Category Archives: Chadwick’s Recording Studio

Categories: Aegis, Buddha, Chadwick's Recording Studio, Kama, Krishna, New York, Upstate New York, Utica

Utica record labels: Kama, Aegis, Lewis, Buddha, Krishna, Hurd & Stentor

March 10, 2016 Chris Bishop 8 Comments

Andy And The Classics Kama PS Taba-Da-Ba-Do and Prehistoric Time — Andy And The Classics Kama PS

Utica, New York had a number of independent labels in the 1960s. At first I believed labels such as Kama, Krishna, Lewis and Aegis were related, but after a comment and more investigation, I’ve decided to cover a number of Utica labels that shared artists, distribution by Kama, or use of the Chadwicks Recording Studio.

Kenneth Hurd, a New Hartford shoe executive, owned the Hurd and Revere Records labels, as well as the Longmark Studio in Utica and the Chadwicks Recording Studio and pressing plant on Oneida St. in Chadwicks.

Any help with information about any of these labels would be appreciated!

Aegis Records

Aegis 1001 – The Bel Airs – “You Left Me (For Somebody New)” / “You’re the Greatest” (Aegis Records ARS 1001). Gates Initino, vocal. Other members were Guy Vivenzo, Dick Laurey, Jim Hanna and Jon Hynes). Distributed by Bason Agency, Utica.

Aegis 1003 – The Royals – “Shake It” / “Mix Up” (both written by Fran Migliaccio), W-194

Aegis 100? – The Royals feat Ralph Migliaccio “I Only Have Eyes For You/ Land Of A Thousand Dances”

Buddha Records

Buddha CO 1753 – The Roosters – “I Wanna Do It” / “You Don’t Need Any Reason”

See my post on the Roosters for more information about that band.

Hurd Records

Hurd 77 – Patti Miller & the Friends Trio – “Caveman Blues” / “Stone Age” (with PS)
Hurd 78 – Andy and the Classics – “Walk Walk Walk” / “Wilma” – band led by Andy Cittadino
Hurd 79 – Dee Dee Warwick – “I Can’t Go Back” / “I (Who Have Nothing At All)” (1966, prod. by H. Rudd and Bob Gallo)

Hurd 82 – Lloyd Price ’66 – “Misty” / Lloyd Price Orchestra – “Saturday Night”

Kama Records

Kama 33 – Gary Angel And The Halos – ?

Kama K-43 – The Ultimates “Lost Romance” (Foti-O’Donnell) / “Foreign Girl” (Dick Broderick – both songs Harbor Music ASCAP), unrelated label?).

Kama 501 – Gary Angel And The Halos – “Oh, Judy” / “Memories Of A Summer Day” (circa 1962)
Kama 502 – Maureen Fitzgerald – “Twinkle In His Eye” / “His Own Kind of Rhythm” (division of Kama Productions)

Kama L-106 – Ted Alexander and The Cordels – “Baby You Can Drive My Car” / “Please Go” (with picture sleeve)

Kama L-164 – Heaven’s Devils – “Lonely Girl” (Paul Sparaco) / “Out Of Your Life” (Frederick J. Catella), prod. by Gary J. Sparaco, Kama Music

Kama L-212 – Jerry Carr and the Travelers – “I Laugh When I Should Have Been Listenin’” / “Wondering If I Could Go On”

Kama L-269 – Susie Southworth – “My Heart Could Never Stand (to Be Broken by You)” (Dorothy Southworth) / “Once a Day”

Kama K-712 – JC and the Tears – “Then You’d Better Go Away” (J. Camilli, copyrighted as Jimmy Camilli in 1953) / “What’d I Say” (OV-102)

Kama 775 – Heavenly Flyers – “Mighty Long Time” / “Hallelujah to His Name” (W-167/W168)
Kama 776 – Lou Barile (John Mazzae At The Organ) – “He’ll Look Down” / “Prayer”
Kama 777 – Eric and the Chessmen – “You Don’t Want My Loving” / “Blue Skies”, L-99-1/2. The labels note “Recorded at Chadwicks Recording Studio”, in Chadwicks, NY, a small hamlet along Route 8 south of Utica, and a few miles east of Clinton, NY and Hamilton College.

Kama 780 – The Ally Kahns – “Gonkletwerp” (instrumental by Gary Brody, Dick Kenney and Charlie Caryl) / “Blue Moon” (W-321)

Kama K-780 – The Avengers – “Reflection” (C. Wheeler) / “Irresistable You” from April of 1967, also recorded at Chadwicks and produced by A. Polacelli.

Kama 786 – Andy & the Classics – “Yaba-da-ba-do” / “Prehistoric Time” (with PS, prod. by Bob Gallo)

Kama 1070 – Audrey De Lia and the Western Aces cut “Kansas City” b/w a version of Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough”

Kama 814 – Target – “Give Me One More Chance” / “Cleveland” (modern soul, early 1970s)
Kama 815 – Target – “Look at Me” / “You’re So Beautiful”

Kama OV-567 – Tiny Tim – “Howard Cosell (We Think You’re Swell)” / “The Bi-Centennial Song (I Believe in America)” – 1976

Kama 71310 – Sonja Bonness “I’m the Only Woman” / “Black Satin” (1977)

Krishna Records

Krishna TR 2690 – The Roosters – “The Rooster Song” / “Lost And Found”

Lewis Records

Lewis Records 525 – The Starfires “Vampire” (by James Palladino for Kajobe Music, BMI) / “Honky Tonk Twist”, mastering #s W-189 & W-190. The labels read “distributed by Kama Productions, Utica, NY.” “Vampire” also recorded by the Plaids on Stentor – see below.

Lewis 1000 – The Ponzi Bros. Lou & Zack – “Guitar Boogie Twist” / “Channel 98” (Lou Ponzi, Kama Music BMI) (K-71/72)
Lewis 107 – The Belairs – “All The Time” (Chuck Weiss, Eddie Mikenas) / “As You Go” (Eddie Mikenas), Kev-Tess Music BMI

Mark Records – extensive discography, see entry on Discogs for more info

Tino & the Revlons – “Black Burma-Mudas and Knee Socks” (R. Demart, B. Rezey; Kama Music Publ.) / “Story Of Our Love” (Mark M-154)
The Plaids – “Out To Lunch” (Carl Swanson aka: Mr. Sunshine) / ?, circa 1961 – need label scans for this one.

Stentor Records

Stentor RR 101 – The Plaids (aka the Bel Airs) – “Vampire” / “Creepin'” (Vivenzo) from Stentor Recording Co., Utica.
Stentor RB-165 – Brian Wilson & the Del Vues “Blue Skies” / “Blueberry Hill”
Stentor RM 101 – Bebo Singleton with Jeff & the Notes “The Shrine of the Echoes” / “Feeny Jones”

Categories: Chadwick's Recording Studio, Kama, New York, Upstate New York, Utica

Eric & the Chessmen

April 24, 2015 Chris Bishop 9 Comments

Eric and the Chessmen were a well-known group from Utica, New York. They toured throughout upstate New York and into Vermont, and even had a stand at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City. They released only one single: the original song “You Don’t Want My Loving” by the band’s leader, Eric Thorngren, backed with a rocked-up version of “Blue Skies”, on Kama Records 777.

The band’s membership changed many times, so I’ll list some of the lineups below to the best of what I can gather:

Eric and the Chessmen at the Evening Inn, Colliersville, June, 1965

As simply the Chessmen, the original lineup consisted of:

Eric Thorngren – guitar
Tony Frontera – saxophone
Jon Hynes – bass
Butch DeAngelo – drums

By March 1965 the band consisted of:

Eric Thorngren – guitar & vocals
Norm Knapp – guitar
Dale Rider – bass
Wayne Bohling – drums

Eric and the Chessmen Five Flys Club, Bennington, October 1966

When Norm Knapp took a leave of absence in 1965, Chuck Schoenley became the band’s first keyboardist:

Eric Thorngren – guitar & vocals
Chuck Schoenley – organ
Dale Rider – bass
Wayne Bohling – drums

After Chuck Schoenley left the group to join the Rogues, Frankie Convertino became the keyboard player, then Fred Faccioli.

Slivers Matrassi replaced Wayne Bowling on drums by early or mid-1966.

The band featured on the picture sleeve to their 45 and probably on the recording is:

Freddie Faccioli – organ
Eric Thorngren – guitar & vocals
Dale Rider – bass
Slivers Matrassi – drums

The sleeve at the top of this post seems to be very rare. The labels note “Recorded at Chadwicks Recording Studio, Chadwicks, NY”. For more on the Kama and related labels like Krishna and Sutra, see the final section of my post on the Roosters.

The band had other recordings that weren’t released at the time. An atmospheric instrumental featuring organ and a reserved guitar solo called “Too Much” appeared on The Best of Twist-a-Rama: Crude 1965 Garage Sounds from the Mohawk Valley. There are also demos of “Wooly Bully”, “New Orleans” and “Heat Wave”.

The Chessmen continued in different forms into the late 1960s, eventually without any original members. Sometime in 1967 or 1968 Ted Alexander replaced Freddie Faccioli. Dale Rider left to join the Rochester group the Oxford Watchband – a group by that name had a 45 in 1969 on the Hand label, “Diagnosis (One Way Empty and Down)” / “Welcome to the World”.

Eric Thorngren joined the Brass Buttons and went on to a long career as a recording and mixing engineer.

I found this info on the band at the forum After Bebop a Lula: Utica Bands 50s 60s. There are many photos of the band in that thread, see these pages for some of them:

http://clipper220.proboards.com/thread/779?page=108
http://clipper220.proboards.com/thread/779?page=110
http://clipper220.proboards.com/thread/779?page=111

Thank you to Fred D’Huve for the scan of the Audiodisc demo of “Heat Wave”.

Eric and the Chessmen at the Halfway House, Norwich, March 1966

Categories: Chadwick's Recording Studio, New York, Oneonta, Upstate New York

The Other Half on Bell Sound, from Oneonta

March 22, 2011 Chris Bishop 24 Comments

The Other Half at Chadwick's Recording Studio in Utica — The Other Half at Chadwick’s Recording Studio in Utica

Brian Kirschenbaum submitted this article on the Other Half a band from Oneonta, New York. The band cut one folk-inspired 45 at Bell Sound, “It’s Been a Good Day” written by Glenn Schenenga and the excellent “I Won’t Be Back” by Glenn and Jeff Lyman.

Bassist Pete Lipsio wrote this history of the group and gathered the photos seen here.

The Other Half was organized in 1965 at Hartwick College, Oneonta New York; the members being Jeff Lyman (vocals), Steve Harrigan (lead guitar and keyboard), Peter Lipsio (bass), Glenn Schenenga (rhythm guitar) with Ed Welsh, Bob Kirsch and later Bill Pegler (drums). In the beginning there were but two individuals, (Harrigan and Lipsio), living in the same dormitory, who would get together to play their guitars. This duo soon found a local drummer in Ed Welsh with an existing band and a weekly venue at Molinari’s, a local bar and restaurant. While practicing together they attracted the talents of rhythm guitarist Glenn Schenenga and vocalist Jeff Lyman.
The group thus formed soon replaced that which was performing at Molinari’s and began to attract large crowds of college students from both Hartwick College and the nearby Oneonta State University. As their litany and variety of songs increased and matured, Steve further improved the groups sound with the addition of a Farfisa organ; alternating between same and lead guitar as a particular song required. While Steve played the keyboard, Glenn would assume the role of lead guitar and Peter that of Rhythm while Jeff carried on with vocals and an occasional guitar performance. It soon became obvious that their music needed more depth and thus Peter began playing a Fender Jazz Bass through a Fender Dual Showman amp. Jeff added a new Bogen sound system and Binson Echorec reverb while both Steve and Glenn increased their respective sound with a succession of larger and more powerful amplifiers and additional instruments.
The Other Half at Chadwick’s Recording in Utica
Shortly thereafter, the band recorded their first two hits at Bell Sound (later Bell Records) in New York City. Sales of the record proved to be a local phenomenon and the group acquired an ever increasing and widespread popularity with a television performance on Hank Brown’s “Twist- A-Rama in Utica.A new drummer and fellow college student, Bob Kirsch, soon replaced Ed and the band began an ever increasing spiral of popularity. Their music eventually attracted the attention of Gene Kipper, a well known agent and promoter based in Utica, New York who signed them for various performances throughout New York State.
The band continued to perform together throughout the Southern Tier of the North East; opening for The Rascals during the spring of 1967 while playing at numerous locations such as the Evening Inn and the College Inn at Saratoga New York, where they were booked for that entire summer. The band’s drummer, Bob Kirsch, a pre-med student, transferred to Wake Forest College and a new drummer and fellow Hartwick student, Bill Pegler, was obtained to be the group’s percussionist.
The band continued to play together with numerous performances throughout the school year of 1968, at the end of which, most of the members graduated and went about their individual lives. For the most part, the members of the band are now retired professionals who long ago left their musical roots to pursue different careers. In August of 2008, following a forty year hiatus, the assiduous efforts of Glenn Schenenga, reunited the members of The Other Half in communication with one another. Though now living in different states, the members are planning a reunion for the near future.
While unaware of this at the time, current research has demonstrated that there were two other contemporaneous groups with the same name. One being in Chicago and the other a West Coast band, each of some regional renown.
The years spent together, while in The Other Half and at college, hold a particular significance for each of the members, who consider this time in their lives to be among the most memorable of events wherein were formed the bonds of personal commitment to their music and a lasting friendship.
Pete Lipsio