Your lazy blog host is taking some time off. We WILL return in January 2010 with lots more posts from ‘back in the day’. For now spending LOTS of time with my five grandsons!

The Ikettes back Tina & Ike.

The Ikettes were originally the backing vocal group of female singers of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue but were so talented that they eventually began releasing their own records in addition to recording and touring with Ike & Tina. Their first single as a separate entity away from Ike & Tina was I’m Blue (The Gong Gong Song) released in 1962 with Tina appearing with some background vocals.

Throughout the 1960’s and into the very early 1970’s the line-up frequently changed but they were always a highlight whenever the Ike & Tina Turner Revue appeared on various television shows like Ed Sullivan, Smothers Brothers, Shindig, Where The Action Is, American Palace, Merv Griffin and many others. I always tried to catch the act on those shows for the music and certainly for Tina (her voice, and other things, were h-o-t) but I can clearly recall being captivated by the Ikettes, beautiful women who could sing and, damn, son, they could dance!

Another quality that caught my fancy were those amazing white miniskirts! (But we won’t go there.) Needless to say, the Ikettes were sexy, talented and full of explosive energy, just damn entertaining.

Among early members were Robbie Montgomery, Venetta Fields and Jessie Smith. Soon after P.P. Arnold would join the Ikettes as would Shelley Clarke who would go on to the Honeycombs. Other members throughout the run of the band would include such beautiful talents as Bonnie Bramlett, Jean Brown, Mary Brown, Brenda Holloway, Janice Singleton, Delores Johnson, Gloria Scott, Diane Rutherford, Jackie Stanton, Linda Sims, Marcy Thomas, Adrienne Williams, Debbie Wilson, Flora Williams and several others.

Among some of the singles the Ikettes released throughout the years included Troubles On My Mind, Heavenly Love, Prisoner of Love, (He’s Gonna Be) Fine, Fine, Fine, I’m So Thankful, Peaches & Cream, Da Doo Ron Ron, The Biggest Players and many others on such labels as Teena, Innis, Atco and others.

The Ikettes kickin' it!

The Illuminatus Trilogy came out in 1975 during my senior year of high school and I purchased them at Dick Zarles’ Drug Store in Orrville, OH. I recall reading about them in Crawdaddy Magazine and, as an impressionable teenager in the post-hippie era and post-Nixon era I was all for conspiracy theories and the like. Other publications began hyping it and there were some writers who boldly proclaimed it was true!

Supposedly written in 1969 by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, it’s basically a science fiction spawned story of magic, sex, drugs and conspiracy interwoven with factual and fictional conspiracies. It was a tough read as I often surmised the authors were likely tripping (old school version) as they knocked out the pages of their version of the Illuminati.

The three books were titled The Eye In The Pyramid, The Golden Apple and Leviathan. For a minute or two I actually thought it may all be true but soon afterwards I apparently came to my senses. Until ‘W’ was elected that is.

I’d explain more about the books but fear of assassination and the potential for my family to disappear prevents that (anyone who read the books know where I’m coming from – OK, OK, tongue is in cheek!). Check out more of the Illuminati on this website.

Gene today: At work!

Back in the 1960’s before KISS Gene Simmons was (and still is) a comic book and science fiction fan. In fact, he was so into the comic book and SF fandoms that as a young teenager he worked to earn money to purchase his own used mimeograph machine in order to begin producing his own fanzines. Not only did Simmons, who went by the name of Gene Klein after he and his mother emigrated to the USA in June 1958 at age eight (he was born Chaim Witz), produce his own amateur publications he also contributed to many others published by other enthusiasts.

Born in 1949, Simmons got into comic books and monster and science fiction magazines upon arriving in the USA as it helped him learn the language. Among some of the fanzines Klein (Simmons) edited and published during the 1960’s were Sirruish, Id, Sci-Fi Showcase, Cosmos, Tinderbox, Adventure, Mantis, Faun and others. His most successful was Cosmos. Cosmos eventually merged with Stilletto fanzine becoming Cosmos-Stilletto with issue #7 and then with issue #13 he changed the title to Faun.

In addition to writing and drawing for his own fanzines, Klein (Simmons) also contributed articles and artwork for a variety of other fanzines including such titles as Bombshell (he had a regular column called ‘Hokum’), Comic Comments, Gore Creature, Dynatron, Ecco, Comic Feature, Splash Page, Men of Mystery, Spectre, Fantasy News, Exile, Iscariot, Ragnarok (I used to order that one!), Ray Gun, RBCC (another favorite of mine), Sanctum, Pulp Era, Web Spinner, One Step Beyond and a number of others.

Klein (Simmons) was most prolific with fanzines, his and others, primarily from 1966-1969.

Simmons commented a couple of times about his days of fanzine publishing on his website:

“Yes, these are fanzines (fan-magazines) I published and edited when I was around 14 years old out of my mom’s house. The content was sci-fi/comics — reviews, articles and so on. I published/edited a number of titles: COSMOS, COSMOSTILETTO (a merger with Stiletto fanzine), FAUN, TINDERBOX, ADVENTURE, MANTIS and a few others.”

“I also edited a fanzine called MANTIS. Only about 100 were printed. I also had a column in a New Jersey fanzine called RAY GUN. There are more, but offhand, I can’t recall all of them (Note: See the list compiled above). I do have a box full of my old fanzines.”

“Nothing’s changed much. Back in my school days (around 7th grade through the 12th), I played in a rock band (Long Island Sounds, Lynx, and others). I was in the school choir. I acted in school plays. I published my own fanzines. And still had time for the girls.”

So I guess ‘The Demon’ and I had something in common, we both published fanzines in junior high school (and I owned some that he published and contributed to) and we both played bass guitar (although I gave that up a year or two after starting high school – the only thing I can play now with any ability is a jukebox). I guess that’s where the similarities end although I did dress up like him for Halloween 1976 with interesting results but that’s another story for another time (if the statue of limitations has expired!).

Gene during his high school & fanzine days.

Cosmos - an early Gene fanzine.

We were front page news!

Seeing that Free John Sinclair Rally poster (below) made me think back to a time in high school when many of us, as the hippie activism days began to wane, would get all worked up over perceived injustices. 36 years ago this month (October 1972) a large group of students at Orrville (Ohio) High School (myself included) got fed up with the strict dress code that was enforced at that time. Girls had to wear dresses or skirts, no pants and certainly no jeans. Boys could not have their hair over their collars. You get the picture.

After several of the girls made polite inquires about allowing girls to at least wear pantsuits was denied, one girl, Debbie L., showed up one day in a pair of jeans only to be confronted by the assistant principal. That resulted in Debbie having her hair pulled by the assistant principal and orders to go home. Word spread quickly throughout the school to all of us ‘hippie-types’ and emotions became heated. At the same time the black kids at the high school wanted a black girl chosen for the homecoming court (believe me, there were plenty of beautiful black girls at OHS then!). Things all came to ahead that October day and a walk out (referred to as a ‘riot’ by administrators… it wasn’t) occurred.

Between the two issues that bubbled up that day, and with ‘unofficial coordination’ and inspiration by several young ladies at school (like Cindy M., Debbie L., Kay S., Vicky C., and Gail W., primarily) approximately 60 of us walked out of school and staged a protest in the city park next to the high school. Word quickly made it to the Wayne County Joint Vocational School and many of the Orrville students there left school and came back to town and joined us. Even the local media showed up.

We’ll let my pal, Cindy M., (Cid-Mor) explain, as she was one of the ‘ringleaders’ who had the guts to help initiate things:

“Debbie L., had worn a pair of blue jeans to school and the assistant principal had pulled Deb’s long hair and told her to go change. Well, the rebels that we were, it pissed us off and staged a ‘riot’. Many of us left the school building and went to the pavilion at the park. I guess the ‘joint’ (Wayne County Joint Vocational School) got wind of it and they left school, too. Pretty soon we had a lot of kids there.”

“Well, at that time there was also something else happening at the high school. It was football season and homecoming time. The black kids wanted a black girl on the homecoming court. Well, why not? Seemed it was just a popularity contest as the ‘smart’ rich kids were always on it. Well, they (the black kids) walked out too. In the end we got to wear jeans but they stopped having homecoming after that.”

The next day school administrators met and suspended most of us that participated for four days. Eventually the student council and administrators met, read our ‘demands’ and alterations were made to the dress code. Girls could wear jeans and the guys could grow their hair a bit longer. So, thanks to the initial efforts of Cindy M., Debbie L., Kay S., Vicky C., and Gail W., students at OHS got to dress and look like kids everywhere else.

The bad part of it was homecoming being cancelled from that point on because school officials feared a ‘race riot’ which was ludicrous because at that time in particular almost all of the black and white kids got along great. Hell, they all grew up together and any issues were usually personality driven, not race driven. Remember, there was still the buzz of peace, love & understanding in the air at that time and we were all ‘brothers and sisters’.

As for consequences at home, my parents weren’t too happy but I was never ‘punished’. Caught some hell for a few minutes but that was about it. Cindy M.’s parents never found out at the time. As she explains:

“I got up and acted like I went to school along with some buds and one of my friends stayed home and of course in the mail came the suspension notices for our parents. My friend got in my mailbox and got mine before my parents could see it. What a great friend (Kay S.)! My parents never knew until about 10 years ago (laughing)!”

By the time I got out of high school a couple years later I believe I may have had the longest hair in the high school (halfway down my back) and everyone pretty much wore what we wanted.

In the words of my pal Cindy M: “What a long strange trip it’s been….”

Mott The bloody 'Oople.

A new documentary focusing on Mott The Hoople is being produced by the Start Production Company for release in 2009 to coincide with the band’s 40^th anniversary. It is being reported that the producers have the cooperation of the band members. The producers are looking for any rare footage or photos of the band, people and/or venues and ask anyone who has possession of anything in that category to contact them at: mike.kerry@startproductions.co.uk

They are proposing an autumn 2009 release.

Producers have already started filming interviews with various band members.

Start Productions has been in business for four years and they recently released a documentary on the famed 1960’s band Love in 2006. The documentary premiered in the USA in 2007 at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

For more info visit the Start Productions website and/or the Start Productions MySpace webpage.

Ian Hunter

Wooster, Ohio's Me & The Guys perform at the Lazy J Ranch near Wooster, OH circa 1966. Photo courtesy George Gell.

Earlier last month we posted a story on the Wooster, OH based rock band Me & The Guys, one of the top bands in the mid 60’s in the Wayne County-Ashland County areas of Ohio. Formed in 1965 with members Joel Culp, Bill Ross, Steve Young and Tom Taylor, the band quickly became one of the region’s top bands and issued one single, I Can’t Take It b/w Why Can’t You Be True on the PLA ME Records label.

Throughout the two-year history of the band they played all over the region at schools, clubs and outdoor facilities (like the Lazy J Ranch north of Wooster, OH) and opening for such bands as The Music Explosion.

Recently writer/Ohio rock band historian George Gell, who wrote an in-depth article on the band for Rebel Teen Magazine back in 1989, did some slight editing and posted the story on the Buckeye Beat website. For anyone who grew up in north central Ohio or the Wayne County, OH area be sure and check it out. Good stuff and highly informative.