<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back in May of 2023, we covered the origins of <\/span>Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr Band<\/span><\/i> (5-3-23) a month before I had the opportunity to see the current version of the band in Eugene, Oregon.\u00a0 This <\/span>FTV <\/span><\/i>article explained how a thirty-year old promoter named David Fishof proposed an idea to Ringo.\u00a0 In 1989, Fishof asked if Ringo would consider touring with a core band of other famous musicians (the All-Starrs).\u00a0 Ringo and his wife Barbara had recently checked out of a rehab clinic in Arizona and the former Beatles drummer was hesitant to test his newfound sobriety by embarking on a concert tour.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the one million dollar payout Fishof dangled in front of him, or maybe Ringo simply decided he had the willpower to do it, (or some combination of both).\u00a0 Either way, Ringo put his lawyers to work on the details.\u00a0 Having found it within himself to break his serious, near fatal twenty year addiction to alcohol, Ringo took the first steps forward on a path that would shape his musical and personal future right up to the present.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If one happens to spin the dial to the local PBS station during their pledge drives, one can not miss the numerous \u2018all-star\u2019 type concert films they use to attract donors.\u00a0 The concept is very much like Ringo\u2019s All-Starr band:\u00a0 A core backup band supports artists (some solo, some still performing as a group) who run through their greatest hit(s).\u00a0 The local PBS hosts (or sometimes an imported celebrity) will come on during the pledge break and discuss the great music being played.\u00a0 This segues into how a donation of a few dollars a month will insure you will see more great programs like these in the future.\u00a0 With their pitch completed, the hosts return to the next group of musical offerings.\u00a0 The format is the same even though one program will concentrate on folk music, another on the doo-wop era, or the pop hits of the 1960s, or the golden hits of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.\u00a0 Many of these artists are well on in years but the production of these shows always brings out the best in them whether they are still performing professionally or not.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1981, a half a decade before he approached Ringo about doing his own All-Starr tour,\u00a0 David Fishof became the manager of the pop rock group The Association.\u00a0 In 1984 he arranged a package tour for them that included The Turtles, Spanky and Our Gang, and Gary Puckett.\u00a0 The tour went out again in 1985 billing itself as the <\/span>Happy Together Tour <\/span><\/i>(named for one of The Turtles hits).\u00a0 This second iteration included The Turtles (naturally) as well as Gary Lewis, The Grass Roots, Tommy James & the Shondells, and The Buckinghams.\u00a0 We will come back to The Turtles role in all of this in a bit.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0David Fishof had a knack for management and eventually handled many big name sports figures like Phil Simms, Lou Piniella, Vince Ferragamo, and Jack Reynolds.\u00a0 In more recent times, he became the CEO of the very popular Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Fantasy Camps.\u00a0 As much as he did to put these package tours on the map, Fishof can not be credited with the concept.\u00a0 The roots of these package tours can be traced back to 1959 when none other than Dick Clark put together the very first one which he called <\/span>The Caravan of Stars<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 In his 1976 autobiography (<\/span>Rock, Roll and Remember<\/span><\/i> with Richard Robinson, Thomas Y. Crowell Co.), Clark looked back fondly at his first attempt to bring what amounted to a Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Review to all corners of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0According to Clark, \u201cThe <\/span>Caravan of Stars<\/span><\/i> was put together to appeal to the <\/span>American Bandstand<\/span><\/i> audience.\u00a0 I followed a simple formula:\u00a0 as many acts as I could afford, each doing two or three songs, all backed by the same band with me as the MC.\u00a0 As many as seventeen acts were listed on the bill, though two or three were fictional – \u2018Little Al and his guitar\u2019 on the posters was Al Bruneau from the backup band.\u201d\u00a0 For $1.50, the kids got to see more stars and hear more hits than any other show, then and now.\u00a0 With a stable of artists like Bobby Vee, Fabian, Gene Pitney, Paul Anka, The Supremes, Brian Hyland, The Crystals, The Hondells, Lou Christie, Chubby Checker, The Shirelles, Duane Eddy (and on and on), Clark couldn\u2019t miss.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t all stars, yet, but many of them would go on to dominate the record charts.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It sounds so glamorous (it wasn\u2019t) and exciting (it was), but it wasn\u2019t a big money maker for the artists.\u00a0 The biggest benefit for the musicians was the exposure which helped fuel record sales and perhaps induced a bigger record company to sign them.\u00a0 Clark described the routine they developed:\u00a0 \u201cLife on tour was rough.\u00a0 The acts met in the city closest to the first date – we didn\u2019t pay transportation for that.\u00a0 They showed up wearing their latest clothes, bright and smiling, and everyone was in good shape.\u00a0 The first afternoon we had a rehearsal.\u00a0 Each act was backed by the same band, so it didn\u2019t take long to run down the numbers.\u00a0 That was the only rehearsal we had;\u00a0 after that every show was a rehearsal.\u00a0 In the evening, we checked into a hotel.\u00a0 Since the acts paid their own hotel bills, we stayed in the cheapest hotels we could find.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not only did the musicians have to pay their own way, it was customary for their agent and manager to each get ten percent of the pay.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not forget they had to set aside a bit to cover taxes so in the end, if they had $20 left to spend the rest of the week they were lucky.\u00a0 A headliner like Gene Pitney might get $1500 a week.\u00a0 An unknown band or artist would be offered $500 and that would be split among all the members of the non-solo groups.\u00a0 A band might ask for more money (\u201cHey, we had a hit record!\u201d) but would not get more unless they had a \u2018Top Twenty\u2019 hit.\u00a0 Again, the pay took a back seat to wider exposure they were getting on tour.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It took a while to settle into the bus life routine.\u00a0 Drinkers and rowdies got the back of the bus while those who wanted to try and sleep took the front.\u00a0 Eventually the tour grew and needed two buses.\u00a0 Hotel room one night, sleep on the bus the next, use the locker room or dressing room to shower when one could, get a chance to do the laundry if one got the chance;\u00a0 it was the gypsy life with few amenities.\u00a0 When everyone began getting on each other\u2019s nerves, tempers frayed, and occasional hostilities would break out.\u00a0 To ease the tension, the troup routinely held \u2018blowout parties\u2019 every two weeks where everyone let their hair down – think <\/span>Animal House<\/span><\/i> on the road.\u00a0 They drew lots and during these blowouts, everybody took a turn at imitating whichever act they had drawn in the lottery – no one ever got too high and mighty because they knew it would come back to them at party time.\u00a0 Eventually, they took out a few of the seats in the front of the\u00a0 bus to make room for some foam mattresses.\u00a0 These could accommodate five or six sleepers at a time – all done on shifts.\u00a0 Getting enough rest was a great equalizer in how the rolling review performed and got along with each other.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the bus drivers was also the back up drummer.\u00a0 He was the one man everyone had to keep happy – if the regular drummer was ill, the show was shot without the backup.\u00a0 Of course, when the driver didn\u2019t get enough sleep or took a drink or two more than he should, things could go south.\u00a0 On more than one occasion, Dick would wake up to find one of the musicians driving the bus.\u00a0 The worst accident happened when the driver fell asleep and hit a bridge abutment.\u00a0 The force sheared off the back corner of the bus where the ever important regular drummer was allowed to occupy a whole row so he could get his sleep.\u00a0 After the dust settled, they were all mortified to find the back row was gone and (apparently) so was the drummer.\u00a0 Fortunately, he had been visiting a few rows forward and fell asleep there, much to everyone\u2019s relief.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Being the late 1950s and early 1960s, there were the inevitable incidents in the southeast.\u00a0 They were a mixed race group of musicians who were often accused of being civil rights era Freedom Riders.\u00a0 After being denied food, restrooms, and hotels enough times, (not to mention being threatened outright with pool cues and axe handles), Clark stopped booking the tour in that (red) neck of the country.\u00a0 He also made a rule that no one could steal anything from the hotels after they had been stopped one too many times by the local police sent to retrieve all the blankets, pillows, and towels that had mysteriously made their way onto the bus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t all grinding from town to town.\u00a0 Tommy Roe and Freddy Weller wrote the million seller song <\/span>Dizzy <\/span><\/i>on the bus heading toward the next gig (there was always a \u2018next gig\u2019 after all and a lot of time to kill).\u00a0 Clark shared a conversation he had with the young bass player on the tour:\u00a0 \u201cHe [the bass player] told me about the exhilaration he got from travel, the joy he got from performing.\u00a0 I told him I thought he was foolish to follow it as a career – that most of the money was back down the road with the promoter.\u201d\u00a0 Years later, James William Guercio (the bass player) told Clark that it was this discussion that made him decide to be a producer.\u00a0 He was one of the first pop music producers to integrate horns in hits by The Buckinghams.\u00a0 Guercio took the concept further in the late 1960s with one of the most successful horn bands ever, Chicago.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There were never any arguments about whose seat belonged to whom – once claimed, a seat was spoken for – no questions asked.\u00a0 If someone caused trouble, they were dropped from the tour.\u00a0 Occasionally someone would get tired of the whole tour and simply go for a walk and never come back.\u00a0 After \u2018Paul\u2019 from the act \u2018Paul and Paula\u2019 skedaddled, Clark announced he was \u2018ill\u2019 and filled in for him on a number and then let Paula perform solo for the remainder of the tour.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of Clark\u2019s favorite memories was Freddy Cannon (of <\/span>Palisades Park<\/span><\/i> fame) begging to fill the closing slot.\u00a0 Clark granted his wish at a race track in Allentown, Pennsylvania:\u00a0 \u201cAfter about the third song, Freddy got this strange look on his face.\u00a0 I looked at the crowd and all the binoculars (they were set up on the infield with the track between them and the stands) were looking to the left, away from the stage and Freddy\u2019s performance.\u00a0 The track had started a horse race and in a few minutes they came galloping between the stage and grandstand.\u00a0 I never let Freddy forget about his big moment closing the show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Clark had clear memories of this time.\u00a0 In the period after his first marriage ended, he and his new secretary (who traveled with the Caravan) grew close.\u00a0 It may have been a rebound marriage, but they still had two children together in the ten years they were together.\u00a0 Dick summed up the whole experience, saying, \u201cThe <\/span>Caravan of Stars<\/span><\/i> wasn\u2019t that bad, but it was rough.\u00a0 I can\u2019t picture any of today\u2019s rock stars, who complain if the jet seats don\u2019t recline enough, or if the champagne isn\u2019t chilled properly, going out on one of these tours.\u00a0 But then, I can\u2019t picture myself being that young again, either.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After Fishof got the ball rolling with his package tour, The Turtles kind of took over the whole <\/span>Happy Together<\/span><\/i> concept.\u00a0 Near the end of their first pop hit producing run in the 1960s, Mark Voman and Howard Kaylan had a major falling out with their label, White Whale Records.\u00a0 It got so bad that they not only lost their record contract, they lost the band\u2019s name.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t even allowed to use their own names to advertise concerts as in \u2018Mark and Howard from The Turtles\u2019.\u00a0 They hatched a plan and renamed themselves the Pholorescent Leech (Volman) and Eddie, later shortened to just Flo and Eddie.\u00a0 They toured with Frank Zappa for a period, hosted a couple of popular radio shows, and even got involved writing music for the popular kids shows <\/span>Strawberry Shortcake <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>The Care Bears.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Fishof\u2019s first package tours put them back on the road and once they took the reins, The Turtles started to do it their way.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0First Flo and Eddie put together a rotating cast of musicians on both coasts.\u00a0 Having regained the use of their own names, they were allowed to tour as The Turtles featuring Flo and Eddie.\u00a0 They would fly to the gig and meet up with whichever band was closest.\u00a0 They performed with rented drums, keyboards, and a backline of amps so travel costs were limited to the band members.\u00a0 I had been disappointed that I had not seen Flo and Eddie when they performed at NMU years back, but I did get to see them at the Calumet Theater.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember all the musicians who made up the \u2018East Coast band\u2019, but the drummer (Joe Stefko) was fresh off the New York stage where he performed as the drummer in Big Brother and the Holding Company in the play <\/span>Love, Janice.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After using this format for a number of years, they returned to Fishof\u2019s template.\u00a0 They began recruiting other 1960s stars and renewed the Happy Together tours.\u00a0 Volman was teaching\u00a0 pop music classes at Belmont University during part of this run so some of the tours acted as a rolling classroom.\u00a0 Students didn\u2019t just learn about touring, they were the tour crew doing everything from set up to take down and all the jobs in between.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Happy Together tour naturally hit \u2018pause\u2019 during the Pandemic lockdowns, but they are back on the road again.\u00a0 This year\u2019s show features Gary Pucket, The Vogues, The Cowsills, and of course, The Turtles with one major change.\u00a0 This is the second year Eddie (Howard Kaylan) has bowed out.\u00a0 Back surgery and health issues have kept him off the road.\u00a0 His sub is another pop music voice familiar from the hits produced by the cartoon band, The Archies.\u00a0 Ron Dante had done previous Happy Together tours so I am pretty sure he had no trouble stepping in for Kaylan when the time came.\u00a0 Eddie isn\u2019t the only one who has had health issues – long time HT member, Chuck Negron from Three Dog Night, has also had to step back with his own medical problems.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dick Clark got the ball rolling for these package tours featuring popular musicians.\u00a0 Clark\u2019s <\/span>Caravan of Stars<\/span><\/i> featured younger, up and coming artists whereas today\u2019s package shows seem to feature older acts.\u00a0 As long as they can still bring the goods, I am sure Dick would be very happy to see that what he started in 1959 is still carrying on today.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Speaking of Tommy Roe performing\u00a0Dizzy<\/em> on one of those fundraiser All-Star shows . . .<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back in May of 2023, we covered the origins of Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr Band (5-3-23) a month before I had the opportunity to see the current version of the band in Eugene, Oregon.\u00a0 This FTV article explained how a thirty-year old promoter named David Fishof proposed an idea to Ringo.\u00a0 In 1989, Fishof asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2969"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2974,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2969\/revisions\/2974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}