Abdullahs’ Regime on Ode

Abdullahs' Regime Ode 45 Sally I DoAbdullahs’ Regime:

Mark Dalley – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Robert Coulter – rhythm guitar
Greg Cobb – bass
Mark Hansen – drums

“Sally I Do” is a great New Zealand freakbeat single and rare too, I would think. The flip is a good ballad, “Silver Ship”, which they dedicate to “those Services active in Vietnam” (New Zealand sent nearly 4,000 troops there).

Both sides were written and produced by Mark Dalley. I was a little disappointed to find out this was a studio band, from New Zealand Music of the 60’s and 70’s:

Abdullah’s Regime was a Wellington group, put together only to record the first single for the launching of the newly formed independent label, Ode Records in November 1968. It was one of the first independent labels to challenge the monopoly that the major labels had on the local recording scene. They never played or recorded together again. Robert Coulter later played in Risk in 1973 and Mark Hansen was in the original Mammal line-up in 1970.

Vietnam info from Wikipedia.

Abdullahs' Regime Ode 45 Silver Ship

The Fabulous Pendletons

 The Fabulous Pendletons photo
The Fabulous Pendletons

Len More sent in this bio and photos of the Fabulous Pendletons, from Newark, Ohio, just east of Columbus. Len wrote to me “They never recorded. Terry Worth left the group in 1966. I grew up in Newark also but never saw them. I did frequent a dance club called “Alcatraz” in Newark and the “Pirates Cove” in Granville. I also had a friend Jim Proshek that was in a band called The Cytes from Johnstown and Alexandria.”

The bio reads as follows:

The group formed in Newark, Ohio in 1964 and played until the summer of 1967.

The original lineup was John Butts (lead guitar), John Proudley (drums), Terry Worth (rhythm guitar), Dave Pound (vocals) and Dave Morris (vocals). Worth and Morris left the group to seek other fame and fortune. Jerry Miller joined and added the bass guitar to the sound and Jeff Robb from nearby Granville, OH took over on rhythm guitar.

The group played at various scenes around central Ohio including the Newark Armory, Battle of the Bands at Vets Memorial in Columbus, the Holiday Swim Club as well as the college dance circuit. The jocks from WCOL in Columbus were helpful in furthering their career, especially Mike Adams. The group played cover songs of the day but no original compositions.

They played with Ohio acts such as the Rebounds, the Dantes and Sir Timothy and the Royals. They also played at the same venues with national acts such as the Standells, Terry Knight and the Pack, the Left Banke, The Supremes, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, and the Four Tops.

Fabulous Pendletons circa 1966, photo: John Butts, Dave Pound, Jerry Miller, Jeff Robb and John Proudley
The Fabulous Pendletons circa 1966, clockwise from left: John Butts, Dave Pound, Jerry Miller, Jeff Robb and John Proudley
“Terry Worth left the group in 1966 shortly before this picture was taken.” – Len More
 The Fabulous Pendletons
The Fabulous Pendletons
The Fabulous Pendletons with the Vogues
The Fabulous Pendletons with the Vogues

Men at Work

Men at Work photo: Karl Lundeen, Marvin Glenna (drums), Dale Madison and Dean Johnson
Men at Work, from left: Karl Lundeen, Marvin Glenna (drums), Dale Madison and Dean Johnson
The Exiles, from left: Dean Johnson and Gene Markus
The Exiles, from left: Dean Johnson and Gene Markus

I am proud to present Men at Work – a group based out of St. Paul, Minnesota originally called the Exiles. The members came from the Chisago Lakes area: Chisago City, Center City and Taylors Falls. They chose the moniker Men at Work years before the dippy Australian novelty act and cut one rare 45 with two fine versions of r&b from the day.

Gene Markus – lead vocals
Karl Lundeen – lead guitar / bass
Dean Johnson – organ / guitar / bass
Dale Madison – bass / guitar
John Lindbloom – drums, replaced by Marvin Glenna

Dean Johnson at the drums with the Exiles
Dean Johnson at the drums with the Exiles

Pauline Kabe introduces her father Dean Johnson’s band:

This little known 1960’s garage band played with the likes of The Castaways, The Trashmen and other local rock bands. Inspired by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, they were one of the many garage bands that hoped to ride the wave of pop music in the wake of the British Invasion. They took the name “Men At Work” more than a decade before the Australian 1980’s pop group.

This 45 was recorded at Dove Studios in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1966 and produced by Peter Steinberg. “It’s All Right” is a cover of the Rolling Stones “I’m Alright”. “Shame, Shame, Shame” is a cover of a Jimmy Reed tune. One of the hot teen places they played was The Country Dam (now razed), which was located in Turtle Lake, WI. The Country Dam funded 1000 singles to be cut in hopes to reach local DJ’s and gain popularity.

The band only saw 100 copies and the remaining copies were to be sent to local DJ’s for air play. The remaining 900 copies mysteriously disappeared (or were never cut). Only a few remaining copies are owned by family members of the band.

They have also played under the name Walt’s Rhythm Kings and in the 1980’s The Georgia Express.

Men At Work Country Dam 45 It's All RightMen At Work Country Dam 45 It's All Right

Dean Johnson
Dean Johnson

Dean Johnson wrote:

I believe it was the summer of 1966 when the Exiles went into the recording studio and cut “It’s All Right” and “Shame, Shame, Shame”. By this time Dale Madison had joined the group as the primary bass guitar player as I had bought a keyboard (organ), and there were five of us. Not terribly long after we cut the record, John Lindbloom was drafted and went off to serve in the Viet Nam war.

We, of course, had some advance notice this was going to happen, and we had been looking for a drummer. Marvin Glenna was one of the first that we tried out. While he had the ability, he was very young and inexperienced, and we were concerned about getting him in to the bars we were playing in. We tried out two or three more who were just crap, and eventually decided to give Marvin a whirl. It turned out to be a great decision.

Marvin Glenna
Marvin Glenna

For sometime before as well as after we cut the record, we were bring booked by Jim Donna of the Castaways and also by a prominent DJ from KDWB radio. We were playing the teen club circuit from Buffalo to Renville and also some college gigs at the University of Minnesota, St Cloud, and Storm Lake, Iowa….including many weekends at Woodley’s Country Dam. The owner – Jim Woodley – actually financed the studio time and the cost of pressing the records; and we in turn played for him for nothing for many, many weekends until we had paid him back.It was a cold, wintery night and we had a gig up at a Catholic High School in St Cloud. Marcus didn’t show up for the job, and we were ill prepared to do a complete four set night with out him. We stumbled and struggled the best we could, but none of us knew the words to all the songs he had sung, and we ended up butchering his songs and playing the handful that were our numbers over and over again for maybe the fourth or fifth times. The kids were pretty upset with this shitty band, and rightly so. We got peppered with snowballs, I ended up cussing out a priest which made Dale Madison – a devout catholic – extremely angry.

Dale Madison
Dale Madison

Marcus showed up at my house later in the week. Karl and I were there at the time and we told him to take a flying leap and that we didn’t want to see him again. He had helped us purchase some equipment, so he demanded a guitar, amp and microphone and went on his way. We have never seen him since.So the four of us learned all of the words to the songs that Marcus had sung, and we continued as the Men at Work for the remainder of 1966, all of 1967, and up until about a month before [my daughter Pauline was] born in March of 1968. I had promised that I would quit playing in order to be around to help when and after she was born. We were sort of a unique group for the times as the three front men, Dale, Karl & I would all switch around on each other’s instruments because we could all play a little bass, a little lead and a little rhythm guitar. We would do three or four numbers and then switch instruments and do two or three more, etc., all night long.

We were all supposed to get together again later that summer to regroup and practice up as we had playing dates booked at the Country Dam and other sites beginning in September. However, when the time came, Karl and Marvin had been playing with Marv’s brother, Walt, down in the cities, and they announced that they had decided to stay there instead. After a while, I was asked to come down and join in… which I did.

So then we became Walt’s Rhythm Kings for the next couple of years, playing at country bars and clubs on the NE side of Minneapolis, eventually settling in as the house band at the Forest Lake bowling alley which had a significant club and dance wing. Eventually we went uptown to play at the Forest Laker in downtown Forest Lake as the house band there.

Karl Lundeen
Karl Lundeen

We at some point had the revelation that we should be the Georgia Express, and we played again at the Country Dam, the Tea House (country club at Chisago Lakes Golf Course), Forest Lake, weddings, Fireman’s Balls, local town street dances, the Conestoga, Lindstrom Golf Course, and many private parties.

 

Walts Rhythm Kings and Georgia Express:

Walter Glenna – lead vocals / guitar
Marvin Glenna – drummer / vocals
Dean Johnson – bass / vocals
Karl Lundeen – lead guitar / vocals

Thank you to Pauline Kabe for alerting me to Men at Work, and to Dean Johnson for his help with this article.

from left: Dale Madison, Marvin Glenna and Karl Lundeen
from left: Dale Madison, Marvin Glenna and Karl Lundeen
Dale Madison and Dean Johnson
Dale Madison and Dean Johnson
Dale Madison
Dale Madison
Dale Madison
Dale Madison
Karl Lundeen
Karl Lundeen
Karl Lundeen
Karl Lundeen

The Henchmen of Ogden, Utah

Henchmen Guillotine 45 Come On Let's GoThere were many bands called the Henchmen throughout the U.S. in the ’60s, but this one came from Ogden, Utah.

Gary MacShara wrote in a comment below:

The “45 … was recorded at a studio at the University of Utah.

The group consisted of 5 students from Ben Lomond High School in Ogden Utah. The members were Tom Whitimore, Rick Wessler, Paul Quigley, Gary MacShara,and lead vocalist Von Nielson.

Henchmen Guillotine 45 So LonelyThe group broke up after High School. The highlite of there career was a session with the Liverpool Five. The low point was when we took the record to a Salt Lake
radio station and the jock in the studio played it and said quote,”After reading the article in [Billboard] I expected something better.”

If anyone has more info or photos of the band, or better scans of the 45, please contact me.

Because the comments below were almost entirely about the band from Utah, I have moved the original group featured in this post to a new page.

The Rock Garden

Not the Rock Garden from Arkansas who recorded “Super Stuff” for the Revise label, or the Georgia group who cut “Starry Eyed Woman” for Prophet, or even the one from Michigan (formerly Frederic) who recorded for Capitol. This Rock Garden seems to be an unknown group, possibly only a studio creation.

Released in 1968, “Sweet Pajamas”, written by Jason Schulman, was nearly forgotten for years. I could call this psychedelia-by-numbers due to the anonymity of the group, elaborate production touches like the harpsichord break, and an instrumental middle section taking after the Dead or Mad River. Despite these criticisms, the disparate parts add up to a gem of a song with an endearing hook. The musicianship is professional: the drums crack on the stop-and-start tempo changes, the bass nicely doubles the vocal melody and the rhythm guitar loosens up in the second half of the song.

The B.T. Puppy label was owned by the vocal group the Tokens. Their hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was recently discussed on a garage forum as being possibly the most unbearable song of the ’60s. Regardless, by 1967 the Tokens used their harmonies and writing skills to craft some fine psychedelic pop for their LP It’s a Happening World, including “For All that I Am” that the Creation would cover for one of their final singles, and a brief vignette called “Perhaps, the Joy of Giving”.

On the B-side of the Rock Garden single, “Perhaps, the Joy of Giving” is extended to two minutes, laden with effects and voices.

The 45 was produced by Elliot Weiss & Bright Tunes Productions, engineered by Wally Sheffey.

The Henchmen of Hobbs, New Mexico

Photo of the Henchmen, Hobbs, NM

Josh Pettibone sent in the photo of the Henchmen above in response to my post looking for info on some mystery Texas bands. It came from the collection of a DJ from Hobbs, New Mexico, just over the state line from Texas. I couldn’t find any information about the band until member Ben Boyett contacted me in January 2014.

Ben writes:

We were from Hobbs, New Mexico, and played gigs throughout eastern New Mexico and west Texas. The (original) Henchmen pictured are, left to right, Dennis Spillman, lead guitarist; Kirk Smith, bass (sitting on floor); Danny Spivey, drums; and, me, Ben Boyett, second guitar and vocals. We played in this configuration during the 1964-65 era, recording some pretty forgettable singles [unreleased], “Put That Phone Back On The Hook,” “Two Lives,” and “Animal Crackers.”

After a year, we reformed, with Robert Pampell on keyboard replacing Spillman. In that lineup, we recorded with the late Ray Ruff in Amarillo, TX. Ray Ruff’s studio in Amarillo was a tiny thing in an old shopping center. Just after the Henchmen recorded there, a fire pretty well gutted the place. In the last years of his life, Ray Ruff was a very successful country record promoter. He had a great memory, and even recalled several events about me when I ran into him almost twenty years after recording with him.

Somewhere, recordings exist, including the Ray Ruff session, but I’ll have to do some looking through many boxes of memorabilia.

I re-entered the music business about 20 years after the photo, and recorded a single with the late Norman Petty that was released. I think it sold about ten copies, and most of those to relatives. But, getting to work with the legendary Norman Petty was like getting to work with Mozart or da Vinci.

Danny Spivey is still playing on sessions and in church, after having toured with Up With People back in the late sixties. (He’s the only one of us who actually read music.) Dennis Spillman, the lead guitarist, writes oil and gas leases in Oklahoma. Kirk Smith, the bassist, came to an ignominious end during the seventies.

Q. Did the Henchmen make it as far as Dallas? I came across a band called the Henchmen in a list of bands at the 1967 Texas State Fair.

No, my version of the Henchmen did not make it to Dallas. We were strictly an area phenomenon.

Andy and the Manhattans “Double Mirror Wrap Around Shades” on Cardon

Andy and the Manhattans (or is that Andy and the New Playboys?), 1967, personnel unknown
Robert Anderson was a singer from Omaha, Nebraska who fronted most of his bands as Andy Anderson, beginning with Andy and the Live Wires with “You’ve Done It Again”, a light vocal over a Willie & the Hand Jive beat, b/w a Duane Eddy-type instrumental “Maggie” on the Applause label in 1960.

Next came Andy and the Playboys (no recordings as far as I know), and in 1964 Andy and the Manhattans, whose 45 on Cardon Records I’m featuring today.

“Double Mirror Wrap Around Shades” is a good bit of jivey r&b, an original by Anderson, like the flip. It charted at #40 on the August 28, 1964 chart of Chicago station WLS 890 AM.

“Tell Her Yourself” has vocals that sound very folk-influenced, though the backing is simple garage r&b.

Also that year they had two singles on Musicor, “Should’ve I” / Desperate” (I haven’t heard either song) and “Skinny Minnie” / “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide”. After the Manhattans he recorded as the Buggs on Soma, featuring Bobby Jones (later of Aorta) on drums, then retired from professional music to go into medicine.


In a sad and gruesome end to the tale, on May 21, 2009 Anderson shot his wife Karla then himself. A news report on KMTV (no longer on the station’s website) didn’t elaborate on the circumstances.

Sources include Rockin’ Country Style, Rockabilly Bash (link defunct) and chart info from ARSA (link made private).

Thank you to Michelle Monnette for sending in the photo at top.

List of bands at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, October 1967

Times-Herald, Oct. ’67 list of bands at the Action Spot

The above clipping was sent to me by Rollie Anderson of Dust, showing close to 60 bands that competed at the October, 1967 Texas State Fair in Dallas. Not all the bands were from Dallas or Fort Worth, though I suspect most of them were.

I think it’s worth listing all these groups to see how many we know anything about – I only know about a handful of these groups. To see photos of the Action Spot stage, see the article on the Mind’s Eye.

If anyone can help with info on any of these, please write to me at chas_kit@hotmail.com or leave a comment below.

Blue Green
Blue Moon
Brand “X”
– There was a Brand X from El Paso that featured Ken Prichard of Danny & the Counts. However, Ken told me they didn’t play this event.
The Caretakers
The Coachmen
– likely the group from Ft. Worth who recorded the instrumental “Splash Day” for Spotlight, though it could be the Coachmen from New Mexico who recorded “Grapes of Wrath” / “Summer Should Bring Happiness” for Sea-Ell. The Coachmen from Abilene had broken up by this time.
The Colonists
Dust
– see Rollie’s article on this site.
The Destinations
Don and the Demons
– according to a comment below, Don & the Demons came from McKinney, TX and recorded a version of “Walking the Dog” on the the Gibson label which I haven’t heard.
Execution of Time
Joey Farr and the Orbitors
– As Tommy “Rockin’ Bones” points out in a comment below, this is probably a later band of Little Joey Farr who had releases on the Houston label Kangaroo and the Colorado label Band Box.
5th Amendment
John Foster’s Group
The Gentle Rebellion
The Gents
– from either Dallas/Ft. Worth or as far away as Abilene – 45 on E.V.E. label in 1966
Gingerbread Blues
The Henchmen
– definitely not this New Mexico band
The Herd
Hillsboro Group
HMS Blues
Hunters of Time
Images
The Jazz Informers
The Kaces
Kempy and the Guardians
– Oak Cliff group named after vocalist Gary “Kempy” Rawlings, they recorded the legendary “Love For A Price” / “Never”. Larry Samford may have been another member
The Kicks
Killeen String Band
The Kolumn
– from Lancaster, TX – see comment below
Lunatic Fringe
Main Street Prophets
The Merchants
Mind’s Eye
– not listed in the article but see photos of the band onstage at the Action Spot
New World
Night Creepers
Noise Inc.
The Off Beats
– There was an Offbeats who cut “Drenda Ann” / “Chaos” (both by John Brodie) on the Cherokee label from Arlington, but I don’t know the year for that. Another possibility is Jimmy & the Offbeats who recorded for Bofuz. Less likely is James De Fore, a San Antonio artist who cut 45s as Jimmy Dee & the Off Beats in the late ’50s.
Owsley
The Pagans
– from Carrollton, NW of Dallas, according to a cousin of three of the members
The Playboys Five
Prisoners of Love
The Reasons Why
– possibly the Temple group who recorded the excellent “Don’t Be That Way” for the Sound Track label. John Schwertner went into the Lavender Express.
The Reflections
Reining Daze
Satin and the Soul Men
The Sensations
– see the article on this site.
The Shade – see the article on this site.
Sound in Motion – aka the Sounds in Motion – see Howard and Steve’s comments below.
Don Sperry Quartet
Starlight Group
The Tyme Keepers
The Unclaimed Freight
The Untamed
U.S. Bonds
U.S. Britons
– (U.S. Brittons) Dallas group featuring fifteen-year-old Mike Jones. They cut two original songs “Come On” and “I’ll Show You a Man” that exist on demo acetate as far as I can tell. Both songs were highlights of Green Crystal Ties vol. 3. The band played throughout Dallas, including at the Studio Club. The band included Larry McNeny, Larry Meletio (drums), Herman Drees (guitar), Joe Cree (bass) and Mike Jones (guitar). See below for more info.
Walter Vaughn
The Westminsters
The Young Texans
– likely from Grand Prairie, with Jim Koof (Kopf?), vocals; Dennis Stark, lead guitar; Don Booker, lead and rhythm guitar; Bobby Head, bass; Jerry Head, drums. See this clipping

Larry McNeny wrote to me about the U.S. Britons:

I had heard about that compilation but never heard the record. I started the band with Larry Meletio in Jr. High. Mike Jones was in a band with Joe Cree (Rowe’s little brother) and [both] eventually joined us. Mike was a fluent songwriter. He’d call me several times a week and play me a new song he’d just written for us. He also had a great 442!

Oddly enough I remember that State Fair gig. Also I noticed a pre-US Britons band of mine on a newspaper ad for a show for Jas. K Wilson (a clothing store) where we played with 5 of a Kind, The Galaxies & the Rogues. We were called the Roamers! I honestly don’t know where we came up with these names!

Larry McNeny

Thanks to Mike Markesich for the info on the Gents and for reminding me of the U.S. Britons.

The 4th Street Exit

I don’t own this 45 by the 4th Street Exit, but I like their song “Strange One” so much I have to cover it.

After the crashing opening chords, the organ carries the melody while the guitar switches to a dry sound repeating licks and bending notes like crazy. No faulting the rhythm section either, with the fluid bass runs and great drum breaks.

The song was written by M. Fichera and published by Janell Music, a subsidiary of Tiki Recording Service in San Jose, California, released in May of ’67. I believe the studio is still in existence, run by one of the original owners, Gradie O’Neal. I don’t know anything about the group and I haven’t even heard the flip yet, “A Love Like This”.

Rowena also released the Rock Shop’s great “State of Your Mind” / “Is That Your Halo”, produced by Norm Flint.

Scan from Brent’s old auction of the 45.

The Tuesday Club

Garfield Air Mattress Promo Flyer
Before becoming the Tuesday Club, they were the Garfield Air Mattress. Flyer courtesy of Bruce Lambert

The Tuesday Club started as the Garfield Air Mattress, a band formed in 1966 by Bruce Lambert and Tony Tezak in Grand Junction, Colorado.

In an early flyer they are shown as a quartet with three members from Grand Junction: Terry Tezak (bass), Daryll Cooper (guitar and keyboards), Bruce Lambert (lead guitar); plus Salvador “Pete” Friese from Fort Collins on drums. Bill Wagner managed the Garfield Air Matress, who advertised as playing “rhythm and blues and what have you”.

Tony Decker of Salt Lake City, a freshman at Mesa College, joined on guitar and lead vocals.

Garfield Air Mattress, the Criterion, May 16, 1967
The Garfield Air Mattress profiled in the Mesa College Criterion in May, 1967, courtesy of Bruce Lambert.
From left: Daryll Cooper, Bruce Lambert, Pete Frease, Terry Tezak and Tony Decker

When the Mesa College paper, The Criterion profiled the Garfield Air Mattress on May 16, 1967, Mercury Records had just signed the group and Ray Ruff was their manager. All of the group were freshmen at Mesa College, except Bruce Lambert, a senior at Grand Junction High School. Tony Decker had already written “A Goddess in Many Ways”, which would be the A-side of their single for Philips (a Mercury subsidiary), and the group had already decided to change their name to The Tuesday Club.

The Tuesday Club relocated to Amarillo, Texas, recording at Checkmate Studios, with Marty Cooper and Ray Ruff producing. Ray Ruff was producing and managing a number of bands at the time, including Tracers, Them, the Orange Confederation and the Page Boys.

The Tuesday Club, Philips 45 Only Human

 A-side of their single, with goddess misspelled!
A-side of their single, with goddess misspelled!

Even though Tony Decker wrote both sides of the 45, each song is incredibly different from the other; they could almost be by separate bands. The top side is “A Goddess in Many Ways” a gentle paean to a seventeen year old beauty who commits suicide. For years it’s been overshadowed by the flip, the garage classic “Only Human”, but will probably be garnering more fans from the recent resurgence of interest in Fargo. It did reach #24 on Grand Junction AM station KEXO on August 26, 1967.

Notice in Billboard, August 19, 1967

I’m sure “Only Human” is familiar to every fan of ’60s punk, with it’s memorable opening bass slides and tambourine, the powerful guitar line and Tony Decker’s shouting delivery of the lines “… when you turn the heads of everybody in the crowd!” and “… but all this competition’s driving me insane!”

After the 45 was recorded, Terry Tezak and Bruce Lambert left the group and returned to Colorado. Dean Wilden joined: he had been in Maudz Only with Tony Decker at their Salt Lake City high school. The band changed their name to Fargo, and in 1968 relocated first to Grand Junction, where Cooper and Friese left the group, and then to Salt Lake, where Randle Potts joined on drums, later replaced by Bob Holman. By the time they became Fargo, neither song from the Tuesday Club single was part of their live sets.

Fargo traveled to Los Angeles to record a single, “Robins, Robins” / “Sunny Day Blue” for Capitol and an LP I See It Now for RCA, both produced by Marty Cooper.

Dean wrote to me about how he joined the group and their change to Fargo:

Garfield Air Mattress was a Grand Junction based band with Tony Decker. When they moved to Texas, two of the members quit and I joined. At that time we were called the Tuesday Club. Tony & I had previously played together in a band called Maudz Only.

I never recorded with Tony’s early Grand Junction band, so I really don’t know where the two tunes were recorded. I don’t remember ever even hearing those two Tuesday Club songs, and they weren’t anything we ever played live. The Tuesday Club/Fargo, Texas drummer was Pete Frease. I was on bass, Tony on guitar & Daryl Cooper on keyboard. Tony & I went to Grand Junction for a short time after Texas. Long enough to lose the other two and return to Salty.

In Amarillo, Ruff’s company, Checkmate Productions, included the bands Them, The Tracers, The Orange Confederation & Fargo. We played Texas, New Mexico, Kansas & Oklahoma. I would take a dozen or better of the Salt Lake bands over the best band I ever heard in Texas, during that period. We played venues alongside many of them & they all seemed to be listening in the past. You didn’t hear much of the British Invasion coming out their speakers. In fact, having played both Texas & Oklahoma, I’d say the three most requested songs were “Louie Louie”, “Wipe Out” & “Gloria”. It was as if they couldn’t comprehend beyond three chords. It was nice to leave there & get back to the ’60s.

As for those Texas bands, I’d say the Tracers were the best I heard. Richie was The Tracers drummer & one of the funniest people I ever knew.

Ray was our gig manager, and a good record producer, but Marty Cooper was our producer. Marty was based in L.A. and this was where Fargo recorded all it’s tracks. Tony & I had a unique vocal blend. Our – Fargo’s – earliest Capital recording was “Robins, Robins” / “Sunny Day Blue”.

Back in Utah, we decided to go three-piece. We needed a drummer and I suggested my old school mate & drummer from Maudz II, Randle Potts. He played on one album cut, “Lady Goodbye”. He froze up like playing in front of 100,000 people, so we hired 2 different studio players to finish off the recordings. We got rid of Potts and stole Bob [Holman] from a band called the Avanti’s, which was strange, seems how Potts drove an Avanti. So Bob was our live drummer and was with us to the end. We’re still in touch. Bob is a remarkable artist with a clever edge to his creations.

I played bass on all but two of the “I See It Now” cuts, and Tony did a great deal of the guitar work. Why bass & guitar credits were given otherwise on the back of the album is baffling. Kind of negated us as musicians. We were damned good & tight on stage. Dr. John played piano on the album but was given no credit, nor were the drummers. Tony was given composer credit for “The Sound Of It,” which is one of my songs. I had Tony sing the first verse because of how I’d layered the harmonies, thus the confusion. When I first saw the back of that album I thought I must be in a parallel universe. The references to religion, alone, blew me away. I was and am as far removed from that world as is possible.

The post-RCA Fargo recordings were mostly made on a Sony sound-on-sound recorder using those cheap little microphones. We were a 3 piece band back then: Tony on guitar, Bob Holman on drums, & me on bass. These later nine sound-on-sound recordings need to be tuned-up a bit before I’d feel comfortable with anyone hearing them.

I’m still writing up a storm & recording “one-man-band” tracks in my studio. I’ve recorded recently in Nashville, & am now working with a couple of different people to promote me as either a singer/songwriter, or songwriter.

Dean and Tony are working on reissuing Fargo’s Capitol single and RCA LP, possibly with bonus tracks from their later self-produced recordings.

Thank you to Dean for information on his time with the Tuesday Club and Fargo.

Special thanks to Bruce Lambert for the Garfield Air Mattress flyer and news clip and for additional information about the group.

“A Godess in Many Ways” enters KEXO’s survey at #24, August 26, 1967 (chart from ARSA)

The site for '60s garage bands since 2004