Titusville. The lineup was Neil Haney lead vocals and organ, Danny Rowdon lead guitar, Chris Drake guitar, Allen Martin bass and Lou Shawd drums.