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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 true fan-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 band played all the local dance halls and venues, including
The Palace Ballroom (Old Orchard Beach), St. John's Hall (Portland), The Expo (Portland), City Hall (Portland), and
Clifford Park (Biddeford). The band opened for The Turtles and The Barbarians (featuring "Moulty" the drummer),
both in OOB, as well as The Dave Clark Five and The McCoys, both at City Hall in Portland. The band broke
up due to the Vietnam War draft.
Thanks to Don Bergeron, brother of the bass
guitarist, for most of the information above. Don says that he followed the band as he "tagged along" as an 11-year
old aspiring drummer.
The following is taken from information
from John Dow, second bass player for the band:
After Bobbie (bass guitar) was drafted, and Dickie
had left the band, sometime late 1966, Rick, Frankie and Ronnie hired me, John Dow, on bass to fulfill contract jobs they
had already lined up. The name of our band from that point on was simply "The Ebb Tides." I played with them in 1967 and I
did my last gig with them in 1968.
We opened for ‘Spanky and Our Gang’ at the White
Hall in OOB. The Mamas and the Papas were booked, but had canceled for some reason. So, Spanky filled in as the
front liner that night. We played weeknights at a place called The Disco in OOB; we played Harmony Hall on Sebago lake
as well as Grange Halls and such. I enjoyed playing with such a great bunch of guys, who all had a really high level
of musicianship. I don’t know if the original band members ever got back together after that or not, though I doubt
it - I’d heard Rick had moved out of state.
Band members:
Dick Waite - Vocals & Rhythm Guitar
Rick Tucker - Lead Guitar
Frankie Haskel - Keyboards
Bob "Bobbie" Bergeron - Bass Guitar
Ronnie Coulard - Drums
John Dow - Bass Guitar (after Bobbie left band)
Jean Paul "JP" Bergeron - Manager
The Skavengers
(Thanks to Randall Souviney)
I (Randal Souviney) played lead guitar and did vocals for
The Skavengers from 1965-67. I replaced Erlon Bailey when he left to join another band in 1965 or so.
We both grew up in Dresden, Maine. Erlon, a fine guitarist, taught me much of what I know about rhythm and lead guitar.
In the summer of 1964, he taught me how to play a few dozen rock and roll songs since he was leaving the band to
join another group in 1965. I would love to know more about what happened when he joined this new band.
If anyone knows more about his history, please contact me: rsouviney@me.com. I have recently been in touch with the son of Erlon’s bass player (Chester Hinkley), who is still
alive. Erlon was killed when he was hit by a car while he was selling artistic baskets he made after he retired.
I don’t remember The Scavengers band in New Hampshire, but do remember The Mustangs, and
the other bands you mention in your listing of groups from that time.
The Skavengers during
my time consisted of Allan Pelletier (drums, then bass and keyboard), Nick Forest (guitar), and Peter Trott (drums).
We played hundreds of concerts throughout Maine (The Merry Barn in Boothbay, The Palace Ballroom in New Orchard
Beach, The PAL Sock Hop in Lewiston, many other venues).
We recorded one original single in
1965 (And She Lied / Lend Me Your Love) at Ace Studios in Boston. We recently reunited in Maine to
record two cover songs that were on our play list 50 years ago (Sweet Home Chicago & Long Tall Sally).
All four of these songs (I remastered our original 45), plus several songs I wrote in the 60s and 70s and recently recorded
after I retired, can be heard at the SoundCloud URL ( https://soundcloud.com/rsouviney ). Have fun.
Full Sail
(Thanks to Barney Martin for this information)
"Full Sail" was Lewiston-based band (1977-1981) and
followed the same venues as Devonsquare. They sang the same type of songs, but covers of CSN, America and The Eagles; they sang their own 3 part harmony arrangements to the songs.
Members included: Mark Nordli, Claire Bureau (started
with Carole Wise, but she left to do Christian music), and Barney Martin. Toward the end of the band's existence, a 4th
member was added to "Full Sail" - Dave Burgess.
Rush
Rush was a very popular Southern
Maine show band from the 1970s, working on the road for 9 years (according to their web site). Their show band
included a horn section. On December 11, 1974, they performed and recorded a live album at The WhiteHall
in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. According to their web site http://www.reverbnation.com/rushmaine, below are the band's members:
Gary Branch, Mike Ingrisano, Pete Doughty, Billy Belskis,
Al Butler, Keith Gaudette, Carl Crosen, Jeff Lessard and Billy Doughty.
The Telstars
A hometown rock band named The Telstars included Jude Ippolitti, Alan Beaulier and others;
it started late 1950's playing at sock hops on Millinocket Lake Road. By 1964/ 65 the group was Alan Beaulier, lead;
Bernard Lyford, bass; Pete Ippolitti, drums; Doug Beautough, lead singer and rhythm.
They played in battle of bands against The Barracudas and other bands. They
were in extremely high demand and played Maine and Canada. There was a film
by one of the local TV stations showing them playing by generator power on the back of a giant Great Northern Paper Company
flatbed in a parade . They had go- go girls dancing in a circle on the rear of the float. It was the largest float parade
held in Millinocket at that time & shown on local TV. It was a very cold day.
The film location is unknown, but it should be in the archives of the TV station that showed it. They were playing
the song "Sonny" by Little Stevie Wonder in the TV segment. Please do not let
them be forgotten- they were awesome and highly sought after for gigs. Viet Nam ended their possible longer road to
fame by graduation 1968.
Thanks to P. Lyford for this information
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
Led by Eddie Boucher, this extremely popular rock &
roll band from the mid and late sixties was from Lewiston, Maine. They were a long-time favorite at the many local
Battle of the Bands competitions and the PAL sock-hops which were held every Friday evening in Lewiston/Auburn.
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.
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! Their manager from 1965 through 1970 was Richard Bronson. - he writes the following
(Aug. 14, 2014):
"The Barracudas were a Bangor band.
Their bigger hit "No Matter What You Do" was recorded in Rockland. The initial record company was Critique - Carl Strube out
of Bath. That master was latter sold to Mercury Records with limited successful release in other states.
The Barracudas had a sister band, The Doll-fins. I managed both bands. In 1970 we merged the two into an 8 piece band "Early Train"
who later had a record on Decca.
I managed the Barracudas from fall of
1965 until their end in 1970. Based on their success Carl Strube, from his office in Bath, and I, from my office in Bangor,
operated "Bountiful Bookings." We booked many of the bands you have listed. Carl moved off and worked at recording while,
from Bangor, I continued booking into the early 70's."
The Innkeepers
Initially
The Inkeepers were an instrumental/cover band with members Dick Tribou (lead guitar), Roger Blais (rhythm guitar), Larry Nadeau
(bass), and Ray Cyr (drums). Mike Goff (for vocals & percussion) was added in 1966.
The band was based in Lewiston, Maine, and played all over New England, especially on the college circuit. They
were one of Maine's top rock groups from 1964 - 1967. Tribou was replaced by Mark Larlee in 1966. They were the opening
act when the floowoing national acts performed locally in the mid 60s: Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Mitch Ryer & The
Detorit Wheels, The Beach Boys, The Four Seasons and The Turtles.
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