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Heavy
Water was named for a prime ingredient necessary for nuclear fusion..."deuterium".
The word "heavy" in the hippie idiom was a code word for a subject or object of deep significance.
The 'heaviest' member of this group was, undisputably, Harry (the Horn) LeHorne. He
played saxophones and flute. His eyes were insanely liquid. The pupils, bubbles which floated at the top of the irises in
response to back and forth motions of his eyes. He would spend hours staring into a candle flame after achieving nirvana.
The 'squarest' guy in the group was the trumpet player, Bob Snider. He had nothing
to do with any kind of dope or shenanigans...also an alumnus of the Stan Kenton Orchestra.
Gary Miller, the lead singer of note, is now a blues journalist associated with both
Blues Source and Blues Wax (see those websites).
Bob Pina...what to say? The genius. Still a pro pianist and now also a brilliant
oil painter. He also played saxophone back then. (click on photo for larger version to view names
on fringe along top of R.R. car)
This traincar was parked on a siding about a quarter mile from the famous Carrie's
nightclub where we primarily played and rehearsed.
| The MIghty Moog Synthesizer, located in the |
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| old Baptist Foundation on the S.I.U. campus |
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The
MOOG
synthesizer
I met Bob Pina at a party
during my second year at V.T.I. in 1966 or 67. We spoke of music and art. I found that he was a music major
on the main campus of S.I.U.
Within a year or so, I brought him into the
New Dimensions, a group led by Eddy Taft/McMurray
out of Herrin, IL. to replace a departing trombone player, Troy Steckinrider and trumpet player, Don Robertson who were going
off to U. of I.
Bob was not playing much keyboard at the time,
but he was already an accomplished composer who had one symphony that was performed by the university's orchestra. He
was also well known for his arrangements for the Marching
Salukis who, by dint of their association with the winning S.I.U. football team, had been on national T.V. a few
times that year. Bob’s horn charts for the New Dimensions were astoundingly powerful in their simplicity and sophistication,
lending us a pretty good reputation in the area.
Due to Bob’s reputation in the music
department's composition studies at the college, he was given free reign in the MOOG Studio
which had been developed by one of their professors, Dr. Bocce. The MOOG was a brand new instrument
of that era. Few people were using it. Only Wendy Carlos’ “Switched
On Bach” was even vaguely ‘popular’, and only by a few afficionados.
The synthesizer, nowadays is all self-contained
within one keyboard unit, but at first the keyboard wasn't even necessarily part of it. It looked very much like this
picture (above) which I cobbled together in Photoshop. It also had (unshown) several banks of reel to reel tape
recorders in the stacks or adjacent to them and all the effects were experimentally derived by running phone plugs from subunit
to subunit and into the tape decks. A microphone was as good as anything for inputing the initial, unsynthesized triggering
sound. Bob was the techie who knew how the various flangers, ring modulators, etc. worked. He found me useful
in the studio for my talents in saxophone, yes, but mainly for my abilities to ‘trigger’ MOOG effects by vocal
and percussive input. We spent a great deal of 1968 working in Dr. Bocce’s MOOG Lab creating eclectic, free-form ‘music’,
filling several full length reel to reel tapes. It was a wonderfully creative time for me, filled with joy and excitement.
I have to recall that we often left the windows open in that second floor room of what used to be a Baptist Chapel and was
referred to as the ‘Old Baptist Foundation’ building. Directly outside of the window was President
Delyte Morris’ residence. I’m sure he was occasionally mystified and possibly irritated by some of the
sounds emerging from those windows.
Unfortunately, somebody either took those tapes
from the lab or recorded over them. We were devastated, of course, but there was nothing to be done. There were
no 'back-ups' in those days.
| Me, Chris Bernhart, Dave Mick, Doug Linton, and |
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| the late Toby Brixey |
"Prana"
(mystical life force)
These guys spent hours before
each show blow-drying their hair.
The stage equipment was all
painted white instead of black.
Set up and sound check was
excruciatingly long. The drums all had
to be individually tuned and miked for
each show. The only band I ever
played bass on a song for. "Hot Blooded", so
Doug could go out front and strut.
Riff Raff
was also incarnated as Rudy and the Bouquets. Punk, New Wave, Thrash genres.
Left to right: Drummer Jonathon X. (see his link on links page), Me with the funny sublabial moustache I wore for several
years; conga player/singer Carlos Penny (stage name: Biff Manly), bassist/singer and future Mrs. Penny, Janice Fry (aka
Nancy Danger) and guitarist Mason Ring (didn't need a stage name...I always said he was the only guy I knew named after part
of a canning system). Carlos ended up being the lead singer of Doctor Bombay after Loose Billy Loose left.
Doctor Bombay
emerges from the subways of Chicago (and the wilds of southern Illinois) and becomes a much sought after band.
The 'Doctor' himself, is at this time, just a backing musician, playing congas only, but he
is the spirit of the band. Pictured in the very back with his shoulder against the column, Carlos
Penny displays his nonchalance, always his greatest trait.
Front left...Herbie Kraus...the wildest and youngest member.
Doomed to always be the youngest, he was killed when his El Camino rolled over on him after being unable to negotiate a long
sweeping leftward curve on the east side of Carbondale in the wee hours after a gig at Hangar Nine. (the speed limit
was 40...he was probably going 90).
Front center, Loose Billy Loose (Desmond) was the sex symbol, front
man, singer/performer...gifted with hip white guy interpretations of rhythm'n'blues standards several years before the Blues
Brothers broke it out.
Left to right, Herbie (alto sax), Me, Mikey Ridgeway (trumpet),
"Fast" Jack O'Boyle (guitar), Vytautas (Veets) Lauritis (bass), "Loose"
Billy, Ron Soren (harp), Bobby Diamond (drums).
Next Page: (Excerpts from my Autobiography)
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