A score and three years before the opening shots of "60''s indiana band szene" there was "Hoosier Hotshots". Quite frankly one of the most important, and least known, documents of the Indiana 60's musical landscape. Ron Simpson, I salute you!
In a stroke of genius, the album includes 8 pages of band bio (mostly correct too!), and chock full of newspaper ads of when local bands were playing. Teen dance at the "Southlake Roof" and "Dance at the Tippy" are just some of the 8 pages of artifacts.
But the money is always the music. Sadly no bands from south of I70 are represented, but that's ok, as it leaves me some fertile ground to cover.
What about the bands you ask? Here is the line-up:
XL"s - Terre Haute - two great 45's
Cirkit - Michigan City - one 45, and it's a doozy
Shooting Stars - Winchester - two 45's - love them both!
Ferris Wheel - Winchester - one 45
Sir Winston & the Commons - Indianapolis - no strangers to our readers - two 45's - two acetates and more......
Teen Tones - Muncie - three 45's
Blues Inc - Ft. Wayne - one 45
The Endd - La Porte - four 45's and one of my favorites!
Tikis - Syracuse - one 45
Wild Things - New Castle - one 45 and lots of tapes!
Backdoor Men - Goshen area college guys - line-up changed often - one 45
Dukes - Elkhart - at least two 45's and an acetate
Idle Few - Indianapolis - three 45's
Mere Image - Goshen - one acetate
Pretty stellar stuff, and a couple of 45's that I still don't have. Of course with time and the internet we are able to sleuth a bit more easily than Ron could in the early 80's. I cannot thank him enough for showing what can be done. I still see the LP for sale once in a while, but I don't know if it's in print or someone is booting it. Maybe I'll share it someday.
And that brings us to the aborted Hoosier hotshots Two..........
The Reel Blues band members were all from or near Decatur, Illinois. Formed in August 1966, it was a seven-piece band plus lead singer Joe Merriweather. In 1967, we began booking through Blytham Ltd. in Champaign, IL, and our agent was Irving Azoff. Irving soon expanded the band’s territory to a 260-mile radius of Decatur. Indiana venues included: teen clubs: Fabulous Flame, Ft. Wayne; The Barn, Whiteland, The World, Vincennes as well as college fraternities and sororities at; DePauw, Greencastle; Indiana University, Bloomington; Indiana State, Terre Haute, and University of Evansville. We played many times at Chances R in Champaign, IL and at teen clubs and venues all over northern Illinois including the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, and teen dances in Beloit, WI. Cover songs included a mix of top 40 songs the first set before we brought out Joe Merriweather for two or three sets of rhythm & blues cover songs by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Sam & Dave, and Otis Redding. Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" was Joe's signature song. The group disbanded in early 1971.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't caught up on your blog for awhile and saw this post. I've been living in the Seattle area for the last 30 years and found out a while back that a guy I know there did the artwork for this! Small world with this garage stuff. I think I've played all the cuts from this on my radio show over the last 12 years.
ReplyDeleteJerry Bennett
From Here To Obscurity
KSER 90.7 FM
Everett Wa
Any chance anyone has any videos if their shows? I saw them at the Hayloft in the Ft. Wayne area around 1967 or so. They were a great group.
ReplyDeleteAny chance anyone has any videos if their shows? I saw them at the Hayloft in the Ft. Wayne area around 1967 or so. They were a great group.
ReplyDeleteI just found three pictures of the Reel Blues, circa 1967. It might have been the Hayloft in Fort Wayne. I can leave a comment but not show the pictures. Need assistance from the original poster to send me a link so I can email you the pictures. Reel Blues Bass Player
ReplyDeletebigmike.berg@yahoo.com
DeleteIf you can send the pictures I would be very pleased. This was a great group.
My favorite band of all time. When they were at Chances R I was there start to finish.
ReplyDelete