Stanley and the Grass at Las Cruces High School cafeteria dance, Fall, 1965. Left to right: Lynn McIntyre, Dennis Finn, Stanley Stenner, James (Timmy) Schaefer, and JT Archer.
The Grass came out of the Las Cruces, New Mexico scene that included bands like the Keymen, the Four Dimensions, the Morfomen and the Outer Limits.
In August 1966 they released their only 45. recorded at Emmit Brooks’ Goldust Recording Studio, “I’m Getting Tired” (written by Dennis Finn and Lynn McIntyre) backed with “Y’Love”.
In the lyrics of “I’m Getting Tired” the singer is having trouble finding a girl worthy of his continued attention:
There’s just one reason why the girls never hit me with a put down, I’m cool enough to know just when to put my foot down. They offer me their love – what can I do then but take it? Offer me their heart – what can I do then but break it?
JT (Tim) Archer sent in the photo at top, adding “here is a pic of Stanley and the Grass before the Goldust recordings with The Grass w/ Larry Lucero. Notice two of the guys are wearing ‘belt-straps’ instead of regular guitar straps. Except me, I left mine at home.”
JT wrote more about the band in comments below:
I was the lead guitar player for The Grass. The band included myself and Lynn McIntyre (formerly of the Checkmates and The Hustlers), Dennis Finn, and Tim (James) Schaefer. We first formed with Stanley Stenner as our lead singer and thus Stanley and The Grass was born circa 1965-1966. When Stanley left, we added Larry Lucero and he was the lead singer on our Gold Dust sessions.
I played a Fender Jazzmaster; Tim Schaefer played a Strat; Lynn played a Precision Bass. We refinished them all white and used belt straps instead of regular guitar straps… How cool is that?
I grew up on the Ventures and even during The Grass days we played a few instrumentals including “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue”. The band broke up and I went to Hollywood and tried to make it with Stanley, Lynn, Dennis and other friends from LC. Great experience -tough business! After Hollywood, I still pursued music and toured in lounge bands and even worked with Link Wray in Tucson.
I recorded two solo albums: Canyon (Gold Dust 1974) and Who’s Watching (my label – see CD Baby). I am now into Jazz and R&B. I hope to someday release another album under my jazz persona – Joey Primo. I have quite a guitar collection including a Mosrite which Semi Mosely custom made for me. It’s a keeper!
I have a picture of Stanley and The Grass at a Las Cruces High Dance. I also have a few pictures of me in the Shandels at Skylanes Bowing alley in El Paso when I filled in for Bob Allinder when he was on vacation one summer. I also have a picture of The Hustlers that pre-dates the Grass.
Stanley Stenner had a 45 on the Dynasty label from the early ’60s, “Teri” b/w “Angel of Mine”, written by Stenner, Charles and Richards for Borgelin-Melissa Music, BMI, orchestra conducted by Gene Garf. It’s a pop vocal style record.
Dennis Finn added:
Stan was one of the elves [Curly, one of the Lost Boys] in Peter Pan. He was from Hollywood. His dad was the great grampa on the Munsters. He also performed in Vegas with Sammy Davis, Jr., a great singer. He went back to Hollywood, and we got Larry Lucero to be the lead singer. I wrote “Y’Love”, and Lynn and I wrote “I’m Getting Tired”. We recorded them at Emmit Smith’s Gold Dust records.
Later, Pete Hecker and John Leduc (from the Outer Limits) and Dennis Lucero (from the Shandells) and Tim Archer and me (Dennis) went to Hollywood, and played at Ciro’s for 16 weeks in the summer of ’69. It was wild and crazy, and we had long hair, but were mainly hicks from New Mexico. In 1970 we came back to New Mexico, either to go back to college, or whatever.
The Renegades I’m writing about today were from Manchester, New Hampshire, about fifty miles NW of Boston. They have no connection to Richie’s Renegades who also released a record on Polaris.
Both ‘Waiting For You’ and ‘Tell Me What To Say’ were written by Lorin Ruggiero.
It was produced by Joe Melino and arranged by Harry Palmer. Polaris was a Boston-based label, Ray Fournier engineered many other sessions for the label.
Ed Rod ran this ad on at least three occasions in the San Mateo Times, this one from July 15, 1966
This 8″, six song acetate of the Juveniles on Century Custom Records was found at the estate of a music teacher who had a small studio at his home in Palo Alto, California.
“Let Me Tell You Girl” has a great opening fuzz riff and a fine solo. “Goodbye Girl” is also excellent garage.
The other four songs feature trumpet as the lead instrument. One of these is very good: “Don’t Kid Around”. The others are decent instrumentals, titled “Work Song”, “Bosa Nova” (sic), and “What Now My Love”, which is basically “Tequila”.
For years I didn’t know anything about the group or where exactly this was recorded, only that these kids sound young, like 14 or 15 maybe. As it turns out, most of them were even younger than that, ranging from 11 to 14. Geoffrey’s comment below about Ed Rod let me to search the San Mateo Times and I came up with the article seen below, something far beyond my expectations!
Members were:
Scott Beall (San Mateo) – guitar David DeVee (San Mateo) – guitar Don Schneider (Burlingame) – bass Lester Lovitt (Hillsborough) – trumpet Jim Sanchez (Redwood City) – drums
The Juveniles, featured in the San Mateo Times, July 2, 1966
According to the article by Barbara Bladen, David and Scott took lessons from Eddie Rod in Redwood City, then found Don Schneider and eventually Jim and Lester joined. The group played the Cow Palace, the Burlingame Exchange Club, and the Circle Star Theatre among other venues.
The Juveniles and the Renaissance in the San Mateo Times Oct. 18, 1968 The above article from October 1968 is interesting, – either the San Mateo Times mixed up the band names, or the Juveniles, now a couple years older, took on a new name, the Renaissance, and gave their Juveniles name to a new band of youngsters, consisting of Steve Grippi, Bill Weber, Mike Trantham and Pat Loeb.
The Far End in 1967. From left: Joe Costa, lead guitar; Tommy Broadfoot (wearing hat), drums; Frank Demascio, bass; John Berg (standing to right in foreground), lead singer & rhythm guitar
The Far End formed at La Habra High School in Orange County, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist John Berg is generously sharing a few songs they recorded at home.
“Don’t Invite Me Over” has a great, crude quality to its sound. The chords and verse put me in mind of Simply Saucer, and the solos have all the intense fury of the Velvet Underground. Their version of “Gloria” is solid, with Tommy Broadfoot’s steady drumming and nice guitar trills by Joe Costa, and John doesn’t hold back on the vocals. “Please Don’t Say” shows the versatility of the band, and the harmonica solo isn’t as bad as John makes it out to be.
Other songs on the tape include versions of the Beatles’ I Feel Fine, It’s Only Love and That Boy; Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth and the Dave Clark Five’s Because.
John writes about the band:
I was lead singer/rhythm guitarist in “The Far End” between 1966-’68, based in La Habra, California (Orange County, between Fullerton and Whittier.)
Our music started off strongly influenced by a weird mixture of Beatles, Stones, Dave Clark Five, Them, the Standells, and some surf and wedding party music our guitarist Joe Costa insisted we play. Gradually we became more “psychedelic” though our actual musical talent never quite matched the sounds we heard in our heads.
We were a 4 piece “living room band”, i.e. we rarely made it even out to the garage — though we did play the Hollywood Teen Fair two Springs in a row, the second time (’67) as the “demo band” at the Sunn Amplifiers booth. We played a few other local “gigs” including the opening of a pizza parlor on Whittier Blvd – performing outside in the parking lot to hardly anybody beyond family members — and a few other similar occasions.
Our real passion was writing songs — more than 50, of which we only managed to record a couple onto a Sony reel to reel machine in my living room in the spring of ’67. Actually, we also cut two originals to tape at the JBL booth at the ’67 Hollywood Teen Fair, but the girlfriend of our lead guitarist Joe “borrowed” the tape to play for some friends and promptly lost (or perhaps destroyed?) it, so I never even got to hear it.
I have a whole 3 ring notebook full of sheets of paper containing the lyrics for the songs that I and Joe Costa co-wrote, none of which ever got recorded other than these two originals, “Don’t Invite Me Over” and “Please Don’t Say” (wretched harmonica “solo” by yours truly) and of course our take on “Gloria” since Van was my #1 fave singer of the era.
We were heading more and more into the “psych zone” but girlfriends, college classes, jobs and sundry other things got in the way of our actually getting to record this music. I did write down the chords alongside the lyrics, but can only recall how a few of the songs actually went. One song, “Joy Ride”, was heavily influenced by The Doors (who I first saw in early June 1966 when they opened for Them at The Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood).
Please Don’t Say does indicate the part of our band persona that was pop/Beatles-influenced, whereas the other two songs show off our more blues/garage side. The unrecorded stuff covered all these veins and more, though certainly we were heading more in the “psych” direction — or at least as much as we were capable of in terms of “chops”. That photo is the only one that has survived the rages of 40 years.
I recently was able to reconnect with my old La Habra High School class of 1966 mate Mike Lewis, who was lead guitarist in the band The New Breed that has three tracks on the recent Big Beat label CD It Came From The Garage [including the great I Got Nothin’ To Say To You] .
Over the ensuing years I continued as a fan of all the musicians who played in the ranks of Them and was able to make contact with several of them, which led in the mid-1990s to me and my friend Neal Skok releasing a CD by the band “Truth” that compiled tracks cut in 1970 by three ex-Them members — same guys who were on the two “Them” albums on the Tower label that have more recently been reissued by Rev-Ola. The music of “Truth” is really much more well-realized than either of those two Tower albums — we only recently made the CD available in case you want to check it out.
The Soul Twisters had two singles on Romat Records out of Greenville, North Carolina. Their first was “Swinging (On a Grape Vine)”, written by J.R. Daniels, Florence Farmer and E. Perkins, and “Soul Fever” by J.R. Daniels and J. Early.
It was recorded at Pitt Sound Studios in Greenville and produced by James Perkins. The Soul Twisters had a second 45 on Romat, #1004, “Doing Our Dance” / “If It Takes A Year”.
I didn’t anything about the group until James Early and Johnny Ray Williams left comments.
James Early wrote to me:
I joined the band after it started. James Perkins, Samuel Perkins, and Ernest Perkins can tell you more about its beginning.
James Perkins was manager during the time of these recordings….not drummer!
The members of the group on the 45s were:
Johnny Daniels – lead vocal on “Doin’ Our Dance”, background on “If It Takes a Year” and guitar player on all songs.
Fred Farmer – lead vocal on “If It Takes a Year” and background on “Doin’ Our Dance”. He is deceased.
Johnny Williams of Farmville, NC was drummer on all songs.
Joe Daniels was bass player on all songs.
I was on the two 45s as keyboard player.
We all called Roy Mathews (studio owner) “Zeke” jokingly.
I have a sleeve of the 45s with the picture of the group at that time.
We played beach, soul and could adapt to any audience. We played all surrounding areas. We had a female vocalist (Ella Daniels) that could take a dance crowd [off] their seats to pay attention.
The Soul Twisters was the first group I played in. I played an Olympia organ and a Fender Jazz bass. Chapter Three (later name used for our band) did not make any records or tapes.
I played in other groups Jazz Plus, Blues Plus and Poison. I have done and still doing studio sessions with other artist and groups.
James “Bro” Early
Romat was run by Roy Matthews, its first release was the Sound System, which I reviewed here a few months ago.
Keith Everett (real name Keith Gravenhorst) released this 45 in April, 1966. “Don’t You Know” is a fine ballad, while the flip is an outrageous indictment of conscientious objectors, with the lyrics:
They call themselves the conscientious objectors But all they’re tryin’ to do is tryin’ to infect us With their fear and their shame They hide under the name of conscientious objectors They might as well be defectors The way they act
Well keep it up boy the way you’ve been goin’ And who can tell son, you’ve got no way of knowin’ That tomorrow we might be the way That Vietam is today And you’ll be sorry you fools For the things that you do
You’re conscientious objectors You might as well be defectors The way you act
“Don’t You Know” did well in Chicago, entering WCFL charts in March, and reaching as high as #10 two months later.
After “Conscientious Objector”, he released another on TMT-Ting, “She’s The One Who Loved You” / “Lookin’ So Fine”, then one more on Mercury with a Dunwich Productions credit, “The Chant” / “Light Bulb”. Everett wrote all six songs.
The Fabulous Depressions formed in New Ulm, Minnesota, a small town southwest of Minneapolis, in 1964. It took them until 1967 to release their only and excellent 45.
The band went through several lineup changes. By the time it came to record, it included original members Phil Groebner on lead guitar, Peter Kitzberger on organ and Jim Dauer on bass, plus third drummer John Ginkel and vocalist Randy Evans.
Tom Lindsay had been their vocalist, but he left to join the Royal Emperors of Owatonna. Original drummer John Tretault left in 1966, and was replaced for a short time by Greg DeBerry before John Ginkel joined. Ginkel had been in the Shags with his brother Tom, releasing one 45 on the Concert label “Louis Louis” / “Summertime News” (Summertime Blues).
“Can’t Tell You” is a very catchy original by Phil Groebner and Jim Dauer, and features a short but devastating solo by Groebner. The flip is a good version of one of the Blues Magoos’ lesser songs, “One By One”. It was recorded at Lynn Studios in Rochester, Minn.
The Catamorands were from Erie, Pennsylvania, not Nashville as I originally thought.
Guitarist and vocalist Rod Mellquist writes: “The Catamorands were from Erie, PA. and recorded this record and several other original pieces that didn’t make it to vinyl. The four members were Gary Gregor -drums, Mike Ditrick -guitar, Dick Burkett -bass and vocals and Rod Mellquist -guitar and vocals.”
The D.G.M.R. in the label are the initials of the band members first names. Both sides of this 45 are gentle, original compositions. The beautiful “Over You” was written by Rod Mellquist and produced with A. Mellquist. R. Burkett wrote “Never Say Goodbye”, which was produced by R. Burkett and M. Ditrich.
The Los Angeles-based Plamie label released a handful of 45s in 1967-68. At least two of the bands on the label, Uncle Ben and the Wild Rice and Weathervane, were based in Santa Cruz, which makes these Plamie 45s important documents of the music scene along the California coast north of LA and south of the Bay Area.
Jason Sweitzer suggested we write about the Plamie label to compliment the previous article about other Santa Cruz-based bands the Cobras, Talon Wedge and Snail. Jason conducted the interviews with Ben Hudson and Steffen Presley, and wrote the text for the sections on Weathervane and Strange Laughter. Gray Newell provided some of the scans and transfers from original 45s.
Uncle Ben and the Wild Rice at the department store ‘Disco’ in Capitola, near Santa Cruz l-r: Ben Hudson, Mike Gordon, and probably Ray Tuthill, or possibly Scott Pearson or Tony Hill on drums
Uncle Ben and the Wild Rice
Uncle Ben and the Wild Rice were Ben Hudson guitar and vocals, his sister Sharron Bassano on vocals and organ, Mike Gordon bass, Willie Wahler guitar and vocals, and Tony Hill on drums. They played at the Grass Cookie in Santa Cruz, among other venues.
Jason spoke to Ben:
We were local to Santa Cruz, California in the 60’s. We played at the Boardwalk’s “Coconut Grove” frequently in the 66-68 years. We also played all of the area venues of the time [including the Grass Cookie]. I recall opening for Country Joe and the Fish in an airplane hangar in Watsonville and bumping into the Jefferson Airplane folks at the Coconut Grove.
We were just kids having a blast. I imagine the record doesn’t sound too hip, it was a Christmas release and didn’t really reflect the Rock ‘n Roll of our stage shows. The band members are still around the area, mostly retired. I started a new solo CD recently and still write and play a few gigs. We recorded a couple other songs at those early sessions, but nothing else was released to my knowledge until the reunion CD in 2003.
Sharron Bassano
“A Tale Told” is their first 45, one side featuring lead vocals by Sharron, the other Uncle Ben. With the dreamy quality to the vocals and keyboards you may not notice the lyrics are about Jesus! It’s also the first single on Plamie, P-1021, with publishing by J&J Music and Bound Music, distributed by Commerce Record Corp.
Their second 45 leaves the folky sound of “A Tale Told” for a tougher, bluesy approach. “Sinner” features Ben’s bracing vocal and a sharp guitar solo. Sharron’s “Holdin Blues” is a wonderful song reminiscent of the Charlatans, with interesting guitar work and a great rave-up at the end.
There is a third single by Uncle Ben and the Wild Rice, but Plamie P-1027 seems to be a re-release of “Holdin’ Blues” backed with “Zindar” which is a version of “Sinner” but sung in German (I think)!
The photos are from B. Robert Hudson’s (Uncle Ben) site [http://ubwr.broberthudson.com/ but defunct when I checked in 2016] with more cool pics of the band and info on his recent live shows. Their reunions in 2002-3 included all members but Sharron.
Hot Coffee
Until Mark Tranchina commented below in August, 2018, the only names we could associate with them were Linden Coffee, the leader of the group, and Dave Holt, writer of “Cheatin On Me”. This David Holt also wrote songs with Baker Knight, longtime singer and songwriter (garage fans may know him for “Hallucinations” on Reprise). However, I don’t know if he had any connection with the band at all.
I’ll reproduce some of Mark’s comment here:
Besides Linden Coffee, the other members were George LaFrance drums, Ray Rackstraw bass, and my brother Richard “Dick” Tranchina who played rhythm guitar, 12 string and occasionally bass and drums. They had regular gigs at Mission Ranch in Monterey and the Coconut Grove in Santa Cruz. During the “draft” days in the late 60’s they all enlisted in the national guard and spent a good time of their enlisted time playing at the officers club at Fort Ord in Monterey. They also opened for the Righteous Brothers in Disneyland in LA.
Richard Tranchina passed away in 2004.
Ben Hudson told Gray Newell, “We went to LA to record on a joint trip with Hot Coffee, because we had the same manager, Ben Lawson, a DJ on a local radio station at the time, KDON from Salinas, CA.”
There’s a good possibility that this is the same band listed as Coffee on the poster for the Santa Cruz Blues Rock Festival at San Lorenzo Park. The other acts listed on the poster are Jaguars, Snail, Stained Glass, Moses February, Bogus Thunder, the John Deacon Society, Tender Gender, Sabbathe Office, and Aunt Millie’s Blues.
Weathervane, l-r: Ed Bowman, Mike O’Bryan, Steffen Presley and Kevin Beamish
Weathervane
From Modesto, California, The Weathervane only released this 45 on Plamie Records in 1968 — a euphoric, if not lyrically sardonic, slice of psychedelia.
Formed in 1966, the original group comprised of teens Steffen Presley on organ and lead vocals, Kevin Beamish on lead guitar, Ed Bowman on bass, and Mike O’Bryan on drums and lead vocals. Bob Wilson was an itinerant member on bass, rhythm guitar and lead vocals, having left the band for a time and then returned.
November 23, 1966 concert program at the Strand Theatre in Modesto with the Sir Douglas Quintet and Golliwogs
As a popular mainstay at the under-21 hangouts and nightclubs of the Central Valley, The Weathervane also performed regularly in Sonora and the San Francisco Bay Area, sharing bills with The Golliwogs, Sir Douglas Quintet, The Ratz, The Eisage, Mourning Edition, Meat and Cheese, Homegrown, and the all-girl outfit, Sometimes, among others.
During the summer of 1967, at the arrangement of their manager Gene Bastion, they temporarily relocated to Ben Lomond, in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and performed at various venues along the coast. Of this time, Steffen Presley remembers:
Gene was a radio DJ who went under various aliases. In Modesto, he was known as Jerry Lang. We stayed in a big cabin in Ben Lomond, which was owned by a friend of his and they only used it part of the year. The idea was to gain us greater exposure. It was a great fun time!
Bob Burns review from Modesto station KFIV/136 Spotlight, Vol. 2 No. 18
Soon after returning from Santa Cruz, Bastion was able to negotiate a recording deal for the band with Plamie Records in Los Angeles. Presley, who wrote both original songs, recalls:
I was 17 at the time of the Plamie sessions. Although I did the lead vocal on “4-4, 5-4,” it was Mike O’Bryan doing the lead vocal on “My Original Blue Jeans.”
One of the things the producer did was to change the key of “My Original Blue Jeans,” which I felt was detrimental to Mike’s vocal, particularly as he was very used to the original key from live performances. Fortunately, “4-4, 5-4” was left fully intact and basically represented our true sound, sans the poor mix, where the vocal is fairly buried for the first half of the song.
My Vox Continental organ was a signature part of our sound, as you may have noticed. At that time, there was next to nothing available in portable keyboards, and I had no money to buy anything else. I did play piano at that time but was not interested in electric pianos, which barely existed, anyway. Of course moving real pianos around was not even a consideration. The studio had a Hammond organ, which I used on “My Original Blue Jeans.” I had actually written the song on piano. I don’t think the studio had a piano or I may have used it.
There had been talk of recording an album, but despite significant airplay the 45 was a complete dud in Modesto upon its release. We were even ridiculed by some. I could understand that, as the producer had completely changed (ruined- in not just my opinion) our sound on “My Original Blue Jeans,” and even back then I thought that the recording quality was quite poor. This is one reason why I later became a producer with my own studio.
Weathervane, 1967, l-r: Bob Wilson, Ed Bowman, Mike O’Bryan, Kevin Beamish and Steffen PresleyStrange Laughter, 1969
Strange Laughter
About a year after the Plamie release, the Weathervane split up over artistic and personnel conflicts. Soon thereafter, Steffen Presley formed a new band, Strange Laughter. When asked how The Weathervane transformed into Strange Laughter, Presley wrote:
Well, this is the most interesting question to me! As the Weathervane matured musically, Tom Aragon eventually replaced Kevin Beamish on guitar. The beginning of the split came about as Tom and I wanted to pursue all original material. The other members preferred that we did mostly cover tunes. Very soon thereafter, Tom and I decided to form a new (all original) band, which became Strange Laughter.
Beside myself on organ and lead vocals, Tom Aragon was the bass player. The guitarist, David Rose, is to this day the best guitarist I’ve ever heard, and was also a superb songwriter. The fourth member was an amazing drummer and lifelong friend of mine, Kimber Glendening.
Strange Laughter was a far better band musically and artistically than The Weathervane, in my opinion, and became even more popular than The Weathervane in the Modesto area. I would describe our music as “progressive rock”, but this was at least a couple of years before the Prog-rock movement, so we were ahead of our time, for sure.
Unfortunately, the band was able to last only one year. Just as we were starting to get offers to go on significant bills, we split up due to conflicting interests. I think that it’s a crime that no recordings were ever made.
I’d like to thank Steffen Presley for taking the time to write and for sharing his pictures and recollections. For more info on his recent work, visit www.song-haven.com.
Country Weather, Strange Laughter, Elastik Band and Rest Meat Cheese at the California Ballroom in Modesto on June 19, lights by Keeper of the Night. Poster by Tom Morris
Strange Laughter updates:
Sept. 2008: Steffen writes, “I have just released a new album, along with the first of two video releases. The band is called “3 Legs On Wheels” and the album titled “in Our Time Machine” on Terraform Records. All the info can be found on the official web-site: www.3legsonwheels.com.
Feb. 2009:
My dear friend, Kimber Glendening passed away on January 18, 2009. As the best drummer California’s Central Valley has seen for the last 50 years (at least), he was a major factor in the still legendary (in that small part of the world) “Strange Laughter” sound. He played in many other bands in the Modesto area throughout his life. A memorial was held in his honor on February 8th at the Eagle Lodge in Modesto, California. The event was attended by several hundred people, including myself. There were many people there that I hadn’t seen for forty years! Teaming with remaining members from Strange Laughter, we played a tribute set in Kimber’s honor. Different combinations of musicians jammed into the night with myself sitting in with most of them on keys and sax.
Steffen Presley
Strange Laughter, Burnt Sunnyland Canyon at the California Ballroom, September 26, 1969, lights by Bayshore Fruit Co. “The California Ballroom regularly brought in about a thousand people and often had name SF bands headlining.” – Steffen Presley
Plamie Records P-1023 and P-1025 are still unknown, if anyone has copies of these please contact us.
The Lost and Found came out of Houston, and originally called themselves the Misfits. Members were Peter Black guitar and vocals, Jimmy Frost lead guitar and James Harrell on bass. John Kearney of the Spades played with them for a short while after the Spades had split up in 1965, and they went through a succession of drummers, first Norman Blythe, then Mickey Bishop, and finally Steve Webb.
The Misfits played shows at Love Street and La Maison, where, according to Jimmy Frost, they met the 13th Floor Elevators for the first time. The Elevators would have a huge influence on their sound, and their friendship with Roky Erickson and Stacy Sutherland would eventually lead to an introduction to the International Artists label. At the start of a six month residency at Scott Holtzman’s Living Eye in Houston, they became the first Texas group busted for LSD. Jimmy Frost remembers Peter, James and Mickey facing charges, and that one of the reasons the band signed with International Artists was because its owners, Bill Dillard and Noble Ginther, were lawyers who could help them with the bust. Supposedly the charges were dismissed because the drug was not yet illegal! However, the notoriety of the bust led to the name change to the Lost and Found, appropriate in any case for the increasingly psychedelic direction of their music.
The Living Eye ad with the Lost and Found, the Coastliners, Neal Ford & the FanaticsGeorge Banks, a friend of the band who took over management of the Misfits, remembers this time differently:
I spoke with James Harrell, just to confirm what I am about to list. First, the MISFITS was a name Micky Bishop came up with, as it was a group he played with in the Navy. He was the first drummer, and to James’ recollection, Kearney never played in the group. After Micky, his younger brother Steve also played drums in the band and as I recall then Webb. There may have been the other fella you mention [Norman Blythe], but I do not know him. We all met the Elevators in Austin, before they played the infamous Jade Room gig, and all remain friends to this day. I was maybe a try-to-be manager with the original Misfits, after leaving the military; and then later the Lost and Found, but I also assisted (I’ll describe it that way) Euphoria, which you rarely see any info about.
La Maison, second location, 319 McGowan at BagbyEuphoria did come into Houston about high times for the Elevators and others of the IA time frame. They were a sizzlin’ three piece group. Wesley Watt, David Potter, drums and Pat.. I forget his last name.. on bass (early on, in CA, Pat was with a surf group, pre-Beach Boys, and they were very successful in their locale.) Euphoria and the guys from the Misfits got along quite well and … through some differences .. all together left for LA, minus Frost, who having married early on and was with their first child, did not travel to CA with everyone else. We played around out there got a recording contract. I brought the first release [Hungry Woman / No Me Tomorrow 45 on the Mainstream label] back to Houston and presented it to Larry Kane. It didn’t really take off, Euphoria hadn’t stuck around town long enough to really develop any notoriety, or following.
The band in LA went through a lot of emotional changes in part due to the fact that Wesley and David were married (and drugs). The times got tough, to even feed ourselves. James, Pete and I headed back to Houston, the rest kind of picks up with the bust after we had been back a month or two. Micky was not included in the bust in ’66, it was his younger brother Steve and another fella, a writer, Roger Hamilton (deceased) aka William West, and James. Their arrests were dismissed, we each served 10 year probation sentences. I don’t believe that the signing with International Artists had anything to do with there being attorneys in the head office. If I am mistaken, well, I don’t know every minute detail of all these guys lives, but we did live and recreate together often. It was not the notoriety that changed the bands name (I don’t think). But having returned from CA and playing with/as Euphoria the group was rejoined with Jimmy Frost. So I felt the absence from and the reunion, as it were, with the whole band, it was .. well .. Lost and Found.
The Lost and Found at the Living Eye
Their first 45, “Everybody’s Here” / “Forever Lasting Plastic Words” shows the lighter side of their repertoire, and the band complained that IA toned down their sound. The engineer was Frank Davis who worked with other IA bands, like the Elevators and the Golden Dawn. Though at times sounding like the Elevators, their LP has many good songs such as “I Realize” and “There Would Be No Doubt”. George Banks did the cover art for their LP as well as the covers of the Elevators’ Easter Everywhere and Golden Dawn’s Power Plant.
By the time they recorded their second and last 45 in ’68, their sound was totally original and psychedelic. “Professor Black” is supposed to be about Pete Black, it was written by Black, James Harrell and George Banks. “When Will You Come Through” is just as good, with searing guitar work. This 45 was produced by Fred Carroll, an interesting figure in Texas garage history. Fred Carroll (real name Fred Courtney, Jr) founded International Artists in October of ’65, but sold it soon after, then returned as a producer after Lelan Rogers left. He also started the Solar label and managed the Coastliners. He passed away in late June, 2007.
There were other songs recorded around this time for a second LP, but before that could come to pass, International Artists booked them on a tour of Texas, Louisiana and Alabama with the Music Machine.
Jimmy Frost: “When we got back International Artists said we owed them money and that just finished the band off, we didn’t see any money from the tour, and we were all so broke that the band just split up.”
A demo tape of two songs exists. “25 MPH” showed up on Epitaph for a Legend, the other, “Girl with a One Track Mind” I haven’t heard. Still under contract from IA, Pete Black and James Harrell reluctantly played about a dozen dates with Stacy Sutherland and Danny Thomas in a ersatz version of the 13th Floor Elevators after the release of the fake “Live” album in July of ’68. This lineup of the Elevators may have included Steve Webb, who I’ve read was able to mimic Roky’s wailing vocals.
Pete Black joined Endle St. Cloud. I’ve read Steve Webb played drums with Potter St. Cloud and Euphoria, but that conflicts with David Potter’s account (and Potter certainly was the drummer on Potter St. Cloud’s album). Steve Webb passed away a few years ago.
George Banks continues on the connections between the Lost and Found, Endle St. Cloud and Euphoria:
Alan Mellinger (Endle St. Cloud) .. some how.. after we’d left LA.. wound up in LA playin’ around with Euphoria.. in fact they released an album – [A Gift From] Euphoria. James Harrell, after the bust here in Houston, returned to LA (he did studio work for a couple of years) and may have been on that album also (?). Euphoria later did an extensive tour with Blue Cheer. I visited Alan in Morrison, CO some many years ago where he and his wife and two children were doing quite well, as Alan was a partner in a Clinical Drug and Alcohol Re-Hab Practice in Denver. While there we called David Potter, who at the time was living in I believe, Wisconsin or Minnesota, working construction as a masonry contractor. A couple of years later I heard that Alan died of a heart attack.. and so ends my immediate and intimate association with the ‘Music World’ of the 60’s. As a footnote I think that Frank Davis, besides being one of Texas’s true hidden jewels as a performer, did all he could with the available equipment of the times.
Sources include: Interview with Jimmy Frost in Not Fade Away #4, Paul Drummond’s Eye Mind, and my correspondence with George Banks. Photos by their manager, Gary Iwers. Misfits business card from the collection of Andrew Brown. La Maison photo courtesy of Nancy Kuehl.
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 Grass came out of the Las Cruces, New Mexico scene that included bands like the Keymen, the Four Dimensions, the Morfomen and the Outer Limits.
