FTV: Steve Seymour Connections
“Don’t Make Promises You Can’t Keep,” was written by Tim Harden and it became one of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap’s many hits. Technically, it was the B-side of Woman Woman, but it was still a great song and ended up on their Greatest Hits LP. The title is also a line I used frequently when the occasion warranted it. It came to mind when I was sorting a box of books in the basement the other day and I ran into a paperback entitled Rock ‘n’ Roll Graffiti published by Steve Seymour in 2007. It dawned on me that the last time Loraine was cutting my hair, I had mentioned the book and told her, “Hey, you would find this interesting. All I have to do is remember where I put it.” I am glad to say that in this case, I didn’t make a promise I couldn’t keep.
Steve Seymour and his wife owned the Record Rack shop in Escanaba, Michigan for many years. Todd, from the WOAS-FM West Coast Bureau in Eugene, Oregon, grew up a few miles down the road from there in Powers. Todd was a frequent visitor to the store and he was the one who first put me on to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Graffiti column Steve used to run in the Escanaba Daily Press. The book I rediscovered for Loraine (a gift from Todd and Elizabeth at the WCB) is a collection of some of his writings from the early 2000s. Along the way, I had sent Steve an email commenting on one of his articles that Todd had sent me (from Steve’s web site). Wteve and I began corresponding about various music topics, particularly ones concerning the Upper Peninsula music scene we were exposed to growing up. I was just up the road in Marquette before work transplanted me to Ontonagon so we both share a lot of common musical memories. In no particular order, this FTV mines just a few of his fascinating tales.
The first story isn’t actually in the book, but if memory serves me correctly, the article that I first contacted Steve about involved some of the strange band names from the 1960s. I told him briefly about almost becoming a member of The Self Winding Grapefruit in the summer of 1967. We shared a few laughs about the Strawberry Alarm Clock, Chocolate Watchband, and other 60s band names. Not too long after this exchange, Steve emailed and said, “My wife and I went to see a concert at the casino in Harris the other night. I struck up a conversation with the man sitting in front of me. We were discussing the usual musical stuff and out of the blue, he said, ‘I used to be the drummer in a band called The Self Winding Grapefruit in Marquette.’ I was so stunned I didn’t think to mention that I knew about them through you.”
For the record, I was subbing as a rehearsal drummer for the SWG band because the guy Steve had talked to wasn’t showing up. The band called and asked if I could help them out. One fateful day, the regular drummer did show up and after seeing me pounding his drums, he decided to become more reliable. I never was offered a permanent gig but that was okay. I was just about to start my freshman year in high school and wasn’t ready to start gigging regularly yet. I am sure my mother was just as happy that her early teen son wasn’t going to be out and about until all hours playing music with a bunch of college age guys.
In a February 16, 2006, article, Steve inventoried the career numbers for The Rolling Stones up to that point. Near the end of the piece, he mentioned the passing of their long time road manager Chuch (‘Chooch’) Magee. On July 18, 2002, The Stones and Magee were in Toronto rehearsing for their next tour when Chuch suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 54. Chuch had met and married a woman from Marquette and when their dear friend was laid to rest at Messiah Lutheran Church, the Stones flew into Sawyer International Airport for the funeral. They arrived without fanfare, played an acoustic rendition of Amazing Grace during the service, and departed to continue preparations for their upcoming world tour.
I was aware of this turn of events because my brother had called to tell me, “I patted Mick Jagger on the shoulder at Chuch’s funeral today.” He cleared up my confusion after I asked, “Who was Chuch and why was Mick Jagger at his funeral?” Ron explained that Chuch was part of a group of his friends that did a lot of snowmobile and four-wheeler trips together over the years. To give you an idea of what kind of guy he was, nobody in this circle knew he worked for the Rolling Stones. All they knew was his work took him out of town for long stretches of time. Ron was impressed that the Stones did not make a big show of being there and the other people in attendance gave them space – no one took any pictures or asked for any autographs. “He sure is a short little guy,” was Ron’s last comment.
On a somewhat related note, Chuch Magee worked for the Faces when Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood were still with that band. They put out an excellent live album called A Nod is as Good as a Wink . . . to a Blind Horse in 1971. The cover photo shows the entire band on stage from above and behind. It was obviously taken from the lighting rig at the back of the stage. As it turned out, the photographer commissioned to take the shot was scared of heights so Chuch grabbed his camera, climbed the rigging, and took the shot used for the album cover.
P.J. Olsson was the subject matter for R’n’RG on March 22, 2007. Steve tells the tale of Houghton native Olsson’s path to becoming the lead singer for the Alan Parsons Project (APP).
P.J. had his own solo musical career going when he was hired to be the engineer for a day on a track Parsons was working on for his album A Valid Path. According to Olsson, “I ended up there for six months, engineering, writing, singing, and mixing for Alan’s last record.” P.J. got a songwriting credit for the track More Lost Without You on which he also sang the lead vocals. Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour provided guitar on another cut. “Somewhere along the way, Alan asked me to see his band,” Olsson commented. “I was horrified with what the lead singer at the time was doing to the songs. Alan asked if I could do better. I sang him Time and was hired for the next world tour.”
The Alan Parsons Project came to Houghton from October 9 – 12, 2007 to rehearse and then perform with the 65 member Keweenaw Symphony Orchestra. The KSO director was none other than Milt Olsson, P.J.’s father. My wife and I attended this show that featured not only Parsons and P.J. Olsson, but also guitarist Godfrey Townsend, keyboardist Manny Focarazzo, bassist John Montagna, and drummer Steve Murphy. It was a wonderful concert and at the time I wrote, “ Murphy is not only an excellent drummer and vocalist, but the APP’s biggest cheerleader for the KSO. Murphy continually acknowledged the KSO members seated behind the band with applause, thumbs up, and a lot of smiles.” The orchestrations for the KSO backed concert were done by movie soundtrack composer Andrew Powell, KSO director Milt Olsson, and keyboardist Focarazzo.
In his March 16, 2006 article Rock ‘n’ Roll Queries Answered, Steve proved that we grew up in the same musical age and have simpatico tastes in our musical choices: Question 1. What’s the heaviest album in rock ‘n’ roll? SS: “That’s easy. Led Zeppelin’s debut LP, complete with the seminal Dazed and Confused, ranks as the weightiest slab of modern music.” ME: I could not agree more. For me, learning to play the drums along with records took a different turn when LZ 1 hit my turn table. I never was able to match John Bonham’s bass drum footspeed on Good Times, Bad Times, but just trying to sound like him made me a better player.
- Who’s rock’s greatest guitarist? SS: “That was and is Jimi Hendrix. He only produced three albums during his lifetime and guitar players of the day couldn’t figure out how he created his unmistakable sound.” ME: As previously mentioned above, during the summer before my freshman year in high school, a bass player (who was my sister’s classmate) called and asked me if I could drum for their rehearsals as their drummer wasn’t showing up. The band was the aforementioned Self Winding Grapefruit. At one such session, future Walrus guitar player Mike McKelvy stopped by with Hendrix’s first album he had bought on a trip to California. He dropped the needle on Purple Haze and our jaws dropped. McKelvy’s band was playing Purple Haze at dances that fall and I was already a big fan. I learned a lot of my drum kit tricks playing grooves along with The Experience’s drummer Mitch Mitchell and watching Mike’s drummer Randy Seppala (who happened to play the identical Ludwig silver sparkle kit qw mine).
- Which older disc has the best sound? SS: “Put on Chronicle by Creedence Clearwater Revival and prepare to be amazed. Singer, songwriter, lead guitarist, arranger, and producer John Fogerty masterfully put onto disc the ‘swamp rock’ he heard in his head. Proud Mary, Green River, Who’ll Stop the Rain, and more still sound fresh today.” ME: Amen, brother Steve, AMEN. CCR songs were also great fun to play and every one of the four bands I got to play with from 1970 through 1990 or so played a bunch of them. Getting to hear Fogerty perform in Eugene, Oregon last fall with his two son’s band (Hardy Har) backing him showed that none of his songs have lost their vitality. Come to think of it, neither has John Fogerty.
- What rock ‘n’ roll book should everybody read? SS: “Heroes and Villains by Steve Gaines is the true story of the Beach Boys and leader Brian Wilson. You’ll wonder how Wilson, even if appearing fragile mentally, managed to survive his tumultuous life before and after the early hit-making years. Michael Jackson’s got nothing on Brian Wilson.” ME: I have read a couple of books about Brian Wilson, but not this one. I borrowed a couple Beach Boys 45s from my neighbor when I was first starting to learn my way around a drum kit, but I soon got into some heavier bands. I have always enjoyed playing Beach Boys songs live and still consider Good Vibrations one of my top ten rock songs of all time.
- What’s the most under-rated rock band? SS: “That has to be Badfinger. These Beatles proteges put out the perfect single, Come and Get It followed by No Matter What and Day After Day. They even wrote Without You, a song that became a big hit for Harry Nilsson and Maria Carey. Being compared to the Fab Four was both a blessing and a curse, however. Success eluded them and two members of the group committed suicide in a sad ending to a great band.”
ME: Two of my bands covered No Matter What and I Can’t Take It thanks to my brother who got me their debut album No Dice for Christmas one year. The last member standing, Joey Molland, passed away just this year (of natural causes) but their music still sounds great fifty years after they first came out. Molland also played guitar with George Harrison on a lot of the sessions for George’s triple L.P. All Things Must Pass.
In a July 20, 2006 article, Steve recounts the story of Upper Peninsula native Kris Stevens. Stevens graduated from Ishpeming High School in 1962 and was a pal of a founding member of
Da Yoopers, drummer Jim DeCaire. Stevens began his radio career at local station WJPD AM. The studio at that time was housed in a little red building on the opposite side of U.S. 41 from the current location of the Ski Hall of Fame (the transmitter building is still there but the studio was moved to a different location). Stevens was a natural and soon found himself moving up the radio DJ success ladder as employment opportunities in larger markets opened up. On Valentines Day of 1968, WLS AM 890 hired him and the station’s 50,000 watt signal allowed listeners in the Upper Peninsula to once again hear Steven’s golden tones.
I can’t say if I ever heard him on WLS. Prior to Kris arriving in Chicago, we used to catch legendary WLS DJ Art Roberts on our ancient AM radio when we were at our camp on Huron Bay. Stevens was lured away from WLS by rival Windy City station WCFL AM in 1972. I never heard Stevens on that station either. His work was immortalized on the Cruisin’ 1970 compilation put out by a Chess Records subsidiary label, Increase Records. This series of albums was compiled annually to document what was happening on rock radio. Each album presented songs from a famous DJ’s playlist with snippets of commercials, weather reports, news, sports, and jingles mixed in – a simulated radio broadcast if you will.
Produced by Frank Slay, Stevens’ playlist for 1970 included Green Eyed Lady (Sugarloaf), Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum), Vehicle (Ides of March), One Less Bell To Answer (Fifth Dimension), Gypsy Woman (Brian Hyland), Sunshine (Jonathon Edwards), and a 1960s WLS oldies by the Shirelles (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow). The Cruisin’ series started in 1955 and continued over the next 18 years. They were easy to spot in the record bins with iconic cartoon cover art (by Mike Royer) telling the continuing story of ‘Eddie’ and ‘Peg’. Stevens would eventually land in California at another fabled station, KIIS in Los Angeles. In L.A. he founded Kris Erik Stevens Enterprises, a broadcast services company. He used KESE as the foundation for his continuing voice over work for outlets like HBO, ABC, NBC, CBS, and countless national companies like Levi’s and McDonalds.
When he was still in the midwest, Stevens appeared as a guest host for WLUC-TV6’s annual March of Dimes telethon. I saw him on air then and it had to have been after the 18 year old drinking law was enacted in Michigan in January 1972. This may be a strange way to remember the date, but this is what sticks in my mind: I was with some friends at a local watering hole and happened to see Stevens and some of his friends occupying several bar stools opposite our table. I recognized him because I had just seen him on the TV 6 telethon. They were having a good time and pretty well ‘into their cups’ as the Brits say. At one point, he turned to a woman sitting on the stool to his left and said, “Hi, I’m Kris Stevens, the DJ.” She eyed him for a few seconds, responded, “Well, isn’t that nice,” before she turned her attention to the person on her left. Steven’s party were still ribbing him about his failed pick up line when they headed to the next stop on their pub crawl.
I have written previously about some of my DJ inspirations like Mike Burr, Barry Seymour (no relation to Steve), and Dave Kreig. Like Stevens, they all got their start in radio DJing at Marquette County’s AM stations (WJPD and WDMJ (WJPD’s rival from Marquette)). Reading Steve Seymour’s accounts of the Upper Michigan music scene back in the day kindled a lot of fond memories for me. When I get Rock ‘n’ Roll Graffiti back from Loraine, I am going to have to read it again and see what other interesting tidbits I can mine from this fine book.
Top Piece Video – Tell ’em Gary – still looking for a better quality of video but maybe it will look better on a phone screen