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We met at OakLawn HS.
Though I wasn't a "greaser" these guys asked me to
be in a band. I was just learning but I said ok. I
learned on the job and ended up having a long
musical career which extends to the present.
Working on weekends for $10 to $15 a night kept me
out of trouble and I had very little, if any, time
for "normal" teen dating. Our bass player died of a
rare blood disease after our senior year, a close
friend Billy McCue died in Vietnam and the band
broke up. The two guitar players and I merged with
my brother Tom Charvat and Joe Bowlby
(accordion-turned-bass player) and formed The
Chicago Diplomats. At DePaul University Music
School I was in class with the founding members of
the band Chicago and that association led to many
bands and a lot of fun gigs.
Sunday Night Teen dance at
St Gerald's basement.
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Personnel:
Cal Conley - Lead Guitar
Dan Keiner - Rhythm Guitar
Don Hart - Bass Guitar
Glenn Charvat - Sax
Jim Allenson - Drums
Don Willman - Singer (short-term/fired
because of front man ego and he was a
ladies man (jeolousy?)
He also had some weird moves that were
embarrassing to the rest of the band.
Martin Hall - Friend and Unpaid Roadie (
got in free though )
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Influences:
Chicago
Blues, R & B Artists like Junior Wells
and Chuck Berry. Our friend Martin Hall's
family was from England and he would bring
back British 45' RPM records of the latest
Brit groups. We initially rejected the
music because much of it was regurgitated
American R&B. Eventually we did a few
tunes like "YOU REALLY GOT ME" by the
Kinks (my first vocal).
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Setlist
Sample:
LOUIE LOUIE, MESSIN' WITH THE KID ,
JOHNNIE B. GOODE, STORMY MONDAY BLUES,
TEQUILA, WIPE OUT (all drummers'
favorite).
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Equipment:
No PA's yet available(until "Beetles" VOX
came out and we couldn't afford it anyway)
Shure mikes in Fender and Silvertone Amps.
Les Paul candy apple red guitar and Fender
Bass. Ampeg B15 or 18 bass amp.
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Rehearsal
Space:
Leader's
garage along with his engine work. Jim
Allison's basement complete with bar and
giant Wurlitzer jukebox fully stocked with
current 45 rpm's ( His father was a
distributor for ???? )
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Band
Vehicles:
Cal's
dad's station wagon
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Fashion
Statement:
Black
continental jackets(collarless) white
shirts and thin black ties.
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Best
Gig:
Teen
nightclubs and all the
"chicks".
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Gig
from
Hell!:
The
rhythm guitar player and I missed our very
first gig because we went to Chicago's
famed Maxwell Street to buy our matching
band jackets and didn't realize the bus on
87th St. stopped running early on Saturday
nights. Nice start huh? Also a Friday the
13th gig where Don Hart's bass amp
accidentally caught on fire and flames
were shooting out high above the amp
behind Don Hart (early pyrotechnical
effects predating Hendrix and The Who!
).
The town of Hometown had a big
anniversary(?) party and each block would
have their own block party throughout the
evening. They all had barrels and kegs of
beer. The City hired us to set up on a
truck and drive from block to block to
play live music. At each block we would
toss them an extension cord like docking a
boat. It started out to be fun but it
seemed that each new block was even more
intoxicated than the previous one. note:
There were "unsubstantiated" rumors that
grownups were handing cups of beer to the
minors in the band. People started to
request the cult favorite HI HO SILVER
with all of the suggestive lyrics. Hell,
they were even tipping us! So of course we
complied at several stops.The town gossip
(Fat Lady Johnson) snitched and after this
night we were blackballed by the City of
Hometown (which included the famed Teen
Canteen). The stories of these teenagers
drinking beer, singing dirty lyrics and
taking bribes permeated this small
community. Thank God Chicago was right
across the street!
Our first "steady" club gig was at the
dive of all dives; NICK'S MANOR A GO GO;
complete with older skanky go go girl
Bobbie (a story by itself). In fact she
returns x-rated at the 3B's in Part 2 (
see Chicago Diplomats ). We were underage
so we had to stay in the filthy backroom
kitchen for our "dressing room" (I
remember the burnt cigar butt with the
pickles in the jar). My harmonica debut
came and went when a heckler shouted.
"Stick to the horn kid". The owner Nick
once said to me, " Kid, if we don't get
some people in here pretty soon we're
gonna be pissin' on each other to keep
warm "! I never forgot his advice. I
remember our high school wrestling
coach/english teacher came in drunk late
one night. When he realized who was on the
stage he immediately panicked, turned
around and bolted from the
place.
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Last
Gig:
Don't
remember
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Comments:
It was a great
experience and gave us $$$$ and status in HS...I
was weened on Chicago's southside rhythm and blues
music. It was a great time. Then English music and
Soul music invaded our world. Since there wasn't
much room for sax in English music, I preferred
Soul and R&B. I was fortunate to be around a
lot of great players in the 60's southside scene.
Dan Keiner's "protege" John Beland, used to bring
his guitar on the school bus and pick Dan's brain.
John went on to become a big time studio
player/arranger/writer in Nashville. He toured with
Kris Kristofferson and Glen Campbell. Another sax
player that I "inspired", Larry Klimas, is
currently touring with Neal Diamond and The
Manhattan Transfer. He and I reunited in 1993 ( he
lives in LA) and produced a CD " LO LIFE HI TECH" (
see musefx.com) Awesome urban industrial jazz with
strong southide Chicago influences.
Additional
Info:
There was a band called THE MISSING LINKS in
Chicago (fairly well known). Three members, Walt
Parazaider, Terry Kath and Danny Seraphine were
members who later formed the Big Thing which became
the band CHICAGO. I replaced Walt on sax in the
Links and we changed the name to THE CHICAGO LINKS.
Walt also got me the gig at the Scotch Mist which
is mentioned in the BIO. The Links Evolved into THE
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION...a shit kickin horn section
soul band. Walt also introduced me to Pete Walsh
(eventually with PG&E and Lou Reed) to form THE
OUTFIT. Famed drummer Roy Knapp's son Jimmy was our
drummer and the other 2 horn players Tommy "Boffa"
and Norm Taylor became Chicago cops ( one in
homicide and vice! )Then through Walt Parazaider I
met great R&B guitar player Larry Lynd (friend
of CHICAGO producer Jim Guercio and legend Johnny
Winters) and Bill Sunter from the famed Mauds. We
formed a band with my DC horn section to become
APPLE RIVER CANYON. In the early '70's I pursued
jazz.
Note: After writing this I realize how
indebted I am to Walt Parazaider. However, he's
rich and I'm not..
Additional Trivia: There was a southside
band called CAL DAVID AND THE EXCEPTIONS that had
unbelievable vocals...one reason was lead singer
Peter Cetera who later hooked up with the above and
the rest is musical history.
Then there was JIMMY STELLA AND THE AMBASSADORS
which became RUFUS which eventually hired Chaka
Khan and yada yada yada.........
Like I said...it was a
great era for music in Chicago in the '60's
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