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..........
