{"id":315,"date":"2015-10-14T02:04:05","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T02:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=315"},"modified":"2015-10-14T02:29:14","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T02:29:14","slug":"ftv-the-band-played-on-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=315","title":{"rendered":"FTV: The band played on – part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

The more I think about the longevity of some bands, the list of those who would fit in this article gets longer and longer. \u00a0The original idea was to talk about bands still playing after their early careers came and went. \u00a0\u00a0I put a band on my list if they carried on with at least one original member. \u00a0I may have found myself a Mobius strip of an article idea because I keep going around and around the loop without running out of bands that fit this description. \u00a0\u00a0In that I would like to wrap up this particular discussion, I am going to limit part 3 to only three bands: \u00a0a British band, and American band, and one local band.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The British band in question is <\/span>The Who<\/b>. \u00a0When Roger Daltrey famously sang \u2018I hope I die before I get old\u2019 ( <\/span>My Generation 1965)<\/span><\/i>, not even the band could have foreseen having a career of more than fifty years. \u00a0While guitarist Pete Townshend and Daltrey are in the midst of yet another \u2018final tour\u2019 (or were going to be on tour until Daltrey\u2019s health problems forced them to postpone things until next year), they are the last two legs of the four-legged stool that comprised the original band. \u00a0Sporting an exceptionally creative rhythm section of Keith Moon (drums) and John Entwistle (bass), it is a sad commentary that both would succumb to rock and roll excess. \u00a0Moon flamed out on September 6, 1978 when the combined effects of alcohol and pills (and a long history of abusing himself with both) overwhelmed him at a time when he was actually trying to sober up. \u00a0The quiet, introspective Entwistle died of a heart attack in June of 2002 with cocaine listed as a contributing factor. \u00a0\u00a0With nicknames like \u2018The Ox\u2019 and \u2018Thunderfingers\u2019, Entwistle is said to have elevated bass guitar in the same way Jimi Hendrix elevated six string guitar. \u00a0On stage, he was always \u2018the quiet one\u2019, but apparently not so much in private.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many thought it unlikely that the band could go on after Moon\u2019s death. \u00a0Kenney Jones (Small Faces) filled the drum throne for a number of years but was too often criticized for \u2018not being Moon\u2019. \u00a0In more recent times, Zak Starkey (son of Ringo Starr) has filled in admirably and while no one could exactly replicate the way Moon played, he has kept the spirit of the music The Who created with Moon alive. \u00a0He was invited to join the band as a full member but declined as he had also been invited to join Oasis. He effectively split his time between both bands until Oasis imploded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Entwistle\u2019s role in the band has been ably covered by session pro Pino Palladino. \u00a0A Welshman whose father was Italian (hence his given name of Giuseppe), he has played with a who’s who of musicians from both sides of the Atlantic. \u00a0He was Townshend and Daltrey\u2019s first choice to replace Entwistle. \u00a0Along with Starkey, he holds down the bottom end of The Who very well.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There have been a bevy of supporting guitarists and keyboard players who have toured with the The Who. \u00a0\u00a0Among them are Townshend\u2019s brother Simon and Texan John \u2018Rabbit\u2019 Bundrick, but Starkey and Paladino have been permanent mainstays since the death of Moon and Entwistle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The American band I want to finish with is <\/span>Chicago Transit Authority <\/b>who became more commonly known as <\/span>Chicago<\/b> after the real CTA threatened legal action over the use of its name. \u00a0An unusually large band by late 1960s standards (The Mothers of Invention, Chase, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears being early examples of larger ensembles playing rock-fusion music), they are still on the road with four of the original band members. \u00a0The founding band members still on the road are keyboard player Robert Lamm and the complete horn section of James Pankow (trombone), Walter Parazaider (saxophone and flute), and Lee Loughnane (trumpet). \u00a0The other originals trickled out of the band for the usual reasons. \u00a0Tragically guitarist\/vocalist Terry Kath exited the band first as the result of a self inflicted gunshot to the head while fooling around with a pistol. \u00a0Kath was such a force in the band, the band has gone through an entire roll-o-dex of guitar players since his untimely death in 1978. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bassist\/vocalist Peter Cetera departed in 1985 as his solo career began to blossom. \u00a0The band\u2019s first choice to replace him was Richard Page, the bassist\/lead vocalist of Mr. Mister but he declined the offer. \u00a0 \u00a0Jason Scheff<\/span>, son of Elvis Pressley<\/span>‘s bassist Jerry Scheff<\/span>\u00a0joined and remains with the band today.<\/span><\/p>\n

Superlative drummer Danny Seraphine left the band in 1990 (or was dismissed, depending on whose version of the story you wish to believe) because he disagreed with the direction the band was taking. \u00a0In 2006, Seraphine formed his own CTA – the California Transit Authority – with whom he continues to play the type of horn fueled music he preferred when he was with the Chicago. \u00a0His replacement with Chicago was former session and touring drummer Tris Imboden who has worked with Kenny Loggins and Peter Cetera among many others. \u00a0The Chicago website lists ten other musicians who have come and gone over the years but the four core members are nearing their fiftieth year together while their rhythm section has been the same for half that time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are many examples of musicians from the local area who have formed bands in various combinations over the years. \u00a0The band that gets the longevity award for the Ontonagon area would\u00a0<\/span>have to be <\/span>Easy Money.<\/b> \u00a0Mark Bobula joined the band in 1973 and by his count has seen close to 60 different members pass through the ranks since he joined. \u00a0Original members Wayne Shamion (guitar) and Donny \u2018Muleskinner\u2019 Hawkins (drums, vocals) are no longer with us while guitarist Jerry Monk\u2019s most recent appearance with the band was at the Easy Money 40th Anniversary Concert held at the Ontonagon Theater for the Performing Arts over Labor Day weekend of 2013. \u00a0The musicians who have cycled through Easy Money have been young, old, male, female, and in more recent years, imported from all over the map. \u00a0Through it all, Bobula has been the connecting thread. \u00a0When we recently discussed his busy schedule, he laughed and commented, \u201cIt is always interesting to book a job and then start looking for enough guys to play it.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0For some smaller jobs, Mark has been known to play with an electronic drummer and perhaps another guitarist. \u00a0Some gigs will see four to six players wedged in across the stage front and the music played can range from classic rock to country (old or modern) to polkas. \u00a0An evening with Easy Money is never a dull affair.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have been lucky enough to have had several stints with Easy Money beginning in 1976 – 1978 when I joined original members Mark Bobula and Jerry Monk. \u00a0After returning to NMU for a year, I landed back in Ontonagon and was a summer fill in for several years in the early 1980s joining Bobula, John Fischer and Dave Morehouse. \u00a0For the past decade, I have been an \u2018occasional hired gun\u2019 for various gigs with a rotating cast including one of Mark\u2019s oldest musical buddies from Iron River, Charlie Christenson (guitar\/vocals) as well as Ontonagon\u2019s John Reid (bass) and Eugene Soumis (guitar\/vocals). \u00a0Many of the gigs I have been involved with are for various charitable causes that Easy Money has been happy to support over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This past summer, I got to play a couple of times at the Ontonagon Eagles Club that were typical for the current Easy Money band. \u00a0The first included Bobula and Christensen (guitar\/vocals), Jack Jolliff (acoustic guitar\/vocals) and Dave Stahl (bass\/vocals). \u00a0Stahl and Christensen had to travel from Dollar Bay and Iron River, respectively, \u00a0and while Stahl is primarily a guitar player, on this night he filled in very capably on bass. \u00a0Two weeks later, the same group performed together again only this time, Christensen was replaced by Eugene Soumis from Ontonagon. \u00a0At both gigs, Jolliff started the evening by \u2018introducing the band\u2019 and then literally (and semi-seriously) introduced the band members to each other. \u00a0The number of rehearsals held by these two groups of musicians? \u00a0Zero! \u00a0The number of songs available from this assembly of long performing musicians? \u00a0Too many to count! \u00a0The level of fun for the musicians involved? \u00a0Off the scale!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is another musician in Ontonagon County with over 40 years in the business who has been the connecting thread between several bands. \u00a0<\/span>Mike Urbis<\/b> began his musical career in the early 1970s with the Urbis Brothers band and has carried on to the present with The Copper Drifters and his current band Borderline. \u00a0I plan on picking Mike\u2019s brain a bit because I am sure there are more than a couple of interesting gig stories he will be willing to pass along from his bands. \u00a0Mike\u2019s time with Borderline alone has stretched to more than twenty years so we will save that topic for a future installment of FTV.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I am not trying to slight the many members who have played with the Easy Money band over the years by not listing them here because a) the list would be longer than the article and b) I would surely miss someone. \u00a0Suffice to say, if you get a chance to see the Easy Money band along the way, make sure you pay attention when Jack introduces the band. \u00a0\u00a0The odds are good that at least one or two of them will also be getting their first introduction to the rest of the band.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo: \u00a0One 2015 version of Easy Money setting up to play at the Ontonagon Eagles club (l – r) Eugene Suomis, Ken Raisanen, Mark Bobula and Jack Jolliff.<\/span>\"SumGigs<\/a>