info from dwight bement:
our first band was called the 'fydallions', started in 1957 and ran to
1959, (approx). i played tenor and
ronnie played lead guitar. the other
members were frank baker (piano), eddie esquivel (guitar), duane sawyer
(drums), raul camacho (alto sax) and ruben sarmiento (tenor sax). i wish i
would've kept in touch with these guys over the years, they're all great
people. i didn't play in the
'ramblers' but i was in the 'nomads' for a while. that
band is still working in the san diego area. the 'fydallions'
and the 'nomads' played various 'battles' with other bands including the
'ramblers', the 'velvetones', the.....etc, (what a mind). one
of your sites mentions jr. madeo, a san diego guitarist. i
remember him. he was
my favorite, very good. sometime
after the 'nomads', i moved to
sacramento (1960) and teamed with steve baptiste, dave erwin, ross owen and
denny (?). we called this band the
'fydallions'. after i went back to san diego in 1961, the 'fydallions' went
though several changes,
eventually becoming the 'spiral staircase'. i
think i was in san diego about two days when ronnie called and asked me to come
up to ontario and join his band. i didn't hesitate. he was living with his
parents at the
time so i moved in. this is when the infamous 'green window' project was
launched. you can read about it elsewhere. his
band, the 'blackouts', included frank zappa, joe perino (piano), al sarratt
(drums) and possibly, a large guitarist/blues singer/harmonica player by
the name of 'restless' rex jakabowski, (i wonder where he is, he was wonderful).
i was in that band in 1961 and 1962. during that time, we were ocassionally
joined by jim sherwood and others to play up in lancaster at the community
center.
these events were usually 'battles of the bands'. the
photo of me on one
of your sites and the photo of me in 'the real frank zappa book' (page 45),
were taken at that time, during a rehearsal, possibly at the franklin home east
of lancaster.
the end of 1962 or the beginning of 1963, tommy
kendall came up to ontario and 'shanghied' me back to san diego to start
another band, the 'gentrys', not the band with a hit record. ronnie
either joined at the same time or shortly thereafter. in
1964 and 1965, i played with a variety of people including jimmy nixon, gene
lamar and some of the above mentioned people again and many others. in
1965 or 1966, i joined the 'outcasts'. a super band that included gary puckett
(guitar and
vocals), bobby brown (bass and lead vocals), willy kellogg (drums) and bob
salisbury (tenor sax). i played a little sax but mostly, hammond b3.
the 'outcasts' exploded in a ball of fire up in san francisco, right
before playing our first road job. that's another story altogether. gary
and i started the 'union gap' in early 1967 and i left in 1972. i joined
flash cadillac in 1973 and i'm still with 'flash' today. we perform with
symphony orchestras around the country and it's wonderful. i'm
also playing with a local group called 'johnny and the jukes'. blues, swing,
jazz, cajun, very challenging. 'music of a greater complexity'. john
wise
(bass and lead vocal), chris cain (guitar and lead vocal), dave innis (piano
and vocal) and dave deason (drums). i
thank you for your interest
and i hope i haven't bored you with too much detail; once you get started,
well, you know.