Warner Robins, Georgia
1967. The following ad appeared in an early April
issue of the Warner Robins Sun newspaper.
"Musicians needed to rebuild popular Warner Robins
band. Call Mike (912) 555-5555". On a sunny
Saturday afternoon in mid April, five boys showed
up in response to that ad. My name is Mike Partain.
I'm a drummer and I placed the ad. I met them at
Club 247. There was Mike Zirngabel age 15, Eddie
Stone age 14, Michael Thompson age 15, Donnie
Murphy age 16 and Danny Williams age 15. After a
three hour rehearsal, I surprised the guys with the
news that we were playing at this club that same
night. Three of the guys had played together in
another band so they knew a few songs. And thus
began the amazing, always outrageous and often
comical beginning of the boy band that evolved into
the Rock 'n Soul group known as Luke's Cabbage
Store. But that was later. We played for several
months as The Shades of Blue, mostly at the Robins
Air Force Base clubs, middle school functions and
bars. Yeah I know, we were too young to play in
bars, but the bar owners at that time seemed to
ignore the law..if there was one. Later we played a
few jobs as The Stafford Jags. I have no idea where
that name came from and it didn't last long either.
By this time, we'd bought our first band vehicle, a
green 1949 Dodge. Best $60 car anybody ever had. I
mentioned something about us being outrageous. Well
early on, we realized that we didn't exactly
conform to...anything actually. That attitude
resulted in our being banned from some venues, and
closely scrutinized in most others. As it often
happens in teen bands, stuff happens, guys leave
and the band rolls on. We had to let Mike Zirngabel
go because his parents wouldn't allow himto
practice as much as we needed. Donnie Murphy left.
It was a temper thing, then Eddie Stone split. I
don't remember why we lost Eddie, but to this day,
he's the one I regret losing the most. Eddie was a
cool kid, good voice, good guitarist and totally
crazy. 1968 arrived and along with it came Tony
Elmore, a complete rhythm guitarist with amazing
vocal talents. Michael Thompson, our front man and
lead singer liked having Tony's smooth harmony. Jon
Samborski came on board as our keyboard guy. John
added the third harmony part. Ronald Johnson
replaced Mike as our lead guitarist. Ronald added
the 4 part of the harmony but also sang lead on
several songs. We picked up new management, and our
new name. Actually it was Phillip "Flip" Jones the
lead guitarist for The U.S. Kids that came up with
the name, Luke's Cabbage Store. We had it painted
on the sides and back of our brand new 1968 GMC
van. Summer came and we hit the road on our first
major tour, up the east coast, playing Hullabaloo
Clubs in every city that still had one. Although we
sported all new Kustom equipment, Gibson guitars
and Ludwigs, we hadn't really changed. We were
still rebels and we always seemed to have to prove
it. Like the night at a hotel in Salisbury, MD.
Tony and I went a ways too far over the booze line.
By the end of the night, he had proclaimed himself
to be Rocky the Flying Squirrel(don't ask me why)
and I must've been Bullwinkle Moose, but whoever we
were, the room was trashed. Next morning the hotel
manager gave us a somewhat unattractive choice. Pay
the damages or go to jail. We paid the damages. On
that tour, we were unceremoniously invited to leave
a number of restaurants and we found out that the
Virginia State Police really were serious about
their speed limit. We just couldn't seem to behave
ourselves very well. Bad boy home town heroes. I
guess there always has to be some. I will forever
miss the boys that we were and the memories that we
made together as Luke's Cabbage Store...Forever
Friends... Personnel: Influences: Setlist
Sample: Equipment:
Band
Vehicles: Fashion
Statement: Best
Gig: Gig
from
Hell!: Comments:
Information contributed by Mike Partain lukescabbagestore@yahoo.com
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