The original band and the people on the record were Gary Taggart, guitar, me, drums, Gilliam Winn, backup vocals, Eddie Greene, bass, Wayne Goin, rhythm guitar, Neil Owens, organ.

The songs were played on the radio constantly. We were all like 15 except for the guitar player who was maybe 22 at the time. It was a time when bands had long hair and dressed in jeans with holes and that kind of stuff. We wore white tuxedos and that caught a lot of attention at the time.

The name was something we just came up with. It didn’t mean anything we just thought it looked cool. We did some radio shows and people would call in guessing what the name meant. It was funny because they thought of everything from the “M” being for Michael my name to a “W” upside down. We did a few reunions. The last one was probably 10 years ago and we raised over $10,000 in one night for a girl that had a bad accident.

Both songs, "Sweet Love" and "All the Time" both written by Gary Taggart.

Ken Friedman tells me that the Quintet label was a subsidiary of Justice Records of Winston-Salem, which meant the band traveled over 180 miles southwest to Winston-Salem instead of recording in Richmond, an hour's drive away.

The Shados-M - All the Time
The Shados-M - Sweet Love

The other 45s on Quintet that I know of are D. Martindale & the Star Fires "Go Jenny", which is more like amateurish rockabilly than garage, and the Vagabonds "Poison Ivy" (sounds white soul with horns) / "Coming Home" (which I haven't heard yet).

Thank you to Marty for loaning his rare 45, and to Michael Hurley for background on the group.

For more on Michael Hurley's music, check out his site, michaelhurleyband.com

Terry Sveine sent me this great photo and history of his band, Honey Buzzard. Though they never cut any records, there may be a reel-to-reel recording of one of their shows out there somewhere.

Imbued with a combination of influences, several of us started a garage band in New Ulm, Minnesota in 1970 called, “Honey Buzzard.” The memories below are my own and I won’t doubt if others in the group saw it a bit differently, but as I remember it, it came about like this….

We were young teenagers and were really getting into music, listening to WDGY from Minneapolis, WWLS from Chicago and, if the weather was right, KOMA from Oklahoma City. This, combined with buying (and I’m sad to say, shoplifting) 45s and LPs, got us to the point where we wanted to start our own band instead of just listening to others play music.

Around 1967, just blocks from my house were the Kitzberger brothers practicing in their parents’ garage. They went on to be the “Fabulous Depressions” and played in some bigger regional areas and even recorded a song or two. Hearing songs like “Good Lovin’” by the Young Rascals still puts me immediately back to that formative time period.

Across the street, the Ginkel cousins, (Tom and John) were also playing as “The Shags” and they, too, recorded and went on to regional fame. (As proof of their skill, Tom Ginkel was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2008!) Us young kids would sit on the sidewalks and driveways by their parents’ garages where they practiced and marvel at how cool it would be to play in a band someday.

In 1969, my classmate and old buddy, Jim Christiansen, bought a guitar (an Epiphone, I think), his younger brother, Rick got an old hollow-body Gretsch bass and we dinked around in Christiansen’s basement for awhile on just these two instruments, knowing that this was a step in the right direction, but we needed more instrumentation if we were to move on. Soon after, I bought a set of Tempro drums accompanied by decent Zildjian cymbals to make up for the moderate drum set’s quality. Brian Wilfahrt was a schoolmate of ours and he had a guitar from his older brother and so we started playing in Christiansen’s basement and Wilfahrt’s garage. Still, we were lacking musically and -a big negative- no one wanted to sing.

The whole band took a big leap forward when we brought in our classmate, Duane Suess. His parents were professional musicians (Minnesota Music Hall of Famers, “Ervin Suess and the Hoolerie Dutchmen”) who, while they didn’t play our style of music, had lots of cool equipment that we could use. With an Ampeg bass amp, decent speakers, Shure microphones and P.A., mic stands, plenty of cords and even a Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, made us one of the best outfitted young bands around. This equipment complimented Duane’s sunburst Les Paul guitar which he could play decently along with the pianos and -praise the Lord- he could sing! Brian, who was never fully into the band, dropped out at this point.

Practices still happened at Christiansen’s basement, but now moved to my parents’ garage and out to Suess’ farm, too. By now neighboring drummer, Randy Domeier, put together a band that was pretty good. Another neighbor, Dave Schaefer, also had a band going in his parents’ garage, so there was an informal competition to get better that we responded to.

With Duane’s lead, we started with some simple country and basic rock songs, all with Duane on vocal. We may not have wanted to play Charlie Pride or Charlie Rich songs, but Duane knew the chords and lyrics from playing with his folks. Besides, it was cool to actually learn a song from start to finish no matter what we were playing. All of us were excited and practiced diligently on our own. I recall that practices were often led by Duane or Rick and we took the practice time serious, knowing that the parents and neighbors didn’t want to hear us play any longer than necessary. (I only say this because I have heard bands practice for hours, wasting time with their own little solo parts with no direction to the practice.)

I clearly recall the band’s name origin. I was reading the book “Planet of the Apes” and as I was always taught by our nuns at Holy Trinity Grade School, that when you don’t know a word, look it up, don’t gloss over it. With that in mind, I came across the word “pern” in the book. When I got my Webster’s Dictionary out and looked it up, the word was described as “a honey buzzard – a South American vulture.” I sat up in bed and said to myself, “That’s it, this is the band’s name – Honey Buzzard!” When I presented it to the guys at the next practice, they were a little dubious, but Rick grabbed on to it with me and the other guys soon agreed that that’s what we would be called.

The young neighborhood kids and our friends watching us practice gave us confidence to play publicly. With a growing repertoire of Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater songs, we felt it was time to play in public. Our first gig consisted of a “Battle of the Bands” at our high school, Cathedral High in New Ulm, where we were “killed” by the unlikely-named band, “Bad.” It was Randy Domeier on drums – who was way better than me; Scott Sparlin on guitar who was better than Jim and Duane and more spirited in both his singing and showmanship; and Pat “Schnubby” Schnobrich on bass, who was better than Rick, but not by much – because by now, Rick was getting good! Rick remembers spilling punch on the Ampeg amp and frying it during the show. He had to humble himself and use “Bad’s” amp – which we were sure contributed to our losing the “battle” –haha. Since it was out first public show, we were nervous at this gig, as could be expected. However it was a great way to get good – jump in the fire and play against someone better than you.

We were motivated by our growing skills and gained confidence to play in public again. We played at a few more school dances and some teen dances in the area, and even a bar in nearby Essig called “The Wagon Wheel West,” where we were asked to leave due to a wilder and louder-than-expected song set.

We kept learning new songs including some Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad, Neil Young and Badfinger. One of our biggest gigs was for the Girls State Gymnastic Tournament in New Ulm at historic Turner Hall. That’s where the only known photo of us was taken. Sadly, here too we were asked to leave for being too loud, but we did hook-up with a few of the girls afterward! Legend has it that there is a reel-to-reel recording of this somewhere that I’d love to hear, but no one seems to know where it is.

By now (1972) all of the band members were progressing in their skill at a quicker rate than I was and to my surprise, embarrassment and (at the time) anger, the guys invited Brad Anderson to bring in his drums to one of our practices. They politely said they wanted to try two drummers, a la’ The Allman Brothers Band. I had heard Brad play before and knew he was outstanding and so, seeing the handwriting on the wall, I packed up my things and left that afternoon in a huff. (Brad went on to be a professional drummer for many, many years!) After a short period of cooling off, I let the guys know that I was not mad about the change and wished them well with their new formation. Besides, I knew that it was my own fault for failing to keep up talent-wise.

With that new line-up, the guys changed their name to “Thunderhead” and hung on for a half year until after high school when they disbanded in mid-1973. So ended the short, but exciting time of a group of friends having fun with music, known as, “Honey Buzzard.”

Aftermath:
Playing in the band left a life-long memory with me. It was a cool thing to do, it taught me to appreciate the whole process of practicing, playing in public and the dynamics of a band’s make-up. I am super proud to have been in a garage band!

Shortly after being out of the band, I soon sold my drums as I had no use for them and needed money for a new stereo. However, after a 20-year hiatus, I bought an old set from Jim again around 1992 which I still have and occasionally play. The biggest legacy from that experience for me is that my son, Steve, started playing around the age of 4. He has progressed to being an excellent drummer doing things that I don’t even know how he does. With his brother, Sam on bass, my sons have played in rock bands for five years now and are quite good. Sam is teaching himself guitar and sings in choir and is considering music as a career in some fashion. I think parents are naturally glad to see their children exceed their skill levels. I know I am.

Jim dinked around with bands in college (“Tommy Nuke and the Flash”), but let it go for several years. However, about 1995 he began taking guitar seriously, including taking lessons from a pro, and has reunited with his brother, Rick, in “Van Gogh’s Ear” - a classic rock bar band for the last four years. Music has been a big part of his life and he has taken to bringing his oldest son to classic rock concerts with him to share the music and the experience.

Rick continued his musicianship and can play guitar and sing, along with still playing bass. He is active in his church’s music program, but can play anywhere, with anyone, including a folk band called, “The Salty Dogs.” Rick is a very good musician with a wide array of talents.

As far as we know, Duane has drifted away from music, ending up in the Des Moines area, although he played on several of his parents’ recordings and live shows. I hope he does something with music, since he definitely has the talent for it.

Terry Sveine
New Ulm, MN

The Voxmen: A detailed interview with drummer, singer and songwriter George Dilworth.

Le District Ouest: Two great photos provided by lead guitarist Yvon Delisle.

The Fabulous Four: Guitarist Bob Theen sent in a history of the band with photos and songs, especially regarding their later phases as the Next Exit and Kansas City.

Plamie Records article: Steffen Presley of the Weathervane sent a fantastic photo of his later band Strange Laughter to co-contributer Jason Sweitzer, who forwarded it on to me. Scroll down to the bottom of the article.

The Distortions: Clif Payne sent in a photo and some unreleased songs from the '70s version of the band.

The Shadows: Last month I spoke to Mike Thornton of the Shadows of Northport, Alabama, who cut one incredible 45 on Woodrich, "If You Love Me". One surprise was that Mike joined Omen and Their Luv after leaving the Shadows.

On "Leave My House", most of the band has been buried by the mix of the lead guitar and vocals. One can hear some tambourine, a little bass, rhythm and drums back in the distance. The lead guitar tone is as dirty as can be, breaking up when the picking gets fast. Two minutes into the song he's nearly fried the amp! The singer doesn't hold back, either.

The ostensible A-Side is the much more sedate "All the Time In the World", kind of a Rubber Soul style of ballad with a clean and well-rehearsed guitar solo. Both songs were written by Steve Simone and published by Earl Barton Music. Interestingly, each side has a different producer listed, Bill Harper credited with "Leave My House", and Jerry McDaniel on "All the Time in the World". These Modds are not the group from Miami who cut Don't Be Late.

Mop Top Mike sent in the songs and label scans, and provided more detail about publishing and label info:

The pub company is Earl Barton Music, most famous for having writer Wayne Carson Thompson (or whatever his name is!) on the staff - he wrote "The Letter" for the Boxtops, and sides for the Skeptics ("East Side Tenement House", etc.) When the outfit was contacted back in the 80s, there was no paper file on either song by the Modds, despite showing the pub credit for both songs. E Barton music was based in Springfield, Missouri.

The record label looks like a short-lived offshoot of the Nashville label, based in Madison, Tennesse (had the Kenetics 45 Put Your Loving On Me). There is no release time frame established as well, the numbering of the label doesn't follow the Nashville label master number series.

Leave My House of course is famous because the band track is obliterated by the vocal and lead guitar overmodulating, causing high frequency distortion. Note that two different producers are credited for each song. Bill Harper must've been aghast at the result when the record was pressed!

The Modds - Leave My House
The Modds - All the Time in the World

I was one of the Modds, my name is John George.

Poplar Bluff, MO, 1962, I got a guitar for Christmas when I was 12 years old. I wanted bongo drums, but my parents thought that wasn't enough, so I also got a $12 guitar (Silvertone from Sears). We became inseparable, wherever I went the guitar went. By my 13th birthday, I got my first electric guitar (again from Sears the Silvertone 1448 with amp in case). I think it sold then for around $52.00.

I met Steve Simone through school, and went to his house to hear him play. He had a white Fender Stratocaster, and Gibson amp. Played "House of the Rising Sun." I was flabergasted, we became instant friends.

I played rhythm guitar, and vocals, Steve Simone played lead guitar, his younger brother Eddie Simone played bass guitar, Steve Ellis played drums. We were all students at Poplar Bluff High School. The Simone brothers were from southern California, and wound up in Missouri when their mother married a fellow from Poplar Bluff. Steve Simone was a senior, both Steve Ellis and I were sophmores, and Eddie was a freshman. Because or our youth, my father used to drive us to our gigs and look out for us at some of the rougher establishments.

As I recall the name came from one of the people groups in Great Britain. There were the modds and the rockers. We liked the modds, so it stuck. We were the first in the region (because of the Simone's influence) to start playing the English sounds.....became an instant local success.

We played all over southeast Missouri, did a TV appearance in Harrisburg IL. Lots of high school dances and shows. Another band in our area were the Hatchers from Doniphan MO.

Steve played a White Fender Strat through a Gibson amp. I used the Silvertone 1448 (amp in case from Sears) with a Gibson Explorerer amp, till I was able to save enought to get a Gibson Firebird. I bought it brand new in 1966 at Hays Music in Poplar Bluff, $169.95. Eddie used a Gibson ebo Bass, and Steve E. had a set of black pearl Ludwig drums. Our P.A. was the biggest Silvertone amp we could get.

Radio station KLID in Poplar Bluff was the local teen station, and they began to get alot of calls requesting our music, seems we had a fan club. Bill Harper and Jerry McDaniel were both DJs at the station, and asked to manage us. They would regularly record us on station equipment (covers), and play our recordings, keeping us in the top ten.

We played everything we knew, from Eric Burdon to Gary and the Pacemakers every show. The recording sessions would go into the wee hours of the morning. My tenth grade English teacher (Mrs. Virginia Young) would come to every session, and bring food and refreshments (her daughter was president of the fan club). Of course the next day in English class she would often say "you look tired Johnny, why don't you lay your head on your desk and rest." There are no tapes in existance that I know of.

The managers had connections with American National Records out of Memphis, TN. Steve wrote "Leave My House", and "All the Time in the World" for our first single. The recordings were made in a studio in Poplar Bluff on a reel to reel, then sent to Earl Barton at ANR in Memphis. TM. The studio later became a dance club called the Psychedelic Comic Book.

The "Leave My House' recording was really good, and before it was made into the record everything sounded great. Full sound, lead, rhythm, bass, and drums. What you hear is what we got from the producer. It was a dissapointment that it didn't all come through. I sang lead vocal on "All the Time in the World", Steve did the harmony.

There were a total of 500 records pressed, distribution was in local shops, I never did know how many sold, but I think on a local level they went pretty well. I'm very surprised to hear that the 45 has that kind of value [Modds 45s sell for as much as $1,500 - ed.]

Earl Barton called after the release of our record, and asked us to write eight more songs for an album, which we did. The only other original song of the eight for the album I remember is called "Make Loose Ends Meet". I remember it because its the only one I wrote, a nice little ballad.

We had no idea who Earl Barton was, so we were somewhat skeptical. Steve's father Silvan Simone had an art gallery in Torrance, California, and was good friends with the manager of Crown Cadet Records in LA. We sent Eddie Simone to L.A. with the tape. Crown Cadet offered a contract, but that was our downfall, we were young from 14 to 16 years old. Several parents just said no. Steve eventually went back to L.A. where I'm told he became a studio musician, and played rhythm guitar on MacArthur Park.

After the Modds, I played on with another local group, but didn't do anything that really sticks out in my mind. I moved to St. Louis in mid 1967, graduated from Central High School in 1968, enlisted in the Marine Corps, (Viet Nam Vet). Came home and settled in Jefferson County, just minutes south of St. Louis. I played with several different groups in St. Louis, but again no major milestones. Have been involved in music all my life, from rock to country to blues. I have a band of old guys today, The Flamm City Band, check us out at luky7music.com.

Special thanks to John George for sharing his history and photos of the band. This is an update of the original article, posted November 2007.

Feature Records was owned by Ken Adamany, a legend in the Madison area. Janesville, Wisconsin is about 25 miles southeast of Madison, just short of the Illinois border. Adamany also ran Rampro Records, then became a major promoter of bands in lower Wisconsin and owner of the Factory club in Madison, but he's best known now as the first manager of Cheap Trick. In an interview with the band back in the 70's, Rolling Stone described him as "the son of Lebanese immigrants .... a slight, swarthy fellow ... with the cool, disinterested air of a camel trader." Nice profiling RS!

Ken had himself played in a band callled the Fabulous Knight Trains supposedly with Boz Scaggs and Steve Miller. Is this the same group that recorded the fine instrumental "Beach Head"?

The Inspirations - That Girl
The Inspirations - Baby Please Come Home

Sources include: the FolkLib Index and Like a Rolling Stone: Why Madison's Music Scene Is Slightly Discordant.

Tom Brzezina - vocals
Gary Rozycki - lead guitar
Alan Hafeli - rhythm guitar
Paul Isaacson - organ
John Einowski - bass
Jim Nosakowski - drums

In early 1967 the Rainy Days released two 45s on the Panik label. Their first 45 was supposed to include a version of the Fugs' "Dirty Old Man", which I would love to hear. Though acetates were made, that song's uncommercial lyrics may have doomed a commercial release, and the song hasn't surfaced in the years since it was recorded.

"Go On and Cry", an original song written with their manager is excellent, with a soulful sound at times very reminiscent of the Stones' "Heart of Stone", plus the vocals are full of attitude. The Panik label put "Go On and Cry" on the b-side of each of their 45s, once with "Turn On Your Lovelight" and again with "I Can Only Give You Everything". I've seen "Turn On Your Lovelight" issued on red vinyl, with a plain Panik label.

When their third release 'Without A Soul' was shelved the band slowly faded away. Tom Brzezina joined Target with Dennis Wezalis, who had written "Without a Soul", while the other members stayed active in music for some time. As yet, "Dirty Old Man", "Without a Soul" and their appearances on the Robin Seymour show seem to be lost, but until they are found we have their Panik releases to listen to.

Jim Nosakowski, Gary Rozycki, Alan Hafeli wrote this description of the band:

In the wake of the British Invasion, interest in forming bands to play live music was rampant in Detroit as well as across the country. In 1965, two groups of enthusiastic, budding musicians, The Brimstones and The 69ers combined to form Mogen David and the Grapes of Wrath which soon became The Rainy Days. This hard-driving six man group was noticed by PANIK Records and in the fall of 1967 they released " I Can Only Give You Everything" backed by the original song, "Go On and Cry".

The single charted in Detroit and resulted in several appearances on CKLW's (Windsor, Ontario) popular show "Swingin Time" with Robin Seymour. The Rainy Days appeared with James Brown, The Contours, Bobby Hebb, and others. Recordings of "Turn on Your Lovelight" and an original, "Without a Soul", failed to chart and the band broke up shortly after a three year run of good fun and great music. Alan and Jim continue to play together after 40 years in various blues and oldies bands.

The 69'ers were experimenting with a keyboard player, John Issacson, who could not really play. His brother, Paul Issacson, was a friend of Alan and Gary from the Brimstones and was a very good keyboardist. Through these brothers, the two bands became aware of each other and ultimately Tom (lead singer), and Jim (drums) from the 69er's, Alan (rhythm), Gary (lead guitar), and Paul (keyboards) formed Mogan David and the Grapes of Wrath. John (bass) was a friend of Tom's. Dan Bayer (Brimstone's drummer) joined some of the remaining 69er's to form Mother's Little Helpers, a good British-type rock band.

We had been trying to find someone to record us. We wanted to record "Gloria" by Them sensing a sure hit, but the Shadows of Night beat us to it. One agent was interested in Tom but not the rest of the band. A soul recording studio called Big Mack Records, as we recall, was interested in us as their first white group but nothing came of that.

One day our bass player, John, was hitchhiking with his guitar and was picked up by Tony Printz of PANIK Records (he was driving a very cool pale blue Continental convertible). He came to a few practices and decided to sign us. Soon after the decision was made to record "I Can Only Give You Everything".

We recorded ICOGYE backed by an original credited to our manager, Tony Printz, though we all worked on it. The recording studio was United Sound, a Motown studio near Wayne State University. Our producer was Danny Dallas and as I recall, PANIK was paying $60 an hour for studio time.

When we heard the master we were really disappointed. The lead guitar was out of tune but Tony said it sounded ok. After much pleading by the band, he agreed to go back and redo the cut. The second effort was much better.

Shortly after we recorded, Tony got a call from someone at United Sound saying that the MC5 had also recorded a version of ICOGYE at the same studio two weeks after we did. This motivated PANIK to release our record as quickly as possible.

Thanks to Jim, Gary and Alan for sending in the photos and history of the band, and to Don Rozycki for putting me in touch with his brother. One source for this story was Koen Goossens interview with Tom Brzezina and Jim Nosakowski on his site devoted to the song I Can Only Give You Everything. The link for that is http://icogye.0catch.com/icogyeinterview1.htm - but be warned of ugly pop-up ads that can crash your browser!