by Achille Brunet
(I'd appreciate any additional information on the artists featured here, don't hesitate to comment or drop me a line via the contact form.)
Located in West Falls Church, Virginia, just a dozen miles from Washington D.C. and the Maryland state line, Falls Church High School, the "home of the Jaguars", moved at a new location on 7521 Jaguar Trail in 1967. As almost any place in the country, the spirit of the sixties moved in as well. Proms, teen bands, folk groups, and even "psychedelic dances". That's what we will discover here through to the yearbook archives.
Since most of these young artists never got recorded and info are scrace, I figured it would be better to make one post for all of them and give an overview of the musical scene at the school.
The pictures are in themsleves fantastic time capsules. Here are included in chronological order all rock and folk artists pictured in the yearbooks, including some bands that were not from the school but only played there.
THE GREMLINS
(1967)
The Gremlins were a band from Springfield, VA. Of all the perfomers featured here, they're among the rare ones to have made a record. They released a single on Dimension Records in June 1966.
More in my dedicated post on them HERE.
THE ARISTOCRATS
(1967)
"G-L-O-R-I-A, GLOR-I-A!" It seems these lads brought down the house at the Junior-Senior Prom with this Van Morrisson/Them classic rocker!
The Aristocrats were probably in the local scene on one side or the other of the Potomac. In October 1964, a band going by that name attended the America's Answer to the Beatles band contest at the Washington Coliseum and won first place against nine other bands, giving them a fantastic popularity.
"Kids packed the place. Guards had to form a protective cordon to hold the crowd back from the winners. Instant fame." (The Washington Daily News)
(The Washington Daily News - Oct 13, 1964)
I think it's also them who attended the 1966 Annual Hagerstown Jaycee Big Talent Show in Hagerstown, Maryland and ranked 3rd out of five in the competition. Other artists were Harlie Sponaugle (1rst place) The Folk Trio (2nd), The Avengers and The House Of Commons.
The band was at least active until 1967 when they played at Falls Church High. I'd appreciate info if you knew who the members were and if they recorded.
BONNIE ISOM & ANITA FERRONE
(1968)
It seems this folk duo gave an eerie, mesmerizing performance at the Variety Show!
Bonnie Isom sang in the school's Girls' Chorus and the Madrigals, and played in the drama class. Anita Ferrone, one year ahead of Bonnie, was in the Freshman Chorus and later in the County Chorus, The Madrigals and the Concert Choir. She was also in the Keyette Club.
The yearbook reports: "Atmosphere, imagination, and excitement were the key words to success for the Art Club’s annual Variety Show this year. Entertainment included go-go girls, pop-group bands, Hawaiian and modern jazz dancers, and baton twirlers."
PSYCHEDELIC DANCE
Wow! A "psychedelia inspired class dance", I would have loved to see that! I'd venture to guess that the "One Step Beyond theme" song used there would have rather been the 1964 rendition by the Ventures rather than the original TV show orchestral theme from 1959.
MIKE DUNKLEY
(1968)
This young fellow seems ready to groove! "Soul shaker" Michael Dunkley, as the yearbook called him then, still performs and has a Youtube channel you can check HERE.
His upload of a 1965 backyard recording by The Plagues (on which he didn't play but he's the one who recorded it in Annandale, Virginia at an end of school year party) is also of interest:
DECEMBER'S CHILDREN
(1968)
Hairy music? A fake goatee here, most likely. December's Children were a band from Fredericksburg, VA. Pictured here must be singer Jerry Burke (unless it's Mic Coiner who replaced him on lead vocals after Jerry left for Vietnam in 1968).
They released one single on a Church Falls label as December's Children, Ltd. in 1967 with a nice cover of Arthur Lee's "Signed D.C." backed with an original pop/soul ballad titled "So Long Ago" sung with a beautiful deep voice. From what I heard, the band played a lot in the NoVA area. More here: garagehangover.com
(Sorry, I can only share the A side.)
THOMAS SALISBURY
(1969)
Live at the Variety Show, billed as "the Thomas Salisbury experience", so probably Hendrix-type psychedelic rock by Thomas and a band. Fantastic shirt with Peace signs, by the way.
RICKY SHINE & PAT JONES
(1969)
Folk duo. Richard "Rick" Shine and Pat Jones were also in the football and baseball team.
MELINDA PITTMAN
(1970)
Born in 1953 in Falls Church, Melinda E. Pittman has since become a prolific writer, comedian, singer, musician and director in Portland, Oregon. She graduated from VPI&SU Theatre Arts Department in 1975, then spent a year studying Theatre Directing at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana before moving to Portland, Oregon and worked with various theatrical companies. She was in The Fallen Angel Choir in the 1980s-90s and recorded several albums. She received the 2000 Angus L. Bowmer Drama Award from the Oregon Book Awards for her show WonderBroads: The Babes & Broads Who Broke the Rules.
As a last note...
Seems someone misplaced his sousaphone...
Boy, funny how school can be!
(1967)
_______
All pictures taken from the Jaguar yearbooks, digitalized by the Internet Archive.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment