Category Archives: Label

The Lumpen “Free Bobby Now” on Seize the Time

Once in a while I come across something that doesn’t fit into the garage category but deserves some wider exposure – the Lumpen 45 is one of these records.

“Free Bobby Now” is an anthem for Bobby Seale. The Lumpen were a group of Black Panthers based in Oakland but peforming throughout the Bay Area to get the Panther’s message across through music.

A full history of the group by member Michael Torrance is on the Black Panther history site, It’s About Time. I’ll quote some of it here for background:

The original members were Bill Calhoun, Clark (Santa Rita) Bailey, James Mott and myself, Michael Torrance. We had all sung in groups in the past, Calhoun having performed professionally in Las Vegas, and it just came naturally.

Calhoun wrote “No More” in a spiritual/traditional style, and then “Bobby Must Be Set Free”, a more upbeat R&B song. We recorded these two songs and soon we were singing at community centers and rallies. Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture, named the group the Lumpen for the “brothers on the block,” the disenfranchised, angry underclass in the ghetto.

Thanks to Calhoun’s expertise, we were able to put together a high-energy hour-long “act” complete with uniforms and choreography. By the time the Lumpen were about to go on an East Coast tour, the auditorium at Merritt College was packed for the kick-off concert which was recorded live. The whole audience sang along with “Bobby Must Be Set Free.”

The first copy I found was in New Orleans shortly before Katrina hit. I was listening to a batch of records and this one caught my attention, though I realized right away it was mislabeled – it has labels from a hit on the White Whale label that must have been at the press at the same time. Which would date this to December, 1970. Recently I found another copy with the correct labels on it.

The Deepest Blue, Egyptian Candy & Blue-Fin Records discography

The Deepest Blue formed in Pomona, a town about halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernadino further inland. Members were:

Earl Shackelford – vocals
Russell Johnson – lead guitar and vocals
Ken Zabel – organ
Rick Edwards – rhythm guitar
Bruce Lavoie – bass
Russ ‘Soupy’ Morrow – drums

The band was actually known as the Doves, they only changed their name when releasing their 45, because they thought it sounded more commercial.

They played teen clubs in the area like the Oasis and Discoteen, and a couple shows on the Hollywood strip with the Leaves and the Seeds. Their repertoire was all covers, mostly influenced by the Stones and other English groups.

Russ Johnson and Earl Shackelford wrote two songs just for the recording session, the first originals the band had ever played. They recorded at 9th Street studio in LA in August of 1966, with Richard Delvy, drummer for the Challengers engineering. Vic Gargano financed the record – he also produced the Tomorrows’ La Do Da Da / Need Only You on Condor. Without the band’s knowledge Gargano had a studio musician add guitar parts to enliven the sound. Although this upset the group, the resulting single is fantastic.

“Pretty Little Thing” features Bruce’s sliding bass line, precise drumming from Soupy, and a raging organ solo by Ken Zabel. Earl’s vocal has elements of Jagger’s inflections but his voice is stronger. “Somebody’s Girl” is more subdued but also powerful. Despite the quality of the record, it received little airplay.

The band returned to the studio to record more tracks for an album which was never finished. Soupy Morrow had an acetate of the sessions, but it has not surfaced since.

However, two songs “I Found Out” and “Living My Love Game” were released on a Blue-Fin 45 under the name the Egyptian Candy. Earl for one had completely forgotten about this record, but he did confirm that this was recorded by the Deepest Blue for their album sessions. Earl speculated that this may have been released under the name Egyptian Candy to test the waters for how the band’s new direction would be received.

Both songs demonstrate the influence of Earl’s friend Chris Darrow on his songwriting. Earl had met Chris at the Forum Club in Montclair when Chris was with the Floggs. Chris would record both songs with his next band, Kaleidoscope in similar arrangements (“Living My Love Game” retitled “Love Games” in the Kaleidoscope version and not released at the time). Another song by Earl, “I Found Out” became one of Kaleidoscope’s signature songs. It’s unfortunate the Deepest Blue were unable to stay together to pursue this new style, as they were obviously onto something.

Lacking success and headed in different musical directions, the band split up. Soupy died in a motorcycle accident in 1967 [actually in 1968 according to Oscar Bee], and Rick Edwards was killed in a car crash the following year while on tour. Earl stayed in music, notably forming Wheels with Chris Darrow and Walter Egan, and arranging vocal harmonies on Iggy Pop’s New Values album.

Update: Russ Johnson passed away in Australia in 2007. He had a long career in music there, most notably with a group called Mississippi.

For more information on the Deepest Blue there are two interviews with Earl Shackelford, one by Mike Dugo, and one at Pulsating Dream.

Blue-Fin discography (incomplete?):

101 – Ascots: The Wonder Of It All (R. Borden, M. Borden) / I Won’t Cry (Al Politano) (engineer Doc Siegel at Gold Star Studios, Onned Music BMI)
101 – Ascots: Summer Days / The Wonder of It All (matrix #s BL-FI-1004 and, I assume, BL-FI-1000)
102 – Deepest Blue: Pretty Little Thing / Somebody’s Girl
103 – Egyptian Candy: I Found Out / Living My Love Game

Thanks to Max Waller for bringing the two separate releases of the Ascots Blue-Fin 101 to my attention. Max writes:

The Wonder Of It All” (BL-FI-1000) has Monarch 62241 in the dead wax. “I Won’t Cry” (BL-FI-1001) has 62241-X in the dead wax so this was supposedly the “B” side, although it appears from the “*” scrawls on the label that someone was pushing this track. This monarch number pairing seems to confirm that this was the original/first pressing, from June 1966.

For the “Summer Days” 45, I’d expect to see a different monarch # in the dead wax for that track, (BL-FI-1004).

Due to the “(BL-FI-1001)” ref, it appears they used the same recording of “I Won’t Cry”, so I’d expect to find Monarch #62241 in the dead wax.

The Omegas


The Omegas, spring 1966, from left: Mike Sarigumba, Art Brueggeman, A.T. Ryder, Mike McKeller and Steve Callahan
The Omegas were a Montgomery County group who had gone through considerable personnel changes by the time they recorded their record on United Artists.

The original group cut two songs at Edgewood Recording Studio, a good slow number with dirge-like organ called “Mean Old Man Day”, and “Mud” (aka “Mississippi Mud”), a catchy pop number with acoustic guitar, harmonies and underwater sound effects. These never saw release and I’ve only heard clips from a 2008 auction, which I didn’t win.

Art Brueggeman wrote to me about the group in 2012:

I was the original bass player and joint founding member along with Mike McKeller (drummer) and Steve Callahan (rhythm guitarist). We were high school buddies. We quickly brought in a lead guitarist and a keyboard player.

Here’s a band picture taken in the spring of 1966. That’s me with the Jazz Bass, Steve with the Gibson ES335, and Mike on drums. The other two are A.T. Ryder on Strat and Mike “Pineapple” Sarigumba on keyboard.

We were playing fraternity parties, debutante events, and dances. In early summer we ended up going to Ocean City and landing a gig at The Paddock on 17th street. It was really the only bonafide night club in OC at the time. We played 6 nights a week, and a jam session Saturday afternoon. As I recall, we were there until mid-August or so.

It was a time of the Vietnam war and the draft. Mike and Steve left the band in the Spring of 1967 to join the Air Force Reserves. I ended up joining after the end of the summer. We had a replacement drummer and rhythm guitarist for that summer. Then we returned in the summer of 1967 with the two replacements. I ended up getting married in April 1968 when I got back from active duty, and never returned to the band.

Mike returned to the band and the personnel changed. Don’t remember what Steve did exactly, but he was married by that time as well. It was the original five Omegas though who recorded the three cuts at Edgewood. As I recall, that was done in the fall of 1966, but I may be off there.

Mike and I sang “Mean Old Man Day”, and Steve and Pineapple sang “Mississippi Mud”. We did not write those songs. We did no original writing. I really do not remember who wrote them. I just remember it was two guys who we were put in touch with.

Steve Callahan wrote:

I have the original master from Edgewood studio’s which I found just recently….metal center coated with acetate. I also have the original United Artists release of the other 2 songs.

The UA record is largely the work of Tom Guernsey of the Reekers and the Hangmen. Tom wrote and arranged both sides of the record, played guitar and piano, and co-produced it with Larry Sealfon.

The vocalist on “I Can’t Believe” is Joe Triplett, who was in the Reekers with Tom and was also the vocalist on the first Hangmen 45, “What a Girl Can’t Do”. Leroy Otis played drums on the track and backing vocals were by the Jewels.

A catchy and danceable record, it was released in early 1968 and had some local chart success. With its crossover appeal I’m surprised it’s not better known these days. The flip was a ballad by Tom Guernsey, “Mr. Yates”. He told me it was one of the songs he was proudest of writing.

The Juveniles (DC) “I Wish I Could” on Zap


The Juveniles, l-r: Jimmy Clark, Doug Sprouse, Kenny Hayes, Danny Keller and Karl Dersch

There were a number of groups in the U.S. going by the name The Juveniles. This particular group was originally from southeast Washington, D.C., with members later living in nearby Hillcrest Heights, Oxon Hill and Fort Foote, Maryland. They aren’t related to the Juveniles I featured on an acetate a few weeks back.

“I Wish I Could” is first rate garage with a pounding drums, lots of sustain on the guitar solo, and good harmony vocals, all drenched in echo. The flip is a ballad, “What Can I Do”. Both songs were written by Keller and Clark, though publishing info shows Danny Keller only.

Karl Dersch’s father managed the group, and sometime after this photo Dean Dersch also joined the band. Jimmy Clark’s sister Joyce Williams told me Jimmy has since passed away. She also mentioned that the beautiful double-necked Mosrite was the first sold on the East Coast.

The Zap label was from the Mt. Rainier neighborhood just outside Washington, D.C. No connection to the Tennessee label of the same name which released the Starlites’ “Wait For Me”.

Special thanks to Joyce for sending the photo of the group.

Boystown

Boystown is a collaboration between Michael Lloyd and his childhood friend Jimmy Greenspoon. Lloyd and Greenspoon had been playing music together and recording as far back as 1963, with the New Dimensions. Greenspoon also may have played with Lloyd in an early version of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.Boystown Sotto 45 End of the Line

When the Boystown 45 was released in June of 1967, Lloyd had recently left the WCPAEB, but was busy with with many projects, including helping produce Kim Fowley’s first lp, Love Is Alive and Well.

Greenspoon wrote the very poppy “Hello Mr. Sun”, and co-wrote with Lloyd the hypnotic “End of the Line”, which would have sounded right at home on an early West Coast Pop Art album.

Soon after this release Jimmy Greenspoon moved to Denver briefly, before returning to LA and forming Three Dog Night. Lloyd stayed busy with productions for Mike Curb and his own group, Smoke.

Lind and the Linders

I’d like to know more about the strangely named Lind and the Linders. Buis’ comment below has given me some info. I’ll repeat most of it here:

The Lind & Linders are strictly based in Osaka, far from Tokyo’s major conglomerate-dominated music scene. Sadly no albums materialized. Most all of their original materials are written by leader Hiroshi Kato, but strangely both sides of this 45 is not (staffer Tsuneaki Tone did, including the mindblowing strings arrangement).

They broke up in 1969 and after which Kato involved with more experimental projects, and in the 70s went to England and worked as a studio guitarist. Vocalist Tetsuya Kaga also started solo career, but sadly passed away last December [2007]. Until his death, several attempts at reforming have been occurred, mainly performing at Osaka clubs.

Kurosawa Susumu’s Nihon Rock ki GS-hen (Japan Rock Chronicles: Group Sounds Compendium) gives the lineup and has more info in Japanese I’ll try to scan and post here soon:

Tetsuya Kaga – vocals
Teruo Sakaki – vocals
Shuji Mukai – vocals
Hiroshi Kato – lead guitar
Kazuki Takagi – guitar, vocals
Kazuo Unoyama – bass
Akio Shima – drums

replacement members:

Fujimaru Hamada – drums
Koji Hori – guitar
Aki Mori – bass

Their first and third 45s from 1967 simply show a man with a guitar on the cover. The second has a photo of a seven piece group: three vocalists upfront with some bizarre mod-style hairdos and the band behind them. It features the songs “Moero Circuit” and “Do the Crap”. Why hasn’t “Do the Crap” been compiled somewhere? I’m sure there’s a reason.


They settled into a six piece group and released four more 45s in 1968 definitely in a pop vein, but often with inventive arrangements. The first of these, and their fourth 45 overall has a great b-side, “Koi ni Shibirete”. Strings double the guitar line and the song has the usual whistles and shouts to denote ‘excitement’ in GS records.

The A-side, “Gin no Kusari (Golden Chain)” is more traditional pop, but as a fan of this kind of song I think the vocal works well.

Their next 45 “Yuhi Yo Isoge” is pretty good, and was followed by Huey Smith and the Clowns’ “Ha Ha Ha (Don’t You Just Know It)” with horns.

“I Dig Rock and Roll Music” is their mildly psychedelic tribute to Donovan, the Mamas and Papas and the Beatles. I thought it was one of the few original songs from a 1968 compilation called Group Sounds World Top Hits, but Milton corrects me in a comment below that it’s a Peter, Paul and Mary song. The transcribed lyrics are, as always, a hoot.

That’s all of their work that I’ve heard – their last 45 “Yoake no Jujika” features a Christian cross on the cover I wonder what that was about?

Back of sleeve for "Koi ni Shibirete"
Back of sleeve for “Koi ni Shibirete”

The Us Four of Louisville and “The Alligator”

The Us Four, clockwise from left: Duke Freeman, Donnie Keeling, Mike Winebrenner and Jack Richardson

From Louisville, Kentucky, the Us Four were Donnie Keeling guitar, Mike Winebrenner keyboards, Duke Freeman bass and Jack Richardson drums.

They released two 45s, the first being the very catchy “The Alligator”, featuring funky drumming and percussion and a nice keyboard and fuzz combination. “The Alligator” was produced by Buzz Cason and released on the Rising Sons label in March of 1967, and reached #6 on Louisville station WAKY 790 AM in April. It’s played at 60’s DJ nights to this day.

Rising Sons was run by Cason and Bobby Russell. Both “The Alligator” and the flip side, the more conventional “By My Side” are credited to Keeling and Richard Williams, Cason’s longtime associate from when they were in the early Nashville rock ‘n roll group the Casuals in the ’50s.

The Us Four released one other 45 in January 1968, “She Loves It” pts. 1 and 2, written by Don Keeling; a more commercial production full of harmony singing. Around this time they changed their rhythm section, bringing in Jim Bower on bass and Paul Hoerni on drums. When the Us Four broke up, Hoerni went to the Oxfords.

The Us Four, from left: Mike Winebrenner, Donnie Keeling, Duke Freeman & Jack Richardson

Duke Freeman, bassist and vocalist wrote about how he became involved in music and his bands, including the Us Four:

I was always singing around the house. My Dad and I would sing nearly every day, He’d sing the lead and I’d sing the harmony. I’d have to say that started when I was about 7 years old and lasted until I went into the USAF in 1969. Dad couldn’t play a thing but that man sure could sing.

At age 8 it was the accordion. Yes that’s right! It wasn’t exactly a direct path to rock & roll. That lasted about eight months, then it was the guitar which lasted equally as long. In the 8th grade I started playing trumpet and it lasted for about a year.

In my sophomore year I met four guys who had a “garage band”. They were all underclassmen. I went to one of their practices, sang a few songs and they were impressed. They needed a bass player so I convinced my Dad to loan me the money to buy a bass and amp with the agreement that if I didn’t stick with it I’d pay him back.

I worked with those guys for about a year then moved on to another group with a bit more talent. It was while I was with that group that I met Don Keeling at a teen local club. He’d been playing with the Cavaliers and was a very good lead guitarist. The Cavaliers had broken up and Don was looking for something new. He’d already located a keyboard player, Mike Winebrenner and was still looking for bass player and drummer. We hit it off pretty well and so we got together shortly after that with Jack Richardson on drums.

We rehearsed for a few months getting tight and doing a lot of current material. Other than trios which played small bars and clubs (playing nightclub music) all other groups in the area were at least 5 pieces. We were the first four piece group that I know of. Donnie and I handled most of the lead vocals, with Mike singing a few. Harmonies were excellent and we were able to reproduce most anything that was being played.

If I remember correctly our group didn’t want a flashy name. We wanted to keep it simple and easy to remember. Also there wasn’t anything flashy about us so our music spoke for us, “US FOUR” that is.

At that time the Oxfords were working for the Joni Agency (Gene & Vi Snyder). Our guitar player had worked for them before so were were going to audition for the agency during the Oxfords breaks at a local teen club. We’d been rehearsing for several months to get everything tight. I remembered that we had no extra money for clothing so we all wore jeans and yellow short sleeved sweatshirts with the name of the ban written in black magic marker on the front (real classy).

I remember when we stepped up on stage for that first 15 minute set. I was so nervous and we could hear some of the crowd laughing at the way we dressed. Anyway we played about 5 numbers and the crowd went wild. The Oxfords were great at what they did, but this crowd wanted to dance and they didn’t play a lot of top 40 dance music. Needless to say we signed with the agency and wound up on the circuit. We thanked the Oxfords for allowing us to share the stage with them and apologized for all the commotion. They were great guys and understood because they had all been there before.

We played the Kentuckiana area regularly with occasional trips to Lexington. One of our regular stops was the Golden Horseshoe which was located around Lebanon, Kentucky. I’d say our main competition were the Oxfords before their split and reorganization. If you would have asked me back then who was the best group, I would have said the old Oxfords [with Steve McNicol] / the Rugbys and I still believe that to this very day.

[We met Buzz Cason] through Gene Snyder (Joni Agency). He was friends with Richard Williams who was Brenda Lee’s piano player. Richard and Buzz were great friends. Richard was looking for a group to record for him. He’d noticed the the dance “The Alligator” was sweeping the colleges across the US and he thought it would be a great idea to have some relatively unknown midwestern group record it.

He called Gene with the idea and asked if he knew of a group that would fit the idea. We were asked to show up at the agency to meet someone who had something we may be interested in. that’s when we meet Richard for the first time and he shared his idea with us. He wanted us to come up with the song and he’d fly us to Nashville for a session and we’d record 4 sides. That meant we needed 4 songs.

You’ll notice that Richard Williams and Donnie Keeling are credited with writing the song, but actually Donnie and I wrote the lyrics, the band as a whole penned the music, and Richard merely came up with the idea. Since Richard was paying the bill, who could argue? Donnie also wrote “By My Side” and “She Loves It”. I wrote “Opposite Ends of the World” in a Nashville hotel room the night before our recording session.

Time became a constraint and we ended up only having enough time to record the two sides. As you know “She Loves It” was eventually recorded in Louisville, and “Opposite Ends of the World” never made it to the studio.

It was in 1968 that Donnie and I had a disagreement and I thought it would be best for me to leave. I was immediately picked up by the Keyes, Jim and Tom Owen had been playing for quite a while and when Jim gave up playing I was recruited. Tom had worked with his brother for so long that it was difficult for me to really fit in.

With the Keyes I was more of a sideman and didn’t have that influence that I had in Us Four, even though I carried a lot of the vocal duties. I’d been with them less than a year when Tom announced that Jim was coming back and I wouldn’t be needed any longer.

It wasn’t long after that their drummer Charlie Jones, keyboardist Bob Ernspiker, contacted me about wanting to leave the Keyes and form a new group, We ended up hiring Denny Enzer (Inzer?) to play lead and “Justice” was formed. If this group would have survived it may have topped everything that every came out of Louisville. The musicianship, vocals, and rich harmonies were unbelievable. We played for only about 6 months and booked ourselves, but we made strides that it took most groups years to make.

Uncle Sam was wanting me badly and the group was short lived. It was just after that group’s demise that the Rugbys were looking for a bass player and I was asked if I’d be interested in the job. I had to turn it down due to the draft. A year or so later I saw them on TV and thought that could have been me.

Duke Freeman, December 2008

Thanks to Duke for sharing the history of his band and photos of the group.

Clockwise from left: Duke Freeman, Jack Richardson, Donnie Keeling and Mike Winebrenner, with Mike’s Doric organ (with painted keys)

Mike Winebrenner played a Doric organ, a fairly obscure brand of keyboard for the time. It is even more unusual to see a Doric with reverse colors for the keys (black instead of white for the C major scale, and white instead of black for the sharps and flats). I asked Duke Freeman about this and he replied:

We actually removed the covers, masked off the areas around the keys and painted them in reverse. If I recall, VOX keyboards were reversed and so it was done to resemble the VOX. The Doric was either traded or sold when he purchased a Hammond.

The Pop’s




The Pop’s are one of the best and most underrated Brazilian pop-rock groups from the 1960s. Like Renato e Seus Blue Caps, The Sunshines and The Fevers, they are from our fun-in-the-sun postcard land, Rio de Janeiro; but, unlike them, they didn’t rely much on covers of current hits or their own material, being best remembered for their unlikely but very good rock versions of Carnaval evergreens and Christmas, birthday and suchlike songs, as well as having been purveyors of the samba-rock fusions backing the late, great singer-songwriter Oswaldo Nunes or on their own. But their least remembered albums are the ones on which they ventured into their own songwriting.

They formed late 1964 with Julio Cesar “J.C.” (lead guitar), Pippo (rhythm guitar) and brothers Silvio Jose Parada (bass) and José Henrique Parada (drums). They did not chose the name The Pop’s inspired by “pop music”, but rather from “popcorn”, when someone commented they were so full of energy they kept jumping around while playing. When the Brazilian ye-ye wave hit full stride in 1965-6, The Pop’s started appearing on TV programs and were immediately contacted by no less than nine record companies simultaneously, and they decided to sign to the first one who called, and it was the medium-sized Equipe (by chance favoured over RCA, CBS and other biggies!)

Around 1968 their line-up started changing; former members started spinoff groups like Parada 5 (led by drummer José Henrique Parada) and Os Populares (led by J. C. and acknowledging The Pop’s meant “pop music” too); the group became somewhat of a revolving door around guitarist Pippo. They deserve a bigger feture than this, but other members of renown include guitarist Euclides (from Os Santos and Luziinho e Seus Dinamites), drummer Zezinho and keyboard player Neguinho. By 1973 even Pippo had left – but in the early 2000s the original line-up os Pippo, J.C. and the Parada brothers reformed – and decent official reissues of their first albums are due late in the year.

I decided to include here three works from their authoral period plus one samba-rock gem. From a 1968 single we have “Mina Malu” (“Malu The Gal”), written by Pippo and Morais; the song was also included in their Rio Amigo album from 1971, from which we can hear two further tracks, the instrumental “O Apocalipse” (“The Apokalypsis”, by Pippo and Cerdeira; imagine “20000 Light Years From Home” on the Ventures In Space album) and folk-rockish “Só Minha” (“Only Mine”, by Pippo and Deofranci). And “O Que É Isso, Menina?” (literally “What’s That, Girl?”, in the sense of “Come Now, Girl” or “Do Me A Favour, Girl”), the samba-rock number, is a group composition from around 1968.

Ayrton Mugnaini Jr.

www.ayrtonmugnainijr.blogspot.com

Editor’s note, April 2010: I just heard the Pops’ single “Som Imaginario de Jimmi Hendrix”, on Equipe CS-580-B. It’s a cool mix of the James Gang’s “Funk #49” with the Meters’ “Cissy Strut” and some Hendrix type riffs. I don’t know if this was the flip of a well known single or just a promotional-only release. Hear it on Joel Stones’ new compilation Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas.

Jack Bedient and the Chessmen

Jack Bedient was born in Mason City, Washington, by the Coulee Dam. Kevin Woods tells me “Jack was voice trained and was a member of an acappella quartet at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.”

In 1961 he had a small hit with a pop ballad “The Mystic One” on the Los Angeles label Era, while he was living in Wenatchee, WA.

By 1964 he and his band, the Chessmen had a series of standing engagements in the Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada region, and they lived in Carson City, Nevada for some of that time. Long-time members were Jack Bedient vocalist and rhythm guitar, Kevin Woods lead guitar, Bill Britt on 6-string bass, and drummer Jewell Hendricks. Jewell would leave the group in the later half of 1965.

Jack Bedient and the Chessmen’s live show catered to the pop sound of the times, featuring covers of current hits, lounge songs and comedy bits, and the band wore tuxedos for some upscale engagements. They released twelve 45s and five LPs during the ’60s, much of which is a reflection of their lounge act or too pop for my taste. Within all this product are some very fine cuts.

That year they cut their second 45, “Pretty One” / “Silver Haired Daddy” for the Trophy label, along with an LP, Two Sides of Jack Bedient, which I haven’t heard.

In 1965 the band recorded five songs at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The first single, “See the Little Girl”, is a British-influenced number. Interestingly Fantasy released it twice with the same catalog number, once as by ‘Jack Bedient and the Chessmen’ backed with “Here I Am” and once as simply ‘The Chessmen’ backed with “Looking for a Good Love”.

Kevin Woods wrote to me that this 45 was “intended to be released under the name ‘Jack Bedient and the Chessmen,’ [but] the first copies were printed as ‘The Chessmen.’ A corrected label soon followed. When the performing name was corrected, the B- side song title was also corrected. ‘Here I Am’ and ‘Looking for a Good Love’ are the same song. The correct title is ‘Here I Am’ written by Glen Campbell and Marc Douglas. The lyrics are, ‘If you’re looking for a good love, here I am….’ Easy to see where the confusion exists.”

Their next Fantasy single is the fantastic hard-edged rocker “Double Whammy”, backed by “I Want You to Know” (the Fats Domino song, “Don’t you Know”). The guitar riff for “Double Whammy” comes from Dorsey Burnette’s “Bertha Lou” as done by Johnny Faire on the Surf label (or perhaps Clint Miller’s version). “Double Whammy” reached #19 on KCBN 1230 AM Reno in early July, 1965.

Seeking to update their sound they hired Walter Hanna as keyboardist in time to record their Fantasy LP, Live at Harvey’s. I’ve only heard parts of the album, but there are good takes on “Louie Louie”, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” (aka the Searchers “Ain’t That Just Like Me”), “See the Little Girl” and “Double Whammy”, though for this last one I prefer the single version.

October 1965 saw the band’s next 45, “Drummer Boy (Play Us a Song)” / “Dream Boy (Count Your Dreams)” on Tutti Camarata’s Palomar label, then being distributed by London Records. Walt Hanna co-wrote “Drummer Boy” with Jack and Bill.

In 1966 they cut their great single, “Glimmer Sunshine” for the obscure Rev Records label. It’s not like anything else the band ever recorded and is now their most sought-after release.

Their 1967 album, Where Did She Go? seems to have been drawn from various recording sessions and shows both sides of the band with one side each of schmaltzy pop and tougher rock material. From the first side I’ve included “Candy Roses and Love” as maybe the best example of the group’s commercial pop. The second side is quite solid, with highlights being “Glimmer Sunshine” (the same version as on the 45) and “I Used to Feel Bad”. The opening guitar on “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is so crude it’s practically hardcore, and “Repunzel” and “Love Work Shop” are also good.

A later LP has typical covers of the day, but a version of “Purple Haze” is supposed to be good. Other members of the Chessmen include Steve Eggleston, and drummer Jerry Bledsoe. Drummer Sam Wisner worked with Jack after the group disbanded in August, 1970. In 1972 bookings became scarce and the band broke up for good. Jack Bedient passed away in 1998.

Walter wrote about his time with the band:

I was the 1st and I think only organist for Jack Bedient and the Chessmen, added just before their first venture into the world of Nevada casino lounge and then headliner room bookings. They had some earlier 45’s out and one album when I joined. I recorded on the later 45’s and wrote a couple of songs that went on ‘B’ sides. We also had an album recorded “Live At Harvey’s” casino at Lake Tahoe. This was in their new “go-go” room, all dance stuff, done by a on-site Sunset Sound recording crew from Los Angeles, released with Fantasy Records pre-Creedence, not to mention Sunset Sound pre-Electra records in Hollywood.

I was “discovered” by the Chessmen playing in a pizza parlor in Redwood City, California on their night off – they had a gig down the road at a classy night club. I played organ and an early Wurlitzer electric piano with friends from 1st year of college. We were the house band for a couple of pitchers of free beer and pizzas plus $15 per man a night playing surf music and whatever else was on the Top-40 radio, Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Ray Charles etc. This was around “spring break” 64-65 when I dropped out of Belmont Community College and split from friends and pizza gig to grab a lucrative job offer and regular gigs with Jack and the Chessmen, $300 a week to start – big money in those days and the end of my former every-day life.

As it turned out, this was the beginning of Jack Bedient and The Chessmen’s first real big-money success, mainly in Nevada, changing gradually from a dance-club band into more of a ‘Vegas show group’ act. As I joined and went to Nevada with them, ‘instant local stardom’ continued for nearly two years.

[Manager] Bob Dee had the Chessmen lined up with good Nevada bookings: the Golden Hotel in Reno, the Silver Nugget nearby in Carson City, and Harvey’s Hotel and Casino just up the hill at Lake Tahoe. We soon were headlining at the Golden Hotel (later to become Harrah’s Club. We started getting airplay on recently recorded 45’s and over about a year had 4 # 1 Top-40 hits. The line at the casino hotel was so long to get in for our shows, the tail of the line was near the start, going around the whole city block. It really was a mind-blower for hicks like us.

In between some Nevada bookings we went to Sacramento to play a couple of weeks at one of the popular local nightclubs, following Question Mark and the Mysterians, with one of our 45’s at # 16 on [Sacramento] radio… [but] the Chessmen’s popularity was not able to break out of the local area.

The drug scene in Nevada consisted of the casino pit bosses making easily available a steady supply of Dexamil Spansules, a great, ‘tiny-time-pill’ combination of the ‘upper’ Dexadrine and ‘downer’ Miltown (Mother’s Little Helper) which kept you wide awake without being ‘wired’ for 12-24 hours. If you weren’t near a ‘cool’ casino, the constant stream of truckers through everywhere always had something ‘speedy’ on hand. A user could stay up for days, gambling, drinking, making out, etc.

Time passed quickly and popularity faded. Following a dreary dinner plus music/entertainment booking at a dead Bakersfield eatery, Bob Dee actually booked us into the Playboy Club (the “Tiger-A-Go-Go” disco?) at the S.F. airport. Part of the show was Jack Bedient backed by the house orchestra – his dream come true.

Jack, with Bob Dee’s urging, was trying to ‘secretly’ slip away and become a single big-name artist, like Roy Orbison, Jimmy Rogers, Andy Williams, etc. Jack’s attitude towards ‘his’ musicians reflected this – we got ‘no respect’, especially drummer Jewell and I, and later Jewell’s replacement. The Chessmen were cut to a trio of Jack with Bill and Kevin – drummer and keyboard as sidemen with a cut in pay!

So, Jewell, the original drummer was relegated to sideman status with a cut in pay, and so was I, just before we did the Live At Harvey’s album. Jewel quit soon after, moved to L.A. Jewell was replaced by Art – can’t recall the last name – and I stayed as a sideman for a while, needing the money, which was still pretty good, and enjoying the life-style. It’s an old story in music ‘show-biz’ – one person in a successful group is willing to dump the others, despite their hard work on the way up. That’s a different situation than being in a dead-end band moving from one subsistence gig to another. And, it’s a different situation from a long-term success combination deciding to call it quits and go their own ways – some then on to personal star status. Jack had the voice, absolutely beautiful – but, lacking strong musicianship, he needed musicians with him that knew his weaknesses and could compensate.

I headed for Los Angeles into a long career of fun garage and original bands, a few ‘almost-made-it’ big rock ‘n’ roll bands, and many better-to-forget traveling club bands, always with Hollywood as home base. Reliable gossip I heard years later said Jack was working as a solo act with his guitar at Harold’s club in Reno hotel in one of their in-house bars.

Jack Bedient and the Chessmen releases:

This is the most complete list of releases for the group out there, and corrects several errors from other sources. Any additional info would be appreciated, especially on his “Executive Productions” releases.

45s

The Mystic One / Question – Era 3050, July 1961
Pretty One / Silver Haired Daddy – Trophy 1001, 1964
See the Little Girl / Here I Am – Fantasy 595, 1965
See the Little Girl / Looking for a Good Love – Fantasy 595, 1965 (released as by “The Chessmen”)
Double Whammy / I Want You To Know – Fantasy 598, 1965
Drummer Boy (Play Us a Song) / Dream Boy (Count Your Dreams) – Palomar 2212, October 1965
Glimmer Sunshine / Where Did She Go – Rev 104/5, 1966
Love Workshop / I Could Have Loved You So Well – Columbia 4-44302 1967
Pretty One / See That Girl – Columbia 4-44481, 1968
The Pleasure of You / It’s Over – Columbia 4-44565, 1968
My Prayer / Independence Day – Columbia 4-44671, 1968
I’ve Been Loving You / I Could Never Lose My Love for You – Executive Productions 21, 1969, with picture sleeve
Beautiful (Takes a Trip) / Release Me – Executive Productions 21

LPs

Two Sides of Jack Bedient – Trophy 101, 1964
Live at Harvey’s – Fantasy 3365, 1965
Where Did She Go – Satori 1001, 1967
Songs You Requested – Chessmen no #, 196?
In Concert (Harolds) – Chessmen no #, 1969
Jack Bedient – Executive Productions, 196? (rumored, but apparently this does NOT exist – if so please send confirmation)

Thank you to Jeffrey Lee for the scan and transfer of “I’ve Been Loving You” and to Fred Hoyt for the scan of the Executive 45 sleeve. Special thanks to Kevin Wood for his help in correcting some of the information in this article.

Sources for this article include: Inland Empire Rock: The Sound of Eastern Washington, and The PNW Bands site.
Jack Bedient & the Chessmen, Executive PS "I Could Never Lose My Love for You"

The Marksmen

The Marksmen, April 1966: Lyle McLean (lead guitar), Bob Kerr (vocals), Tony Markham (drums), Danny Coutts (rhythm guitar), Neil Porter (bass) - this is the line-up that plays on "But Why" / "Moonshine ". Photo and caption supplied by Ged Fitzsimmons, courtesy of Neil Porter
The Marksmen, April 1966: Lyle McLean (lead guitar), Bob Kerr (vocals), Tony Markham (drums), Danny Coutts (rhythm guitar), Neil Porter (bass) – this is the line-up that plays on “But Why” / “Moonshine “. Photo and caption supplied by Ged Fitzsimmons, courtesy of Neil Porter

The Marksmen were a surf band from the town of Wollongong near Sydney, not to be confused with the instrumental group from Melbourne called the Marksmen who released singles on the W & G label in the early ’60s.

Original members were Neil Porter bass, Dan Coutts lead guitar, Lyle McLean guitar and Dave Kirkup on drums. Tony Markham replaced Kirkup, and needing a singer for variety in their live shows, they found first Brian Davitt and later Bobby Kerr of the Chevrons.

Marksmen Enterprise 45 MoonshineIn 1966 they released their one self-financed 45 on the Enterprise label. It’s now among the rarest of all Australian garage 45s and truly one of the best. “Moonshine” is pure tough garage, “But Why” more melancholic with its harmonies, driven by the catchy guitar riff.

I heard from vocalist Bob Kerr, who stated:

I picked the name Marksmen although the others will probably dispute this. At the time at practise the guys were playing and learning a Shadows song and I was fiddling with a box of slugs used in a slug gun which happened to be named Marksmen so thus the name.

We did sell a lot of copies of the disc in a couple of local music shops, I think somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 which was pretty good in those days we were the most popular band in town at that time. The guys got a new singer and changed to the name Imagination. They wanted to go into different types of music and anyway I was married with a young son so I didn’t want to turn professional, couldn’t take the risk with a family. As it was it only lasted about a year and no payments for gigs etc so it all folded.

Most recently I interviewed bassist Neil Porter:

“The Marksmen were a surf band from the town of Wollongong near Sydney…”

Neil Porter: I’m fascinated by this because it is not generally known or recognised, but this is the raw basic truth. Deep in my heart, the only real Marksmen were our original surfing instrumental band. All the bands in those days were instrumental bands and, being part of the British Commonwealth, Aussie bands were seriously influenced by The Shadows. They never quite had their deserved success in the USA, although they were huge in Europe, Africa and other places. We had the best of all worlds out here because we also got all the American stuff such as Ventures, Duane Eddy, and so on. For most bands, a singer was a token add-on, somewhat forced onto the band because “You’ve got to have a singer”. We certainly played most of our gigs without one for the first two years. Some places would not book you unless you had a singer, but the singers were generally underworked while the band played instrumentals for most of the night.

The band was originally called “The Tremors”. We were quite influenced by Johnny and the Hurricanes and, even though we had no sax or organ, we adapted many of their tracks to just 2 guitars, bass and drums. Well, initially just 3 guitars! Dan Coutts was a composer of originals from the word go, and was especially creative with instrumentals. He composed a piece called “Tremor” as well another one called “Earthquake”. Check out the names of many of the Hurricanes tracks and you will see why. We decided to call ourselves “The Tremors” after Dan’s tune. We commenced in late 1961 with Dan, myself and Lyle McLean. We managed to obtain a great drummer in Dave Kirkup early in 1962. We practised like it was going out of style and played a few gigs, mostly freebies – weddings, parties, anything – the usual kick-off gigs for new, young bands.

We had initially knocked the doors of all the guys we knew who remotely seemed as though they might be able to sing, but none were interested, and we were more than happy just to play guitar instrumentals. About half-way through 1962 we were able to get a great singer with a great stage charisma, Brian Davitt, and we worked out the year with him, working every week as the resident band at a local dance. This was pretty good, really, as, when we first started, we could hardly play!

Surfing music started to get heaps of Aussie airplay in 1962, initially with the Beach Boys “Surfin’ Safari” but, more importantly for that era, the Chantays with “Pipeline” followed sometime later with “Wipeout” by the Surfaris. And then the Aussie band the Atlantics came out with “Moonman”, later followed by their international #1 hit with “Bombora”. And we were still stuck in the old scene! Overnight, in one fell swoop we adapted many of our already-pounding repertoire into surf tracks and went for a name change. By this time Brian Davitt had an uncomfortable TV appearance and disappeared on us, so we were left alone as a 4-piece instrumental group.

Q. When did the Tremors change their name to the Marksmen?

The Tremors became the Marksmen in about February 1963. A specific memory-trigger reminds me that the name-change came at the end of summer which, in Australia, finishes in February. The latest would have been March. We didn’t work much through the year as Lyle was finishing his last year at school. When school and Uni exams were over in October/November we were raring to go and we did, all though the summer of ’63-”64 – as the Marksmen, a 4-piece surfing instrumental band. And we were likely the first band in Wollongong to sing Beatles songs live, getting on the bandwagon very early. We had always given Brian Davitt vocal backing and harmonies right from the start, and loved the Beatles, as everyone did. So, even without another singer, we sang ourselves. Initially, this was Dan, Dave and myself, although Lyle took a much larger vocal role very soon after.

Nevertheless, in spite of the ‘groups’ scene that emerged from England and swamped the world, the culture still demanded that, “You’ve got to have a singer” so we advertised for one and got Bob. The earliest this could have been would have been February 1964, but it may have even been as late as March or April. Prior to that Bob had been the lead singer of the Chevrons, mates of ours, and we had not been aware that he had left them. This, then, is more than a year after the Marksmen were named.

Dan Coutts was the original lead guitarist until Lyle hit full throttle, then rhythm guitarist, prolific composer, and great singer. Dan and I did most of the vocal harmonies no matter who else was singing lead, as well as taking the lead on many songs as well. Dan and I spent many 100s of hours together practising harmonies and often did duets together, such as those sung by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, especially those songs from several of their earlier albums.

Lyle was lead guitar and, although he doesn’t really know it or understand it, he became a legend in his own time, even to local young ’80s guitarists who never even met him or heard him play.

Lyle’s best friend, Frank Jones, was, on two different occasions, going to be our sax player, but it didn’t eventuate. Nevertheless, he still hung around from to time and, yes, he was at the meeting we held to find a new band name, probably January or February of 1963. It was Frank who was fiddling with a box of Marksmen slugs and suggested the name. I hated it from the start, but Lyle, and I suspect he felt a bit guilty about being in the band while his best mate wasn’t, strongly supported Frank’s name choice and eventually persuaded us to go with it. But not Bob, who didn’t come into the band until over a year later!

Q. Your 45 on Enterprise was self-financed?

This is certainly true. They call them indie releases nowadays, but we didn’t call them anything back then!

Q. The 45 seems to have been popular, but it is very rare now.

Just last Saturday, someone was advertising in a our major Sydney newspaper for a copy of “But Why/Moonshine”. Well, I never!

Q. How many copies were pressed, and how were they distributed – at shows or in shops?

We had no proper distribution and had only 500 copies produced, which we paid for entirely ourselves. Our manager of that time, Larry Lawrence, was completely in charge of this, so I know little of the details. We did a big mailout to all the major radio stations in every state, and this took up a significant number of the copies.

As far as I know they did sell as many as we put into their stores but in spite of our local popularity, we didn’t even chart in our own home town.

Q. So You didn’t sell 10,000 copies?

If we had sold 10,000 copies of “But Why/Moonshine” in the mid-’60s, we would have had, because of the very small population of Australia, quite a huge national hit. This certainly did not happen. In those days, 10,000 sales would have made us local heroes.

Q. It’s truly one of the best…

It is most humbling to find out this also appears to be quite true, as far as ’60s garage fans are concerned. Thanks for the compliment.

Believe it or not, 4ZZZ in Brisbane, Queensland played “Moonshine’ just last week. Apparently they have a regular ’60s nostalgia session. My older married daughter, who lives in Brisbane, heard it while driving home from work, and rang me straight away. “That was my Dad!” she went and told everyone she could! I have no idea what happened to any leftovers, so we must presume they no longer exist. I must confess that I have been astonished at this very belated interest in the record, even as far away as the USA and Denmark, let alone other states in Australia. It’s all a mystery to me! Makes me think that I didn’t entirely waste my youth after all!

Q. Did you write any other original material besides “But Why”?

I always did, as did Dan Coutts. Lyle wrote several songs as well. Bob wrote a few. There were a number of problems. The whole Australian music scene was geared to making money out of cloning USA hits and some British ones. There was always the odd group or singer who broke the mold and recorded original material but, in those days, it was hard to do that. We always included originals in our live sets but we mainly played top-40 covers as did everyone else. Probably our major problem was that ‘they’ were ‘there’ and we were ‘here’. ‘There’ was Sydney or Melbourne and ‘they’ were the bands that lived there and were not always any better than we were, and often not as good. “Here’ was Wollongong, miles away from the big smoke where ‘it’ was always happening, somewhat isolated, and always a little bit behind where ‘it’ was really at. ‘They’ got recording contracts, while we, being ‘here’, had little to no such opportunities. Not entirely though. We had already started to work in Sydney prior to the release of “But Why” and worked there many times afterwards over the next few years. Many fans used to say that there were only two decent bands, The Marksmen from Wollongong and “The — ——-” (insert favourite band name) from Sydney, so it wasn’t all bad, as far as distance and opportunity went.

“But Why” was composed completely by me, although I recall Lyle wanting to change a couple of chords in the middle section. Even though it seems at odds with my love of harmony groups, I really used to love the early ’60s British r’n’b groups such as Animals, Yardbirds, early Kinks and similar. I used to spend hours trying to compose songs in that genre, but I couldn’t play them that well (being ‘only’ the bass player!) and I couldn’t present them as well as I would have liked, not being the ‘real’ lead singer! Thus, I was regularly ignored by the rest of the band. In retrospect, I have wondered how on earth they picked up on “But Why”. The answer is the riff, a genuine Neil Porter original creation! Ha, ha! “But Why”, then, was composed as my attempt at British ’60s r’n’b. I actually think it’s too ‘nice’ to succeed, but others can judge that. Also, in retrospect, I realise that “But Why” has quite a unique structure, with no real verse/chorus/middle patterns and no rhyming lines. Well, I never – how inventive! Ha, ha! I didn’t deliberately do that and certainly didn’t know it at the time.

Q. Terry Stacey writes that you had recorded with Ossie as early as 1964 – what kind of material was that, and do the recordings still exist?

Mainly top-40 covers, but with one original by Dan Coutts, Bob singing lead. I have the only surviving tape at this time, and I am working on digitally remastering it on my computer home-studio. There are also some other lounge-room tapes that scrub up reasonably well. At this time I am working on a fairly large and somewhat long-term recording project and I can’t get back to the Marksmen tapes. I want to soon, though.

These were done in the local Tarrawanna backyard studio of Ossie Byrnes. He recorded most of the local bands of that time. He eventually relocated to Sydney, which is where we recorded “But Why/Moonshine” with him engineering. We effectively had no producer, and just played and sung what we had learned at practices beforehand. Ossie went on to become quite famous as engineering and co-producing the Bee Gees early big hits, notably “Spicks and Specks”, “New York Mining Disaster” and “Massachusetts”.

Q. As for Bobby saying that gigs were unpaid?

Not entirely true. As typical full-time starving musos, Imagination actually got paid very well, and certainly much more than several of the other F/T bands of the time. We did, as you might expect, have our share of rip-offs where we didn’t get paid.

Q. Considering your popularity and original material, why do you think the Marksmen didn’t receive a major label contract [until the formation of Imagination in 1968]?

From 1966 on, there was a major national band competition called The Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds. Some big international acts came out of this, although, to my knowledge, none of then became household names. There were always the city/metropolitan winners and the rest-of-the-state winners (called country finalists, but not to be confused with country music). In 1968, with Bob still as lead singer, we won the NSW country finals singing 3 original songs, 2 of which were written by Dan Coutts even though he had left the band earlier that year due to ill health. Lyle wrote the third. On paper, then, we became one of Australia’s top 12 bands of 1968. The reality, of course, was that many great bands didn’t even bother to enter!

Nevertheless, it was a very exciting and life-changing experience, after which we knew we had to throw in our day jobs and go full-time in music. A number of things quickly became clear. As Bob said, he was married with a son. (Little did I know that I was very soon after to follow suit – in the middle of being F/T!). Also, it had taken us many years to deprogram and detoxify Bob from his Cliff Richard and Elvis addictions and bring him into the new era. He couldn’t properly sing either soul or underground, the two big USA movements of the mid and late ’60s, just prior to the invention of the term ‘heavy’ (excluding political/protest songs, or course, which didn’t go over especially well for our type of band and clientele, so we mainly ignored that genre). So it became time to swap Bob for Alex Stefanovic. This occurred in the vicinity of August 1968. Co-incidentally we had just then acquired a new Sydney-based manager/agent and had commenced working in Sydney several nights a week, as well as Wollongong, and as well as still having full-time ‘real’ jobs.

The next thing was a name change, yes, into Imagination. This was chosen because of the hippy, druggy, fantasy, mystical ‘thing’ that was around at that time. Imagination recorded with Alberts music on the Parlophone label, the same label that released Beatles songs in Australia. Alberts also released the Easybeats and Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, so we felt pretty cool about being signed by them – clearly a major Australian label. We were then compelled to do clones of songs we hated – it’s all about the money! They did, however, allow us to put originals on the b-sides.

Although all the band members names were listed as composers, both songs came about in the same manner. Sitting around idly at practice and trying to be creative, Alex came up with the first line or two, but got stuck right there. I then finished either all or most of the rest of the lyrics. I did this often with Dan, too. i.e. not having a theme to suit myself but expanding on a seed coming from someone else. Lyle’s contribution was mostly with chord patterns and the lead guitar riffs.

Although there were several reasons why Imagination split, a major one for me was that, after getting married directly before going full-time, we had a son in September 1969 and I could not continue to put dreams before hard reality. So, goodbye band, hello family and day job.

[After Imagination] I played in a local band all through the ’70s. I adapted to lead guitar and lead vocal, playing in a trio with keyboards, drums, and myself also doubling on bass. We all sang lead and harmony. Bob even sat in on a couple of songs when we played at his office party one time.

I then went into Christian music via my local church. During this period I always kept my hand in with fill-in spots in the usual secular bands who wanted a bass player or guitarist. In the mid-’80s I also played in a top-40 covers band with guys all 20 years younger than me! At their invitation! Very flattering! In the late ’80s and into the ’90s I went back to playing in the more clubby type bands, and eventually then back to just fill-ins.

In the Christian music scene I lost count of the number of albums I assisted in on bass, lead and rhythm guitar, harmonies and co-production, as well as some engineering. I also wrote numerous songs in that genre, some of which went around the world, but in a somewhat private manner, Christian music hardly being mainstream.

I have always played some of what is new in each decade and have not stuck with, as John Lennon once said, the music of those high school years. As recently as 3 years ago, my daughter, then 19, pulled me out of band music retirement to form yet another wedding-parties-anything band. We used MIDI backing, mostly created by myself, with myself on live lead guitar and my wife, daughter and son all singing. We all sang lead and any harmony. Mainly due to the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and many ’50s vocal groups, I have always loved harmonies more than anything else, and it was a great blessing to have a family who all could sing harmony with minimal effort – they were all gifted! As for me (and Dan, back then) I had to work hard to get them right.

Thank you to Neil Porter for his detailed history of the band in response to my questions.

Terry Stacey had a good site on the band with a long history and many photos, but that seems to be defunct now. Ged Fitzsimmons is compiling a comprehensive look at the Wollongong music scene of the ’60s, hopefully seeing publication soon.