Bare Facts - LaPorte - 68-69

Wes brings us the "Bare Facts", from LaPorte, Indiana.
A couple of guys in a band, The Intruders, know a couple of other guys in another band, mix in that they all go to the same school - LaPorte High School - and the Bare Facts are born.

Wes England explains:
"We were known as the Bare Facts. We recorded a few records at Universal Studios in Chicago, 1968, 1969, We toured all over the Midwest, playing with most of the major artists of the time. Such artists are James Brown, New Colony Six, Buckinghams, Turtles, American Breed, Derek and the Dominos, Tommy James and The Shondells. We played all the Circuits, The Hullabaloo Clubs, The Top Deck in South Bend, Orchestra Hall in Chicago and many more venues."
Behold the Bare Facts: L - R

Ron Shaw - Lead Guitar / Horns
Bob Nebelung - Drums
Wes England - Bass
Dan Topolski - Rhythm guitar
Jim Sipe - Lead Vocals
Dave Curtis - Keyboards / Horns
The presenter of the trophy is Clark Weber - WLS personality.
Steve Kirkman - not pictured / lead singer replaced by Jim Sipe.

Wes:

"The biggest influences on the band were probably the brass or horns, along with harmonies, We were one of the only groups in the mid-sixties that actually played on stage with horns. Many groups recorded with horns, but did not actually have them. The Buckinghams is a good example. They did not have a horn section.

Also, we took great pride in our vocals. most groups had a lead vocalist, but did not really focus on tight harmonies. We did. Every guy in the group sang, or performed back up vocals on most every song, unless it was not required, of course. We also did songs that other groups did not perform. Songs like "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "It's Not Unusual" along with most every Four Tops song.

We actually would be let out of High School at Noon on Friday's, so that we could make our first gig on Friday night. We would play Friday in Chicago, Saturday in Burlington Iowa and then Sunday in Springfield, Ill. The next week would be Detroit, Mi to Findlay, Oh, to Indianapolis, In. It was a great time.

We would actually bump into many big time bands, on the road, at rest stops etc."

The Bare Facts also had a recording session that resulted in a couple original tunes:

Does She Love Me / Think I'm Falling in Love


Wes is working on getting the tunes from reel to reel, don't think it made it to 45 stage. should be a treat when we can share it! And here's loads of thanks for all the cool pics. This is just a few of them!!!!

Night Watchmen - Ft. Wayne -1967 - Findlay OHIO....OOPS

Interesting ad from August '67. Playing at a W & D clothing store, we present the Night Watchmen.
I have no clue about any of the members, or the band, but look forward to finding out.

Clothing / Fashion stores were a popular gig in the mid '60s. I have photos of the Olivers playing at Wassons (1966), and The Boys Next Door had a show filmed by the owner of Dorothy's Fashions , Herb Levison, in November 1966. Dorothy's was located on 16th st, Speedway. Someone has to know if that tape is around somewhere.

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!