The Changing Tymes, from left: Tom Shapiro, Jimmy Mahoney, Ray Tilli, (not shown: Wayne Tort)
The Changing Tymes came from Philadelphia and cut a great single “You Make It Hard” / “Try a Whole Lot Harder” in 1966. I was struck by the similarity of the opening of the Changing Tyme’s “You Make It Hard” to the Quiet Jungle song “Everything”, but that seems to be a pure coincidence.
Thomas Shapiro and James Mahoney wrote both songs, released on the R.D. #1 label with Don White publishing registered in early December, 1966. It seems the group recorded two other songs at the same session, but these seem to be lost.
Ray Tilli commented below and in 2020 wrote to me with more info and the photos seen here:
My name is Ray Tilli and I was a founding member of “The Changing Tymes” from Philadelphia, PA. We started the band in 1965. The first iteration of the Changing Tymes were (as shown in the photos):
Tom Shapiro – lead vocals, guitar, bass (on live gigs) Jimmy Mahoney – lead guitar, vocals Ray Tilli – guitar, bass (on the record), vocals Wayne Tort – drums (not shown)
The Changing Tymes were founded by myself and Jimmy Mahoney in 1965. We were fortunate to have come of age at a time when we saw and experienced the birth of Rock and Roll, and we were deeply influenced by the greats of that early era. Then in 1964, the Beatles and the subsequent great bands from England and America invaded our brains! Every week there was some new artist, song or album to get really excited about, and to pour ourselves into and absorb. It was a time of great creativity, inspiration, and expression, and it drove us to practice, practice and practice more!
Our record was recorded at Impact Studio, located in Northeast Philadelphia, on or about September-October 1966, and released in November 1966. I lost track of the other two recordings. I don’t think they were put on vinyl.
When Jimmy Mahoney began to play lead, he used his big hollow body Gibson ES-175 guitar with the new Fuzz Tone pedal. It caused a type of feedback they had never heard before – but it was controlled feedback. There was a shout from the control room: “What’s that noise!.” Unfortunately, Jimmy had to switch to his backup guitar to get the sound they wanted. The recording would have been wilder if we recorded it the way we wanted!
The engineers in the recording booth were laughing so hard that they had trouble “slating” the tape for recording because they had to say the name of one of the tunes: “You Make It Hard”! We actually didn’t get the joke; talk about naive and clueless …
The meaning of the record label, R&D #1 Records: the “R” stands for Roy Howell who funded the production, and the “D” for Dave Wilson, our manager. We never heard of the band Quiet Jungle, nor did we ever hear their song “Everything”. The musical universe is huge, and once in a while, similar riffs or parts can occur.
The Changing Tymes, from left: Tom Shapiro, Jimmy Mahoney, Ray Tilli, (not shown: Wayne Tort)
We got pretty damn good, and quickly gained a reputation as being one of the best bands in the Tri-State area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware). Word got around and we were asked to appear on all the regional music TV shows. American Bandstand had just moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles in 1965, so we missed that opportunity. The next most popular TV show was called “Summer Time at the Pier with Ed Hurst”. The “Pier” was the world famous Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ.
We appeared on the live broadcast of “Summer Time at the Pier with Ed Hurst” in the summer of 1966 along with Freddie and the Dreamers, and the Ramsey Lewis Trio. After playing the Pier gig, we drove about 20 minutes south to Margate, New Jersey to play our regular five-night-per-week gig at the White House – a club near the beach. During that summer we were the house band at the White House. All TVs in the club that day were showing our live appearance on Steel Pier, so when we arrived back at the club we were greeted with a rousing applause and back-slaps!
A similar occurrence happened when we played a live TV show in South Philadelphia, PA called “Aquarama”. The backdrop was a huge fish tank with hundreds of exotic species of marine life. After the show we had to immediately rush to our evening gig at Penn State University’s Ogontz Campus outside of Philly. The crowd was getting annoyed because we were late, but when we finally arrived we were greeted with cheers and applause! We made about a half dozen TV appearances on regional tri-state television that year.
A funny fact: our looks belied our music. Both Jimmy and I were in college at the time (I was also in the Army ROTC and Army Ranger ROTC training program), and the other guys had jobs that had dress and hair codes. We looked squeaky clean cut, but our sound was wild!
The first discotheque in Philadelphia was the “Underground Discotheque” in the basement of the (giant) Atlantic-Richfield building at Broad and Spruce Streets. It was the beginning of psychedelia – black lights, strobe lights, gel projections etc. We were playing that night with an excellent band called The Down Children. When both bands showed up for setup before the gig, we were thoroughly intimidated by the other band; they were older and looked like a bunch of Hell’s Angels – a look way ahead of any band we’d ever seen in 1966!
They looked like they could (and wanted to) kick our asses – they were scary! Fortunately, the setup went on without incident. When the gig started the Down Children [“I Can Tell” (Jimmy Rowland) / “Night Time Girl” on Philips] went on first. They were a really good band and looked badass tough and cool. When they finished they disappeared into the dressing room. Then it was our turn. Looking rather “preppy” the audience seemed to take little notice or interest when we took the stage. That was until we started playing. We won them over almost immediately – we played our hearts out! We couldn’t help but notice that the other band came out from their dressing room and watched us intently. We weren’t sure if that was good or bad – we wondered if they going to crush our heads after the gig!
After the first set (each band played 2 sets), a couple of the scary dudes from The Down Children came up to us and started asking questions: “Hey man, how did you get that tone?” “How did you get the sound on ….”, “You sounded EXACTLY like the record”! Man, were we relieved – they were impressed by us. Needless to say, we felt validated!
Another sticky situation was when our lead singer got arrested on stage during our stint at the White House. We were all too young to drink: 21 years of age was the minimum age in the tri-state area. We were 19 years old (and had to have special permits to play in the bars). Our lead singer, Tom, acquired a phony ID card to get into a different club the previous night to get some drinks. Somehow, the police were able to track him down to our club, and during our first set, a few cops arrived and came up on stage. They asked Tom his name, then put handcuffs on his wrists and hauled him off to jail.
So there we were, no lead singer who was also the bass player at the time, and the rest of the band still having to play 5 sets per night, 5 nights per week! His bail was set at $500 which neither he, nor any of us had. We improvised the best we could. Once we were finally paid, we took our full $500 cash pay to the courthouse and bailed him out.
There are too many stories of the Changing Tymes to relate here, like the time our cars crashed into each other on the way to a gig and we were 3 hours late! We played gigs at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple, Penn State, St. Joseph’s University and other various colleges and fraternities in the region. Also, many, many rock clubs and bars in the area.
I was fortunate to have had a relative in a high level executive position with RCA Records in New York City. After our record was released, and feeling a rush of confidence, we met in with my relative, John Rosica, head of promotions for RCA. He patiently and intently listened to our new record and said, “The best advice I can give you is to go back to collage and get a good education”!
We were shattered! He then said, you guys need to sound and play like full-time musicians – like these guys who we just signed, they’re called The Youngbloods. He put their new (yet unreleased) LP on the turntable and played “Grizzly Bear”. So we left NYC with our tails between our legs, demoralized, but not defeated.
The second iteration of The Changing Tymes were:
Ray Tilli – bass, vocals Jimmy Mahoney – lead guitar, vocals Nicky Indelicato – lead vocals Mike Laurence – guitar, vocals various drummers (unfortunately, no pictures)
This version of the Changing Tymes added more challenging songs to the repertoire. The nail in the coffin for the group breaking up was the successful recruitment of Nicky Indelicato to become the lead singer of a new group The American Dream. The group was the very first band to be produced by Todd Rundgren. They opened shows for The Doors, Hendrix and many others. They were an exceptional original band. We were sad to see him go, but happy for his success. Nicky passed away in March of 2020.
Jimmy Mahoney went on to do studio work and appeared on the Robert Palmer album, Double Fun. He also recorded at Sigma Sound for Philadelphia International Records. He played with band members from Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea and Larry Coryell. He was also a member of the band Medusa on Columbia records.
I also played with other bands including one with the former lead guitarist from the Bill Black Combo who had a few international hits. Later, I got into the business part of music as an agent, and then as a Manager/Road Manager with a band called Cats who were signed to Electra records. They toured and opened for Van Halen for the entire 1980 US summer tour.
After the Changing Tymes disbanded in 1968, most of us went on to other bands and careers. I became a Psychologist (now retired). Jimmy Mahoney passed away in January 2015. I miss him to this day. We remained close to the very end. He sent some of his memories to me about the band a few years back, and I have included some of them in this Changing Tymes history.
Ray Tilli
Note: this isn’t the same Changing Tymes as the Gate City, Virginia group who recorded cool songs like “Go Your Way” and “The Only Girl I Love” for the Moss label.
The Bugs had a reputation as jokers, but are solid professionals on their excellent first single. “Pretty Girl” is a fine British-influenced pop number that apparently hit the charts of local radio stations from Maine to Chicago to Florida. The flip is the raucous “Slide”, supposedly written in the studio but the band sounds too rehearsed for it to be a spontaneous performance. It must have been a staple of their live sets.
Both songs were written by Eddie and Rose McGee. I believe the drummer of the group was James McGee, another family member. This 45 was engineered by Ray Fournier.
From Erik Lindgren’s notes to The Polaris Story:
The Bugs were a quartet from Marlboro, MA that cut two singles for Astor records (Pretty Girl/Slide was also issued as Polaris 001) along with one unreleased track, ‘Gonna Find Me a Girl’. They were a ‘wacky’ group that included a female bass player by the name of Rose, who was in her early 40’s and married to guitarist Ed McGee. Polaris booked them throughout greater Boston and Rhode Island, including an appearance on Channel 12 in Providence.
‘Strangler in the Night’, originally credited to Albert De Salvo [the Boston Strangler], was actually written by a ghost writer, James Vaughn, who got drafted three weeks after the making of the single. The narration for ‘Strangler’ was done by Dick Leviatan, a well-known radio personality from New York City.
‘Pretty Girl’ and ‘Slide’ were recorded at Fleetwood Studios in Revere, MA., while ‘Strangler’, ‘Albert’ and ‘Gonna Find Me a Girl’ were recorded at Triple A [AAA Recording Studios] in Dorchester. The organ on the tracks done at the Triple A session was played by the engineer, whose name remains lost for posterity [actually it was Ray Fournier].
Producer Joe Melino dropped the Polaris label in the aftermath of the under-attended state-wide 1966 Battle of the Bands competition. The Astor label was named after the Astor Motor Inn, where Joe and his new partner had their office.
“Strangler in the Night” failed to get the hoped-for notoriety in the press. The single’s failure led to the end of a great run of 45s on the Polaris and Astor labels. Hear both sides of that novelty as well as the Bugs’ excellent unreleased track “Gonna Find Me a Girl” on The Polaris Story CD.
Sam Camp of the Avalons and later the Voxmen sent in this history of the band, who had a fine 45 on the Pyramid label, “Come Back Little Girl” / “Mad Man’s Fate”:
The Avalons was one of the first successful Rock and Roll bands from Toccoa, Georgia. The original members consisted of:
Some time after the band began performing, Tommy Owens, a studio drummer from Greenville, South Carolina, joined the band.
The group appeared roughly from 1963 thru 1967 in Georgia and South Carolina. The Avalons gained much popularity as the house band at a local teen club called The Chicken Shack located in Seneca, South Carolina. It was not uncommon to pack a thousand fans in on Saturday night where records and pictures were sold.
During the band’s popularity, we opened for several national acts including such names as The Swinging Medallions, Billy Joe Royal, Sam the Sham and the Pharohs, Keith, and The Impressions.
The Avalons recorded in the late sixties and the songs were composed by Collins and Thompson. The recordings were done at Arthur Smith studios in Charlotte, North Carolina and Mark V Studios in Greenville, South Carolina.
The two songs, “Come Back Little Girl” and “Mad Man’s Fate”, received airtime on many southeastern radio stations. “Mad Man’s Fate” got the most air time and was the song that was #1 at WHYZ, a local radio station in Greenville, South Carolina. The record also received recognition in the Billboard Top 100 magazine.
Our manager at the time was Tommy Scott. He is still living and is some character. He has a book out, ‘Snake Oil, Superstars and Tommy Scott”. There is a write-up about our band and a very good picture on page 400. Tommy Scott knew a lot of people at the time and got us in with Arthur Smith.
James Brown “The Godfather of Soul” made a personal visit to Toccoa, where he once lived, to discuss the purchase of one of the songs. There were talks of the Avalons touring with James Brown as his opening act, but this did not materialize.
Q.: Why is the name on the record and photo the Avlons instead of the Avalons? Which name did you go by when you played live?
We went by The Avalons. There was another band out there called The Avalons. At the time of our recording, we may have not been able to spell it A.V.A.L.O.N.S, it might have been a legal thing.
Thank you to Sam Camp for sharing his history of the Avalons and for sending the photos seen here. Be sure to read about Sam’s next band, the Voxmen. Special thanks to Ben and Rich for label scans.
The Avalons at the Chicken ShackThe Avalons at the Chicken Shack
Pitt Records was one of the labels for Pitt Sound Studios, originally at 906 S. Washington Street in Greenville, North Carolina. The most notable song cut at Pitt Sound Studios was the O’Kaysions “Girl Watcher”, though the original label was North State.
Pitt Records had a number of gospel releases, a couple of country singles by Larry Anderson, and garage cuts by the Inspirations and the Empalas. I’d like to know more about the Royal Charmers, which I’ve read is garage.
Under different ownership the Pitt Sound Studio moved northwest of Greenville, on Highway 43 towards Falkland, where it was still in business as of 2008.
Romat Records was owned Roy Matthews, now deceased. He was a DJ and barber from Robersonville, north of Greenville. All of the Romat releases were recorded at Pitt Sound.
One source told me Roy sang on the 45 by the Forbes Brothers on Pitt, “Arkansas Jail” / “Idaho Red” which included members who went on to the Supergrit Cowboy Band. Roy’s daughter says that was incorrect, and the label seems to bear this out, with lead vocals by Ola Forbes, Jr. That 45, like most of the Pitt and Romat releases was produced by Carl Lineberger, with publishing by Roy Matthews Music.
Pitt discography: any help with this would be appreciated
Pitt 657 – Larry Anderson – “On The Losing End” / “After You Leave” Pitt 658 – Royal Charmers – “Hey Girl” (Greg Williamson) / “Midnight Hour” Pitt 659 – Summitts – “On My Knee’s” (David Erdman) / “Mercy, Mercy” Pitt 661 – The Singing Spiritual Heirs (Bill Harris and Lloyd Adams) – “A Higher Mansion” / “I Need A Blessing” / “One More Valley” / “Cast Your Cares Upon The Master” Pitt 662 – Forbes Brothers featuring Ola Forbes, Jr. – “Arkansas Jail” / “Idaho Red” Pitt 665 – Larry Anderson – “Memories of the Past” (Vernal Gaskins) / “Absent Without Leave” (produced by Patrick Woodard) Pitt 667 – The Inspirations – “Loving Man” / “I Had You Always” Pitt 669 – The Empalas – “Girls, Girls, Girls” / “Gentle On My Mind” Pitt 670 – Elder Lanier and the Zion Travelers – “Yes I Know” (N.L. Lanier) / “Christmas Gift” Pitt 675 – Terry Carraway – “Put Your Hand In The Hand” / Deborah Wooten – “Reach Out to Jesus” Pitt 678 – Robert Fuller and the Southern Spirituals – “It Won’t Be This Way (Always)” / “Thinking Of A Friend” (Andrew Herring) Pitt 680 – Waterside Male Chorus – “Wave On The Water” / “I Know The Lord Will Make A Way” Pitt 682 (?) – The Uptighters featuring Tyron Green – “Smoke” / “I Need Some Magic” Pitt 11197 – Dan Marshburn – “Disc Jockey’s Last Show” / “Round and Around”
Is the Summitts release the same group with the 45 from 1970, “I Can’t Get Over Losing You” (Joe Tate) on Dontee? That was supposed to be a DC group.
LP: PSS-LP 1006 – The Gospeletts – Hand in Hand, recorded at Pitt Sound Studio Greenville, NC; Roy Matthews Audio Engineer.
Romat discography:
Romat 1001 – The Sound System – Take A Look At Yourself / Serenade Romat 1002 – The Soul Twisters – Swingin’ on a Grapevine / Soul Fever Romat 1003 – The Scotsmen – Down and Out / A Groovy Place Romat 1004 – The Soul Twisters – Doing Our Dance / If It Takes A Year Romat 1005 – Clear Blue Sky – Morning of Creation / Ugly Girl
Thanks to Doug Pickette for the sleeve to the Scotsmen 45, below. Doug tells me the lead guitarist was Harold Stephens, and the keyboardist was Wilbur Weeks (RIP), who ran a music store in Scotland Neck, NC.
former location of Pitt Sound Studios, 906 S. Washington St., Greenville, NC
Thanks to Ken Friedman of Tobacco a Go Go for info about the Romat label, to Brad Hufford for info on the Gospelettes album and to Lightnin’ Wells for filling in many of the gaps in the Pitt Records discography.
Thank you to Chris Matthews for correcting the location of the original Pitt Sound studio.
The Sey-Heys, l-r: Bob Baranowski, Steve Di Giovoni, Eddie Ferrick, Al Kuraz behind Eddie, and Lenny Hope on drums.
Here’s a song by the Sey Heys you may be able to relate to, about hanging out around the convenience store. Certainly did enough of that when I was a young teen. The audio quality on this acetate is rough but the performance is good, with both guitar and piano solos on “The Corner Store”.
Rhythm guitarist Bob Baranowski wrote a terse summary of the Sey Hey’s history (with name spelling corrections by Steve Giovenco):
Group organized in 1965-1967. Manager Mike Petro from Harrison, New Jersey.
Bob Baranowski – rhythm guitar (Harrison, NJ) Steve Giovenco – lead guitar (Clifton, NJ) Ed Ferrick – bass guitar, lead vocals (Harrison, NJ) Alan Kuraz – organ (Harrison, NJ) Lenny Dadone – drummer (Clifton, NJ)
Group played locally and at most colleges. Also played for Bank of Toyko at Waldorf in NY. Won competition on Zacherley TV show [Zacherley’s Disco Teen on Channel 47 WNJU-TV] in Newark NJ. Backed up the Duprees at the Cornet in Irvington NJ, 1966. Won several battle of the bands in NJ. Recorded first record “Rose Marie” and flip side “The Corner Store” in 1966. The group broke up in 1967.
Ed Ferrick was lead singer and composer of “Rosemarie”. He and Bob Baranowski wrote “The Corner Store” in fifteen minutes to fill the session. They cut the two tracks in two hours at the Hertz Recording Studio on Halsey Street in Newark, for a total of $90: $30 per hour for the time and $30 for demos for the band. Bob’s uncle was going to push the demo to RCA, where he worked as a patent attorney for RCA, but he died before he could make anything happen.
Their primary competition was The Caretakers from Harrsion, whose members included Artie Cuff on sax and Ritchie Ferollia on lead guitar. The Caretakers were mainly a cover band who had the distinction of touring Vietnam with Bob Hope.
Steve Di Giovanni went on to join the Clifton band the Brats. Bob Baranowski joined the Sidesteps, based in Newark.
Special thanks to Arnold Max for submitting the Sey Hey’s acetate, photo and story.
The Hertz Studio had some of the crudest acetates I’ve heard. Here’s a partial list – any additions would be welcome (thank you Mike Dugo for adding the Concepts).
Johnny Kriss & the Mark IV – “Rockin’ Baby” / “Please Baby Please”
Viscaines – “Wind Storm” (garage with harmony background vocals)
Creations – “The Outcast” / “I Don’t Care” Creations – “Bricks and Stones” / “Set Me Free” Creations – “Far Away / “Captain Dirtbomb”
Ellis Starkey wrote in about two Shreveport-based bands he played drums and sang with, The Back Alley and The Rogue Show. The Back Alley didn’t release any records at the time, but I hope some unreleased tapes surface so we can hear what they sounded like. Here are the bands’ stories in Ellis’s own words:
The Back Alley
In 1966 “The Back Alley” was formed with Ellis Starkey – drummer, vocalist; John Barlish – guitar, vocalist; Bob “Fist” Raley – Hammond organ, trumpet; Kenneth Nealy – trumpet, vocalist; and Gary Rhineheart – bass, vocalist.
We rehearsed where ever we could, sometimes in Mr. Barlish’s barber shop, sometimes the Musician’s Union Hall, sometimes at Fist’s house, sometimes a laundromat, but most of our practice came from OTJT- on the job training!
We played soul music. In October 1968 we played a black club in Shreveport, La., called The Hollywood Palace. We were the first white band to ever play there. The billed us as “The Back Alley – the Blue-eyed Soul Brothers”. We had a packed house! When we started playing no one danced. We had a light show, strobes, black lights, and flashing color lights. I had the strobes turned on the crowd and during the next song the dance filled up! They loved the strobe lights. John played the guitar behind his head, his back, and with his teeth! He was one of the best soul-type singers around. We also performed at the Afro-American Scene, on Texas Street, Shreveport.
The Tau Kappa Epsilon, at Centenary College in Shreveport, La. “adopted” the band and we were able to play all of their dances. They had the BEST “weekend” parties at a private camp on Lake ‘O the Pines, in East Texas. We would bring our camping and fishing gear along with a ski boat and stay all weekend. What a life!
Fist, the organ player, on guitar; Ellis on drums and John, the guitar player on organ at LSU, Baton RougeThe Back AlleyEllis Starkey on drums
Whenever we needed a date to fill our calendar, I would call Charlie Winn,”The Working Girl’s Friend”, he owned the Bayou Club in Shreveport. We played there alternating with Eddie G. & the Jive Five [who recorded 45s like “Losin’ Boy”, “Go Go Train” and “Soul Feelin'” as Eddy “G” Giles.]
Eddie G, his drummer was nicknamed “Caveman”…he was a tall, big man. One night a fight broke out and one guy told Caveman, “You better watch it…I know karate”. Caveman snarled and said, “I know “ka-38”. Caveman won without a punch!
Eddie G. had a black girl that was his go go dancer, “China Doll”. The night we played the Afro-American Scene, Eddie G. and all his entourage came to see us play. About the 3rd set Eddie sent China Doll up on the bandstand and she started dancing with us. After several songs she flipped off her top. It landed on Gary the bass player…he cracked up when he realized what had happened. He turned every shade of red!
“The Back Alley” performed at fraternity and sorority parties at all of the surrounding colleges in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi until 1969. The Back Alley recorded several original songs but didn’t put anything out, we basically played gigs.
The Rogue Show, 1974
The Rogue Show
Dino and Gordo
In April 1969, I received a call from Jerry Hawkins, President of Musicians Local 116 in Shreveport. He said a full-time band needed a drummer and for me to go play with them. I told him that I didn’t feel I was good enough to play with them. He said yes you are…get on out to the club. The band was The Rogue Show and they were in their third year playing at the Shindig. Very rehearsed.
When we started we sounded like we had been together forever…on the first break Dino Zimmerman, guitar player, came over to me, put his arm around my neck and said you are our new drummer. My band The Back Alley had a gig at La. Tech the next night. David Shelton, another drummer, came in and said he wasn’t playng in his band anymore, so I called John Barlish and set it up for David to play with them.
The Rogue Show was Larry Gordy bass guitar, vocalist; Dino Zimmerman guitar, vocalist; David Rowe organ, vocalist; and Ellis Starkey drummer, vocalist.
David and Ellis
Another reason the band was so good was because we kept the same four members for the five years the band was together. We played six nights a week and rehearsed twice a week, learning at least two new songs a week for the duration of our band.
When I joined the Rogue Show they had been playing at the same club, The Shindig, for three years. I handled all the bookings in my other bands so I started booking college and high school jobs. We left The Shindig and started playing one nighters, we never did go back to the Shindig. That summer I booked the Bayou Club so we could stay rehearsed and learn new songs for the upcoming “fall school season” Sept. – December.
On October 30, 1969, The Rogue Show opened for the Grassroots at Stephen F. Austin College, in Nacogdoches, Texas. We played 30 minutes before they started. They played 30 minutes and then took a 20 minute break. The Rogue Show played those 20 minutes. Then the Grassroots got back up and played for 45 minutes. It was a big night, it was a pillow and blanket concert in the gym. The place was packed. I signed 5 contracts for school dances before I could pack up my drums!
In February, 1970, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition were booked to play SFA. I contacted the lady that had booked us with the Grassroots. She said that we would not be hired because we were too good! She said we don’t want to make concert bands mad by having a local group show them up. First time I ever lost a job for being too good! We ended up playing just about every dance over the next couple years but we never opened for anybody again!
Dale Hawkins (co-writer and singer of Susie Q) came out to hear us perform. He was working for Bell Records at that time. That next week he had us in the studio at Steve Wright’s in Tyler, Texas. Dale said he would shop it around and let us know.
Robin Hood Brians, studio owner, Tyler TX
Jerry Hawkins (Dale’s brother and president of Musicians Local 116) called us and said he wanted to take us to the studio. We went to Robin Hood’s and recorded several songs. Jerry said he would shop it around and let us know.
Jerry called about a week after that and wanted to have a meeting with the band. He told us he had two labels interested, Paula Records and RCA, Nashville. WOW!!! We all talked it over and asked whatever questions we could come up with. It came down to how many cents we received per record sold. Paula Records offered 5 cents and RCA offered 2 cents. Well needless to say went with the higher figure . Major mistake! Knowing what I know now, we should have gone with the major label regardless.
We signed a four record deal over two years. The releases were:
1) Make Me Over Again / Nadine 2) Come Back Baby / Can’t Judge a Book 3) Gretta / Put On Some Love
The “Make Me Over Again” record label shows the writer as Roman Gorky. Ro from David Rowe, man from Dino Zimmerman, Gor from Larry Gordy, and ky (misspelled) key from Ellis Starkey.
Gretta was released one week when it was a “Newcomer Pick of the Week” in Cash Box, Billboard, and Record World, the week of March 25, 1972. The next week no one would play the song, seemed like someone was trying to kill it. In a couple of days Jerry Hawkins resigned as our producer and said that from now on we would have to go through Gene Kent at Paula. I called Gene and set up a meeting.
Gene Kent and I have never gotten along and things didn’t improve this time. There was a time he wanted to be our manager and wanted us to pay him 25%. We said No. I guess this is how he got us back. He said he would handle our selections of songs from now on. I reminded him that we had 1 more release according to our contract. He said OK, but I want you to pick out one of our music tracks of the Uniques and y’all decide on who you want to sing over the track. I said do you mean for one of us to sing over a music bed already recorded by the Uniques? He said that’s it exactly what I mean, like a smart ass. I told him we would not do that and to stick the “Biggest little record shop” up his ass! They sent us a release of contract by mail.
Meanwhile, we were making more money that we ever had. We went to the Orbit Lounge in Bossier City, playing 6 nights per week. In the contract, I stated that we could be off at the club as long as we had a replacement band. I booked the colleges and high schools. We stayed there 2 years and 2 months. When we played at the schools we told everyone to come out and see us whenever they came home. We had big crowds all around.
We played at Hawks Lounge in Shreveport, La. for 8 months. We held the attendance record there with 975 customers paying cover charge of $1.00 per person.
Ellis Starkey
In 1973 we went to the Landmark Club in west Shreveport. We had the same type contract as with the Orbit but at twice the price. We played the Landmark through December 1974. We continued to book all of the best college and high school dances. We performed in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi. After five strong years of playing almost every night the Rogue Show hung it up on New Year’s 1975.
Ellis Starkey, 2008
Update: I’m very sad to report that Ellis Starkey passed away on June 1, 2009.
The Rogue Show’s first single, on N-Joy RecordsFor more Rogue Show photos, memorabilia and music, check out their videos of Come Back Baby and Can’t Judge a Book and Make Me Over Again. Special thanks to Ellis for sending in the history and photos of his bands.
The Rogue Show had a 45 prior to Ellis joining the band, “Look to Me” (Larry Jefferson) / “Little Lonely Summer Girl”. It seems to have been the last release on the N-Joy Records label. If anyone has sound clips of this record, please contact me.
I’m very sad to report that Cecil Cotten passed away on Friday, April 4, in Winnsboro, TX, at the age of 62.
Cecil was lead singer of the Briks, one of the great bands to come out of Dallas in the 1960s. He composed the lyrics for many of their songs, including “Foolish Baby”, “It’s Your Choice”, and “Can You See Me”. His singing on “It’s Your Choice” shows a maturity that no other vocal from the era matches, and he was only about 20 years old at the time.
When the Briks broke up, Cecil played for a short time in Texas with three members of the Chessmen: Jimmie Vaughan, Tommy Carter and Billy Etheridge, plus Sammy Piazza on drums. They were managed by Jimmy Rabbit and recorded some songs at Robin Hood Brians studio in Tyler which have never been released.
In 1969 he moved to San Francisco and started Benny, Cecil & the Snakes with Benny Roe, Keith Ferguson, Steve Karnavas and Steve Davis. The Snakes played house parties for the publishers of Zap Comix, the Rip Off Press.
In recent years Cecil and former Briks bandmate Mike Neal recorded a CD of blues-inspired songs as The Pickin’ Cotten Band.
It’s one of my great regrets that I never met Cecil, and his music will always mean a great deal to me.
The End at Andover, photo courtesy of Tony Curtiss
The End came out of Philips Academy in Andover, a private boarding school. In 1966, the band traveled forty miles south to Continental Recordings in Framingham to make their only record. Continental’s label Cori pressed their 45 for them with the End’s custom Insegrievious label.
Many Andover bands recorded during the sixties, including the Invictas in 1961, the Satans’ Raising Hell LP from ’62, the Torques in ’63, the Apostles with two albums in 1964-65, and the Group with a four song EP in 1967. The Ha’pennys recorded their album Love Is Not the Same at Continental about the same time as The End made their 45.
A year later another Philips Academy band, the Rising Storm would also travel to Framingham to make their LP, Calm Before…, by far the most famous of all these releases.
The End only recorded one 45 while the rest of these bands (with the exception of the Group) recorded entire LPs. In any case they do well with their two original songs, especially the catchy “Bad Night”. The flip, “Make Our Love Come Through” is a fine ballad.
As for the label name, that apparently comes from the Batman TV series, hugely popular that year: “Catwoman, I find you to be odious, abhorrent, and insegrievious.” It’s not as bad as it sounds – a slang dictionary defines insegrievious as expressing anything and nothing at the same time in an impressive sounding way.
Tony Curtiss wrote to me about the band:
It was my cheesy organ solo in “Bad Night.” Here is the band’s lineup:
John Leone: The lead singer and writer of “Bad Night” and co-writer of “Make Our Love Come Through.” Jeff Lemkin: Lead guitar Chris Moore: Backup singer Cai Underwood: Drums. Cai had earlier been drummer for the Apostles at Andover. Bruce Curran: Rhythm guitar Mel Kendrick: Bass Tony Curtiss: Organ and co-writer of “Make Our Love Come Through.”
The band only made this one record in the Spring of 1966 as all but Mel Kendrick graduated from Andover in June of 1966 (Mel in June of 1967). We soon scattered to the winds. John Leone was off to Harvard, Chris Moore headed to Princeton, I went out west to Stanford etc. Thanks for remembering us, Tony Curtiss
Thank you to Tony for sharing these photos of the band.
The End at Continental Recording Studio, Framingham, MA, “during the recording of ‘Bad Night.’ From left to right is me (Tony Curtiss), Jeff Lemkin’s dad who drove us, Bruce Curran, Chris Moore and John Leone (in glasses).
Caesar & His Romans, from left: Dan Cook, Bill Burt, Chuck Vicario (seated), David Burt and Karl Durant.
Caeser & His Romans were from Buffalo, recording two 45s on the GJM label in late ’67 and 1968 before signing to Scepter for two more singles. I hadn’t been able to find much about the group but some emails and comments have helped.
Vocalist Chuck Vicario stayed with the group throughout its career. Bassist John Sia co-founded the band with Chuck in 1964, and left for college in ’67. Joe Hesse replaced John and then Vinny Parker replaced Hesse. Joe DeSantis was the original drummer with the group. Other members of the group included Joe Hesse’s brother Jim Hesse on keyboards, Bill Burt and David Burt, and Dan Cook on lead guitar.
Both songs on their first 45 were written by Charles Vicario and J. Hesse, recording supervised by Jerry Meyers and Rich Sargent.
Rich Sargent wrote to me about his work with the band:
Jerry owned GJM Records, I worked for him, we used a few different studios. I produced “Leavin’ My Past Behind” at Audio Recording in Cleveland, the same studio wher Jerry produced the Joe Jeffries gold single “My Pledge Of Love” … great studio in downtown Cleveland. I am a long time friend of Chuck (Caesar/Big Wheelie) and his late manager Fred Caserta. We met in ’64 … my band and Chucks finished 1 & 2 in a number of “battle of the bands” back then.
I haven’t heard “When Will I Get Over You” in about 15 years… my favorite may have been “Leavin’ My Past Behind” (sure wish I could remix it) and “Baby Let’s Wait”. That one came close to breaking, but the Royal Guardsmen put out a version and we were done.
There was a core of players that was consistent but also a number who left, came back, left again. Dan Cook was the guitar player through all of the incarnations of Caesar and Big Wheelie. The keyboard player on “Green Grass…” was Jimmy Hesse who left to join The Road and was part of that band when they had a mid chart dingle on Kama Sutra with a cover of the Zombies “She’s Not There” which was produced by Joey Reynolds (now doing late night talk radio on WOR 710 NYC and also carried on over 200 stations).
Caesar & His Romans became Caesar & THE Romans, [then] evolved into Friendship Train which was a successful club & lounge act. During one set each night as part of the act they became Big Wheelie & The Hubcaps. This became so successful that Friendship Train was dropped in favor of a full night of Big Wheelie. Their final album was released on Amherst Records in 1976. Chuck stlll performs as Big Wheelie about 10-12 times per year. He was brilliantly managed by the late Fred Caserta who went on to found Kingdom Bound which is one of the largest concert events in the Christian Music field.
“Green Grass Makes It Better” is one of their catchiest numbers, and sure seems like a drug reference to me: the world is “going psycho” but “good green grass makes it better.” “Why Make a Fool of Me” on the flip is denser but excellent as well.
Their second record is one I haven’t yet heard, “Baby, Let’s Wait”, backed by the great “Black Lantern”, a bass-driven lament written by Vicario and Hesse. The A-side has the credit “Arr. by Beaver”, while the flip says “Arr. by Breezy” and “(from the movie ‘The Atomic Grandmother’)” – a real production or another joke?
Instead of publishing through GJM Music like the first single, Darshen Music published “Black Lantern”.
Moving towards a much more commercial direction, they signed to Scepter Records as Caesar and the Romans, releasing two 45s in 1969, both minor hits in the Buffalo area. “Baby Love” uses some fuzz guitar and heavy beats on the Supremes song, but I prefer the upbeat flip, “When Will I Get Over You”, written by C. Vicario, Jr.
The A-side of their next Scepter 45, “Leavin’ My Past Behind” / “Jailhouse Rock” continues their pop sound. Mike Dugo sent me photos of two more Scepter recordings by the band, “Come Little Girl” and “Come Live With Me” that were never released to my knowledge. Both are funky soul numbers.
Thank you to Diane Burt for the photo of the group at top and additional info, to Mike Dugo for the Scepter acetate photos, the promotional flyers and ads, and to Ryan Lalande for the scan of “Black Lantern”. Thank you to Mary Durant for help with identifying Karl in the photo; Karl Durant played drums with the group.
The Balladeers were from Woonsockett, Rhode Island. In the summer of 1965 they traveled twenty miles north to Framingham, Massachusetts to record this 45 at Continental Recording Studios. It appears to have been the first record released on studio owner Tom Flynn’s Cori label.
“Words I Want to Hear” is an original by Robert Allen, who may have been in the group. The song starts with a subdued atmosphere of just acoustic guitar, percussion and solo voice. Bass and harmonies add momentum until the cathartic moment when the guitarist breaks into the chorded solo.
“High Flying Bird” is one of those songs that bridged the transition from folk to rock, like “House of the Rising Sun” and “Hey Joe”. Written by Billy Ed Wheeler and originally recorded by Judy Henske, it was covered by many groups, including We Five, the Jefferson Airplane and the Canadian band the Plague, who do a great psychedelicized version. The Balladeers take is as excellent as any of these.
Roland ‘Skip’ Boucher wrote to me about how he built Continental Recordings with Dan Flynn and his brother John Flynn. Skip also told me about a release I hadn’t known about – the Balladeers first 45 on the one-off E.P. Scroggs label, also recorded at Continental:
We built the studio in 1962. We were just out of high school and rented space on the second floor of a building in Framingham. We made the walls out of plywood and filled them with sand to soundproof them. In the picture you can see a door, which is also plywood and filled with sand and there is a small interlock and another plywood door leading to the control room.
The Balladeers first 45, also recorded at Continental
I met the Balladeers in the spring of 1964 and that’s when we recorded “Cape Cod Here We Come” and it was released in early summer of 1964.
They were a very good group. Really national level in their talent. “Cape Cod Here We Come” was not in their usual repertoire. They normally did pieces that were similar to the Kingston Trio. They were almost too polished for the ’60’s. If they had been a little rougher, I think they would have fit better with the times. Their style was more of a late ’50’s style.
They had a great sound though and it was great to work with them in the studio, because they were so good.
Dan, John and I worked at WBZ in the summer of 1963 and 1964. In the fall of 1964 I went to work full time for Channel 38 in Boston and that reduced the amount of time that I could spend at Continental. I signed up the Harvard Lampoon to do an album that parodied folk and rock groups. They arranged for musicians from the Berkley school of music and they funded the upgrade of an 8 track recorder for us [Continental].
I also worked on the electronics, building a power supply for the main mixer, because the original one had never worked properly and Dan had been running it from a pair of 12 volt batteries. I did a number of radio and television commercials at Continental with people I knew at Boston TV and radio stations.
I also designed and laid out several of the album covers, including the Rising Storm and others, but I was not involved in the recordings anymore and Dan brought in a new partner at some point in the late sixties. I think this partner’s focus was on bands, so he may have been involved with the groups you mentioned. Later, Dan became more involved with radio station jingle packages.
Dan still has what remains of Continental at his home. He has a small studio and recording equipment and has a large collection of old master tapes. However, I did go through them a couple of years ago and they didn’t seem to go back to the early days.
“Cape Cod Here We Come” was written by J. Martone. In March 1967, the Balladeers released one additional 45 on the Seven Seas label, “Used to Be” / “Goin’ Out of My Head”, which I haven’t heard, but is considered light vocal pop.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
The Changing Tymes came from Philadelphia and cut a great single “You Make It Hard” / “Try a Whole Lot Harder” in 1966. I was struck by the similarity of the opening of the Changing Tyme’s “You Make It Hard” to the Quiet Jungle song “Everything”, but that seems to be a pure coincidence.Another sticky situation was when our lead singer got arrested on stage during our stint at the White House. We were all too young to drink: 21 years of age was the minimum age in the tri-state area. We were 19 years old (and had to have special permits to play in the bars). Our lead singer, Tom, acquired a phony ID card to get into a different club the previous night to get some drinks. Somehow, the police were able to track him down to our club, and during our first set, a few cops arrived and came up on stage. They asked Tom his name, then put handcuffs on his wrists and hauled him off to jail.
The Bugs had a reputation as jokers, but are solid professionals on their excellent first single. “Pretty Girl” is a fine British-influenced pop number that apparently hit the charts of local radio stations from Maine to Chicago to Florida. The flip is the raucous “Slide”, supposedly written in the studio but the band sounds too rehearsed for it to be a spontaneous performance. It must have been a staple of their live sets.
Pitt Records was one of the labels for Pitt Sound Studios, originally at 906 S. Washington Street in Greenville, North Carolina. The most notable song cut at Pitt Sound Studios was the O’Kaysions “Girl Watcher”, though the original label was North State.
The Balladeers were from Woonsockett, Rhode Island. In the summer of 1965 they traveled twenty miles north to Framingham, Massachusetts to record this 45 at Continental Recording Studios. It appears to have been the first record released on studio owner Tom Flynn’s Cori label.
