Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The San Tones - A Cool Memory



Like so many other late 1950s college kids I decided that playing the guitar would be a good way to attract the opposite sex. It took me a little while to get the hang of it but by the end of my freshman year I could play and sing with the best of them, I thought.
Dick England had a solid body Fender and could really play the thing. His pal Ronnie was even better. They jammed together a lot with a few other guys and me, and finally a band coalesced around Dick as the lead singer. I never could do melody but was OK on backup cords. and sang base. Well, the band was called "The San Tones" and we were, for a time "Dick England and The San Tones". The band played local gigs and attracted some attention but never really got hot. So we decided to cut a record in the summer of 1960 to "go national".
Dick wrote a song called "Elaine" (don't bother to Google it or the band) and we rented a studio in New Jersey to record it. We did. We loved it. Nobody else did.
Dick didn't come back to school the next year. I lost track of him, Ronnie and I lost my copy of "Elaine" (45rpm) somewhere along the way to growing up (actually never really did that).
We had fun, got drunk, women lusted for us, and WE HAD A RECORD! Now that is what I call a cool memory.
Photo from: http://www.mainstreetvintageco.com/catalog/item/4798917/6516552.htm

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