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Brother's band, 1969


57Gregy

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We lived near Battle Creek, Michigan in '68-'69 and my brother Steve turned 16 in '69. He played rhythm guitar in this band composed of schoolmates (maybe the singer/guitarist was in the Air Force) and they recorded this in a 'teen club' on Fort Custer Air Force Station, on a stereo reel-to-reel with a stereo mic.
The recordings recently reappeared after being MIA for several years.
Here's a medley of the 3 songs, about 3:50.

 

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14593692

 

Edited by 57Gregy
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51 minutes ago, 57Gregy said:

We lived near Battle Creek, Michigan in '68-'69 and my brother Steve turned 16 in '69. He played rhythm guitar in this band composed of schoolmates (maybe the singer/guitarist was in the Air Force) and they recorded this in a 'teen club' on Fort Custer Air Force Station, on a stereo reel-to-reel with a stereo mic.
The recordings recently reappeared after being MIA for several years.
Here's a medley of the 3 songs, about 3:50.

https://www.soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14593692&secret=8QGQK

 

1969???  (The year I got my braces!  Yuck! ?)

That sounded like something that could have been created now!

(Or was it??? ?)

The song that plays when I click that link is Eclectic Dunce Mosaic.  

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5 hours ago, craigb said:

1969???  (The year I got my braces!  Yuck! ?)

That sounded like something that could have been created now!

(Or was it??? ?)

The song that plays when I click that link is Eclectic Dunce Mosaic.  

Holy smoke!
Sorry about that. Don't know how it happened. There was only 1 song/link on the page and that was what I copied. Thanks craigb!
And sorry to subject you all to that other thing again. ?

I inserted a new link. a public link. Maybe it will work now?

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14593692

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23 minutes ago, 57Gregy said:

And sorry to subject you all to that other thing again. ?

Ha!  And here I thought you were just being sneaky!  Bait and switch?  'Cause I liked that "other thing!" ☺️

Listening to your brother in the background.  NOW I feel like I'm back in the 1960's! acid.gif

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On 5/5/2023 at 1:28 PM, 57Gregy said:

We lived near Battle Creek, Michigan in '68-'69 and my brother Steve turned 16 in '69. He played rhythm guitar in this band composed of schoolmates (maybe the singer/guitarist was in the Air Force) and they recorded this in a 'teen club' on Fort Custer Air Force Station, on a stereo reel-to-reel with a stereo mic.
The recordings recently reappeared after being MIA for several years.
Here's a medley of the 3 songs, about 3:50.

 

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14593692

 

I turned 16 in 1969 too. That sounds just like the band I was in in 1969.

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On 5/7/2023 at 12:51 PM, 57Gregy said:

I don't think my brother played in the Cereal Bowl. 
I don't remember doing any bowling when we were in Michigan.

When we toured Michigan, the Cereal Bowl, in Battle Creek was the only bowling alley we played. It was in the lounge, and it was huge. I tried googling it, but it's no longer there.

It was the "in" spot for singles back then.

That was long ago. ♪ Michigan seems like a dream to me now ♪

 

Notes ♫

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Wow!  The Cereal Bowl had me go on a mission to see if I could find any pictures of the Parkway Bowl (in El Cajon California) where I used to go to watch the local bands and...  I discovered that Mike Keneally (who's less than two years older than me) lived in San Diego about the same time I was there AND that Frank Zappa went to Mission Beach High School in San Diego, moved away and then back around 1952!  I never knew either of them lived in San Diego at any point!  Albeit Zappa was about 22 years older than me, but I might have run into Keneally and not even known it back then! ?

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It was a great time to be a musician, when every hotel from a Holiday in and up, every decent restaurant, every singles bar, every adult lounge, and even the bowling alleys had live bands, 6 nights per week.

Anyone halfway decent could get a gig. And with that work experience on stage, become an accomplished player.

One of the band I was in for a few years started out adequate. We played a bowling alley in Ft. Lauderdale (Manor Lanes), a couple of dives, as we got better, bars on “The Strip”, oceanside in Fort Lauderdale, FL and bars in Miami like "The Peppermint Lounge". We had improved to being decent by then.

A manager picked us up and we went on the road playing singles bars in college towns (this was before DJs). With all that experience we continued to improve, and eventually were the warm-up band for big stars, in concert, as they promoted their new albums. We were courted by a major label but were dropped when our manager and the label couldn't agree on money (it was a bad deal, but I still wish we would have taken it sometimes).

It was quite a trip, but I don't think a 5-piece band today could get enough work. Bars now have open mic nights, DJs, karaoke, sports TV land, and there isn't the big demand for musicians that there used to be.

I'm lucky, I'm gigging 15 times this month, and it's dead-slow season.

 

Notes ♫

 

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