The Indiana Beach amusement park was quite the szene in the 60's. Check out this slice of history, August '68, and look at the treasure of bands that performed there. For three bucks or less, you could be rockin' to the likes of the:Cryan' Shames - Illinois band with hit record "Sugar & Spice" altho the flip "Ben Franklin's Almanac" is the superior tune! Several 45's released.
Stamp Machine - unknown
Iron Butterfly - San Diego, CA - a world away from Indiana in the '60's. In-a-gadda-da-vida could have been the whole set!
REO Speedwagon - Illinois - not the mid '70's powerhouse with Gary Richrath yet.
SRC - Scott Richard Case - Detroit - several 45's recorded
Rituals - unknown - common band name
Brand X - Could be one of two known bands. One recorded a great 45 on Steel-Breeze, two motown tunes from a Chicago(?) band, or an Indianapolis band that included Rob Swaynie
Guess Who - Canadian - if you don't know these guys, I can't help you.
Cavaliers - Several to chose from also. Could be the one from Greenwood.
Basooties - One 45 on Muffin - Gary, IN label. General wisdom is Indiana based band.
For $3 you could see Iron Butterfly AND REO Speedwagon - where have all the good time gone?
Thanks Brad Long for the flyer!
Wasn't just Monticello, but college towns also drew some big names. F'rinstance, I saw the Cryan Shames play on Woodlawn Field at IU (just NW of the HPER Bldg). About the same time frame, The Shadows of Knight played the back of a cube van parked on the North Jordan extension above 17th St. And a year or two before, The Trashmen and the Kingsmen played the same night (well, it WAS Little 5 weekend), All for free, too.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how many times we got to enjoy the Chosen Few courtesy of some frat. Again, free! That's a pretty good price, you must admit.
The Ritual.. The lead singer started out in a band the Chosen Few..At the time Chosen Few had 2 lead singer,Carl and Haji.. Haji left the band and started the Ritual Band..
ReplyDeleteI've heard that The Who once played at Indiana Beach, although I don't know if it's true.
ReplyDeleteYes they did I was there.
DeleteAbsolutely true. Our band, The Brother's Supreme, was active in the area in those years, including a set warming the crowd up for Vanilla Fudge in addition to The Chosen Few set at Indiana Beech in the summer of 68 as I recall. Carl Storey and the Chosen Few were an area favorite in those years. A short-lived effort to expand the reach of the Few involved a trial merger with The Ritual, a band from Florida, frontman Haji Baba didn’t succeed in tandem with Carl and split off to further the run of The Ritual.
DeleteI think the Reo Speedwagon in this flyer is that Reo Speedwagon.They formed in 1966 after all and they were from Champaign, Ill.
ReplyDeleteThe REO at that time had Duke Tomato lead guitar and Terry Luttrel as lead singer,
ReplyDeleteVanilla Fudge....Buckingham's...and Chicago also at Indiana Beach in the 60 s
DeleteI lived in Winamac until 1970. I don’t know the exact dates but I saw Jefferson Airplane; Iron Butterfly; Vanilla Fudge between 1966 and 1969
ReplyDeleteI think it cost about $3 for tickets! Great days��
the cavaliers were a band from monon in. about 10 miles from monticello where ind beach is located.i use to play with a couple of the guys from that band. the bass player was Dick Stemmel and the guitar/keyboard player was uncas woodcock. there's a whole story behind uncas' name but i wont go into it here.......... gary ward
ReplyDeleteWe spent many summer weekends at the Beach in 1967,68,69 & 1970- only a 30 minute drive away!
ReplyDeleteWhen I tell people today about the bands we saw they tend to be skeptical since Monticello was essentially in the middle of nowhere at the time and I-65 was under construction I seem to recall.
It’s great to communicate with folks that were there all those 50 + years ago!
I recently visited the Beach with my grandchildren June 2023. I rode the sky chair once again after half a century passed!
Great memories! Glad they were able to save it after all.