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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1977-01-20, Page 20PAG1 20—CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1977 r.V (v Sv .AFI' rte, :-r.1�../f I' n rlJ"T•..T.I•vVl 1 . v Thee they e- them. their , dv Bluetonesdi,sband years 4, 4„ 4, .. r . k. ... N;- � +r.,_„' .. z y: ncY r f �`I .� ,fit s•a:�t.�..w <. e^ ._'.� .:r�gerlr.� R v �� xrs.:< x.r» 4ti.; ,.cl�r„ �_.�_ iz. ;'"z.+sY-z""��. s. �`L -,�c' ..:,. rti �7t� .. d: E'R .. °e'�aF .. .�� v$au�`6��'�r`ic,. ,Inv' . -'r s'�.y'1> .,•..n. '�°<. rl�c �1 wr'6�..d` 'z, s hr y>x nr � � �, ,.. - D�:;f k 'r#�'. 9 .i. r..,,q:y. �, �.,.. ....! 'F`: Y.<.,••'« 2 `.i``.i ",:9 Et . .,.,n19? yF h DV �:Y Srt, < - ..,}� f� y ;:',t Is ,L... 'S. K.':•.�' `gag: 1$' F`v. y��re.' �s` A`.. ,'�.f :..;.a �... fix.,:,. f� PY.6 \.: F: d�x.:"iD� `d:�i.�i. :'i$...-. �r z�_n:'.s � .... .�?'X"-_v:.. `" � s a�_'� ,�,. �#. F_. ��,. �:i <X �3: . �T • .. ... .,.. .,.'.rSis it 4( iC For five Clinton dance band widows, Saturday nights will never b.e the same. ,u For almost 14 years, some of these ,ladies sat at home while their husbands travelled throughout the province. playing one night stands. Last New Year's Eve changed all that.. OrkDecember 31st, 1976, the Bluetones 'dance band played their last gig at the White Carnation in Homesville. "Two members were ready to quit the group because of outside pressures," Bluetone Fred Lobb explained, "and rather than going through the hassle of finding replacements, the other three decided to fold." -When the Bluetones disbanded, they brought an end to a musical tradition dating back, over 35 years to the first days of the Clinton Air Base. The last five Bluetones, all from Clinton, played together for 11/2 years, but two of the musicians have been with the group for 131/2 years. Jerry Cox and John Newell became Bluetones in Sep- tember 1964..Their 131/2 years in the band have made them the historians. "The Bluetones started with a Mr. Moore shortly after the Base opened," Jerry said, and continued under Moore's son Bob, of St. Thomas, when the band's founder was transferred from. Clinton. Playing on the Air Bases in Clinton and Centralia, the first Bluetones covered "little of the territory their suc- cessors would eventually inherit. Bluetones have come and gone throughout the group's 35 -year history, but four names stand out: Bruce MacDonald, a guitar player from London; Gordon Harrison, a piano and organ player, and one time business manager from Goderich; Sgt. Eric Schatte, the late trumpeter, who conducted the Clinton Air force Band and gained recognition -for his entertainment of the troops in a war-torn Europe; and Mark Yurek, an organ player and bass guitarist - from St. Thomas. By mid 1975 all of the above mentioned musicians were no. longerin the group and the Bluetones came to be com- posed of the five men who recently disbanded. Besides 35 -year-old drummer Jerry Cox, John Newell ,33, who played trumpet,--saxophone•an-d bass guitar, and Fred Lobb, 46, bass guitarist and saxophone player, - who • became a Bi.letone six years ago, the other band members were Fred's brother, 'Burt, and Bruce Pulsifer. Twenty -two-year-old Burt Lobb played organ, electric piano, trombone and har- monica,' while Bruce, 34, provided the group with guitar and electric bass guitar. Both men were the last to join the Bluetones 11/2 years ago. With each new member who joined the band, the music changed a.little but it was never for the worst. Inadvertently, it got better. "When you went out looking for new people, you were never dissatisfied with what, 4 (the sound), you had," Jerry said. "You went out to get something to' keep the sound.If anything, it was the new people who - had more. adapting to do in the band." Even so, the Bluetones' overall sound changed with the change in band com- position. "For example with Bruce MacDonald gone, we.canned the sang, "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" which he used to sing," John said. "You get the occasional person coming up to you disappointed on seeing or hearing that you were dif- ferent," Bruce Pulsifer said, "but• on the whole, people heard the group for what it was and enjoyed it." Burt and Bruce were probably the easiest changes for Bluetone followers to accept, according to Burt. "Bruce is tall and has a beard like the bass guitarist before him, and I'm short and have long hair, like ' the organist they had before me," he said. "Because we sort of looked like the people we were replacing, it was easier for us to be accepted." Shortly after Burt and Bruce became Bluetones; the group underwent a revolutionary 'change in their appearance: they traded in their powder blue leisure suits for crushed velvet tuxedos.. "We had played together for so long and for the -same people so often, that we were eager to make a change," Fred said. "And because we were so eager for a change, we felt the people (in the audience), ,must be getting tired of it, (lack of change) too." With the, change in costume, the Bluetone-public seemed to adjust easier to other changes the group might make in its sound. With Burt in the group, there was a harmonica in the -band-Tor ,th rs`t"t3ine `-The other first was taking Bruce from just a backup guitarist, to give hime a solo. "When we played in Aylmer • with the switch in -instruments, we had one lady comp`Ian 'that although she still liked us, she thought we -played too much acid rock," Burt said. The Bluetones played easy listening, popular numbers spanning John, Denver to Glenn Miller, with 20 per cent of their prrogram coming from a country and western origin. "The real variety of in- struments.,(not many bands have birass) and each member being able to. vocalize and harmonize wito the others are the seer its behind the Bluetones' .,uc- cess," Fred said. . John Newell mad:, the Jerry Cox tried to keep the sound Clinton's Bluetones posed for posterity a few days after they played their last performance. The five -member dance band, "composed of left to right, Bruce Pulsifer, Jerry Cox, Burt Lobb, John Newell and Fred Lobb, folded after 11/2 decisions on which musical pieces the band played and though the members sometimes disagreed with his selection, they found that his judgement was always right. "When -John decided we'd play the "Green, Green Grass of 'Home" we all said, `You've got to be .kidding, it'll never work,"' Burt said, but when the number came up, the whole dance floor filled. They would play two slow pieces and then two fast Bruce Pulsifer ... only with band 18 months pieces, and that is what the crowds got used to. Burt described it as being in "the same old rut." "Before I was married and when my brother played in the band I'd sit and listen to thet music and impress my girlfriend by telling her the number that I thought they would play next." Of course, Burt was always right, and of course the * # * # # * * # * *,.>� rr'lfr'i°end- ---_-w.a-sr w... . ,:a.ys--...., -if-- -.• . _s w properly impressed. Burt might have been bothered by the Bluetones always putting the same two songs together, but the audience obviously wasn't. When the band folded • in December, it had a solid year's booking to cancel. "All of gur gigs were booked a year ahead and last 'New Year's Eve was booked three. to four year ago," he added, mute testimony to the Bluetones' popularity. Another, ' is the town of , Aylmer, where the Bluetones plaYed each -month for -_eight years. ' Bookings took them all over Western Ontario: Owen Sound, Chatham, Preston, Elmira, Tillsonburg and London, and while most performances went off well, there was the odd Fred Lobb ... so crowded they all stood in one spot engagement that made Bluetone history. The largest audience: "We played for 'the Lucknow Old Boys," Jerry said. "and the hall was filled solid with 2,500 - 3,000 people." . "You couldn't move, you couldn't even get to the bar fpr a break so you kept on playing," Fred said. "There was no room to dance, the people just stood in one spot and jumped up and down with their hands in the air," Jerry said. The most interesting performance: "We played in b.0 annon, this is going backs few years," John said, "` nd because there was no hall e-- "There was a pee wee played on the back of a softball tournament in Mit- tractor-trailer in the rain: chell and a dance was to "We set up to play and follow in the Arena," Jerry there were about a handful of said. "They didn't advertise years of playing together. The band's beginnings, however, date back to the early 1940's, and while none of the last members were the original founders, Jerry and John played with the group for the last 131/2 years. people out listening to us. Bruce (MacDonald) kept getting, electric shocks from his guitar everytime the rain fell on it: "We started playing our last set about 12:30 when all of a sudden people started coming in from all directions. They were just starting to swing ,to the music and we were in the middle of packing up. It almost caused a minor riot," John said. The longest performance: "We played for about 51/2 hours in the Clinton Air Force Base Officers' Mess,"' Jerry said "They just kept paying us overtime to keep on playing." The smallest audience: story and photos by Chris Zdeb— the dance and only three couples showed up. We played the whole night as if the room was full.` "It was the only time we ever got paid for a practice," he laughed. All the Bluetones agreed that the Mitchell story was a real rarity, "We always had turn away crowds in attendance as long as I can remember," Fred said. The group's most ' memorable exar`nple of. John Newell ... mode decisions on music standing -room -only - attendance were their bookings,in Rondeau Park. "When we first played there, about ' 18 couples showed up," Jerry said, "After we'd been playing there awhile, they'd let in the first 700 people, with the .rest being turned away." "The dance would be set for 8 o'clock and the crowds would ..-be so big that they wouldn't :start letting' the peopleinuntil 8," Fred r . recalledwed get there in time to start playing at 9:30 and would have to bring all the equipfnent in through the crowds still lined up at the door." ' There was :bio liquor licence for the night and people would smuggle in refreshments" hidden down their pant legs or the ladies wound carry them in their purses. "You'd be playing and could, see people bend under the tables, to freshen their drinks," John said. "It'd be pretty dark under there and more would end up on the floor than in the glass," Fred said. "Members of the nearby Ridgetown OPP detachment were our largest contingent of supporters and their wives went into the dance with the biggest purses of all," Jerry said. Another unforgettable engagement, was the time the Bluetones played in Seaforth without Bruce, who was down with the flu. "We'd play a set and then run to a phone to ask how Bruce was feeling," John said. "They called me,every half hour that night to see if 1 was well enough to come out and play," Bruce said. The night was a nightmare for the four Bluetones. "John would play •the trumpet, then he'd run over -and pick up the guitar and sing, and then runback to the trumpet," Burt said. "We got the Seaforth booking for the next year, but I think it was a sympathy vote," Fred said. In the 13 'years that Jerry and John had been with the band they remembered the Bluetones missing only two engagements. Both in 1971 during the worst snow storm of the year. While being able to boast of their solid bookings week after week, the Bluetones' popularity took its' toll on their family life. The band was never home Saturday nights, and while Clintonians revelled in Centennial celebrations_ at home last year, "we missed it, (Centennial) because we were playing in other spots," Fred said. Now that the band is through and they have their Saturday ,nights • to them- selves, each Bluetone has only one problem: Figuring out what average married couples do on Saturday nights. - They see the problem as a temporary one however. "Come and see us in three months and ask us how we're doing," Bruce invited. . While making up for lost family live, one thing all of the men will never be able to recapture is the fellowship they enjoyed as Bluetones. "'Tye , rea11 -enjoyed~ the' fellowship that we've shared playing together and travelling around from, 'town to town," Burt said. "You always knew that whatever happened through the week, when it came to Saturdays, it meant going out to play, it was sort of like a night out with the boys. "It's like a habit," he continued. "You get u"sea to having a knot in your gut only now you don't have anything to look forward to, You have' to learn to slaw, yourself down". The fellowship the group enjoyed within itself also came to engulf -some of its audiences. "The same., fellowship we shared Was accepted 'by our followers - some who have followed us for 13 years," Jerry said. "Some people never missed us in the eight years we played in Aylmer," Fred said, "and I think a few tears were shared in the audience whenrwe played in Aylmer for the last time." Four of the Bluetones have retired their musical careers, but John Newell has something up his sleeves - Greensleeves, that is. "I've been thinking of starting a " new group and having it ready to play by November," John said. "I thought I might call it, (the band), Greensleeves, in which case you can guess 'what number we'd play first, but whether or not that will be the name depends on what the other; guys in, the group think f" Whatever the name chosen, it will definitely not be the "Bluetones". "I don't want people, to compare us to the Bluetones. I want them to come to know us for what we are," John said. ` There were times ,when the band contemplated changing its name from the Bluetones, "because we felt that it was out of time with the times," Fred said. "But we always came back. to the fact that people could identify us with that name and decided to leave it as it is," he said. Looking back, all of the Bluetones are glad of their decision. For a group that has never advertised, the Bluetones enjoyed great popularity, and today feel .only appreciation for the patronage they en- joyed. "Now, if we could just get some people to write in their suggestions on what to do on a •Saturday night, we'd be all 'set," Jerry said. 4 Ap M 4 Burt lobe ... full years bookings ' Orel ,ate .,.. ..�. � •., � �. ..� .�.