Category Archives: Maryland

Look for Faces not for Signs

George Daly, guitarist and songwriter for the Hangmen tells the story behind “Faces” with previously unpublished photographs.

Allen Ginsberg speaking with Tom Guernsey, George Daly and Bob Berberich

The band had fans and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say the Hangmen, at their zenith had a fan intensity that might have rivaled, in our home town, the early Beatles in Liverpool.

There on the Eastern Seaboard, mainly focused on DC and Maryland and Virginia, we played for the high and mighty such as Robert Kennedy and family, at Hickory Hill, multiple Foreign embassy balls, at many of the private girls schools, and wealthy DC homes, and even the fabled NOW Festival in the Adams Morgan area of DC, where Beat writer and great American poet Allen Ginsberg and I ended up talking music until 2am. The Hangmen played at a record store jammed with fans in Virginia where The Washington Post noted it and Cashbox, the music business trade magazines, wrote of the show as the performance turned into a riot involving over 2500 fans.

The Hangmen moved people.

At one point they told us we young men had by now a 1000+ person fan club. I eventually got in trouble with my landlord (and close to being evicted from my little Spring Street one-bedroom apartment) because of the continual lip sticking of the door and walls outside my place with “I Love George,” (heart) the Hangmen,” “We love You Dave,” and so forth – this went on for over a year till I moved to my anonymous next place.

So, we had fans. Passionate ones.

On stage: Bob Berberich on drums, Paul Dowell, George Daly and Tom Guernsey on guitars, and Dave Ottley at the mic

Faces, the song, first came to me one night, basically, all at once right after a gig in front of some of those screaming fans. Here’s how:

Hangmen - It's What's Happening profileWith the gigs’ typical cheers, noise, music and intensity I had noticed a Maryland University junior in the audience, and she me. We talked briefly outside for a few minutes after the show shut down and then she followed my car home. An unexpected feeling came over me as I unlocked the door to my apartment, my new fan just two steps behind. We walked through the door with yet more lipstick graffiti on it, and I was embarrassed. But my new friend seemed almost giddy seeing what was scrawled on the door. As I turned on the lights, I thought, I don’t know my fans, and they don’t even care about that. No, wait! Plus they don’t know me, either. I suddenly got it all. Their excitement isn’t about George or Bob or Tom or Dave or Paul, it’s about the Hangmen. The image of the Hangmen, bad boys, rockers, musicians. And that dazed, glazed look on our fans’ faces that I was seeing around me at the gigs, was all misleading me. My song Faces arrived that night because I needed to express that feeling to the world.

And, yeah, Faces sounds cynical, world-weary, whatever, but it’s real, and there isn’t an artist alive who doesn’t stand on a stage with fans yelling for them, who doesn’t finally realize the world loves the symbol they’ve become, the world loves the outline, and doesn’t know, can’t really know the person making that music or playing that guitar or singing that song just from seeing them on stage. It can be disillusioning. “At 12 you’re young, at 1 you’re old.”

Back at my apartment, I turned to her and said “What’s your last name? You have to start somewhere.

Early photo, from left: Mike Walters, George Daly, Bob Berberich on drums, Tom Guernsey (obscured) and Dave Ottley at the mic. Photo by Michael Klavans

I’m an optimistic person by nature, but that realization stuck. I saw those Faces again, all through three great bands where I was joined at the hip with Bob Berberich in the Hangmen, then the Dolphin with Paul Dowell and sometimes, Roy Buchanan and then Grin, with the incredible Nils Lofgren. And, even later, in the towers, recording studios, label offices, clubs and restaurants of the Hollywood major record label scene where I worked for 25 years after my time in those great born-in-DC bands. (Bob surpassed even our three great bands’ hat trick by singing and drumming, along with the great vocalist Joe Triplett, in Bob’s long-lasting DC band, The Rosslyn Mountain Boys.)

The Hangmen play Mosrite Guitars and Amps Exclusively clippingAnd after these bands, out West I was no longer an artist (mostly), but had an outsized impact on artists with my time running A&R Divisions at Columbia Records, Elektra/Asylum Records and Atlantic Records. One of my artists at Columbia was the late, great Janis Joplin. One afternoon at the Topanga Canyon Corral bar (Southern Comfort on ice for her, me a bourbon sour) we had a long talk about the fickleness and unreality of fans’ perception of artists, Faces again. And about the isolation that comes from living only those shallow exchanges, without the souls talking. She lived that loneliness for a long time. But that afternoon we both laughed about it. Janis was a gem.

But back to that night in my little Silver Spring apartment, the idea of the solitary artist, surrounded only by sycophants, robotic faces, no matter how nice and cheerful and desirous they might be, wouldn’t go away. And when I was alone again in my room with my old Silvertone acoustic guitar my Dad bought me years earlier, alone with my trusty yellow pad, the song, words and music appeared out of nothing but that feeling.

Paul Dowell on bass, Dave Ottley in foreground, and George Daly. Photo by Michael Klavans

The next morning (other people’s mid-afternoon), I polished the song some more by picking up my ‘51 Fender Esquire guitar and plugging it into my amp. I fiddled around and found a grinding riff that was inspired by Mississippian John Lee Hookers, intensely repetitive and growling grooves. He was the famed bluesman whose LP I wore out back when I was learning to play the blues on the guitar, the blues being the God Father of all Rock ‘n Roll. So, I kept working on that guitar lick until the room was ringing and the words flowed effortlessly over the entire song. That’s the Faces you hear today, especially on the Monument 45 version with Dave Ottley’s intense and vivid vocals. It’s not a complicated song, but a deep one, and Dave really liked that and sung it that way, another important part of the magic in that music. It all came together with Faces, my band mates took that song, and once the drumming started, made it come alive. That’s why they call the people working together on music, a Band!

But back to when I wrote it, I saw Bob Berberich the next day, and played him Faces in all its surreal sneer and grim cynicism. Bob has been somebody close to me, starting within weeks of when I brazenly walked up to his front door of his parent’s house, knocked hard, and asked if somebody there played drums (Thanks Griff!). From there I introduced Bob to Tom and the Hangmen were born. Bob was there from the beginning, and he’s still here, which is stupendous luck for me.

The thing about Bob was that he was kind of quiet and hard to tell what he was thinking, but when he engaged with you, he always went to the heart of the matter. That’s something hard to find in anybody, much less a band mate, so we became tight.

So, he and I came to understand each other. And, that day he liked the song, and pushed me to play it for everybody.

Bob Berberich

Amazingly, Bob found a handwritten draft of the Faces lyrics, probably something left on the band practice room floor. But back then, with those words and music, and with him liking it, I knew I had a truthful and powerful message. It was easy after that. Knowing that somebody besides me, my Hangmen bandmate, our drummer, got the message, and also lived the message himself, it all made me feel good. I wasn’t alone in seeing the difference between A Face and a friend. The difference between hollow acclaim and (in Bob’s case particularly) friendship that lasts a lifetime and isn’t star struck.

When his drumming was finally added to the mix combining with Tom’s always brilliant guitar playing, I was amazed how great it all felt. I still am.

A follow up note: A few years later I still had those anonymous stars & fans Faces thoughts on my mind. That was when I wrote a song with Boz Scaggs, Slow Dancer, that Columbia named Boz’s fifth major album after. My Faces anonymous-fan-meeting-you-after-the-gig line: “I never see your face in sunlight, moon light (night time) brings you straight to me. You never even got my name right. You were so easy to me.” That line in Slow Dancer spelled out the same thing as Faces expressed, so nothing really had changed.

But, ironically, with all the Faces who seemed so distant to me, just because of Bob, one fan at a gig finally did make a breakthrough, and it was straight to my heart.

Dale Kalberg modeling photo
Dale Kalberg

The Hangmen played a big show at the Annapolis Armory. Between songs Bob yelled out my name and he pointed out a pretty girl near the front of the jammed and raving crowd. I was laughing with him, and he just used his drumstick to show me where to look, there’s even a picture of me looking at him off frame, grinning. I saw her blond hair and shining face, a feminine outline, so California. I leaned over to Bob after the song ended and said, pretty on edge, wow man, I’m going to marry that girl. I was 21.

Was I joking, I didn’t know. She and I talked after the set. And, she was… so normal, clear-eyed and very present and very real. And, I did marry her. That was the first time I saw Dale from San Francisco, who became Dale Daly. And, the best man at the $23 wedding in Las Vegas? Robert Berberich. You can’t make up the great lives Bob and I have lived. But that’s another tale, too. And involves the next two bands we were in, the Dolphin, then Grin with Nils Lofgren, Bob and me.

(My best man and I also spent a half a day in Jail in Virginia a few years earlier, our crime? Having long hair in 1964 and, after a gig, being on the road on a Sunday morning in deep southern Virginia. Bob’s Dad bailed us out!)

Those fans? Apart from the impossibility of getting close to them instantly, these were wonderful people who loved something they saw on a stage, and for whom I’m forever grateful. Most have disappeared into the dark fog of years. But there still are a few fans that turned out to be real, more than faces, ones that I still know and cherish today, probably more than they ever cherished the image of a Hangmen who had other thoughts in his mind. Someone like me, who couldn’t explain his feelings, except by writing a song.

© G. Daly 2023

George and Dale on the left. Paul Dowell in the middle.

The Korsairs from Tacoma Park, MD

Korsairs Edgewood Recording Studio 45 Acetate I Can Only Give You EverythingJolene Wood sent in this scan of an Edgewood Recording Studio acetate of the Korsairs of Tacoma Park, Maryland. The band covers “I Can Only Give You Everything” on one side and James Brown’s “I Don’t Mind” on the other. Another copy of this acetate sold for $790 in 2010.

Members included:

Mark Redd – lead vocals and keyboards
Joe [surname?] – guitar
Mark Fincham – drums

Mark played at the grand opening of the Kennedy Center Sept.8, 1971, perhaps on keyboard with his next band, Second Eagle or 2nd Eagle. Mark Ainsley Redd died in Marietta Ohio October 2019.

The Runabouts from Havre de Grace, MD “Way of Life” & “All Is All”

The Runabouts, photo taken November 17, 1967
Runabouts CEI 45 Way Of LifeThe Runabouts came from Havre de Grace, Maryland, about 40 miles northeast of Baltimore. The two sides of their single have very different sounds. “Way of Life” is fast-paced with horn arrangements. I’m partial to the slow, moody flip, “All Is All”.

The Runabouts formed in 1966 and expanded into an octet by the time they broke up in 1968.

Members included:

Jim Skrivanek – guitar
Joe Pascuzzi – guitar
Dennis Trimble – keyboards

Don Laye
Lew Rothlisberger
Mike Lynch
Ed Kelly
Tom Vincenti

The Baltimore Sun gave a short history of the group when the Runabouts had a reunion on May 19, 2012:

The Runabouts was originally formed by Havre de Grace area high school students as a five-piece guitar, bass and drum combo in 1966. The Runabouts played local teen dances at venues such as Teen Town at Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fiddler’s Green at the old Bainbridge Naval Training Center.

After a couple of lineup changes and the addition of horn, sax and keyboard players, the eight-piece version of the Runabouts was active in 1967 and 1968 playing local dances and events and even cutting one 45 rpm record: “Way of Life,” written by guitarist Jim Skrivanek, backed by “All in All,” written by guitarist Joe Pascuzzi and keyboardist Dennis Trimble, on the independent CEI label out of Ohio.

With graduation, military service and work commitments taking members to far flung locations, the band split up after two years but then got back together for a successful reunion concert in Havre de Grace in 2006.

Runabouts CEI 45 All Is AllRobert T. Brown came from Fremont, Ohio, where he had a recording studio, releasing records on his Courier label. From 1966 to 1968 he was in the Army, stationed in Aberdeen. He continued to record bands, changing the name of the label to CEI Records.

Released on CEI Records CE127, the code RI2521 indicates Recordings, Incorporated in Baltimore pressed the single, published through Bro-Nik. Nashville Matrix did the plating.

The Runabouts had a website that is long defunct, but parts of it are available on the Wayback Machine, where I found the photo at top.

Info on CEI Records from Buckeye Beat.

The American Teens on Swan, from Frederick, Maryland

American Teens, Frederick News-Post, March 5. 1966
March 5. 1966. The American Teens, from left, front row: Ronnie Stevens and Gene Ponton; back: Jim Stevens, Bobby Stevens and Bill Koontz.

The American Teens came from Frederick, Maryland, about an hour’s drive northwest of Washington, DC. The members were:

Bobby Stevens – guitar and vocals
Jim Stevens – guitar
Gene Ponton – saxophone
Bill Koontz – bass guitar
Ronnie Stevens – drums

American Teens Swan 45 Shake Shake BabyRay Vernon signed the band to Swan Records and produced this great single at his studio in Accokeek, Wray’s Shack Three Track.

“Shake Shake Baby” is a danceable original written and arranged by Ray Vernon’s brother, Link Ray (using his common pseudonym, F.L. Wray Sr). I actually prefer the flip, “A Brand New Love”, credited to Bobby Stevens.

The labels list Florentine Music and Palmina Music as publisher of both songs, but I don’t see either in the BMI database or Library of Congress registrations.

The Frederick News-Post covered the band twice. The first article on March 5, 1966 had the most extensive profile of the band:

Local Band Records First Single by Marie Howell

With the release of their first single record this week, five county youths have started keeping tabs on the national and local record ratings.

Known as “The American Teens.” the quintet includes three brothers, Bobby, Ronnie and Jim Stevens, plus Gene Ponton and Bill Koontz.

The group’s original recording, “Shake, Shake Baby,” was released on the Swan Label earlier this week. Words for the rock and roll song were written by Ray Vernon who’s managing the group and the record was taped at Vernon’s studio at Achocokee [Accokeek].

American Teens Swan 45 A Brand New LoveOn the flip side of is “One That’s Old,” [sic] written by Bobby and Jim.

The boys, who have performed throughout the state, left Thursday night for Buffalo, N.Y., where they’re scheduled to perform tonight at a radio station’s record hop.

All but two of the youths have graduated from high school and are holding down jobs in addition to their practices and performances.

Bill is a graduate of St. John’s High School and Ronnie and Jim are graduates of Middletown High School. Bobby is a junior at Middletown and Gene’s a senior at Frederick High School.

The band, which practices about twice a week, has signed a contract which calls for them to cut four records a year.

Ronnie, who’s the drummer, admits that “I didn’t realize how much time and hard work it took to get a good recording. We worked week after week, hour upon hour with Ray Vernon to get a good tape,” he explained. “We finally made it and I hope it will go over big.”

… Bobby plays guitar and is the group’s vocalist.

And, Bobby added, “The band as a whole feels that meeting Ray Vernon was the biggest break that we’ve ever had.”

I wonder if the record made any headway in Buffalo. It’s a rare item now.

Ronnie Stevens of the American Teens Frederick News-Post, June 30, 1966
Ronnie Stevens of the American Teens, June 30, 1966

On June 30, a full page of photos from a Baker Park concert discusses teen trends of the day, with quotes from Kristina Parker, Laurencine Thomas, Mark Nelson, Buster McKenzie, Joyce Stimmel, Brenda Cregger, and also Bill Devilbiss, bassist for the Five Acts, a group I know nothing about. There is also a good photo of Ronnie Stevens on drums.

For whatever reason, the band didn’t last, but their single showed promise, and I hope there are a few unreleased recordings out there.

The American Teens Frederick News-Post, June 30, 1966
June 30, 1966

The New Diablos

New Diablos Fayette 45 Tangerine Guides

The New Diablos came from East Baltimore, Maryland, making two excellent psychedelic singles during their time together.

The band went through many lineup changes but included as many as eight people at one point:

Bub Deskin – lead vocals
Bill Bell – lead guitar
Bobby Peter – rhythm guitar
Wayne Smith – bass
George Dobash Jr. – drums
Dave Smith – keyboards
Norm Snyder – saxophone
Tim Cech – saxophone

Their first single contained vocal and instrumental versions of “Land of Love”, song writing credits to Serpents Inc., Edw. E. Medcaff (or Ed Metcalffe). It seems Bob Deskin brought this song with him from his prior band, the Serpents. Saxophones are absent from both their singles, but this one has flute to accompany the lead vocal.

The New Diablos released “Land of Love” on Littlefields Records RI 2759, with Alfred L. Cullen credited for production and publishing “at White Marsh, MD”. George Dobash, Sr at 823 Lannerton Road in Baltimore has arrangement credit.

New Diablos Fayette 45 I'm FakeTheir next single may have come as late as 1970. “Tangerine Guides” and “I’m Fake” have touches of psychedelia and soul. Bill Bell and George Dobash wrote both songs (Dodash on the label is a typo). I’m still trying to puzzle out the lyrics to “I’m Fake”.

It was recorded at Virtue Recording Studios at 1618 N. Broad St., Philadelphia and released on Frank Virtue’s Fayette label, F-9370. D. Hutch gets producer credit.

The band continued into the ’70s with some lineup changes.

The Del-Fi’s on DC Records

The Del Fis profiled on May 29 1965
The Del-Fis profiled on May 29, 1965

Del-Fis DC 45 Now It's Time

The Del-Fis formed in Bethesda, Maryland in 1964. Members were:

Craig Brown – lead vocals
Steve Brust – lead guitar
Bob Swain – rhythm guitar
Budge Witherspoon – bass
Jim Callas – drums

Fifi Gorska penned an article on the band for the Teen section of the Washington Evening Star on Saturday, May 29, 1965. The article has some great quotes from Bob Swain: “they talked in Greek, but we played in rock” (when the band appeared on WPIK’s Greek show), and his description of singer Craig Brown making up new versions of nursery rhymes, “sentences like a barrage of multiple karate chops to the left pancreas, each one more devastating than its predecessor” [what’s the left pancreas, anyway?]

There’s also a list of their cars (Model A, Ford Mustang, 442 Olds and Chevy II) and mention of girls wearing the Del-Fis name on their “swamp” coats (long rain coats, a fashion fad in 1964).

At the time of the article, Craig Brown, Bob Swain, Jim Callas were students at Walter Johnson High School; Steve Brust and Budge Witherspoon attended North Bethesda Junior High School, all were between 14 and 16 years of age. Their manager was Toby Long, a fellow student at Walter Johnson.

In August of 1965, the band went into the studio to record two original songs for Lillian Claiborne’s DC Records. Craig H. Brown and Steven N. Brust copyrighted both songs in August, 1965. The great side is “Now It’s Time” with it’s chiming guitars, excellent rhythm section and perfect teen vocals.

The flip is “Without You”, a harmony ballad with a finely picked melody, a good one for the slow dance, I guess.

DC Records released this with two label colors: yellow and the pink/fuschia seen here. The article says they did away with the apostrophe in Del-Fi’s but there it is on the label.

I found the article at top 12 years ago while scanning through the microfilm of the New York Public Library, but hadn’t put it together with the band on the DC single until now. If anyone has a better quality photo please contact me.

Del-Fis DC 45 Without You

The Aliminators “Let Down” on Response

The Aliminators Response 45 Let DownThe Aliminators came from the Cumberland, Maryland area in the west of the state. Members included:

Bill Atkinson – guitar
Jack Atkinson – guitar
Dick Atkinson – organ
Johnny Allen – drums, replaced by Ike Logsdon
Buddy French – lead vocals

They released one single in 1965 on the Response label that is the best record I’ve picked up in months. “Let Down” is a solid piece of R&B with group vocals, a great scream and two sharp guitar breaks over steady drumming and a somewhat murky production.

The Cumberland Evening Times ran a photo and profile of the group on Saturday, January 9, 1965. Unfortunately I don’t have digital access to the paper at this time to get the photo that ran with the text.

Several rock and roll bands have been formed in this area recently and one of the more popular ones is the Aliminators. Members of the Aliminators are Bill Atkinson, leader of the group, his two brothers Dick and Jark Atkinson, and Johnny Allen. Bill Atkinson formed the musical group in September when he returned to his home in Clarysville after spending three years in the army. While in the service in Germany, he played with an English band and toured Europe with the group while on leave.

He purchased the organ shown in the picture above while in the service and said the instrument is unique in this section in that no rock and roll band in the section uses one. The organ is played by Dick Atkinson who resides in the LaVale, and Bill and his brother, Jack play guitars. Johnny Allen, of the Frostburg area, plays the drums.

The other members of the Aliminators played with other area bands prior to joining the group and Bill Atkinson also played with Sonny James.

The group is presently playing at the Ridgeley Fire Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays and at the Top Spot on North Mechanic Street on Saturday nights. It also appears at the University Snack Bar in Frostburg. The Aliminators plan to make a recording in the next few months in Washington, where they also plan to make several appearances.

The membership of the band changed between this article and the recording session, with Buddy French coming in on lead vocals and Ike Logsdon replacing Johnny Allen on drums.

Bill Atkinson wrote “Let Down”, published with Cinco Music, BMI, though I can find no record of it with the Library of Congress. I don’t know of any other releases on Response Records. The flip was the Ed Townshend ballad, “For Your Love”.

The Aliminators Response 45 For Your Love

The Smacks

The SmacksThe Smacks hSmacks Alear 45 Say You'll Be Minead two primary members, Lloyd Semler from Hagerstown, Maryland, and Bill McCauley from Winchester, Virginia. Both towns are along the I-81 corridor, about 45 minutes drive apart. Other members include John Glosser on bass and David Hall on drums.

They had two singles, “I’ve Been Fooling Around” / “Say You’ll Be Mine” on Alear 109 from October ’65, and “Reckless Ways” / “There’ll Come a Day”, released in May of ’66 on Alear 116. All songs written by Lloyd Semler and William McCauley, with publishing by Alear Music and Sand-Wayne Music BMI.

Smacks Promo Sheet

The first release is somewhat basic, but the second single really shines for both songwriting and production.

According to thSmacks Alear 45 Reckless Wayse liner notes to the excellent CD Aliens, Psychos & Wild Things, vol. 2, “Their first 45 was recorded at Accent Sound in Baltimore. The second was done in Harrisonburg at Weaver Sound in Spring ’66. The organist on ‘Nobody Else Is Gonna Do’ may be Front Royal’s soon-to-be-semi-famous, Roger Powell. The unreleased ‘There’ll Come a Day’ is the Smacks backing up two sisters from Winchester whose names are not recalled. Both Smacks discs came out on Alear, a Winchester label run by Jean Alford.” Front Royal is just south of Winchester.

Photo of the band from Aliens, Psychos & Wild Things, vol. 2. Sorry but I don’t remember where I found the promo sheet for their first single – please write to me if it was yours!

Smacks Alear 45 Nobody Else Is Gonna Do

The Second-Hand Bitter-Sweet

The Second-Hand Bitter-Sweet photo

Second-Hand Bitter-Sweet CEI 45 You're Gonna Be Mine NoMost of the Second-Hand Bitter-Sweet were from the small town of Bainbridge, Maryland. They released one 45 in August 1968, one side an upbeat pop song, “You’re Gonna Be Mine Now”, the other a moody favorite of many garage fans, “Please Don’t Go”.

Both were originals by Burchfield and Deaton, and Robert Brown produced the single on his CEI label.

Vocalist Tom Deaton answered my questions about the band and provided the photo and news clip seen here.

Q. Who else was in the band besides you?

Robert Burchfield, Bill Nelson, Mark Wirth, Mike Burchfield, John Oglevee, and Gary Donovan.

I was in a band in high school called the Cobras. When I went into the Navy, I formed another called the Cobras II. We changed the name pretty quickly to Midnite Mass. It was during that time that I let another drummer take over and concentrated on singing. We folded pretty soon and I loaned out my P.A. system to some Navy dependents. I went to pick it up and they were rehearsing for a show at a Catholic school. They sounded pretty awful – they were all just starting to play and sing. I showed them how to sing one of their songs and they asked me to join so I did.

We came up with the name, Second Hand Bitter Sweet cause of the crazy named bands at the time – Strawberry Alarm Clock, etc. When we played out, the kids made fun of us cause we couldn’t sound like the covers. So I suggested we write a couple of our own songs that the kids couldn’t compare to anything. We did – it worked – the kids thought we were great.

Second-Hand Bitter-Sweet CEI 45 Please Don't GoGot hooked up with some guy nearby (we were in Bainbridge, MD). We went to a big studio in Baltimore and recorded 2 songs.

The producer was supposed to promote the record, but instead he sent us 500 copies and moved to Ohio.

Of course, it’s virtually impossible to promote something on your own. I had one big time DJ tell me that he got hundreds of 45’s a month and threw most of them in the trash. He said if they had a $50. with it, he would play it once…

I think I gave up too early, but I spent a year in Morocco before I got out. I took up guitar over there and formed a band called the Jagged Edge. Jagged Edge was my first attempt at playing guitar. The rest of the guys were jazz musicians so we did mostly rock and a little jazz. It was fun – we were the only American band in Morocco at that time.

Back in the states, I didn’t do much for a while (college, etc.). When I took a job in San Diego, I played lead with a country band called Country Rainbow – great band. I also played acoustic in bars for drinks and tips.

Back in North Carolina I played with several bands – wrote a few more songs. The band I’m in now, Legacy, is a lot of fun. We played as a 3 piece for over a year. Now we have another guitarist and a new drummer. We do about four of my originals – it’s just a helluva lot of fun. I also volunteer at a local hospital where I sing and play acoustic to cancer patients and others who are in bad shape. 64 and still rockin…. what can I say – “I got the music in me…”

Tom Deaton

Be sure to check out Tom’s website N.C. Blues.

Second-Hand Bitter-Sweet news clipping: Tom Deaton, Robert Burchfield, Mike Burchfield, Mark Wirth, Jon Oglevee, Gary Donovan and Billy Nelson

CEI Records

Bob Brown had been recording and releasing records in his hometown of Fremont, Ohio since the early ’60s on his Courier and Empire labels. He continued to produce singles while stationed in the Army in Aberdeen, only 11 miles from Bainbridge. During his two years there he released several records, changing the label name to CEI (Courier-Empire International).

These include:

Sodom & Gomorrah “Flower Children” (written by Caulson, Rudacille and Brown and co-produced by B. Kuhns, D. Bush and G. Gregory) / “Twenty Miles”
The Soulations “Come on Thats Love Baby” (Lester Earl Lee G&J) / “Will You Be Mine”
The Runabouts “Way Of Life” / “All Is All ” (is this the same group from Cincinnati that cut “I Need Time” / “The Chase” on Vox?)
The Hamilton Peach “With the Girl That You Love” (Jeff Yost) / “One Way Ticket Down”
The Souls of Britton “Make a New Light” / “I’ll Be on My Way” (this group had an earlier 45 from 1966, “JJ (Come Back to Me)” / “Can’t Be True” (both by Heiberger / Bumgarner, produced by C.M. Bartlett) on Ed Kennedy’s Ken-Del label out of Wilmington, Delaware).
Sites n’ Sounds “The Night Is So Dark” (R. Taylor, D. Blankenship)

Back in Ohio in late ’68, R.T. Brown became even busier, releasing a good light psychedelic 45, the Majority of Six “I See the Light” / “Tears Like Rain” and a rare private press LP by “Eric”.

Sources include: Background on the CEI label from Buckeye Beat and 45rpmrecords.com.

The Dagenites

The Dagenites, late 1965, Heigh-Ho Records photo: Julian Bardi, Jimmy Musgrove, Roger Fallin, Jon Rowzie and John Bardi
The Dagenites, late 1965. l-r: Julian Bardi, Jimmy Musgrove, Roger Fallin, Jon Rowzie and John Bardi

Dagenites Pixie 45 I Don't Want to Try It AgainThe Dagenites were a great band from Oxon Hill, Maryland who formed in 1964 and cut two crucial garage 45s in their short time together. Original members were John Bardi lead guitar, Bruce Kennett rhythm guitar, Geoff Robinson bass and Roger Fallin drums. Their name came from Dagenham, a working class suburb of London where John Bardi’s mother grew up.

They shared a manager with Link Wray, leading to weekly bookings with Wray at the 1023 Club.Because of a connection Bruce’s father had with the owner of Pixie records, the band traveled to Megacity Studio in Dayton, Ohio in the early spring of 1965 to record their first 45, “I Don’t Want to Try It Again,” an original by Geoff Robinson. John Bardi’s guitar drives the verses and before his wild lead break you can hear someone shout “Play it J.B.!” Lyrics are hard to make out, though it’s clear the singer is trying to get out of an entanglement with a girl.

The flip side is Bruce Kennett’s original “Now That Summer’s Gone,” which the band would re-record for their second record. The Pixie label also released also released 45s by Bittervetch and Dave and the Stone Hearts.

Record collector Mike Markesich told an interesting story about this 45:

The initial pressing run for promo copies of The Dagenites 45 printed the name of the group on the label incorrectly as the Joy Boys, and the label name as Fencoe. I own a copy of this 45. Someone at the record company affixed corrected labels by pasting them over the errant labels (I also have the detached corrected labels for both sides). There were probably a few hundred that went out this way. The rest were correct, as are the yellow label stock copies.

After the band members graduated from high school in 1965, the lineup changed. Geoff Robinson and Bruce Kennett left to be replaced by Bardi’s brother Julian on bass and Jon Rowzie on guitar. Jimmy Musgrove was added as vocalist.

Dagenites Heigh-Ho 45 I'm Gone SlideJohn Bardi describes the next phase of the band’s career:

Ron Barnett got us the contract with Heigh Ho records. There was what we were told was a nationwide talent search. My brother and I applied, Ron (a beatnik looking character probably in his mid-20’s, maybe a few years older) auditioned us and we won! He wanted to call us the “Howling Wolves” and have a trained wolf appear with us when we performed. We of course mocked the idea, but he had such an air of certainty about him, and he DID have this recording contract, that we went along. He had big ideas. I once heard that he had become a successful producer (I can believe it), but apart from that, I never heard anything about him after our short time together.

Dagenites Heigh-Ho 45 Now That Summer's GoneThe band traveled to New York City to record their next 45 “I’m Gone Slide” released on Heigh-Ho in September, 1965. The song is credited to Barnett, who supplied the words and idea for the song, though John Bardi arranged the music. John says, “A studio musician was hired to record an organ part for ‘I’m Gone Slide.’ He had played on the Wilson Pickett ‘Mustang Sally’ sessions (which at the time had not yet been released) and during breaks regaled the band with stories about those recently completed sessions. He played a rough cut of ‘Mustang Sally’ in order to try to influence the band in their approach to ‘I’m Gone Slide.'” For the flip they included a new version of “Now That Summer’s Gone.”

Two other tracks were recorded at the New York sessions, “The Fugitive” and “Poison Ivy,”. These songs were pressed with a Heigh Ho label and released in early 1966, though perhaps on a promotion-only basis as copies are extremely rare now. “The Fugitive” earned a pick hit review in Record World Magazine.

Dagenites Heigh-Ho 45 The Fugitive“The Fugitive” (“Once I was a respected man, but then they said I killed with my hands….”) was going to be offered as the theme song for the TV show the Fugitive, but the show was cancelled that summer. John believes it would have been the first rock style TV theme song.

There was also a second version of “I Don’t Want to Try It Again” recorded. This one had smooth vocal harmonies and a wild guitar break, and it was also released on the Heigh-Ho label. Like “The Fugitive” it was not released widely, and in fact only one copy is rumored to exist.

John wrote to me, “I still play, but the innocent immediacy of those days is long gone” – as fine a summary of the appeal of this music as I’ve ever seen.

Gina C. writes, “On June 28, 2008 Jimmy Musgrove threw a party in Benedict, Maryland reuniting all of the members of the Dagenites. They were tighter then ever and brought the house down of close to 200 class mates and friends of Oxon Hill High School.”

Dagenites 2008 reunion, l to r: Roger Fallin, Bruce Kennett, John Bardi, Geoff Robinson, Jimmy Musgrove, Julian (Lenny) Bardi, and Gus Perrotta; and in front Kenny McConkey
l to r: Roger Fallin, Bruce Kennett, John Bardi, Geoff Robinson, Jimmy Musgrove, Julian (Lenny) Bardi, and Gus Perrotta; and in front Kenny McConkey

I’m sorry to report that Jimmy Musgrove passed away on September 9, 2010.