Bo's Flashbacks

 

The Kingmen

Live @ Daniel’s Den

1965

I was excited about seeing my heroes from Portland Oregon, The Kingsmen. It was only the second rock show I’d ever attended. It was only a few months earlier that I saw Simon & Garfunkel @ the Y A-Go-Go. I was a bit disappointed with that show, they seemed so uncomfortable and their music was folky and cerebral and Garfunkel had a big blonde ‘fro that gave him an eerie other-worldly look. The Kingsmen were different. They played that goodtime early version of rock & roll that focused on the beat. They already had a ton of hits and performed on Where the Action Is, Upbeat and Ed Sullivan; can’t beat that. The leader was Lynn Easton, a chubby and affable grunt with a gravelly voice and limited range but a whole lot of personality. Rumor had it that his mother owned the rights to the Kingsmen name. I didn’t care one way or another I just wanted to see my heroes up close and personal. I squeezed myself to the front of the stage and remained there for the entire show.

The band looked older than most of the teenage bands on the hit parade and their musicianship was simply superb. The rhythm section was tight as a vise. The bassist Norm Sudholm was always in the pocket. He had short hair and looked like a chubby father knows best dude. The drummer Dick Peterson had a lock on the time and was in my view one of the most talented members of band. But it was the keyboard player Barry Curtis who pulled everything together. He talked and made faces at the audience, all in good humor. He’s the dude with the deep voice that did the intro to Jolly Green Giant.  Make no mistake Easton was in charge of the show. He sang lead on most of the songs, played rudimentary saxophone and played drums on Louie Louie, allowing Peterson his only vocal of the night.

They did all of their hits from the opener Louie Louie to Little Latin Lupe Lu, Money, and Jolly Green Giant. They also did a take on Little Sally Tease, a Jim “Harpo” Valley song written for Don & the Goodtimes prior to his enlistment in Paul Revere & the Raiders. Mitchell and Peterson performed Grass is Green one of their superlative garage anthems and it went over well with the eager teenage crowd. The Kingsmen were fine rock & roll musicians that were comfortable enough to highlight their show with several instrumentals such as the cool Bent Scepter and the even cooler David’s Mood. The guitarist Mike Mitchell, trade off leads with Easton on Little Latin Lupe Lu. Easton penned two of their later hits Annie Fanny and The Climb. Easton proved to be an excellent MC, he mugged and taunted the crowd about playing Wipeout whether we liked it or not. He tilted his head, frowned and intoned deeply…”we don’t do that one.” It was all in good fun and in keeping with their Frat Rock reputation of the band. I left the show filled with the gospel of those five Portland musicians. I was a forever after a true believer in the voodoo of the Kingsmen.

Thirty Years later they came back to Saginaw in a package that included Paul Revere & the Raiders. The Raiders were a huge disappointment, no Fang, no Harpo or Smitty and Mark Lindsey was nowhere in sight. They didn’t sound too bad and they had sparkly stage uniforms but struck no real currency for me. The Kingsmen still had three original members from ’65, Peterson, Mitchell and Curtis, the core of their live shows for all those years. They rocked harder than they did in ’65, blame it on the advanced technology. They didn’t do many of their classics but their updated versions of Money, Little Latin Lupe Lu and David’s Mood were simply outstanding. The grump I had was they did too many covers of classic rock songs such as The Last time (Stones), Love Me Two Times (The Doors) and Oh Darling (The Beatles). I preferred the old time rock & roll covers they did like Hand Jive, Rumble and Matchbox. All in all it was a splendid night of music. All Hail Garage Rock!!

Addendum:

In November 1994, a lawsuit was heard by Federal court Judge Robert Keller. The Kingsmen brought suit against G.M.L Inc. and Highland Music Inc. for royalties never paid to the Kingsmen for the uses of their recordings. The lawsuit was resolved in the late nineties after the companies’ attorney acknowledged that the Kingsmen were not paid royalties for over 30 years. A lower court judge granted the The Kingsmen all royalties from the time they sued. This amounted to a few million dollars. The Kingsmen had finally won control their 1963 monster hit, "Louie, Louie". The Supreme Court let stand a ruling that gave the band their unpaid royalties and control of the song's master recording. Since that time the Kingsmen have been actively assisting other sixties artists who have been bamboozled by the recording industry. Love the Kingsmen. Good Guys!