PERSONAL NAMES
Normally, one would expect that it's the girls that change names as life goes on,
but look what happened to us! O.K; Around '66, it was necessary to have an English
sounding name. To say that we embraced that concept would be an
understatement....
Kirby Bivans Sir John Kirby
Karl Meerstein Carl Benson
Bob Siegel Bob Regal
Brett Knopf Brett London
Howard Olitsky Lance McCarthy
Frank Biner Chadwick Mellows
Scott Bivans Scooter P. Farnsworth
Mitch Bruski Sir Douglas Almond III
But even so, some of us guys changed our names for real and none of the girls
ever did. What are the odds? Brett would answer, "ninety / ten."
Van Karlsson Randy Chance
Karl Meerstein Karlo Seastone
Jill Kelly Jill Kelly
Natalie Kelly Natalie Kelly
Carol Kelly Carol Kelly
Mary Chris Mass Mary Chris Mass
CLUB NAMES
I don't remember some of these, but there we were...
The Cellar -Arlington Heights
The Wayout -Gross Point Rd. and Dempster, Skokie
Deborah Boys Club
The Deep Down
The Pinque Phinque
The Scene -Is that the Evanston Student Union?
The Rolling Stone -Highwood
The Dead End
The New Place
The Pit
Where were all these paces?
BAND NAMES
In the order in which they appeared in my life-
Them -Kirby's first band. Originally, Scott -gtr, Mitch Bruski -banjo, Kirby -bongos,
Frank Biner -lead gtr. Later members included Howard Olitsky, Jim Callen –Vox
Continental, Mike Brook. We played only once -in Mitch Bruski's backyard. I played
on cardboard boxes and Mitch played simulated-bass on a Silvertone guitar with
an amp-in-guitar-case. It ended when we all got electrocuted.
The Four Directions -Rick Mann's old band
The Exclusives -later "The Flock"
The Embers -saw at Deborah Boys Club 3-65
The Valiants - "
The Cordell's - "
The Vondells - "
The Legends - "
The Vidells -became "The Others" (with John Burns -gtr, John Collier -sax, Pete Marcus - drms)
The Living Endz -Frank Biner and?
The Tiki Quintet -last version: Karlo, Al Josephson, Kirby, Howard Olitsky, Mike Brook
The Freelancers -"the first half": Lee Nudleman, Al J, Howard, Bob Bell?
The Other Half
The Poetics -beat them and The Living Endz in the semi-final at the Main Street
Music Battle of the Bands Oct.31, 1965.
The Flock -I have to mention them again, because it was the best band Chicago produced
The Durty Wurds
The Little Boy Blues -with Lowell Shyette and Paul Ostroff
The Spectacles -became The Patriots?
The Lords of London -Mark Skyer's band
The Invaders
The Dellvettes
The Gremlins
The Cool Gents
Early Times
The Delights
Just Four -Randy's band
The Groupe -Barbara's band
The 13th Dimension
Mr. Lonely & The Teardrops -Jim Albrecht's band
The Mauds -soul kings of The Cellar
Winston Churchill & The Commons -played at The Cellar
The Shadows of Knight -payed for The Cellar
Saturday's Children -the class act
The Ides of March – over-rated band that did an autograph session at L&H when I
worked there. Pandemonium!
The Sonics
The Doctrine of Love
The Left Behind
The Cycle
The Grim Reapers - Kirby quote at the time: "they were terrible but it was better than
nothing."
The Nightshades -Tom Lavin's band
The Riddles
The Monterreys
The Males
The Electric Band
The Revells
The Knaves
The Trolls
The New Colony Six
Our Changing Times -played with us at Lee St. Beach Be-In
SOME CRONOLOGICAL DETAILS Diary entries in italics
Mar. 9, 1965 -saw Rick Mann and another musician from The Four Directions sub
with The Exclusives (Freddie Glickstein, Rick Canoff,?) at Deborah Boys Club.
Some of them wore one band uniform, while the Exclusives wore another.
Sounded great!
Mar. 17 - Met Karl Meerstein at a Tiki Quintet rehearsal at his house. I sat in on "I
Saw Her Standing There." Went with Frank Biner and Mitch Bruski.
July 18 - Howard gets a Vox AC-30 amp!
July 19 - Vox amp goes to repair shop after we used all 6 inputs at the rehearsal
he night before.
Jul 27 -Kirby's first drum set: Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl Super Classic
Oct.11, The Tikis split in to two groups: Howard and Al Josephson as The
Freelancers and Karlo, Kirby Bivans and Mike Brook as The Other Half.
Oct 23, -first Other Half rehearsal: Karlo, Kirby, Mike Brook, Jim Callen
Nov.7 -won battle of the bands at Main Street Music
Feb.14, 1966 –got first band cards (I don't remember these)
March 1 -"Howard's band got a Bogen P.A. amp & 2 Wilder speaker cabinets (4 –
12" each)!"
March 11 -Mike kicks Jim Callen out of The O.H.
March 29 -"Mrs. Kelly came over tonight to welcome us to the neighborhood – how
sweet! She brought us a crunch cake. She has a Junior daughter."
May? -Terry Holmes auditions with band as rhythm guitar / singer. Ray Herr, later.
May 15 -"Bob Siegel (who has length) drove us home."
June 15 -"I think Bob Siegel is gonna be our bass player."
June 17 -"Scooter and I rode over to Mike's house today and we had an Other Half
practice with Bob Siegel, Bret and Gary. We kicked Gary out & I ate at Kellys and
the new Other Half had an acoustical practice till 11pm. We were great! We had a
great vocal arrangement for "For Your Love" & "Nowhere Man."
Sept. 24 -"Got new Other Half cards. Boss."
Nov. 66 -took out a bank loan for the Voice of the Theater PA. $400?
Dec3 (Sat.) -"Worked at L&H. Bob, Kellys, Brett, Denise, Liz & Rick Mann were
there. We sang Byrd songs, etc." note - I got paid for that!
Dec. 11 -Mike quits band after being notified that we were looking for another
guitarist.
Dec. 17 -"Worked today. Tonight, Van Carlson came over to Bob's and we had
small practice. Greatness. Scootered after."
Dec. 26 -"Took pictures downtown; Marina City, Old Town, Circle Campus, etc.
Greatness."
Dec. 27 -"...then went to The Cellar with The Other Half plus Scott Nolan & Lenny &
the Gooshk. Gave Sampson the first pint."
Jan. 16, 1967 -"Madl called tonight. He wants us to go union as fast as possible.
Feb. 3 -"Played tonight with The Little Boy Blues at the Dead End. We were both
late. Jimmy Boyce broke my snare head!"
Feb. 11 -saw the Nightshades at the E.S.U.
May 6 - "Bob quits the band and cuts his hair and is getting a job!"
May 6 -recorded Van's original, "Reflexes" at his house.
May 9 –"Tom Lavin from the Nightshades came over to Kellys. He might be the new
rhythm."