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.