Lancemen - '66 - Indiana

Tonight's tribute is based on a blurry old photo and some scribbled names. The Lancemen were students from Arlington & Lawrence Central High Schools. In 1966 the Greenwood Mall was new and quite different than today. And they seemed to host teen band contests frequently, so that means lots of opportunities for more bands to be known!

Members pictured:

Tom Burns - drums
Mike Keithley - guitar
Cheryl Cunningham - vocals
Bill Knipe - guitar
John Gardner - bass

I don't know of any Lancemen
45's out there, but I'm forever on the lookout!
As always, we would love to hear from you guys and gals. Anyone with any info, please feel free to share, you all have been so kind to help keep this going!

John Gardner found us!

"I was quite surprised to hear from my daughter that your blog existed and dumbfounded to find you remembered my band, the Lancemen. The picture you have is the first publicity photo we had made just after we started playing together. The girl is indeed Cheryl Cunningham. She was 5 or six years older than the rest of us. In fact when I was in grade school she lived next door and babysat me and my sister after school. She was only with the band for about 6 mos; got engaged and then married. I vaguely remember the band contest at the mall, but don't remember how we did. I know later in '66 we competed in the "Battle of the Bands" at the state fair and came in third. That prompted a picture and article in the Indpls News to be published, of which I still have a copy. It makes reference to the Greenwood Mall contest and our fourth place finish in another one at the old Carnegie Music store in Indy. We stayed together until the fall of '68 when I went off to college in Georgia. It was a fun way to go through HS and I have a lot of fun memories of playing school dances and parties. Probably the biggest gig we did was opening for the Indpls Kingsmen in a big sorority dance held at agriculture building at the state fairgrounds. I think we got $500. The worst was playing a dance in a tiny roller rink near Westfield for $50 and half the gate. I think only 20 or so people showed up. At 59 years old I am amazed at the power of the internet being able to bring the Lancemen back from the dead. Thanks for remembering and good luck."

Wonderful contribution! Thanks John and daughter. We remember and we honor you!

U.S. MALE - Warsaw Indiana - 1967 - 68

The U.S. MALE, based out of Warsaw, Indiana circa 1967.
Special thanks to Bill Wagoner:

"We played all over the midwest, Detroit, Indy, Ft Wayne, Burlington Iowa, Muncie, etc etc, we opened for a lot of big name bands at places like Tippy Gardens, The Top Deck in South Bend, The Electric Circuit in Elkhart, Edison Lighthouse in South Bend and The Spectrum (I think thats the name) in Indy, Hullabaloo clubs in Ft Wayne and Portage, The Crows Nest East in Detroit and so forth.

We opened for New Colony Six, Music Explosion, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Spencer Davis Group, The Outsiders, and some others.

BTW, we were total hell raisers, part of the charm of the band and our reputation to be truthful. The coats in that picture were stolen in fact. lol They were old band uniform coats and we found out where they were stored and got in and grabbed coats, big plumey hats and stuff, there were stored in a barn and were no longer used. Then were actually wore them to do gigs back to the same high school we got them from. lol (Youth, what can you say, we were nuts)"

Members pictured (back to front - left to right):

Paul Graham - rhythm guitar
Randy Kirkendall - Vocals
Ralph Marol - Bass & vocals
Dan Sullivan - tambourine & backing vocals
Dave Patterson - Drums
Bill Wagoner - Lead guitar

Thanks Bill! Bill was also kind enough to send some additional pictures and we'll have an update soon.

2nd Floor Basement Band - Central Indiana - 1967

From 1967, The 2nd Floor Basement Band. These guys were finalists in the '67 Greenwood (Indiana) Center Talent Contest. Not content with Top 40 music, they did write much of their own music. (Now if I could only find some of it!)

Members pictured (left to right):
Rich Elkens - organ - Southport High School
Jim Fedora - bass - Arlington High
Dick Raasch - vocals - Southport High
Stuart Reed - lead guitar - Southport High
Ronnie Manning - rhythm guitar - Southport High
Gary Edwards - drums - Tech High School

Pretty sure there is not a 45 to glean from these guys, but as always, I'm on the hunt. What else did these guys do? Pass it on so we can share the good times!

The Spiders - Franklin, Indiana 1966

The Spiders, direct from Franklin, Indiana 1966. The band was scheduled to play the "Teen Canteen" in Whiteland. This is the only time I've seen them scheduled to play anywhere, but of course, that's not definitive.

Members included:
left to right

Robin Ramsey
Mike Massey
Bill Bensheimer
Tony Goff
Duane Hayes

I don't know that these kids went on to anything else, but can't wait to hear from them! And if you know any details, please share!

Dawn 5 - Dawn Five - Indianapolis, Indiana 1966

The mighty Dawn 5, once one of the local favorites, and sadly, least known bands of the 1965-'67 era. They stayed together long enough to give us a great 45, just enough info to keep interest up, including an interview in the Indianapolis Teen Tempo magazine,(that I don't have yet) and then disappeared from the scene. More than a couple of the bands I have interviewed admitted the Dawn Five were the best musicians out there. Who am I to disagree? But, who were they, what else did they do, and where are they now?




They were:

Mike Nicoloff
Greg Nicoloff
Dave Dunne
Dave McKnown
Steve Benham

Listen to the truly dazzlin' Necessary Evil right now, and tell me where these guys are!

Holidays - Franklin - 1966

This is another of the totally unknown, who are you posts. Playing July 3rd, 1966. I'd love to come across a schedule or accounting ledger from Scott Hall. Maybe, Christmas is coming you know!.

Any members of the Holidays, please check-in, we are waiting to salute you.

Henchmen - Camp Atterbury - 1966

Here's a cool pic of the Henchmen, August '66. A group from the Camp Atterbury Job Corps, shown playing at the Lions Club fish fry. I've read about bands from foster homes, the Sangralads from a boys home, but never have seen a band from the job corps. Pretty cool eh? The notes from the event were just overwhelming, " The group played many musical numbers and some of the crown danced". Wow, what enthusiasm, too bad they didn't leave a set list!

Members were:
Front, left to right:

Don Scott
Gaylor Roach
Richard Guzman
Richard Mirayes - Drums

No recordings known or rumored, but I'm always looking!