|
Dick Curless
Country singer/songwriter/guitarist from Fort
Fairfield, Maine. Born: 3/17/32. Died: 5/25/95. Dick had his own radio show in Massachusetts in 1948; he
was known as "The Tumbleweed Kid." He was also an Armed Forces Radio Dj from 1951 - 1954; he was known by the now unpolictically-correct
moniker of "The Rice-Paddy Ranger." Dick charted 22 country hits between 1965 and 1973; he recorded for Tower Records
until 1970, when he switched to Capitol Records. Dick's biggest hit was his debut disc - a #5 country hit from the spring
of 1965: A Tombstone Every Mile. None of his songs crossed over to the Pop singles charts, though Tombstone
Every Mile did receive moderate air-play on Portland, Maine's pop & rock AM radio stations (560 WGAN, 1310-WLOB
& 1440-WJAB) during the spring & summer of 1965.
The Royal Knights
Mid to late sixties rock & roll band from Southern
Maine. They were a long-time favorite at the many Battle of the Bands competitions. The Royal Knights released
three 45-RPM singles: 1) Forever Little Girl/Knight-Mare, 2) Yes It's Me/Sweet Revenge, & 3) Long Long Ponytail/Chief
Woopin-koff.
The Grand Prix
The Grand Prix were a popular Southern Maine rock &
roll band. They often played thier cover-tunes at the frequent Battle of the Bands competitons held at the Portland
Expo Building during the late 60s.
Nickle Bag & Freewheelin'
The lead singer was Dick Dyer; Tim Woodcock played bass; Alan Hess played lead guitar. Freewheelin
came in 2nd place at the Battle of the Bands held at Peakes Auditorium in 1966 or 1967?. The Jesters claimed
1st place, Freewheelin' came in 2nd place and The Barracudas were 3rd. Thanks to Marlene for these memories.
Dickie & The Ebb Tides
From the Biddeford-Saco (York County) region of
Souther Maine, Dickie Waite led this mid-sixties rock and roll band that was a favorite of the Greater Portland/Southern Maine region.
Dickie & The Ebb Tides released two 45-RPM singles on Golden World Records; in October of 1966, they released I've
Got A Shadow/One Girl, One Boy with One Girl, One Boy receiving moderate air-play in the greater Portland
market. That single was followed by I Don't Want Your Love/It's Better Than Making Believe with It's Better
Than Making Believe also receiving some air-play from Southern Maine's pop radio stations: 1310-WLOB & 1440-WJAB
of Portland and 1400-WIDE from Biddeford/Saco.
The Mustangs (aka
Leaves of Grass & then the Scavengers)
The Mustangs
were a very popular Southern Maine rock band during the mid sixties. They later changed personnel to become The Leaves
of Grass and then the Scavengers.
The following was written by The Mustangs' lead
vocalist, Jim Maxner:
I was the lead singer in a couple of bands that played in the southern
Maine area in the 60's. We played covers of British Invasion music and a few originals. The first band was called The Mustangs. We played all the venues in the area such as Frye Hall, The Expo, The Palace
Ballroom, Morton's Pavillion, City Hall Auditorium, the PAL Hops, St. John's Hall and more. We did college gigs at Dartmouth,
USM, U Maine, Westbrook Junior College and played at all the local high schools as well.
We took part in all the Battle of the Bands in
the area against bands like The Grand Prix, The Inn Keepers and Dickie and The
Ebb Tides, Our manager, Pete Gowen, was a DJ for WLOB
(GO Go Gowen) and we played numerous gigs for the radio station including one on a beach
in Scarborough. WLOB DJs Bob Fuller and Jim Sands
were big suppoters of the group. Pete and a partner opened a club called The Discoteque on
RT. 1 in Scarborough. The building now houses an antique store. We were the house band there.
The Mustangs opened for Hermans
Hermits at the Expo and The Standells at the Palace Ballroom. We were schedued to
open for The Byrds but they couldn't make the gig that night and promoter Maurice
Bilodeau said that we had to play the entire show! Somehow we pulled it off without getting lynched by the crowd.
The band consisted of me (Jim Maxner) on lead vocals, David Sawyer on
drums, Page Liberty on lead guitar, Howie Sawyer on rythum guitar and
Mike Ward on bass. At various times personnel would change and we had musicians like Paul
Demaris from The Shivers on lead guitar, Tony Boffa on
lead guitar and Harvey Weinstein on bass. At some point we changed the band's name to The
Leaves of Grass. We contined to play under that name for a while. We got a gig at a place called Melody
Lane which was in Center Conway, New Hampshire and started to play in the North Conway area. There was a group
called The Scavengers playing up there at that time. Steve Dore, later
of The Blend and another member of The Scavengers left that band to do
other things. We picked up thier keyboard player Larry Gallegher and drummer Terry
McCallister and became the new Scavengers.
We continued to play in the Portland area as well as in the North Conway
area. During one period of the summer of 1967 we had a new guitar player join us for a couple of months. Doug
Yule of The Velvet Undergound was a friend of a friend and he was staying in the North
Conway area for the summer. We asked him if he'd like to join the band for a while and he did. He was a great guitarist and
we really enjoyed having him onboard. Like everything else in life we all began to have other things to do and the band gradually
broke up. The last line-up of the band consisted of me (Jim Maxner) on lead vocals, Page
Liberty on lead guitar, Terry McCallister on drums, Larry Gallagher
on Hammond Organ and Harvey Weinstein on bass guitar. I have been singing lead for The
Renegades a local band in the Portland area for the last 20 years. We used to play clubs in the area and
we were the house band at Xcess and played regular gigs at Verillo's
but now we just take a few gigs a year for kicks.
Sincerely,
Jim Maxner
The Night Train Show thanks Jim for his input.
Roger Lewis and The Moondawgs
Roger Lewis and The Moondawgs were from the Lewiston,
Maine, region. They released a 45-RPM single on PAL Records (New York City) around 1967 or so: Don't Let Him/Harriet.
The Barracudas
The Barracudas were from Bangor,
Maine. They released three 45-RPM singles: No Matter What You Do, Hightime and Realize. According to one
of the band's members, they still perform!
|
