Good Morning Rockers!
I just received a real interesting link to another great Danbury, CT band from the 60s that were extremely popular and friends of The Boss Blues...that band is The Ravens! Check out this great site put together by John Anthony and Joe Gracia from The Ravens.
http://www.jamusicland.com/ravens-home.html.
Rock on ~
T-Bird
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
If They Only Knew
Written by Teresa Izzo
It was the summer of 1966. I was 15 and my best friend Debbie Powell was 14. We were at an age that is best described as “too old and too young”. Too old to hang out with your parents and too young to drink or drive. It’s a painful time but we always tried to make the best of it. We lived in a rural part of southwestern Connecticut where there were few sources of entertainment. A favorite hangout in our town of Bethel was a place called The Sycamore, named after a huge Sycamore tree on the property. It was well known for its car hop service, flattened burgers, and milkshakes. Its owner, a man we called John “Sycamore” had his hands full, keeping one eye on his burgers and another on the swarm of kids that use to inhabit the place after school events like basketball or football games. Years later, The Sycamore evolved into an enormously popular destination for antique car buffs from all over the state. It was the place to be on Saturday nights. The scene was accompanied by a DJ playing doo-wop over a loud speaker. Very American Graffiti, only the real thing.
The other source of entertainment was at The Elks Hall in Danbury, the next town over.
Bands from the area would play and it was another place where kids would congregate to meet, and try to hook up with, the opposite sex. One of the biggest and most successful bands at the time was The Boss Blues. They were a cover band, but covered the most popular groups of the day like the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. They were excellent! Sal Salgado on drums, Peter Bennett on bass, vocalist and lead singer, Mark Payuk, Bob Grasmere and Vinnie Howley on guitars. Bob and Vinnie were from Danbury. As I recall, Vinnie had a wooden leg and an edge to his personality..like life dealt him a bum rap. Everyone always said that the reason for his prickly nature was because he knew he wouldn’t live very long. Thankfully, that has not come to pass. Sal, Peter and Mark were from Bethel and we all went to high school together. Mark was in the class of ’67. Peter and Sal were in the same class as Debbie and me, the class of ’69.
At that time, Debbie had a thing for Peter. He was 6’tall with long blonde hair, blue eyes, dripping with talent and he was a sweetheart. Everyone loved him and he never
let the success of The Boss Blues go to his head. He was always one of us and he loved us as much as we loved him. It was hard to tell how much Peter liked Debbie, he was shy
that way, and remember, we were young and just getting started down the dating road.
One very hot Friday night I was hanging out at Debbie’s house at 40 Reservoir St. Our core group included Debbie, Diane, (Debbie’s older sister), Trisha Gabrielson and me. We gathered at 40 Reservoir because usually, there was no parental supervision. Debbie and Diane’s Mom, a single mother, was rarely home. She was a chef at a Brookfield restaurant and it demanded a great deal of time away from her kids. Diane and Trisha were 2 years older than us and at that time the legal driving age in Connecticut was16, so they had their drivers’ licenses and were very good about letting us tag along on many excursions. On this particular night, however, Trisha was grounded and Diane was out with her boyfriend, Bob Grant. Diane and Bob were double-dating with another couple so Bob left his car, a ’57 Chevy, in the Powell’s driveway. Without Diane or Trisha, Debbie and I had no wheels and were left with our own imaginations to come up with some fun. We could have walked to The Sycamore but somehow that seemed too boring. The Boss Blues were playing but not at The Elks Hall. They were at another teen hang-out called The Ice Cream Parlour, in ultra cool Westport, Connecticut. Westport is about a ½ hour drive south of Bethel. That’s the place we really wanted to be. But, there was no way of getting there…HHHMMM ..or was there?
I don’t remember whose idea it was to take Bob’s car, but I do remember that seeing Peter that night was life or death for Debbie, or maybe just the screaming hormones of a 14 year old. There was the car…there were the keys. And, we desperately wanted to go to The Ice Cream Parlour…it was the hip thing to do as well as surprising Peter and giving Debbie the opportunity to chat with him in between sets. We weren’t going to let a little thing like breaking the law stop us. All we needed for our journey was a driver’s license. That’s where Trisha came in.
Trisha, a tall skinny blond, was the queen of fun and adventure, but most of all; she was, well, boy crazy. It was surely a combination of these attributes that contributed to her house arrest on this night. If anyone knew how important it was for us to get to Westport, it was Trisha. We called her on the phone and she agreed to give us her license. She lived around the corner from Debbie and Diane on Bethpage Drive, a short 3 minute walk. We tip-toed around to the back of Trisha’s house and as planned, the license was dropped from her 2nd story bedroom window, while her parents were downstairs watching TV in the living room. We successfully pulled off that maneuver without parental detection. At that time, a driver’s license was just a piece of paper with no photo. So, we at least had something to show the cops if we got stopped.
OK. We were set. Since the car belonged to Diane’s boyfriend, we decided that Debbie should drive. Makes sense, doesn’t it? When I think about it now, 40 years later, I shudder. Debbie behind the wheel and me in the passenger seat. Seatbelts were not even a twinkle in Ralph Nader’s eyes yet. We did it though. We sure did. Off we went to Westport in a 1957 Chevy to see The Boss Blues!!!
We were the coolest, so brave and adventurous. Every time a car passed us on Route 53, a very dark winding country road that hugs the Saugatuck Reservoir, …we would look at each other and say, “If they ooooonly knew!” Yeah, if they only knew the driver was 14, had no license and was driving a stolen car! Well, a borrowed car. It was an adrenaline rush. We made it safely to Westport in about 30 minutes and were comforted by the fact that we were anonymous…mostly. As we walked into The Ice Cream Parlour, which was packed with teens waiting for The Boss Blues to take the stage, I saw Peter through the crowd; I think his eyes bugged out. Yup…we’re cool. When we finally reached him he screeched, “How did you get here?” Debbie and I looked at each other then back at Peter and said in unison, “We drove.” “You did not!” “Yeah, we did.” “Whose car?” “We can’t say.”
He couldn’t believe it, however, this was an excellent entrée for Debbie to get in one-on-one time with Peter. I went to the ladies room and checked out the scene giving them time alone. Peter was quite taken that Debbie had such a daring and adventurous spirit and this fanned the flames of puppy love. Yes, Debbie was cooler than any other babe in southwest Connecticut. She was extremely intelligent for her 14 years and into all the best folk and rock music of the time; Eric Anderson, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and of course The Beatles, The Stones and the whole British invasion. For example, can you imagine listening to the following songs on AM radio for the first time: Monday Monday, and California Dreamin’ by The Mamas and Papas; Wild Thing by The Troggs; Dirty Water by The Standells; Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones; The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel; Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan; Bus Stop by The Hollies and Yellow Submarine by The Beatles??? These are some of the artists and soundtracks of 1966 that shaped our lives. Also, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary lived in Redding, the next town south of Bethel. Diane’s good friend and my neighbor, Kathy Timmins who lived on Cherry Lane, babysat Mary Travers’ kids. So, Diane knew Mary and she would autograph the group’s albums for Diane and Kathy. This was another reason why we were cool. We were about 3 degrees of separation from a famous musician and about 4 degrees from the great and-to-be-legendary Bob Dylan. We knew Diane who knew Kathy who knew Mary who knew Bob. We rule. The other thing about Debbie is that she was and still is a voracious reader. This is her true passion: books. As she got older, Debbie found more enjoyment and companionship in a good book than she did with human beings. Can you blame her?
Back to the matter at hand: The Ice Cream Parlour. The band took the stage and launched into Daytripper by The Beatles. During the songs, Peter would look at us and shake his head in disbelief. We had a great time and stayed for just one set. We needed to make it back to Bethel before Diane and Bob returned and for my curfew. I think I had to be home by 11 pm and I really tried to be a good kid but failed on many occasions to make curfew. Consequently, I was grounded many, many, many times. Tonight, we were breaking the law in the name of fun and puppy love, and I especially did not want to draw attention to myself at home. If I got home on time, no questions would be asked like, “Where were you?” and “What were you doing?” We drove back, laughing all the way saying, “If they ooooonly knew” each and every time a car passed us. We arrived home safely and as we sat in the driveway at 40 Reservoir St., we thanked our lucky stars that nothing happened to Bob’s car…and then I said, “Let’s go to the A&W for a root beer.” I still had more time before curfew and about another hour or so before Diane and Bob got back. I didn’t want the night to end. So, Debbie, being a great friend and sport, agreed.
The A&W had car hop service, similar to, but not as cool as, The Sycamore. The A&W belonged to the Danbury kids and The Sycamore belonged to the Bethel kids. So, we essentially were invading enemy territory because Danbury kids didn’t like Bethel kids. Who knows why? The only Danbury kids we ever hung out with were from a section we called Animal Hill. It was a road that actually connected Bethel to Danbury. The cool dudes from the hill were Jimmy O’Shea, (who Debbie dated), Noonie Baron, Gary Butler (who I dated), and Dickey Posner, an intense musician who was in a popular local Danbury band called The Hereafters. Other members of The Hereafters were John Ziegler, Gary Bonadio and John DiBella. Two other great bands at the time in the area must be mentioned as well to round out the scope of our influences and they were The Bluebeats and The Ravens; Jeff Annunziata, Richie O'Connor, Bruce Boege, Joe Gracia and John Anthony. Check out The Ravens' cool website:
http://www.jamusicland.com/ravens-home.html.
At the A&W we had our drink and that night our Animal Hill pals were not around. While we were checking out the scene, I saw an ex-boyfriend, Tommy Rickert, parked nearby with his new girlfriend. She was from Danbury. It did upset me but more than that, we didn’t want Tommy to recognize us in Bob Grant’s car! We decided to split immediately. We were nervous and when Debbie backed out, Bob’s ’57 Chevy went right into a telephone pole! It dented the fender. Oh brother…there goes the night. Shit, shit, shit, shit!! We drove back to 40 Reservoir and as we sat in the driveway we knew we were toast. It was my entire fault for wanting to go to the stupid A&W. Why didn’t I keep my big mouth shut? Going to Westport to see The Boss Blues wasn’t good enough? The taste of freedom at 14 and 15 was so intoxicating…good judgment was shelved. Anyway, I had to leave Debbie there with the evidence and I walked home to Pleasant Rise. The next day, Debbie told Bob what happened. He didn’t believe her no matter how hard she tried to convince him. But there was a small dent in the fender, evidence that something had gone wrong. I don’t exactly remember what he did, or if there was a punishment, but Bob was a great guy. I do remember that we didn’t get into too much trouble and at least our parents never found out about it.
As for Debbie and Peter, they had a thing for a while. I’m not sure if any real dates happened. Peter was so busy with school and the success of The Boss Blues it didn’t leave him much time for girls. Debbie went on to date Jimmy O’Shea from Animal Hill and that was a cool match. I dated different guys and in my junior year Peter asked me to the Jr.-Sr. Semi-Formal. We were friends and it was our first and only date. We had a great night and the most memorable part, besides kissing, was when Peter gave me a present and insisted that I open it in the car before we went into the dance. When I did, 4 pink eyes came running at me. I screamed and the box went flying. It was 2 white mice, who were now running around the car in the middle of December! We finally caught them and ultimately, I had a couple of pets.
It is now 40 years later and remembering this time gives me solace. As the world spins out of control and kids are chained to laptops and leashed to I-Pods, cell phones and text messaging, I wonder, where is our society going? Will they ever know what it is like to feel free? Will they ever know what its like to not be in touch? Will they ever know the peace of being alone with ones’ own self, ones’ own thoughts? And, what about daydreaming or time to imagine? Record stores are closing, traditional jobs are disappearing, newspapers of record are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and people over 40 are having a hard time competing in the workplace because they haven’t been on the computer since they were 2. Everyone sits in front of a computer. I am sitting in front of one right now! I long for the time when we said, “IF THEY ONLY KNEW!”
If you would like to contact Teresa please do so at ta_izzo@yahoo.com
It was the summer of 1966. I was 15 and my best friend Debbie Powell was 14. We were at an age that is best described as “too old and too young”. Too old to hang out with your parents and too young to drink or drive. It’s a painful time but we always tried to make the best of it. We lived in a rural part of southwestern Connecticut where there were few sources of entertainment. A favorite hangout in our town of Bethel was a place called The Sycamore, named after a huge Sycamore tree on the property. It was well known for its car hop service, flattened burgers, and milkshakes. Its owner, a man we called John “Sycamore” had his hands full, keeping one eye on his burgers and another on the swarm of kids that use to inhabit the place after school events like basketball or football games. Years later, The Sycamore evolved into an enormously popular destination for antique car buffs from all over the state. It was the place to be on Saturday nights. The scene was accompanied by a DJ playing doo-wop over a loud speaker. Very American Graffiti, only the real thing.
The other source of entertainment was at The Elks Hall in Danbury, the next town over.
Bands from the area would play and it was another place where kids would congregate to meet, and try to hook up with, the opposite sex. One of the biggest and most successful bands at the time was The Boss Blues. They were a cover band, but covered the most popular groups of the day like the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. They were excellent! Sal Salgado on drums, Peter Bennett on bass, vocalist and lead singer, Mark Payuk, Bob Grasmere and Vinnie Howley on guitars. Bob and Vinnie were from Danbury. As I recall, Vinnie had a wooden leg and an edge to his personality..like life dealt him a bum rap. Everyone always said that the reason for his prickly nature was because he knew he wouldn’t live very long. Thankfully, that has not come to pass. Sal, Peter and Mark were from Bethel and we all went to high school together. Mark was in the class of ’67. Peter and Sal were in the same class as Debbie and me, the class of ’69.
At that time, Debbie had a thing for Peter. He was 6’tall with long blonde hair, blue eyes, dripping with talent and he was a sweetheart. Everyone loved him and he never
let the success of The Boss Blues go to his head. He was always one of us and he loved us as much as we loved him. It was hard to tell how much Peter liked Debbie, he was shy
that way, and remember, we were young and just getting started down the dating road.
One very hot Friday night I was hanging out at Debbie’s house at 40 Reservoir St. Our core group included Debbie, Diane, (Debbie’s older sister), Trisha Gabrielson and me. We gathered at 40 Reservoir because usually, there was no parental supervision. Debbie and Diane’s Mom, a single mother, was rarely home. She was a chef at a Brookfield restaurant and it demanded a great deal of time away from her kids. Diane and Trisha were 2 years older than us and at that time the legal driving age in Connecticut was16, so they had their drivers’ licenses and were very good about letting us tag along on many excursions. On this particular night, however, Trisha was grounded and Diane was out with her boyfriend, Bob Grant. Diane and Bob were double-dating with another couple so Bob left his car, a ’57 Chevy, in the Powell’s driveway. Without Diane or Trisha, Debbie and I had no wheels and were left with our own imaginations to come up with some fun. We could have walked to The Sycamore but somehow that seemed too boring. The Boss Blues were playing but not at The Elks Hall. They were at another teen hang-out called The Ice Cream Parlour, in ultra cool Westport, Connecticut. Westport is about a ½ hour drive south of Bethel. That’s the place we really wanted to be. But, there was no way of getting there…HHHMMM ..or was there?
I don’t remember whose idea it was to take Bob’s car, but I do remember that seeing Peter that night was life or death for Debbie, or maybe just the screaming hormones of a 14 year old. There was the car…there were the keys. And, we desperately wanted to go to The Ice Cream Parlour…it was the hip thing to do as well as surprising Peter and giving Debbie the opportunity to chat with him in between sets. We weren’t going to let a little thing like breaking the law stop us. All we needed for our journey was a driver’s license. That’s where Trisha came in.
Trisha, a tall skinny blond, was the queen of fun and adventure, but most of all; she was, well, boy crazy. It was surely a combination of these attributes that contributed to her house arrest on this night. If anyone knew how important it was for us to get to Westport, it was Trisha. We called her on the phone and she agreed to give us her license. She lived around the corner from Debbie and Diane on Bethpage Drive, a short 3 minute walk. We tip-toed around to the back of Trisha’s house and as planned, the license was dropped from her 2nd story bedroom window, while her parents were downstairs watching TV in the living room. We successfully pulled off that maneuver without parental detection. At that time, a driver’s license was just a piece of paper with no photo. So, we at least had something to show the cops if we got stopped.
OK. We were set. Since the car belonged to Diane’s boyfriend, we decided that Debbie should drive. Makes sense, doesn’t it? When I think about it now, 40 years later, I shudder. Debbie behind the wheel and me in the passenger seat. Seatbelts were not even a twinkle in Ralph Nader’s eyes yet. We did it though. We sure did. Off we went to Westport in a 1957 Chevy to see The Boss Blues!!!
We were the coolest, so brave and adventurous. Every time a car passed us on Route 53, a very dark winding country road that hugs the Saugatuck Reservoir, …we would look at each other and say, “If they ooooonly knew!” Yeah, if they only knew the driver was 14, had no license and was driving a stolen car! Well, a borrowed car. It was an adrenaline rush. We made it safely to Westport in about 30 minutes and were comforted by the fact that we were anonymous…mostly. As we walked into The Ice Cream Parlour, which was packed with teens waiting for The Boss Blues to take the stage, I saw Peter through the crowd; I think his eyes bugged out. Yup…we’re cool. When we finally reached him he screeched, “How did you get here?” Debbie and I looked at each other then back at Peter and said in unison, “We drove.” “You did not!” “Yeah, we did.” “Whose car?” “We can’t say.”
He couldn’t believe it, however, this was an excellent entrée for Debbie to get in one-on-one time with Peter. I went to the ladies room and checked out the scene giving them time alone. Peter was quite taken that Debbie had such a daring and adventurous spirit and this fanned the flames of puppy love. Yes, Debbie was cooler than any other babe in southwest Connecticut. She was extremely intelligent for her 14 years and into all the best folk and rock music of the time; Eric Anderson, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and of course The Beatles, The Stones and the whole British invasion. For example, can you imagine listening to the following songs on AM radio for the first time: Monday Monday, and California Dreamin’ by The Mamas and Papas; Wild Thing by The Troggs; Dirty Water by The Standells; Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones; The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel; Rainy Day Women by Bob Dylan; Bus Stop by The Hollies and Yellow Submarine by The Beatles??? These are some of the artists and soundtracks of 1966 that shaped our lives. Also, Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary lived in Redding, the next town south of Bethel. Diane’s good friend and my neighbor, Kathy Timmins who lived on Cherry Lane, babysat Mary Travers’ kids. So, Diane knew Mary and she would autograph the group’s albums for Diane and Kathy. This was another reason why we were cool. We were about 3 degrees of separation from a famous musician and about 4 degrees from the great and-to-be-legendary Bob Dylan. We knew Diane who knew Kathy who knew Mary who knew Bob. We rule. The other thing about Debbie is that she was and still is a voracious reader. This is her true passion: books. As she got older, Debbie found more enjoyment and companionship in a good book than she did with human beings. Can you blame her?
Back to the matter at hand: The Ice Cream Parlour. The band took the stage and launched into Daytripper by The Beatles. During the songs, Peter would look at us and shake his head in disbelief. We had a great time and stayed for just one set. We needed to make it back to Bethel before Diane and Bob returned and for my curfew. I think I had to be home by 11 pm and I really tried to be a good kid but failed on many occasions to make curfew. Consequently, I was grounded many, many, many times. Tonight, we were breaking the law in the name of fun and puppy love, and I especially did not want to draw attention to myself at home. If I got home on time, no questions would be asked like, “Where were you?” and “What were you doing?” We drove back, laughing all the way saying, “If they ooooonly knew” each and every time a car passed us. We arrived home safely and as we sat in the driveway at 40 Reservoir St., we thanked our lucky stars that nothing happened to Bob’s car…and then I said, “Let’s go to the A&W for a root beer.” I still had more time before curfew and about another hour or so before Diane and Bob got back. I didn’t want the night to end. So, Debbie, being a great friend and sport, agreed.
The A&W had car hop service, similar to, but not as cool as, The Sycamore. The A&W belonged to the Danbury kids and The Sycamore belonged to the Bethel kids. So, we essentially were invading enemy territory because Danbury kids didn’t like Bethel kids. Who knows why? The only Danbury kids we ever hung out with were from a section we called Animal Hill. It was a road that actually connected Bethel to Danbury. The cool dudes from the hill were Jimmy O’Shea, (who Debbie dated), Noonie Baron, Gary Butler (who I dated), and Dickey Posner, an intense musician who was in a popular local Danbury band called The Hereafters. Other members of The Hereafters were John Ziegler, Gary Bonadio and John DiBella. Two other great bands at the time in the area must be mentioned as well to round out the scope of our influences and they were The Bluebeats and The Ravens; Jeff Annunziata, Richie O'Connor, Bruce Boege, Joe Gracia and John Anthony. Check out The Ravens' cool website:
http://www.jamusicland.com/ravens-home.html.
At the A&W we had our drink and that night our Animal Hill pals were not around. While we were checking out the scene, I saw an ex-boyfriend, Tommy Rickert, parked nearby with his new girlfriend. She was from Danbury. It did upset me but more than that, we didn’t want Tommy to recognize us in Bob Grant’s car! We decided to split immediately. We were nervous and when Debbie backed out, Bob’s ’57 Chevy went right into a telephone pole! It dented the fender. Oh brother…there goes the night. Shit, shit, shit, shit!! We drove back to 40 Reservoir and as we sat in the driveway we knew we were toast. It was my entire fault for wanting to go to the stupid A&W. Why didn’t I keep my big mouth shut? Going to Westport to see The Boss Blues wasn’t good enough? The taste of freedom at 14 and 15 was so intoxicating…good judgment was shelved. Anyway, I had to leave Debbie there with the evidence and I walked home to Pleasant Rise. The next day, Debbie told Bob what happened. He didn’t believe her no matter how hard she tried to convince him. But there was a small dent in the fender, evidence that something had gone wrong. I don’t exactly remember what he did, or if there was a punishment, but Bob was a great guy. I do remember that we didn’t get into too much trouble and at least our parents never found out about it.
As for Debbie and Peter, they had a thing for a while. I’m not sure if any real dates happened. Peter was so busy with school and the success of The Boss Blues it didn’t leave him much time for girls. Debbie went on to date Jimmy O’Shea from Animal Hill and that was a cool match. I dated different guys and in my junior year Peter asked me to the Jr.-Sr. Semi-Formal. We were friends and it was our first and only date. We had a great night and the most memorable part, besides kissing, was when Peter gave me a present and insisted that I open it in the car before we went into the dance. When I did, 4 pink eyes came running at me. I screamed and the box went flying. It was 2 white mice, who were now running around the car in the middle of December! We finally caught them and ultimately, I had a couple of pets.
It is now 40 years later and remembering this time gives me solace. As the world spins out of control and kids are chained to laptops and leashed to I-Pods, cell phones and text messaging, I wonder, where is our society going? Will they ever know what it is like to feel free? Will they ever know what its like to not be in touch? Will they ever know the peace of being alone with ones’ own self, ones’ own thoughts? And, what about daydreaming or time to imagine? Record stores are closing, traditional jobs are disappearing, newspapers of record are hanging on by the skin of their teeth and people over 40 are having a hard time competing in the workplace because they haven’t been on the computer since they were 2. Everyone sits in front of a computer. I am sitting in front of one right now! I long for the time when we said, “IF THEY ONLY KNEW!”
If you would like to contact Teresa please do so at ta_izzo@yahoo.com
Rock and Roll
Hello!
A couple of years ago I had a story published on a website named womenwrite.net.
The story was called "If They Only Knew". Unfortunately the editor took the site down and with it my story. So, I have started this blog to get the story back on the Internet. I received so many emails concerning this story that I thought I somehow had to try and keep it out there. It is a true story that brought back a lot of memories of great times for a number of people. So, please chime in and say hi if you have questions or comments.
Thank you!
A couple of years ago I had a story published on a website named womenwrite.net.
The story was called "If They Only Knew". Unfortunately the editor took the site down and with it my story. So, I have started this blog to get the story back on the Internet. I received so many emails concerning this story that I thought I somehow had to try and keep it out there. It is a true story that brought back a lot of memories of great times for a number of people. So, please chime in and say hi if you have questions or comments.
Thank you!
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