It looks like Wisconsin’s Woodstock, but who’s in the pictures? That’s what the Wisconsin Historical Society is wondering. Can you help?
John Nondorf, who researches photos and illustrations for the society, left this note on one of our posts about Clicker, the rock/cover/show band that was popular across Wisconsin during the ’70s:
“It looks like some people who know a thing or two about ’70s Wisconsin music frequent this blog. I’m hoping you can help us out.
“I work at the Wisconsin Historical Society and we have a photo collection documenting the 1970 Sound Storm rock festival in Poynette.
“We have IDs for a number of the bands and artists, but there are a lot of unidentified artists. I’m assuming these were the local/regional artists who performed there. Maybe you’ll recognize some faces.”
Here’s that wonderful collection of 205 photos from Sound Storm.
Robert Pulling took the photos at the festival, which took place at York Farm near Poynette, north of Madison in south-central Wisconsin, on April 24-26, 1970, an unseasonably warm spring weekend.
The photos above — all used with permission of the Wisconsin Historical Society — are among the little mysteries.
Clockwise from upper left, they’re listed only as “unidentified keyboardist performing on stage, 1970″ (yes, that’s a cowbell sitting there); “unidentified guitarist performing on stage, 1970″ (he’s playing a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar); and “unidentified singer performing on stage at night, 1970.”
But who’s who? Our friend Mark in Illinois says the guitarist shown above is Bob Schmidtke, who likely was playing in Captain Billy’s Whiz Band. (We thought he was playing with Tayles, but John Nondorf says that group was a five-piece; this group is just a four-piece.) Schmidtke went on to play in Clicker.
Mark also thinks the guy in this photo is Paul Rabbitt, the guitarist for Tongue, another blues-rock band from Wisconsin.
REO Speedwagon, then just an unsigned Midwest bar band, also is said to have been at Sound Storm. However, it isn’t listed on this poster, passed along by Tim, all the way from Singapore.
Tim also says:
“That concert is one of the very few concerts over the years that no recordings have ever surfaced of the Grateful Dead’s set. Dead Heads have been looking for years.”
But we digress. To see more of the unidentified performers, check out Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 8, Page 9 and Page 10 in the Sound Storm collection online.
If you can help John identify them, please send an e-mail to askphotos@wisconsinhistory.org
Among the bands already identified: Baby Huey and the Babysitters, Crow, the Grateful Dead, Illinois Speed Press, Northern Comfort, Rotary Connection, Wilderness Road, U.S. Pure, Luther Allison … and the Bowery Boys, who within a couple of years became Clicker.
Another of the bands was Mason Proffit, who did …
“Two Hangmen,” Mason Proffit, from “Wanted,” 1969.
That’s very cool. I like the pics of Baby Huey and Rotary Connection in their archive. When will the Isle Royale pics be released????
I can not add any info the photo-querry….but it sure looked like a good time! I remember fondly going to the state fair every summer through the 70s in West Allis (?) always a ton of music playing, grilled corn on the cob & brats. Perfect!
Here is a link to the poster of the concert…
http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1970s/19700426a.html
Is this the gig where the Bikers went crazy and they had to close it down??? I rember going to to three day gig in Pointette Wi. 1971
i think. And are any of those photos for sale??? Like the Grateful Dead pictures.
Rick:
No — Iola was the Wisconsin rock festival with the biker/hippy dustup. Didn’t close it down, but certainly made it interesting … well, maybe unpleasant is a better word. Sound Storm near Poynette was 1970; the photos mentioned elsewhere on this site, including those of the Dead, are available for purchase from the State Historical Society.
I was at the Poynette rock fest in 1971. They shut it down fridaynight. Our Band Big Daddy played on a makeshift stage the next day for about 30,000 people, we where still in High school.
I saw you mentioned Illinois Speed Press. Their 2 albums were released on CD a couple years back. It’s good stuff. Their first album was produced by James William Guercio who also produced Chicago’s first 11 albums. Guitarist/vocalist Kal David had been in a band called The Exceptions in the 60s. The Exceptions’ bass player was Peter Cetera.
Incidentally the OTHER notable member of ISP was Paul Cotton who replaced Jim Messina in Poco in the mid-70s.
And the song Take Me Back to Chicago on Chicago XI was written by Danny Seraphine and David “Hawk” Wolinski for the late Freddie Page who had been the drummer in Illinois Speed Press.
I worked on Sound Storm — wiring the stage, doing stage security, running the stage lights, etc. — and the photos brought back memories. I’ve sent John Nondorf an email with some possible IDs of bands. It was a fun time — much more enjoyable than the other fest I worked that year, in Iola. Rotary Connection in particular impressed me — friends had their albums, so I had heard them before, but live they had a quite different sound — funkier, much more bottom.
I rember Tounge, i still have their album. They were one of the best bands in the state. I hope some of them are still in music today. Would
hate to see the talent go to waste.
Rick:
A lot of the bands at Sound Storm — Tongue, Tayles, Captain Billy’s, Oz, Spectre, etc. — were groups that I saw at the Memorial Union, Broom Street Theatre, the Nitty-Gritty back in the day. Amazed you still have a Tongue LP. I had an album by Soup, an Appleton (I think)-based band that played at Sound Storm, and at other times in Madison. They were pretty good, too — but the album is one of a number I once had that have disappeared. On the other hand, some pretty good albums have materialized in my collection, left by friends or whatever.
The Bowery Boys !! i use to see them at The Pines Ballroom in Bloomer alot. Good band their every weekend.Tounge, Sound Street,
Tales. What fun times back in the day.
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Do you have any info about the festival they held at the same sit in 1971? They shut it down that fridaynight, my little band played the next day on a makeshift stage. I have one photo of it. David Witter
The fellow on the Hammond organ with the cowbell reminds me of the organist from a Milwaukee group called The Corporation (Capital Records).
Looks like Rob Schmidke from Tayles- striped shirt- lower right. I was a sophmore in HS in ’70- too young for festivals but saw lots of bands during that time in Madison at UW-Lot 60, Library Mall, Mifflin St. Block Party, Brittingham Park, etc….
Yowzah! I was there! That unidentified singer at the lower left above is Joel Freisinger from LaCrosse—I think he was singing for the band Ice at that time, and I know they were there…I still have my poster for this event….I later met the guy who dive-bombed the fest in a small airplane—anyone remember THAT!!?? And how about fighting back the grassfires that claimed one couples tent? I’ll never forget thinking that a group of criminals were approaching the stage to take over when it turned out to be the Grateful Dead going on to play their set…and that fest where the bikes got torched was up North somewhere, like superior maybe…
One of the bands, playing at about 3:00 am, was the Fly By Night Blues band from Madison Christopher Goff, Peter Ellestad, Gene Rankin, Paul Cleary, and Adam Ambrose). No photos of us, though.
I was an employee for “Golden Freak Enterprises.” We were given photo I.D.’s on a chain that let us drive right onto the grounds, instead of walking. I worked at a fast food joint in a tent to the left of the stage. Sadly, because I was only 17 at the time, and thought EVERYONE did that sort of thing, I pitched my I.D. card, and all other memorabilia.
Jim:
How did you get hooked up with Golden Freak? My connection was Dale Chapman from Janesville, a friend of friends from UW-Rock County Center. He took me up to the GF office (an upstairs room just off State St.) and introduced me to Pete Bobo/Peter Obranovich, the “president” of the company. Chapman later started TransAmerika, which I “worked” for at Iola. I was supposed to do a couple other fests that summer, but didn’t. Iola turned me off to that scene, for one thing.
It was so fantastic to see pics of Baby Huey & The Babysitters. It puts an end to the speculation that James Ramey (Huey) and the band didn’t play the venue. Also by the look of the pictures, guitarist Johnny Ross had left and there seems to be no keyboard player there so Melvin Jones must also have left.
As there is hardly anything recorded of Baby Huey & The Babysitters, it would be a fantastic thing if someone had recorded anything of them live.
Here is a Yahoo group for BH&TBS
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/jamesrameybabyhuey/
Of course there were other great groups. I’ve never heard of Mason Profitt until a few years ago when I saw a poster for the festival, but I’m now intrigued.
Thanks.
Trying to find more about Madison Mandelbaum Blues Band
The lower right photo is Bob Schmitdke playing with Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang. I played with him and Rick Markstrom ( their drummer) years later on the west coast. I rode to the Poynette festival with those guys that weekend. Rick’s former brother-in -law Bob Pulling took those photo’s and also promoted that festival.
Now about he band Mendelbaum. Bob Schmidtke was in the first incarnation of Mendelbaum which he quit to form Capt. Billy’s Whiz Bang. He was replaced by Chris Michie who later played guitar in the Pointer Sister’s band. Keith Knudsen was on drums. He was in the Doobie Brothers for years. Tom Lavarda was their bass player, he later played in The Beans and Firetown which evolved into Garbage.
George Cash played sax and the keyboard players name escapes me. ( Roni something, I think) As far as I know Tom Lavarda and maybe George Cash are the only surviving members.
Steve:
Thanks. Remember Captain Billy’s, from Sound Storm, but also from gigs at the Memorial Union and elsewhere. They had a keyboard player on a Farfisa or some such organ, doing a Garth Hudson/Band thing.
Fascinated to see those connections to the Doobies, etc.
George Cash was from Milton, my alma mater, and his younger brother, Donald “Duck” Cash, was my classmate. He played in another area band, either the Bowery Boys or Mr. Brown
TR,
The original Mendelbuam band was all the members of Villas Craig and the Vi-Counts, less villas. Bob, Ronnie Page and George Cash all played for Villas in the mid 60′s. That is how I met Bob in 1966 when we did a show with them in Warren, IL.