In Dan's Garage...#51

Upstate New York Vol. 2

 Hey everybody! Here in the USA it's "Super Bowl Sunday" which has become a holiday of sorts. While I get totally annoyed by the hype that surrounds it, I do look forward to watching a good competitive match. The halftime show I could do without and that time is usually spent eating. Today we're making chili and it's gonna be good! You may be wondering "why the hell did it take Dan a month to get the last post out and 1 day to get this next one out?" Well, instead of doing the transfers, scans, etc. one post at a time, I did it all at once! Clever eh? Seriously though, this next one is strictly Rochester. That is all the groups featured here were from Rochester or from the nearby suburbs. One of the unique things about our city is that the Genessee river runs right through it,splitting the city in two. This makes for an interesting west side/east side dynamic. The west side (where I was born, raised and still live) was and still is clearly blue collar working class. Kodak was situated there and many of it's workers live nearby. I live within a stones throw of what was once known as "Kodak Park" a facility that had a 25 mile perimeter that ran through the entire northwest side of the city. In it's heyday it was a city within a city. Now that the digital revolution ahs taken over, buildings that manufactured, processed and stored film are either empty, have been leased to other companies, or have been leveled. The east side on the other hand is far more affluent. Doctors, lawyers, sleazy politicians, and all sorts of muckity mucks make their home there. I love talking to people from Fairport, or any of the other burbs on that side of town. When asked where I live I get, "oh that's WAY OVER on the west side", like I lived in some kind of third world country. It's really funny though. When I grew up there was no west or east side. We lived in Rochester. Period. OK, I'm done with part two of my brief history lesson. Let's get on with the records then....

  Catalinas - My Misery / Be Mine (1963)

 If one could use a benchmark for the "Rochester" sound, this would have to be a pretty good example. Fine Recording was established by a Big Band sax player named Vince Giancursio (aka Vince Jan) around 1955. From what I gather this was the only game in town so the vast majority of musical acts from gospel to rock & roll recorded there. Check out the "fine" Fine Recording Studio website here for an in depth peek into what went on there from 1955 till it shut down in 1977. As for the Catalinas, they were an extremely popular group around town and I think had another 45 on Inco records but there's some dispute as to whether it is the same band.

Two Kats And A Kitten - Kit Kat Rock / Perfidia (1957)

 Here's a good one. Obviously a "lounge" act who is trying to cash in on the Rock & Roll craze, it sounds like an accordion player and a drummer with a girl singing along. This one is so hokey that I fall off my chair laughing every time I hear it. Lot's of energy though! I love the "kat" sound effects too. I included the flip "Perfidia" because it's so damn cheesy.

Shorty Prescott's Velvetones - Bring It On Home To Me/ Honky Tonk Today (1963)

It's tough finding good info on some of these locals, and Shorty Prescott is no exception. All I really know is that Shorty had an accordion in the group (real popular instrument here in town I guess) and that this was "produced" at the infamous Fine Recording studio.

Continentals - Cathy's Clown / Maybe Baby (1962)

 Another bunch of locals who recorded at Fine. We have here a couple of real inept renditions of some classics with some most impressive vocals as well. I'm not sure what's up with this 45 but as you can see by the top scan, John gives someone "best wishes" and then he (or someone) proceeds to cross out Continentals and write in "The Accents"!

Bobby Francis - At The Beach / Summer's Coming (1963)

 Not sure if this was recorded here in Rochester, and I'm not even sure if Bobby lived in Rochester at the time. What I do know is, is that Frank Filardo aka "Bobby Francis" is the father of local drummer/musician Rob Filardo who plays in (or played in) about six different bands at once including The Quitters, one of Rochester's best acts.

Don And Tony & The Knighthawks - Lightning (1960)

 Real cool savage instro by Don & Tony who were big on the country circuit around town. Tony Starr had a relatively long running stint on late night public access TV doing his thing at local gigs where he performed with his fur covered Fender Musicmaster and canned backup music. Ahhh...the good old days of late night TV!

Vistas - Moon Relay / No Return (1963)

 Whoa dad!!!! This wild surf instrumental is pretty hard to beat even by west coast standards, and holds it's own with California's best offerings. I can see guys at Charlotte Beach waiting for those massive two footers to come in while this is blasting in the background. Look out for those dead fish dude!!!! 

Steve Alaimo & The Redcoats - Blue Fire (1960)

 Here's Steve Alaimo once again this time doing somewhat of a pop/lounge type thing with a definite exotic twinge to it.

Gene Cornish & The Unbeetables - I Wanna Be A Beetle / Oh Misery (1964)

 One of hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of Beatles "answer" records released in 1964 designed to capitalize on Beatlemania. I think Gene's effort was a pretty good one though. The A side is kinda goofy (Like a teddy bear?) but the B side is a fantastic take on all the cool Beatles cliches. This one reminds me a bit like "Don't Bother Me"

Invictas - The Detroit Move / Shake A Tail Feather (1966)

 I believe this was the last 45 issued by the Invictas on Sahara Records (or any other label for that matter) and is a superb example of what they were doing in '65/'66. They were without a doubt the most popular "garage" act in Rochester at the time.....

Vic Pernell & The Hangmen - Live For Today / Sad Boy (1966)

I don't have the entire story on this bunch, but I think The Hangmen were a local teen combo who were kind of hornswaggled into backing up this Vic Pernell guy. I think the results were great and I wished The Hangmen had made a 45 on their own. Recorded at Fine (natch).

Heard - Stop It Baby / Laugh With The Wind (1966)

 OK.Call me a homer for being from Rochester and blah, blah, blah, but for many years I have considered "Stop It Baby" to be the absolute epitome of everything a garage/punk 45 should be. Raunchy guitars, snotty vocals, a wild stop-go tempo, KILLER guitar AND harp solos. All of you garage punkers out there can make your case for other tunes, but for my money THIS IS THE REAL SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Church Mice - College Psychology On Love / Babe, We Are Not Part Of Society (1965)

 

 Quite possibly one of the crudest 45's ever recorded. Right up there with "Green Fuz" and "Leave My House". The Church Mice were led by local music store owner Armand Schaurbroeck who in fact established the The House Of Guitars, quite possibly the greatest music store on earth, and I"m serious about that. There is no place like it anywhere. As for the 45, it it's not only crude, but it's probably one of the first "underground" records beating guys like The Fugs and The Velvet Underground to the punch by at least a year.

Darelycks - Bad Trip / Wait  For Me (1966)

 Another great garage 45 recorded at Fine. The Derelycks were from nearby Fairport (an "east side" suburb) and were rather obscure, although they managed to record this great 45 at Fine. A nice interview with guitarist Steve Lareau can be found on the finerecordingstudio.com website.

America's Childern - Blow On / New World (1968)

 Our last entry in this post is by a group I know nothing about. Obviously they were a bunch of wannabe hippies doing a sort of "progressive" Mamas and Papas thing, but real lo-fi like, you know what I mean? Meh. Maybe not. Anyway I suspect they may have been from Irondequoit, an adjacent suburb to the city.

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