Remember the bands?

[bruiser]

How many of the local bands do you remember? How about The Sultans, Cosmo and the Counts, The Tren-dells, The Carnations, The Monarchs, The Oxfords who morphed into The Rugbys, Soul Inc., The Keys, Us Four, and many others. Add the ones you remember.

[Travis]

I still have a 45-RPM record of "You, I" and "Stay With Me" (on the flipside) which was recorded by Louisville's own Rugbys. Of course, I learned of The Rugbys when "You, I" was played on WAKY and went to see them perform at the old Valley Rollerdome, in Valley Station (later destroyed by fire). I met lead singer, Steve McNichol some years later and he told me of how instrumental Johnny Randolph had been at promoting local bands. There is currently a project taking place to make the music of The Rugbys, and many other local bands, available after all these years. Check out: www.groovymusicinc.com/

[bruiser]

I know about Marvin and the Groovy Music project. He's been trying to do this for several years. They've managed to release the Soul Inc., Elysian Field, and Oxfords stuff. Last time I looked The Rugbys/Lazarus album is still available through Amazon.com. I've got several dozen recordings by the local bands in my collection. A good source to find this music is C's Records on Dixie Hwy.

Here is a trivia question regarding the local bands: what group was the only one to score a national top 40 hit?

[purplepeopleeater]

Big Lou has always had a bunch of great musicians and
bands. WAKY, Johnny Randolph and a Saturday night dance sponsored by Pepsi helped many a young musician hone his/her chops.
A couple of more bands for the list, New York Free Public Library, and offshoot of Soul, Inc. Maxwell, Settle, and Bugbee were hot local bands.
I have to think about that trivia question...unless it was Lionel Hampton!

[bruiser]

Yep, Jim Settle, Frank Bugbee, and Marvin Maxwell left Wayne Young and Soul Inc. to become Maxwell, Settle, and Bugbee, who then became Elysian Field after Jimmy Settle left the group. We can add WAKY"s own Tom Dooley and the Lovelights to the list, as well as The Chateaus and the Company Front.

The Rugbys were the only Louisville group to score a top 40 hit. It was "You, I", back in '69. Apparently Shelby Singleton really put the screws to them. You can look a little farther abroad, to the Lexington/Richmond area, and see that Exile, once known as The Exiles, had a huge #1 hit with "Kiss You All Over".

[purplepeopleeater]

I sat here staring at the screen last night trying to remember Frank's early band, and there it is..The Chateaus. I saw Tom Dooley open for The Doors at Freedom Hall, along with the incredible " Waters".
John Burgard, John Mackey and Ray Barrickman could really get it going. Ray, as most of you may know, now plays with the humble Hank Williams,Jr. . John Mackey is unfortunately not with us any more, but you can still catch that crafty guitarist Mr Burgard around town.
I almost forgot...did you know The Rugbys played at the Miami Pop Festival on the strength of You-I?

[bruiser]

The Chateaus first name was The Shadows, but they changed it to avoid any trouble with Cliff Richards and The Shadows. The Chateaus had a national release on "I'm The One". The Rugbys had lots of national dates after "You, I" hit the charts. Speaking of Frank Bugbee, he inspired a young cousin of mine to go into the lead guitar business. My cousin Greg had shown some talent on the guitar as a pre-teen. He had heard how good Bugbee was, and he asked me to take him to see Elysian Field play. Elyisian Field at that time was Bugbee, Marvin Maxwell, and Gary Johnson. Greg just stood there mesmerized watching Bugbee. When I was taking Greg home, he said "I know what I'm gonna do to make a living. I"m gonna be a guitar player and play like Frank". Greg's dream did come true. Y'all might know him. He played lead for Ronnie McDowell, and is the lead guitarist for The Kentucky HeadHunters. I'd say he learned well watching Frank. BTW, the Heads will have a new cd coming out this spring. It's the best thing they've done since the "Pickin' On Nashville" cd.

[purplepeopleeater]

I know those guys...and Greg...I have been known to do a little runnin' with a few of them.
Frank used to do instrumental versions of Up Up and Away and MacAurthur Park, and while I know that may sound kind of anti-rock to some of you, he made them relevant to his style and they rocked!. His touch,feel and lyrical approach were (and I'm sure still are) amazing. Now, you can go from him to Steve Ferguson, and don't forget Tim Krekel. That is a formidable group of pickers, all from about the same neighborhood. They all played a part in the early years of rock 'n' roll in Louisville.

[jslone]

Hey a few years ago i bought a CD called "Louisville Rock & Roll Music" which is a Gr. Hits CD of Louisville Bands. I got it at Hawley-Cooke Bookstore which is now Borders. They may still have it for sale

[Chuck Combs]

Another local band in the mid 60s was the Kustoms. I had to move away from Louisville about 22 years ago and I have been trying to find some mp3 files of the older groups. I have a coulple Monarchs and Sultants but would really like to find "Oh Baby Please Don't Go" by Cosmo and the Counts. If anyone can tell me where I can get them I sure would appretiate an email.

[e-mail]

[MadJokerofPRP]

The Caravans, The Second Time Around Band...

[bruiser]

Guest-Chuck said:

Another local band in the mid 60s was the Kustoms. I had to move away from Louisville about 22 years ago and I have been trying to find some mp3 files of the older groups. I have a coulple Monarchs and Sultants but would really like to find "Oh Baby Please Don't Go" by Cosmo and the Counts. If anyone can tell me where I can get them I sure would appretiate an email.

[e-mail]

Check your e-mail.

[Ronnie Brown]

The Uniques from Valley Sta & Shivley couldn't get East of Preston St. because the other bands had it sown up. They've reunited and are playing in June with the Epics at Valley Dairy Freeze in Valley Sta for a free charity concert for Office Peter Grignon's family. They're back after 40 years and sound great!

[bruiser]

Guest-Chuck said:

Another local band in the mid 60s was the Kustoms. I had to move away from Louisville about 22 years ago and I have been trying to find some mp3 files of the older groups. I have a coulple Monarchs and Sultants but would really like to find "Oh Baby Please Don't Go" by Cosmo and the Counts. If anyone can tell me where I can get them I sure would appretiate an email.

[e-mail]

I can't seem to get past your e-mail screener. I've tried to send you something.

[Chuck Combs]

Sorry Bruiser - I do have Earthlink's spam blocker turned on and I am not sure why it blocked your email. I added you to the address book and I think that will stop it from blocking your email.

You can also send email to me at combsc at llr.sc.gov.

John Quincy sure has put a lot of work into this website. I have spent the last few hours reading a bunch of it and have learned some stuff that I did not remember.

Thanks,

Chuck Combs

[Max]

There is an article in the Spotlight section of today's News-Enterprise entitled 'Rock 'n' Roll Revival'. It is an article surrounding an Elizabethtown band that existed from 1965-1968 called the Headstones. They took 2nd place in the 1967 WAKY Battle of the Bands. Band members were, and still are, Pat Cardin, Danny Amos, Mike Bigelow, Gary Claggett, and Park Crain. Pat Cardin, when I grew up, seemed to have taught the majority of local drummers. A couple of drummer's who had been in my band were students of his. They are reuniting this weekend with the exception of Burgess, although the article doesn't specify where. I'm assuming it's private. It is a very enjoyable article and although a little before my time, I can still relate to since the timeline of their story was around that of "American Graffiti", one of my favorite movies.

Anyway, the News-Enterprise is online, but until recently you could go to their site and scan the paper. Now they require you to register so they can 'get to know their readers better'. Riiiiiiiigggghhhhht! So they can give your email address to junk mailers and make it available to hackers! Excuse me..........I digress (again). Your best option if you're not into giving personal information on the web or live in Hardin County is to see if your local library receives the News-Enterprise. Like I said, it's a very enjoyable read!!!

[housemom1952]

Does anyone remember a band called the Decades from late 60's early 70's?

[Max]

I was just wondering something today as I was talking with a visitor who came to pickup his t-shirts...I was showing him the WAKY album of local artists Johnny Randolph cut back in '79 when I glanced at the name 'Free Fall' on the first cut. If any 70's buffs out there are like me, you either have alot of or else remember the K-tel and Ronco albums that were always being released in the 60's and especially the 70's. Amongst my K-tel and Ronco LP's I have the "Right On" album from 1976 with the cute babe on the cover giving a thumbs up. On the back it idenitified her as "Kerry Ciardelli, lead vocalist of Free Fall". Since the cut on the WAKY album features a male lead, I went to check it out on the internet. The girl is now Kerry Ciardelli-Olson and lives in Minnesota. Still, that doesn't mean she couldn't have moved. So do any Louisvillian's remember this local group? Did they ever have a female lead or is this just a group by the same name? Some of the links on the 'net lists the name as Freefall...one word as opposed to two (not to be confused with Firefall).

[Travis]

I hated those K-Tel recordings. At first, it seemed like such a great deal, 20 hit songs on a single LP. Wow! That was equal to 10 songs per side at a time when 5 songs per side was the norm. Even today, 20 songs will pretty much fill a standard 700 Mb CD.

Then it became obvious how K-Tel did it. The songs were edited (more like butchered) to make everything fit. The worst one that comes to mind is Argent's 'Hold Your Head Up.' I can't describe it in text, but what a hack job to shorten that tune to a mere 2 minutes. It was absolutely awful.

Edgar Winter had been inspired to rename his 'Double Drum Solo' to 'Frankenstein' after sitting and watching all the splices pass over the playback head in the studio at the time. The title was an inside joke referring to all the cuts & edits that the tune had underwent. Well, after K-Tel put it on an LP with 20 other tunes it was one hacked-up monster, alright. Frankenstein, indeed.

I've had nothing to do with K-Tel ever since.

[Max]

Come on, Travis! Why of course, K'tel and Ronco had a factory in Transylvania. I think we're all aware of the way they did hack jobs. My first one was "Music Express" and I noticed they either cut the intro, left out a solo or verse, or just faded the song out early. The point was, for a kid it was a great way to stock up on tunes. He can always go out and get the 45 to the ones he liked later (79 cents was what I started off paying). But those were a slice of Americana and a part of the good ol' days. They gave you enough of the song to 'wet your whistle'. You can bet your boots if you listened long enough you'd hear it on WAKY or WKLO.

I must confess I've been stocking up on both for nostalgia sake. By the way, K-tel is now putting out CD's and you can get 10 songs in their entirety. Odd how, as you say, they would now be able to get 20 complete songs now.

[njtoms]

Hey everyone, talked to Bailey tonight. He wants to hear from all of his friends. New and old. Give the Duke of Louisville a call. He will love it!

As Johnny Randolph, put it so well. It's better to say hello NOW; than at a coffin. The DUKE'S number is (502)-XXX-XXXX. [Note from John Quincy: please e-mail [e-mail] if you'd like the number.] Bill needs and wants to hear from his fans. Just take a quick minute to let him know how much he means to you. Life is way too short. You feel better by doin' it.

Always My Best,

Noel Thomas

(WVLK 77'-86')

[Travis]

OuCh!! I'm not so sure you should have done that. Remind me to never give you my phone number (even though nobody would call ME!). You may have suggested a time frame. If he retires earlier than most (for obvious reasons) his phone could become a real nuisance.

I hope you and the Duke know what you're doing.

[Max]

I don't even know what that post was doing on this thread in the first place. We all need to pay attention to what we're posting and not get so excited to post something that we get on the wrong thread and most importantly give out personal information.

[chucksc]

Hey Brusier, if you are still around try to email me at [e-mail]. I was looking for some mp3 files for some of the old Louisville groups from the 60s.