Category Archives: Fort Wayne

The Male Men of Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Male Men performing on WPTA Channel 21’s 1965 Christmas show

Wallace Geller sent in the photos and story of a Fort Wayne, Indiana band called the Male Men. The group didn’t release any records, but did make a demo at WGL Radio in 1967.

Malemen guitarist Rick Johnston with drummer Jim Brickley.

I was the lead singer of the Fort Wayne Malemen. Members of the band were: Rick Thomas, lead guitar; Rick Johnston, rhythm guitar; Dave Armstrong, bass guitar; and on drums was Jim Brickley. Rick Thomas and Dave Armstrong also did back up vocals.

I became the lead singer April 1965. June of 1965 we participated in a battle of the bands at Northcrest Shopping Center. There were about 10 bands involved. We came in second place but I received the Best Male Singer Award. I still have the plaque.

The summer of 1965 was very busy for us. We performed at the water ski club every Saturday through the summer at Lake George, Michigan. Fall 1965 we were seniors at Northside High School Fort Wayne.

Malemen Fort Wayne WGL Radio acetate Stand By MeOctober 1965 we were picked to be the house band of a TV show called 21 A Go Go on the ABC affiliate WPTA Channel 21. We were on every week and we had other local bands and singers on the show. We video taped the half hour show on Tuesday nights and finished on Wednesday nights. The show was on Saturday afternoons at 4 PM. The show ended February 1966 because of union complaints. We were all non union on the show. The station couldn’t get a sponsor. The show was then terminated. The station told us there was about 40,000 people watching the show. That was very considering Fort Wayne was about 180,000 at that time.

The station would let us come in and their sound people recorded us. We had a good recording of “Stand By Me”, made after the band broke up.

The Malemen broke up when the lead guitar player, Rick Thomas was drafted. It was a fantastic time while in the band. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end.

Wallace Geller of the Male Men

Rick Johnston joined the Marines with me in March 1967. Rick Johnston later became a medical doctor. Rick Johnston and Dave Armstrong are both retired and still live in the Fort Wayne area.I lost touch with the drummer Jim Brickley and the lead guitar player, Rick Thomas.

After I got out of the Marines I became a Phoenix Arizona Police Officer for 28 years. I retired May 1999. After I retired my wife Ann got me a karaoke machine for Christmas. I then started performing with my Karaoke machine.

Wallace Geller

Thank you also to Rick Johnston for sending in two of the wphotos seen in this article.

Malemen guitarists Rick Thomas and Rick Johnston. Photo courtesy of Rick Johnston

The Shanels

Shanels Dee-Jay 45 Why Did I

The Shanels came out of New Haven, Indiana, a town just east of Fort Wayne. The only band member’s name I can find is Marvin Larue, who wrote both songs on this single. “Why Did I” is a stomping Stones-influenced song with harmonica wailing throughout.

The band changes instruments for the ballad flip, “I Really Care For You” utilizing 12-string guitar and organ instead. Vocals are sung in unison for both songs.

West Haven Pub. Co published both songs through BMI, where I found M. Larue’s full name. Timothy Cox of 60s Indiana Band Szene wrote in a comment on Artyfacts in Wax that “every ‘West Haven’ publishing I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a few, is from Ft. Wayne Indiana. Surf Suns, Olivers, Chessmen, and Blues Inc, all shared this.”

From an online obituary, it seems that Marvin LaRue passed away on September 26, 2004 in Minnesota. In 1963 he graduated from New Haven High School and then attended Purdue University.

According to Teen Beat Mayhem, the record dates to February 1965. The number “SS-3886” indicates a pressing by Stereo Sound in Chicago.

Shanels Dee-Jay 45 I Really Care For You

The Shadows 5 “Gathers No Moss”

The Shadows 5 Tech 45 Gathers No MossThe Shadows 5 were thought to be from Oswego, New York, on Lake Ontario, northwest of Syracuse, but the band actually formed in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The band members’ first names are on the labels but I only know two members’ surnames. Another member’s last name is Williams, but I don’t know which.

Bill – lead vocals
Randy – lead guitar (Fender Jaguar)
Craig McKinney – rhythm and occasional lead guitar (Mosrite “Joe Maphis”)
Ralph Riehl – bass (Fender Jazz)
Vic – drums (Ludwig)

“Gathers No Moss” is an incredible version of the song, and the flip “That Little Girl” is a fine jangler.

Tech Records released the single in August 1966; I can’t find anything else on this label. The quality of the recording is excellent, with the opening guitar riff jumping off the grooves.

This was a very rare record though in the last year about 10 copies have shown up, which is how I was able to afford one.

Craig McKinney wrote to me with info about the group:

Two of us (Vic and I) are from Fulton, NY, a small city just south of Oswego, NY. Vic and I played together there before shipping off to Fort Wayne, IN and college. We started the band out there.

We recorded the record in Fort Wayne, IN at radio station WOWO and pressed 500 copies in Chicago. I wrote the words and music to “That Little Girl” as well as the arrangement for “Gathers No Moss.” Bill sings lead on “Girl” and that’s me on “Moss.” There is only copy out there that was signed by all members of our band. It was signed while we were on a tour trip to upstate NY in our old hometown.

Q. Were you or Vic in the Newberry 4 of Oswego when you lived in Fulton? They recorded a song called “That’s Why I’m a Rolling Stone” that is much like “Gathers No Moss”.

We were never in the “Newberry 4.” I heard them once or twice, though I was not there much in those days. They were the area’s top group at the time. They were excellent. A “Beatles” spin-off group if I remember right. Never knew them but admired them at the time. I didn’t remember their song until I heard it after reading a comment on your website. Still a great song to this day.

While we recording in the studio at WOWO, we had a professional photographer take pictures and videos of the group. We also left with the master tape. To this day, the pictures, videos and tapes cannot be found.

The group played backup for The Kingsmen in 1966 at my brother’s fraternity at Franklin College, Franklin, IN. They commented on how much better we were than them. Great fun! We played a LOT of frats and sorority houses in Indiana until Vic and I flunked out and the band broke up. Vic and I both later returned and graduated.

Randy was from Fort Wayne and, unfortunately, passed away about 8 years ago. I’m not sure where Ralph was from, but now resides somewhere in Florida. Bill was from Ohio and still resides there. Vic lives in Huntington, IN. I am back in Fulton, NY.

Craig McKinney

This is not the same Shadows Five who recorded “Dynamic Drums” / “Gary’s Boogie” for the Sully label and “Markham” / “Twistin’ Shadows” for Peacock. That group became the Ultimates and later Prince Charles & the Crusaders, then finally the Ultimate, with a 45 on Garland.

The Shadows 5 Tech 45 That Little Girl

The Fewdle Lords

The Fewdle Lords at Swinney Park, Ft. Wayne, 1968, just back with new threads.
From left: George Christie, Dennis Geiger, John Gall, George Danusis

The Fewdle Lords were an accomplished band from Fort Wayne, Indiana. On their only record, the band lays down two excellent originals with confidence, great vocals and energetic playing.

The languid “Farewell to Today and Tomorrow” was given the A-side, while the flip is the uptempo and catchy “I Know.” The sound is certainly right for 1968, certainly a lot of English influence here, maybe a bit of Bee Gees on “Farewell.” There’s even a return fade at the end of that song.

All the instrumentalists stand out: the drummer rolling through the chorus on “I Know”, the organ alternating between sustained notes and percussive chords, tasteful rhythm guitar, and the bass player strumming the strings on one song and running scales on the other.

The mastering code indicates that this is a RCA custom press from 1968 (the 1965 date on the label refers to the copyright for the Tiara label and does not have anything to do with the release date of the Fewdle Lords). The ‘I’ in the deadwax indicates it was pressed at RCA’s Indianapolis plant.

The record was released twice on Tiara 900, first on a blue label in April, 1968, and on a red label shortly after when the first pressing sold out.

The Fewdle Lords photo
First lineup of the Fewdle Lords, from left: George Christie, Denny Geiger, George Danusis and Rich Jackson

Members of the band were:

George Christie – lead guitar & vocals
George Danusis – organ & vocals
Rich Jackson – bass & vocals, replaced by John Gall
Denny Geiger – drums & vocals

The Fewdle Lords Business Card

Bass player Rich Jackson sent in some of the photos and news clippings seen here. He wrote to me:

I was the bass player back in ’67-’68. Prior to this band, we were called the “Exiles” (Mike Kruse, Don LaFever, Rich Jackson, and George Danusis) and broke up to form the Fewdle Lords with a couple different members.

The Fewdle Lords, Franke Park ClippingWe were from Fort Wayne, Indiana and were fairly popular around our area. For personal reasons I was forced to leave the band just before the record “I Know” and “Farewell to Today and Tomorrow” was cut.

I never played in a group again after that, but I went from the bass guitar to a six string guitar, which I still play. Also I’ve always wanted to play the piano so I bought one about 3 years ago and am doing fairly well with that.

We had a great time and they are all still in my heart.

Rich Jackson

Fewdle Lords Franke Park Battle of the Bands, July 28, 1967
Fewdle Lords winners of the Franke Park Battle of the Bands, July 28, 1967
At the Scottish Rite Auditorium, Ft. Wayne, prior to opening for Jay and the Americans.
Clockwise from bottom left: George Christie, George Danusi, Dennis Geiger and John Gall

John Gall replaced Rich Jackson on bass and sang lead on the record. John Gall wrote to me in 2021:

I was the bass player, a songwriter and one of the lead vocalists for the Fewdle Lords from late 1967 to late 1969, the period during which the four-person band released a surprisingly popular single in northern Indiana that rose to #4 on local charts.

Each of the members had been a lead singer in other bands, so the Fewdle Lords focused on vocals and tight harmonies to complement a solid, straight-ahead dance beat. Ironically, the record — a relaxed-tempo song with baroque-style vocals — was actually a departure from the usual style of live sets the band played.

John Gall of the Fewdle Lords

I was recruited in November of 1967. By early ’68 the band had attracted the interest of our future producer at Tiara Records (based in Hollywood, Florida) and, on March 16, 1968, we went to RCA Studios in Chicago to cut the single. The A-side — “Farewell to Today and Tomorrow” — was a song I had written earlier; the B-side (“I Know”) I finished shortly after joining the band. Our hope was to be more than a cover band, so we were excited about having an original song down on tape.

The chance to be signed up with Tiara Records to record in 1968 came about in an almost random way. A childhood buddy of mine, who lived just down the street, had a father who was a private commercial pilot for an industrialist, as well as being an accomplished singer himself. Because he performed, the father had some connections to the music publishing business and, further, he piloted in Florida as well as the Midwest. My friend told his father about the band and, on one of the rare days his father was in Indiana and not flying, the father came to rehearsal, liked the songs (at least enough to take a chance) and said, “Let’s make a record”. His father acted as producer at the session and the single was issued by a small independent label in Hollywood, Florida (Tiara), owned by one of his colleagues in the industry.

A local radio personality in Fort Wayne, Indiana was impressed with the energy of our live sets so, when the record was released in early summer of ’68, he pushed for airplay. It happened, to our great delight, but the response was more than we had expected. Things moved exceedingly fast, bigger crowds were coming to the venues we were playing, the record went to a second pressing and, by July of ’68, the Fewdle Lords were opening for some of the iconic pop groups of the sixties (Herman’s Hermits, The Buckinghams, Jay and the Americans) as those groups toured their way through the midwest.

Fewdle Lords WANE-TV adBy then, the Fewdle Lords usually took the stage resplendent in costumes, commissioned from a Canadian opera supply firm, that matched the specious medieval nature of their name. Somewhere in this swirl, before the end of summer, we were tapped for a local “back-to-school” TV special (really an early half-hour pre-teen infomercial, a low-budget, sorta-like-the-Monkees-but-not-nearly-so-nice show) that was probably painful to watch but great fun to make. George Danusis, the thin but plucky organist, was pulled behind a British taxi in a baby carriage on a rope, but then rolled into a lake when the taxi turned! The outdoor scenes, involving primarily a lake and a beach in Kendallville, Indiana, were shot on film. The remaining parts, a fashion show and the band lip-synching to the record, were done in the WANE-TV studio in Ft. Wayne and were tracked on early videotape. Then, along with the commercials (all about back-to-school shopping at the sponsor’s store, of course) the parts were compiled onto videotape for broadcast. Alas, the TV show does not survive.

While all that was going on, we embarked — with much greater seriousness — on a constant, night-after-night schedule of shows in clubs and resorts, criss-crossing the midwest in our very own Greyhound bus. The pace slackened some, but continued into 1969 and, in July of that year, we were back in the studio with improved musical skills, recording what was intended to be a pair of new singles. However, I was booted from the band in late 1969 and, shortly thereafter, George Christie, our outstanding lead guitarist, was killed in a driving accident, putting an end to the Fewdle Lords. The new songs we had recorded were never released.

I have no idea where the original tape from the Cleveland recording session in 1969 is today. My dim recollection is that it was multi-tracked and mixed on two-inch magnetic tape (basically, videotape). I do have a small reel of quarter-inch magnetic tape with copies of the songs, but the tape has not been played in years.

I don’t remember everything about those days — it happened fast and details, of course, fade with time. But I still remember vividly how much fun it was, just absolute, unbridled fun. At the same time, however, if you look closely at the faces in the pictures, beneath the smiles I think you can glimpse four young kids who, despite tender years, were absolutely committed and deadly earnest in the pursuit of being really accomplished musicians — the best we could be, even if just a garage band from Indiana. It was a privilege to sing and play with musicians as talented as my other bandmates in the Fewdle Lords. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat!

After the Fewdle Lords, I spent several years working in broadcasting, both on-air and also behind the glass as an engineer and producer. After moving to Maine, I picked up some classical training for voice, then became very involved in choral music. I’ve been privileged to sing in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, as well as in Bath Abbey and other cathedrals in England.

— John Gall, Rockland, Maine 2021

The Fewdle Lords Tiara 45 I KnowRed

2nd pressing on red label

A notice in the Waterloo Press from February 15, 1968 mentions the Fewdle Lords playing a homecoming at DeKalb High with another Fort Wayne group, the Children.

The Rushville Republican from February 12, 1970 reported the death of George Christie from injuries suffered a traffic accident in Toledo four days previous.

Dan Karns replaced John Gall on bass around 1970, during the final months of the band. The band continued after Christie’s death, with John Escosa on guitar. The band went through other changes and ended up as Airfield Wright. Other members from that time include Jerry Reff and Rick Armstrong.

Denny Geiger continued in music, usually as a vocalist, notably with Mark Urgent Labov & Beyond.

Tiara Records & Mana Productions

Old sources listing the Fewdle Lords as a Florida band are mistaken. The confusion came because the same Tiara label had releases from Florida bands, including the Belles (“Melvin”) and the Vandals (“I Saw Her in a Mustang”).

Fewdle Lords ad for show at the Hullabaloo Club
Ad for show at the Hullabaloo Club

Deborah Teaver Moore of the Belles wrote in a comment below, “Mana Productions, Ft Wayne was the parent company of Tiara Records based in Miami. The 1966 label for The Belles “Melvin”/”Come Back” was a different color and design from the one featured for The Fewdle Lords – but you probably knew that already.:-) The woman representing Tiara in Miami was named Ruth Sadler.”

Jeff Lemlich commented: “It looks like Mana moved around. The Billboard Record Talent directory, dated December 24, 1966, lists Mana’s address as 2632 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Fla 33020. Then it’s tied to Indiana, and on Tiara CW100, by Ray Yeager, it has a Baton Rouge address! Yeager (who’s Bunny Yeager’s brother) died recently. He seemed to have close connections to the label.”

Thank you to Rich Jackson and John Gall for sharing their clippings, photos and recollections. Thank you to Janice for information on the later members of the band. Thanks to Deborah Moore, Jeff Lemlich and Mike Markesich for info on the Tiara label.

The Exiles of Fort Wayne, Indiana photo
The Exiles, before the Fewdle Lords. From left: Mike Kruse, Don LaFever, Rich Jackson, and George Danusis

Fewdle Lords Article and Photo