I came back to tell you about the music scene in Wisconsin from my eyes, it was an exciting time. It’s hard to know where to start. The Beatles came in ’64, I saw the Doors in the arena in ’67, Cream, Hendrix and the Allman Brothers played at the Scene, which was run by Benadetta Balistrieri in the late ’60s. The Midwest Rock Festival was coming to the State Fair Park in ’69 with Blind Faith, Joe Cocker & the Grease Band, Jethro Tull, along with my favorite local groups Soup and Ox. This was an era of excellent music feeding the souls of the young…!
Before ’68 there were CYO dances where bands had a chance to play along with Strobe and other clubs. We had the Messengers, the Destinations, the Corporation, the Baroques, the Sidewalk Skipper Band, the Skunks, Tony’s Tygers, the Robbs, and don’t forget the Goodwill Industry building at N. 92, it held 1200 people and was always packed. There were other great bands that would soon hit the stage. The first Summerfest I remember back in ’68 was on the hill with the stage at the bottom of the Art Center on Lake Dr, New Colony Six, and lots of classic rock bands. This is the scene I had before ’69, those were the best days of my life (name that song?)! The music that preceded ’68/’69 was just amazing. You had Byrd’s Mr. Tambourine Man, Eight Miles High, Temptations, Jefferson Airplane, Paul Revere & the Raiders with Kicks and Good Thing, Young Rascals, they had a bunch of hits, Wilson Pickett, Smokey, the Supremes. You have to remember that in those days music was the most important thing in our lives and we could listen to Pop, Hard Rock, R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz and Country. We could listen to it all and be cool…! In fact, we need to recover the music, but not this processed garbage. Getting back to the real stuff… I can’t list all the great songs because there are so many, however I will mention a few. The Lovin Spoonful, the Yardbirds- Shapes of Things WOW, Donovan, the Stones, the Kinks-Who’ll Be the Next in Line,You Really Got Me, Dedicated Fashionista, Vintage, the Animals-Don’t Bring me Down House of the Rising Sun, the British Invasion in general. Do you realize they took American blues records off the ships, put their spin on it, and sold it back to us? How many of you knew that? Music feeds the soul… however it comes! These were all my influences too, along with Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, Howlin Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson.
I had been playing drums now 6 years, practicing a lot. I joined my first group “The Epilogue” with Dale Peterson from Chessman, they rehearsed a couple of blocks from me. They were great, we played rock, blues, pop (British Invasion pop). I started learning how to interpret my music, not just play it, I was hooked, there is no turning back now! I continued playing and practicing. They offered me a job in a group called “Prisma”, I was delighted. We had a female singer so we played a wide variety of material from Jefferson Airplane to Billie Holiday with Jim Appleby on guitar. Later that year, Rick Cier, one of the best keyboard players in town, joined us. Eventually things fell apart like rock bands, drugs, alcohol and simple personalities. I knew a guitarist who was putting together a band Jeff Dagenhardt, the “Comus” band. He played with all the blues greats Sam Lay, Muddy, everyone, I was honored. That lasted a year, they offered me a concert with a group called “Short Stuff” they were the best blues band in town and I was 16 years old. Junior, the keyboard player used to drop me off in high school, remembering what era. . My family was very supportive while I got my grades. They held that in my head, No grades, no music…! I learned a lot from Junior and Kenny Berdall. Jimmy Liban only did a few shows when I was in the group and he moved to Nashville. Jimmy is a great talent. I heard Junior does a Little Richard impersonation in Vegas. Looks like him. Junior I love you Bud. Same to you, Jimmy and Kenny! I was getting more into Zeppelin and heavy blues. A band called “Tongue” was looking for a drummer. They played heavy blues. I was the 54th drummer they auditioned for and I got the gig.
“Language” was where he wanted to be. They already had a large following. We did great shows, we were showing up in Eagle River WI, there was a stage and 3,000 people waiting for us. We had a road crew, Bunny, Rube and eventually Woody, all we had to do was grab two beers and go play. They assembled the equipment and disassembled it when we finished, heading to the next town. We were traveling by limousine, life was the best! This continued for 4 years. Colorado, California, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, we play mostly, we also built a lot of following. We were in Hollywood for the first time staying at the Tropicana and forgot the name of the restaurant downstairs Al’s can’t remember but the best burgers. We were recording at Hollywood Central Studios, eating at Southtown, a soul food place in Wilcox. Going back to the studio, I was with John Rhys, who owned the studio and who produced us, and I saw this beautiful black woman, I’m only 17 now. I said wow look at her, John said look at her feet, I said what…? Look at her feet, well they were so big they hung over her shoes. John said Teddy look and learn, that’s not a woman, that’s a man dressed as a woman, well needless to say when I see a woman the first thing I do is look at her feet, they have since 1972. That night we went to whiskey and I couldn’t believe the Who were there, and later that night we ran into Keith Moon at Denny’s on Sunset. For a 17-year-old boy, that was exciting. Our album was never released due to legal issues, for you young gamers you have a lawyer on your side.
We Denver played back home and that’s where I met Bobby Barth who would later start “AXE”. He was a great songwriter, I loved his stuff. So let’s go back to Milwaukee. Fun places to play now were Stone Toad, Teddy’s, Electric Ballroom, Saloon, Lakeside Alternate Site and more in Milwaukee. Wisconsin had a great music scene. “Tongue” played the same places as Styx, Reo Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Clicker and Luther Allison with my friend Jimmy Solberg, an amazing blues guitarist. The music in Wisconsin was smoking. Headliners, Nitty Gritty in Madison, The Barr in Oshkosh and Eau Claire, London Inn, Lord Jefferies Eau Claire Pub, Modernaire Bar in Eagle River, Rathskellar in Fondy and all the festivals. I’ll never forget we were passing through Tennessee and bought half a truckload of fireworks and on Sunday, after a great show, on Saturday. night, we woke up loaded a rowboat and hid it until nightfall. We said Hop, who was the owner, look at this, we had pushed the boat and shot it, blue as Mount St. Hellens. Fireworks were flying everywhere, I still can’t believe the men in blue never came…? Then there was Pine Point in Menomonie, and much more. We had all kinds of places to play. Music helped the soul again…! Many groups went on to great things. I wish Soup’s Doug Yankus didn’t die (what a talent), Ox’s Jon Paris followed up with Johnny Winter and many others. If you’re in New York, go see Jon on Monday nights at BB Kings in Times Square, he’s the host for the night. Don’t forget Bull Ring and Sweetbottom, Daryl joined Genesis. Tongue broke, I moved to LA (see LA ’75-’76) We had wonderful music here and it goes on, we’ll go into the 80’s next time, buckle up for that. Let the music come back… See you soon.