Fabulous Squires - 1965

The Fabulous Squires played in Franklin, December 1965. This is a call out to anyone that may know them, any info, real or imagined, welcomed. Just kidding on the imagined part, but it seemed to fit the mood.

Anyone know if Jim Shelton is still out there? Seems like I should get in touch with him.

Chain Reactions

The Chain Reactions - another band from the fountain of teen combo's - Ft. Wayne.

Members include:

Rich Loy - Drums
Mark McNeal - Lead guitar
Mike Habig - Rhythm guitar
Steve Kamphues - Vocals
Kenny Parisot - Bass

All the kids were still in high school at the time. As of April '67, The Chain Reactions were preparing to cut a record. Original songs were ready, such as:

What Will Happen Tomorrow
Just Another Day
Stick Around

I don't know if the plans ever came to fruition, but as you know, I'll be looking! Kudos to the boys for the entertainment and hope to hear from you soon.

Chosen Few - Shelbyville

For your consideration - from Shelbyville, Indiana, The Chosen Few.
Not the Chosen Few (Muncie) that recorded and had a quite lengthy career. But I'm told these guys at least had the band name first!

Front Row L-R:
Bobby Jones - Guitar
Louie Cover - Bass / vocals
Mike Carr - Rhythm / vocals
Middle:
Thom Beagle - Drums
Back:
Eddie Moore - Lead Vocals / Keyboards

At first glance, I'm floored by the Ventures Mosrite. Not quite the Kay or Harmony that seems most started out with. Wow, I'm still looking for one.

I'm pretty sure that there are no recordings, but as always, we salute the band, and hope we give the recognition that is due.

Vlasics - Valasics

Originally Chris Henricks, Bill Harding, Ben (Duaine) Taylor (SHS 1968) Joe Green and Dan Ware (Manual High School 1966), were formed as the Vlasics at Southport High School.

This was way back in 1965. The Vlasics played at the Baxter YMCA, Eagles Lodge and many private parties in their first year. A major turning point was their win of the "Battle of the Bands" at the new,Greenwood Shopping Center, in June 1966. The band won a trip to Chicago to play in a regional battle of the bands, at McCormick Place! The Vlasics replaced Joe Green on Keyboards in 1967 with Randy Tipmore. (Also a Southport High School graduate). The Vlasics enjoyed a fair amount of success in those years and were playing clubs, fraternity/sorority parties,graduations and other events in a five 5 state region during their high school years.

REMEMBER THE:

Whiteland Barn
Flame Club
Hillside Beach Club
House of Sound
Indiana State Fair "Teen Tent"

Yep, They played those places often.

In May of 1968 the Vlasics went to record their first "Record" ("Breakaway") at Universal studios in Chicago. The Vlasics continued a busy schedule until August 1 1969, The date of their last "Gig".

Ok, all that text was borrowed (stolen) from the boys defunct website, circa 2004. But the Vlasics have a special place in my research heart. Dan Ware was the first band member I actually called and asked about any band. He was very kind and talked a bit, then directed me towards Bill Harding, who was playing locally. The wife and I met him and had a great time. Here we are several years later, and I'm finally telling the story.

Hear some tunes:
Break Away
Things Movin' Fast

Somehow the record was credited to the "Valasics", altho the band was sponsored somewhat by the Vlasic pickle company. The 45 was one of the more difficult to find ones I have on my list. Many, many to go, and look forward to sharing even more with my readers and contributors!

Brents - Shelbyville 1967

Who would have thought that Shelbyville would be a hotbed of teen band action?

The Brents:

Front row l-r:
Gary DeBaun - drums
Bobby Jones - Lead Guitar
Fred Dickmann - vocals - sax

Back row:

Mike Carr - rhythm guitar - vocals
Louie Cover - bass - vocals
Eddie Moore - keyboards - vocals

The Brents placed third in the 1967 Indiana State Fair Battle of the Bands. That made them the best band in Indiana. If you wonder about the math, Fred explains it:

"I'm really proud of the 1st band I was in, The Brents. If you zoom in on the text of the pic I sent you, you will be able to see that we placed 3rd of over 500 bands from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky & Illinois. Matter of fact, after we placed 3rd we printed handbills locally advertising our band as "the best band in Indiana". Well, the way we justified that statement was the fact that the first place band in the Indiana State Fair Battle of the Bands Contest of 1967 was from Ohio; the second place band was from Illinois; The Brents from Shelbyville, Indiana placed 3rd...so, by default, we were the best band in Indiana! Made sense to us, anyway. And really, if you think about that - over 500 bands - well let me just say, that was the absolute highlight of my modest live music career. Hey, check out our playlist from the competition...still classic tunes!! "

I'd sure like to find one of those flyers. The Brents didn't record, but did leave us some great info.

Thanks Fred for the contribution!

Saharas - Plymouth

For your consideration, from Plymouth High School - 1966 - we present The Saharas.

The Saharas were chosen to be the music of the kids for the Republican party fundraisers. Maybe because of these kids (parents were business and country club socialites) Nixon won the '68 election.
The Saharas traveled to Columbus in '66, and this was the only photo I could find. The Go-Go girls were a hit, but the word is they played "too loud". Hard to imagine, but times were different.

Members were:

Larry Truman
Kurt Kralovanshy
Jim Boudreau
Dan Williams
Steve Robertson

The Saharas left us one 45, with a truly dazzlin' sleeve.
Hear the songs:

Spirit of '66
Because of Him

Hope we hear from the guys (or gals). I wrote to Kurt back in '98 or '99, but never heard back. Hope they are all doing well, and still love the music.

Teaberry Scandal

The Teaberry Scandal. Great name, unknown kids, until now!
Purdue University connection, solid Indiana lead, now we have some names!
And those names:

Keith Vanderbosch - lead singer
Bob Leavell - Drums
Dennis ("Turkey") Heinz - Lead guitar
Bob Keller - 12 string guitar
Steve Behr - Bass

And who do we thank for the info? It's right there on the photo. I wrote to Gerald Goldhaber, and he replied right away:

"Wow! We were together from 1966-70, sponsored by Clark Gum Company (who made Teaberry Gum), a division of Philip Morris. I had contacted the head of PR at Clark/Philip Morris, just to get some help with uniforms....bands wore suits, etc. in those days. Boy, was I surprised when he flew to Lafayette, IN and the rest is history. The lead singer was Keith Vanderhook (I think), the drummer was Bob Leavell, the lead guitar was Dennis ("Turkey") Heinz, the 12-string guitar was Bob Keller and the bass player was Steve Behr. We played all over the country, starting at Purdue with sororities and fraternities, then the National Candy Show (Boston, MA), competed in the Little Rock, AK National pop/jazz festival, were offered a recording contract by Capital Records (which we never signed because the band broke up). My wife, Marylynn, and I used to travel with the band to various gigs in the U.S. in a UHaul truck; we made about $200-300/gig, a fortune in the '60's...lol. The band wrote its own music in order to get ready for Capital Records, but they broke up, due to lost interest, travel schedules, graduation, etc. We used to put a 7' wooden stick of Teaberry Gum on the stage at our gigs and at the end of each set, we threw out hundreds of packs of gum to the audience....in true bubble gum fashion. Towards the end, they changed their name to "The Scandal" to be a bit more edgy."

Fabulous eh? Tons of questions as usual:
Any recordings?
Top 40 or originals?
Best gig, gig from hell?
Where are we now?

Keep 'em coming gang! This starts our 4th year!!!!!!!!