Friday; September 19, 2008
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1967
Backstage at the HHS Ronnie Dove Show
Herndon High School
Note: This account contains some Adult Language.
Ronnie Dove was born September 9, 1940 in Herndon, Virginia and attended Herndon’s public Schools from 1st Grade through High School. One of his good friends in High School was an athlete by the name of James Ashwell.
Upon graduation, Dove joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed for 4 years in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s where he embarked on a singing career covering tunes by Elvis Presley and other pop idols of the day.
After his military obligation was complete, he formed a Band called Ronnie Dove and the Belltones and spent the next 4 years playing local clubs with them.
In 1964, he split from the Belltones and began recording songs, solo. Sweeter Than Sugar was his first record followed by Say You, Little Bit Of Heaven and Right Or Wrong which propelled him towards stardom.
He landed gigs on Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, American Bandstand and finally landed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967.
Dove was no ‘flash in the pan’ as he recorded 23 top ten records.
It was directly after his Sullivan gig that I had the pleasure to meet him when he returned to his alma mater, Herndon High School, to perform a benefit concert at the request of his old buddy and classmate, James Ashwell. I was a Junior at the School and affiliated with a Garage Band ( The Changing Tide ) that was selected to perform as one of 3 local warm up Acts.
My meeting with Dove was brief but that night is one in which I’ll never forget albeit had nothing to do with him but of peripheral events.
First, the 3 local Bands were (1) the hugely popular Cavemen which employed one of my Classmates, Steve Croson on Bass Guitar along with another older Schoolmate, Johnny Smith on the Keyboards.
I would like to take a paragraph to say a few words about Steve Croson, at this point. I met Steve for the first time when he transferred to Herndon Intermediate School when he and I were in the 7th Grade.
Steve was tall – I was short .. and that separated us to a small degree at the beginning of that School year. But I came to like and respect Steve although I was much too immature to verbalize it, at the time.
We shared a Music Class, together taught by a high strung, young (hot) teacher by the name of Miss Hickman. I wanted her attention but was unable to attain it because I was an immature 13 year old although my hormones rivaled that of any Senior’s at the School.
Steve, on the other hand was cool and clam and he had something that I didn’t – talent.
At one point, early in the School year, Steve propositioned Miss Hickman into allowing him to sing a song, solo, in front of the Class .. for extra credit. She acquiesced and Steve went to the front of the old Classroom and belted out a number. Miss Hickman was very pleased and this pissed me off because I wanted her to be pleased with me .. which she never was.
Steve Snyder and I sat in the back of the Class and made fun of Steve Croson during his entire performance. He never let it affect him and he completed his song as professionally as any nightclub singer.
He impressed me that day and he never once said anything degrading towards me for my actions and I have respected him ever since.
But, I digress; another local Band to appear as a warm up Act was (2) the Discotheques. Members of that Group were Gary Hornbaker, Ricky Burton (Class of ’68), Temple Chapple and Goose Goslin.
And the last musical assemblage was (3) The Changing Tide. This was the Band that I was Managing (read: Equipment Mover & Friend) and had Roger Boyd on Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocals, Ronnie Powers (Class of ’68) on Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals, Cleve Wehle on Keyboards and Backing Vocals, Tim Slepetz (Class of ’68) on Bass Guitar and Backing Vocals and Mike (Marshall) Thompson (Class of ’68) on the Ludwig Drum Kit.
There was no arguing that the Cavemen were the class act of the amateur warm up Groups and would play 3rd .. just before Ronnie Dove. But it was thought that the older and more established Discotheques would perform 2nd and the upstart Changing Tide would open the card.
On the day of the Show – Mr. Ashwell who was Producing the event, came up to me and informed me that The Changing Tide would play 2nd on the card. He told Ricky Burton, in my presence, that his Band would open the Show.
The schedule was to be that the first Group played 3 songs, the second Group would play 4 songs and the Cavemen would play 6 songs.
Ronnie Dove would sing as many as he wanted.
On that day of the Show, the Discotheques leader, Goose Goslin was not happy with his Band playing before The Changing Tide and he devised a plan to upset the schedule. He would not show up at the Show’s start time. His plan was to arrive during The Changing Tide’s second number and Ricky Burton would tell Mr. Ashwell .. and the first 2 Acts play times would be reversed.
Just before we (The Changing Tide) went onstage, Mr. Ashwell informed me that we should increase our playlist to 5 songs because the Discotheques’ Leader was a no show. So I told Roger and Mike and the Show began.
Sure enough, just as The Changing Tide broke into their 2nd song, Goose Goslin appeared backstage and just as planned, Ricky told Mr. Ashwell and Mr. Ashwell told me to go out from the wings where I was stationed and tell Roger to kill it after 3 songs.
So, as soon as that song ended, I walked onstage and pretended to adjust Roger’s microphone and whispered into his ear that Goose had shown up and Ashwell wanted us off after 3 songs. I could see the look in Roger’s eyes that wasn’t what he was going to do.
When I returned to my post, Mr. Ashwell asked me if everything was okay and I just gave him a blank look.
As the Discotheques prepared to take the stage after our 3rd song – Roger went directly into our 4th song. Obviously, Mr. Ashwell wasn’t happy and told Ricky that we’d, still, be doing 4 songs and although they’d go 2nd – they get only 3 songs. Then, I was given strict orders by Mr. Ashwell to go out and cut Roger off after that 4th song.
I went out and told Roger and he said, “Fuck Ashwell !”
I went back to the wings and Mr. Ashwell asked if they were coming offstage but Roger kicked into the 5th song. Mr. Ashwell asked me what Roger said and I told him that Roger said, “Fuck Ashwell !”
Mr. Ashwell’s eyes grew quite large and he told me that he’d cut them off after that next song, himself but Roger finished the 5th song and went directly into song # 6 with no break. After song # 6, Mr. Ashwell hurried onstage and told Roger to cut it off right there. Then, as he was walking back to the wings, I heard Roger introduce Ronnie Powers who was going to sing a song that he and I co-wrote together called You Lied.
And as Ronnie began singing what was the 7th song, I noticed a weary smile slid across Mr. Ashwell’s face. I asked him what Roger said and Mr. Ashwell (who was practically laughing, now) said that Roger said, FUCK you !”
So, Mr. Ashwell had no choice but to tell Ricky and Goose that they would not be performing that night. Goose was mad and trashed the backstage area and left with his Guitar .. but left his Amplifier at the stage door. Ricky and Gary and Temple left, also, fairly quickly.
And as Mr. Ashwell and I stood there watching The Changing Tide finish their set with their 7th and final song – Roger just couldn’t let it go. As Ronnie was singing the front line which was ‘Baby You Lied’ .. Roger was supposed to back the drawn out word Lied with You Lied To Me .. but instead he sang quite loudly, Mr. Ashwell Lied .. To Me.
I, still, remember Mr. Ashwell remarking, “that Goddamned Boyd has some nerve !”
So, after the Set, I overheard Johnny Smith tell Mr. Ashwell that the Cavemen had to sing a 7th song because it wouldn’t be right for the headline amateur band to sing 6 songs while the cold opening group sang 7.
So, Steve – that’s why you guys added a 7th song to your repertoire, that night.
Oh and finally, as we members of The Changing Tide were leaving the venue, that night and packing up our Equipment .. we stumbled across the Amp that Goose left there.
We discussed the dirty trick that Goose tried to pull to plunk us from our position in the schedule of Acts. We determined that he needed to be penalized for that .. and so we took his Amp and removed the Speakers and threw the remaining cabinet in Lake Anne in Reston.
Upon graduation, Dove joined the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed for 4 years in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s where he embarked on a singing career covering tunes by Elvis Presley and other pop idols of the day.
After his military obligation was complete, he formed a Band called Ronnie Dove and the Belltones and spent the next 4 years playing local clubs with them.
In 1964, he split from the Belltones and began recording songs, solo. Sweeter Than Sugar was his first record followed by Say You, Little Bit Of Heaven and Right Or Wrong which propelled him towards stardom.
He landed gigs on Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, American Bandstand and finally landed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967.
Dove was no ‘flash in the pan’ as he recorded 23 top ten records.
It was directly after his Sullivan gig that I had the pleasure to meet him when he returned to his alma mater, Herndon High School, to perform a benefit concert at the request of his old buddy and classmate, James Ashwell. I was a Junior at the School and affiliated with a Garage Band ( The Changing Tide ) that was selected to perform as one of 3 local warm up Acts.
My meeting with Dove was brief but that night is one in which I’ll never forget albeit had nothing to do with him but of peripheral events.
First, the 3 local Bands were (1) the hugely popular Cavemen which employed one of my Classmates, Steve Croson on Bass Guitar along with another older Schoolmate, Johnny Smith on the Keyboards.
I would like to take a paragraph to say a few words about Steve Croson, at this point. I met Steve for the first time when he transferred to Herndon Intermediate School when he and I were in the 7th Grade.
Steve was tall – I was short .. and that separated us to a small degree at the beginning of that School year. But I came to like and respect Steve although I was much too immature to verbalize it, at the time.
We shared a Music Class, together taught by a high strung, young (hot) teacher by the name of Miss Hickman. I wanted her attention but was unable to attain it because I was an immature 13 year old although my hormones rivaled that of any Senior’s at the School.
Steve, on the other hand was cool and clam and he had something that I didn’t – talent.
At one point, early in the School year, Steve propositioned Miss Hickman into allowing him to sing a song, solo, in front of the Class .. for extra credit. She acquiesced and Steve went to the front of the old Classroom and belted out a number. Miss Hickman was very pleased and this pissed me off because I wanted her to be pleased with me .. which she never was.
Steve Snyder and I sat in the back of the Class and made fun of Steve Croson during his entire performance. He never let it affect him and he completed his song as professionally as any nightclub singer.
He impressed me that day and he never once said anything degrading towards me for my actions and I have respected him ever since.
But, I digress; another local Band to appear as a warm up Act was (2) the Discotheques. Members of that Group were Gary Hornbaker, Ricky Burton (Class of ’68), Temple Chapple and Goose Goslin.
And the last musical assemblage was (3) The Changing Tide. This was the Band that I was Managing (read: Equipment Mover & Friend) and had Roger Boyd on Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocals, Ronnie Powers (Class of ’68) on Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals, Cleve Wehle on Keyboards and Backing Vocals, Tim Slepetz (Class of ’68) on Bass Guitar and Backing Vocals and Mike (Marshall) Thompson (Class of ’68) on the Ludwig Drum Kit.
There was no arguing that the Cavemen were the class act of the amateur warm up Groups and would play 3rd .. just before Ronnie Dove. But it was thought that the older and more established Discotheques would perform 2nd and the upstart Changing Tide would open the card.
On the day of the Show – Mr. Ashwell who was Producing the event, came up to me and informed me that The Changing Tide would play 2nd on the card. He told Ricky Burton, in my presence, that his Band would open the Show.
The schedule was to be that the first Group played 3 songs, the second Group would play 4 songs and the Cavemen would play 6 songs.
Ronnie Dove would sing as many as he wanted.
On that day of the Show, the Discotheques leader, Goose Goslin was not happy with his Band playing before The Changing Tide and he devised a plan to upset the schedule. He would not show up at the Show’s start time. His plan was to arrive during The Changing Tide’s second number and Ricky Burton would tell Mr. Ashwell .. and the first 2 Acts play times would be reversed.
Just before we (The Changing Tide) went onstage, Mr. Ashwell informed me that we should increase our playlist to 5 songs because the Discotheques’ Leader was a no show. So I told Roger and Mike and the Show began.
Sure enough, just as The Changing Tide broke into their 2nd song, Goose Goslin appeared backstage and just as planned, Ricky told Mr. Ashwell and Mr. Ashwell told me to go out from the wings where I was stationed and tell Roger to kill it after 3 songs.
So, as soon as that song ended, I walked onstage and pretended to adjust Roger’s microphone and whispered into his ear that Goose had shown up and Ashwell wanted us off after 3 songs. I could see the look in Roger’s eyes that wasn’t what he was going to do.
When I returned to my post, Mr. Ashwell asked me if everything was okay and I just gave him a blank look.
As the Discotheques prepared to take the stage after our 3rd song – Roger went directly into our 4th song. Obviously, Mr. Ashwell wasn’t happy and told Ricky that we’d, still, be doing 4 songs and although they’d go 2nd – they get only 3 songs. Then, I was given strict orders by Mr. Ashwell to go out and cut Roger off after that 4th song.
I went out and told Roger and he said, “Fuck Ashwell !”
I went back to the wings and Mr. Ashwell asked if they were coming offstage but Roger kicked into the 5th song. Mr. Ashwell asked me what Roger said and I told him that Roger said, “Fuck Ashwell !”
Mr. Ashwell’s eyes grew quite large and he told me that he’d cut them off after that next song, himself but Roger finished the 5th song and went directly into song # 6 with no break. After song # 6, Mr. Ashwell hurried onstage and told Roger to cut it off right there. Then, as he was walking back to the wings, I heard Roger introduce Ronnie Powers who was going to sing a song that he and I co-wrote together called You Lied.
And as Ronnie began singing what was the 7th song, I noticed a weary smile slid across Mr. Ashwell’s face. I asked him what Roger said and Mr. Ashwell (who was practically laughing, now) said that Roger said, FUCK you !”
So, Mr. Ashwell had no choice but to tell Ricky and Goose that they would not be performing that night. Goose was mad and trashed the backstage area and left with his Guitar .. but left his Amplifier at the stage door. Ricky and Gary and Temple left, also, fairly quickly.
And as Mr. Ashwell and I stood there watching The Changing Tide finish their set with their 7th and final song – Roger just couldn’t let it go. As Ronnie was singing the front line which was ‘Baby You Lied’ .. Roger was supposed to back the drawn out word Lied with You Lied To Me .. but instead he sang quite loudly, Mr. Ashwell Lied .. To Me.
I, still, remember Mr. Ashwell remarking, “that Goddamned Boyd has some nerve !”
So, after the Set, I overheard Johnny Smith tell Mr. Ashwell that the Cavemen had to sing a 7th song because it wouldn’t be right for the headline amateur band to sing 6 songs while the cold opening group sang 7.
So, Steve – that’s why you guys added a 7th song to your repertoire, that night.
Oh and finally, as we members of The Changing Tide were leaving the venue, that night and packing up our Equipment .. we stumbled across the Amp that Goose left there.
We discussed the dirty trick that Goose tried to pull to plunk us from our position in the schedule of Acts. We determined that he needed to be penalized for that .. and so we took his Amp and removed the Speakers and threw the remaining cabinet in Lake Anne in Reston.
Epilogue
Now, to follow up this Review – I’ll add that in the 1980’s I rekindled my friendship with Johnny Smith and we discussed that night. I informed him that the Cavemen’s choice of performing the Everly Brothers hit All I Have To Do Is Dream was a genius move being that there were many older person’s at the Show to see Ronnie Dove. Of course Johnny took full credit for the choice. :lol:
I told Johnny about Goose’s dirty trick and what we did with his Amp.
Johnny who is quite the crazy admitted that was a cool thing to do.
Also, during the 1980's, I became friends with Goose Goslin and although we discussed that night .. I never told him about the Amp.
Then, one night at a common friend’s house (Cliff Leith) in Sugarland Run, as it turned out, I was there and so was Johnny and so was Goose.
Somehow that Ronnie Dove Show came up and Johnny Smith let it slip that we (I) stole Goose’s Amp.
And even though 15-20 years had passed, Goose, who was quite wild and ornery wanted to kick my ass. He stayed mad at me for months. Finally, he pretended to not be angry at me anymore .. but I know he was, still, hurt.
Goose passed away a few years ago .. and I think he was, still, mad at me, at that time.
I’m sorry for that.
Goose – if you’re up there and you can hear me .. I’m sorry.
LARRY CURTIS SPURLOCK
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2 comments:
Larry - How are you doing! Your story made me laugh. The one thing that sticks in my mind was the number of women (HHS alumnae) in that auditorioum with beehive hairdos... Cleve.
Yo, Cleve - I had not noticed your comment before.
Hello, indeed !
How did you stumble across my Blog ?
Regardless, why not e-mail me at the address on the top righthand side of the Blog.
I saw that you were building a home a few years ago .. and I was going to bid the HVAC but was sooo busy at the time ...
LARRY
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