I still have my 45 of this. It was/is good. I first heard this on CHNS here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was singing in a band myself in those days and almost played the grooves out of it to learn it. This came out ( here at least) about six months before the Beatles hit ... and, until last year, I thought this group was English. Thanks to the 'Net, I found out differently when I searched the group's name and found out they're from N Dakota(?) still alive and rockin'. That's dedication.
@Mudhooks Merci! I pretty much knew I was wrong. I confused them with another band from the same era that was led by Myron Lee ( who is from North Dakota) and played in Halifax in 1961 with Buddy Knox as the headliner.
Wow, so today my bands video was next to my dads video - both came up for related video's.. How did they know I am related to my dad? hahaha Love ya Dad! You're my inspiration!
Actually, I just checked your MySpace Space and you are Don's son! Nice to meet you. Your Dad and I have corresponded a little bit as a result of my posting this video. How cool is that?
I will check out your music and friend you on MySpace.
7th grade, 1959, basement of the YWCA (6th/Jackson) my first live music dance - Screamers - the coolest thing I had ever seen. Living at 36th/Jackson I saw their station wagon fully loaded heading down the street presumably from the matchbox houses up on 38th where, rumor had it, they maintained a party place and had been seen carrying cases of beer through the front door!
Roof Garden, Patio, Brewery, 20th St Tap...lots of great memories
Great stuff. I first met Danny in 1959 at his cousin's house. Later on my wife and I enjoyed the music at the Club Velaire, The Patio and finally at The Brewery. We had lots of fun out at Danny and Carolyn's acreage. Sally the goat, Bernie the St Bernard. We visited with D and C whenever we got back to the midwest and met them once down in Naples. It was a sad day when we got the call from Charlene about Danny. Tell Dick Hi from the Stoddards.
Really! Sadly, I never got to met Danny, as he died a few months before I was down for my second visit with my family and just before his induction into the Iowa R&R Hall of Fame. His brother Dick is a lovely man and one of my few direct cousins left.
Although sometimes listed as Rockabilly, this was a black band in the same way that Bill Clinton was a black president.
The good stuff wasn't on their Bear Family album. Songs like "Need Your Loving Everyday" by Don Gardner and DeeDee Ford and Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Jesse Hill are burned into my memory.
Early sixties cool. Fender Strats and Precision basses in Dakota Red lacquer. Shure mikes matching booms almost upright. Great memories!
All I have is the Bear Family recording and a single with "Ubangi Stomp", care of Dick.
I recently made a song request for the Velaire's "Roll Over" on Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap (CBC radio). They didn't have a recording but Denise and Randy wanted to feature if on the special show for Chuck Berry's 80th birthday so I sent a copy from the Bear Family recording. I was so pleased when I heard them play it and to hear Randy talk about having bought the single back in the day and really liking it.
Winnepeg is close enough to Sioux City that the Bachman may have heard them growing up just like I did.
My dance hall, Ruskin Park, was infamous as a place where anyone old enough to see over the bar could get served. The Velaires were a great, drinking, hell raising band. Wish I had recording equipment to capture what they were REALLY like.
While I'm reminiscing, the guitar licks here seem crude but appealing. In person, Bob Dawdy (sp?) was one of the great lead guitars out there. Lightning fast hands.
It was a time and place where it was difficult to get into trouble growing up....if you knew the sheriff.
I too have Great Memories of South Dakota. Before moving to Florida I lived in the Black Hills for six years. The Screamers, Flaires, Velaires (yep, they were all three) played on almost every stage in S.D.before some of the best fans anyone could have. I know for sure because I am blessed to have been part of it all. With Love,
When I got to college I played bass for one year in the band that had dumped Marlys Roe because she wanted to be paid (it was The Sound of Six at that time (which you wouldn't remember) but previously (before my time) Marlys Roe and the InnMen. They were torqued at the Talismen who nabbed her because they were willing to pay her. Didn't she and Jerry Six degrees of separation.
It was Danny that left the Velaires to try and make it on his own. He started as Danny and the Flaires. The Guess Who jammed with Danny in Sioux City when Marlys and Jerry were with him. I got to hear her sing, and she was very good, as was Carolyn, Danny's wife. I agree that the good stuff wasn't on Bear Family, but that is what happens when you sign with the wrong people. I could say a lot about that, and probably will one day.
It was the original four that I remember. Only saw the Velaires twice after you left and it wasn't the same. You should write (or have ghost written) a book like Myron Lee did. The Caddies were good, but my real memories were of you guys.
I still request "Ooh-Poo-Pa-Doo" but no one else ever did it. It's still locked into my brain...
I guess links aren't allowed, but if you put "theflairsband" into your browser you can relive your career. Ought to take off a week or so during the summer and sit in.
That's what I'd like to do in my retirement. Too bad all the dance halls are a thing of the past. Don't know if you read Myron's book but he had a chapter where he ran through his experiences in most of the local dance halls, including fun times with Walt and Dagmar at Ruskin Park.
I was the drummer with Danny and the Velaires for a little over a year 1965 '66 ... Carolyn Bob Dawdy and I were playing with Greg Scott and the Embers and the band broke up in Omaha we went on the road and Bob called Danny and we got booked at the Velaire Club in Sioux City for two weeks, then we joined Danny ,,, shortly after that Danny and Carolyn were an item ...
Dick, Danny's brother, has been so kind in giving me a sense of Danny, as well as his music. Likewise, it has been wonderful to have others who knew him and were involved in making the Velaires "happen" post their comments.
My thanks go out to all of you for taking the time to share your memories.
Dick Matousek just sent me copies of Danny's solo work when he and Carolyn were living in Nashville, as well as one of Danny and Carolyn. I hadn't heard Carolyn before and she has a marvelous voice. Their version of "White Bird" is awesome!
Oh, how I wish I had heard you guys back in the day.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It means so much to me to hear your thoughts.
I want to make the trip from St. Louis to Siouxland to see you play before I die. Too bad Ruskin Park slid into the river or I'd try to re-open it so you could play there.
I hope Bob hasn't lost any of that tremendous speed that I remember so well-- probably one of the five best guitarists I've ever seen and that includes people like Steve Miller.
One suggestion-- ditch the vests and re-shoot your web page picture. Looks like Eddie Skeets remembered you in his will.
I notice that Danny has a link on Wikipedia, but the Velaires although linked are empty. Someone should write a Wiki article that fills in the pieces I'm not aware of. I was shocked that my little college band was only one degree of separation away. When I left Marlys Roe was with the Talismen-- had no idea.
Or be like M.L. and write a book. Everybody does these days.
My name is Gary Kimble St. Martin... I played with Danny n the Velaires for about a year and half, and Greg scott an the Embers before an after Velaires I talked with Tom in Tenn, recently ... would love to talk and write old band members especially Dick, an Bob Dawdy see me E an tele # in reply to mudhooks I recorded to records with Velaires in Omaha one with Carolyn singing one with Danny love to hear those tunes they were great call me if u like or E me... Thanks, Gary
I was going to do a video with the "White Bird" song, at least. Unfortunately, I had an accident on Monday and can't got out to get any footage. I didn't want to just use old footage. We just had a huge snow storm last night and today, with more on the way, which, if I am able to hobble out to the car on the weekend, should give me some nice footage for at least one video.
Dick sent me "living Without Love", and "Danny and Carolyn". The latter was recorded in 1978. These appear to be re-recordings. I think he might have done that just for me.
The note in the "Living with Love" says that the liner notes didn't list the back-up musicians on it. It was done in Nashville, in January 1976.
I still have my 45 of this. It was/is good. I first heard this on CHNS here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was singing in a band myself in those days and almost played the grooves out of it to learn it. This came out ( here at least) about six months before the Beatles hit ... and, until last year, I thought this group was English. Thanks to the 'Net, I found out differently when I searched the group's name and found out they're from N Dakota(?) still alive and rockin'. That's dedication.
Elwood2911 1 month ago
@Elwood2911 They were/are from Sioux City, Iowa.
Mudhooks 1 month ago
@Mudhooks Merci! I pretty much knew I was wrong. I confused them with another band from the same era that was led by Myron Lee ( who is from North Dakota) and played in Halifax in 1961 with Buddy Knox as the headliner.
Elwood2911 4 weeks ago
Greatest version ever recorded for sure...and I am so happy that I was able to express this to both Dick and Carolyn.
Also,their other songs were absolutely fantastic as well!
Every Velaires fan should own their great Bear Family C.D.!
Hi Dick & Carolyn from one of the biggest Velaires fans in the world.
Sincerely,Wes Smith
wes50smusic1 1 year ago
Hey... uh... not trying to be a dick but your cousin was Rhythem. Bob Dawdy was Lead
xXSpartan150Xx 3 years ago
Yea man this is pretty sweet knowing that something famous came from Sioux City! I live there lol yea..
xXSpartan150Xx 3 years ago
Wow, so today my bands video was next to my dads video - both came up for related video's.. How did they know I am related to my dad? hahaha Love ya Dad! You're my inspiration!
Buck25theband 3 years ago
Cool! Who is your Dad?
Mudhooks 3 years ago
Actually, I just checked your MySpace Space and you are Don's son! Nice to meet you. Your Dad and I have corresponded a little bit as a result of my posting this video. How cool is that?
I will check out your music and friend you on MySpace.
Small world, isn't it?
Mudhooks 3 years ago
7th grade, 1959, basement of the YWCA (6th/Jackson) my first live music dance - Screamers - the coolest thing I had ever seen. Living at 36th/Jackson I saw their station wagon fully loaded heading down the street presumably from the matchbox houses up on 38th where, rumor had it, they maintained a party place and had been seen carrying cases of beer through the front door!
Roof Garden, Patio, Brewery, 20th St Tap...lots of great memories
chuckpacific 3 years ago
Sorry I'm a little late answering your note.
The matchbox house on 38th is where our booking agent Dick Matousek lived.
Don the drummer.
dbrockon 3 years ago
Great stuff. I first met Danny in 1959 at his cousin's house. Later on my wife and I enjoyed the music at the Club Velaire, The Patio and finally at The Brewery. We had lots of fun out at Danny and Carolyn's acreage. Sally the goat, Bernie the St Bernard. We visited with D and C whenever we got back to the midwest and met them once down in Naples. It was a sad day when we got the call from Charlene about Danny. Tell Dick Hi from the Stoddards.
Bstod43 3 years ago
I will pass along the message!
Mudhooks 3 years ago
Mudhooks-- Belated kudos for the fine visuals on this and other videos. You are an interesting artist.
Jerry-- Thanks for the mailing. Check your PM on YouTube.
csandste 3 years ago
:))
Mudhooks 3 years ago
Great memories of Danny Matousek, Jerry Demers and the Velaires playing rural South Dakota dance halls in the early sixties. THE BAND of my youth.
csandste 4 years ago
Really! Sadly, I never got to met Danny, as he died a few months before I was down for my second visit with my family and just before his induction into the Iowa R&R Hall of Fame. His brother Dick is a lovely man and one of my few direct cousins left.
Thanks for leaving me this special comment!
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Although sometimes listed as Rockabilly, this was a black band in the same way that Bill Clinton was a black president.
The good stuff wasn't on their Bear Family album. Songs like "Need Your Loving Everyday" by Don Gardner and DeeDee Ford and Ooh Poo Pah Doo by Jesse Hill are burned into my memory.
Early sixties cool. Fender Strats and Precision basses in Dakota Red lacquer. Shure mikes matching booms almost upright. Great memories!
csandste 4 years ago
All I have is the Bear Family recording and a single with "Ubangi Stomp", care of Dick.
I recently made a song request for the Velaire's "Roll Over" on Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap (CBC radio). They didn't have a recording but Denise and Randy wanted to feature if on the special show for Chuck Berry's 80th birthday so I sent a copy from the Bear Family recording. I was so pleased when I heard them play it and to hear Randy talk about having bought the single back in the day and really liking it.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Winnepeg is close enough to Sioux City that the Bachman may have heard them growing up just like I did.
My dance hall, Ruskin Park, was infamous as a place where anyone old enough to see over the bar could get served. The Velaires were a great, drinking, hell raising band. Wish I had recording equipment to capture what they were REALLY like.
csandste 4 years ago
I wish I had been able to listed to them live, back in the day. I missed the era, really.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
While I'm reminiscing, the guitar licks here seem crude but appealing. In person, Bob Dawdy (sp?) was one of the great lead guitars out there. Lightning fast hands.
It was a time and place where it was difficult to get into trouble growing up....if you knew the sheriff.
csandste 4 years ago
It always pays to know the sheriff!
Mudhooks 4 years ago
I too have Great Memories of South Dakota. Before moving to Florida I lived in the Black Hills for six years. The Screamers, Flaires, Velaires (yep, they were all three) played on almost every stage in S.D.before some of the best fans anyone could have. I know for sure because I am blessed to have been part of it all. With Love,
Jerry DeMers
fitzfawn 4 years ago
Wow Jerry. Many's a night I stood next to the stage in Ruskin Park with a beer in hand watching you sing and play bass.
csandste 4 years ago
When I got to college I played bass for one year in the band that had dumped Marlys Roe because she wanted to be paid (it was The Sound of Six at that time (which you wouldn't remember) but previously (before my time) Marlys Roe and the InnMen. They were torqued at the Talismen who nabbed her because they were willing to pay her. Didn't she and Jerry Six degrees of separation.
csandste 4 years ago
Cut the wrong parts to make it fit. It was "Didn't she and Jerry Croon play with Danny after you left?"--SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION.
csandste 4 years ago
Jerry Kroon-- sorry. And, rereading this, six degrees of separation means everybody played with everybody, not the name of some group.
csandste 4 years ago
It was Danny that left the Velaires to try and make it on his own. He started as Danny and the Flaires. The Guess Who jammed with Danny in Sioux City when Marlys and Jerry were with him. I got to hear her sing, and she was very good, as was Carolyn, Danny's wife. I agree that the good stuff wasn't on Bear Family, but that is what happens when you sign with the wrong people. I could say a lot about that, and probably will one day.
fitzfawn 4 years ago
It was the original four that I remember. Only saw the Velaires twice after you left and it wasn't the same. You should write (or have ghost written) a book like Myron Lee did. The Caddies were good, but my real memories were of you guys.
I still request "Ooh-Poo-Pa-Doo" but no one else ever did it. It's still locked into my brain...
csandste 4 years ago
I guess links aren't allowed, but if you put "theflairsband" into your browser you can relive your career. Ought to take off a week or so during the summer and sit in.
That's what I'd like to do in my retirement. Too bad all the dance halls are a thing of the past. Don't know if you read Myron's book but he had a chapter where he ran through his experiences in most of the local dance halls, including fun times with Walt and Dagmar at Ruskin Park.
csandste 4 years ago
I was the drummer with Danny and the Velaires for a little over a year 1965 '66 ... Carolyn Bob Dawdy and I were playing with Greg Scott and the Embers and the band broke up in Omaha we went on the road and Bob called Danny and we got booked at the Velaire Club in Sioux City for two weeks, then we joined Danny ,,, shortly after that Danny and Carolyn were an item ...
garystmartin 4 years ago
Good to hear from you Gary!
Dick, Danny's brother, has been so kind in giving me a sense of Danny, as well as his music. Likewise, it has been wonderful to have others who knew him and were involved in making the Velaires "happen" post their comments.
My thanks go out to all of you for taking the time to share your memories.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Dick Matousek just sent me copies of Danny's solo work when he and Carolyn were living in Nashville, as well as one of Danny and Carolyn. I hadn't heard Carolyn before and she has a marvelous voice. Their version of "White Bird" is awesome!
Oh, how I wish I had heard you guys back in the day.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. It means so much to me to hear your thoughts.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Where is Dick... All I have is a Iowa RNR music Assoc. Can you E me or Call?
garystmartin 4 years ago
Dick is in Sioux City. I have an email address as well as his home address. I will message you with the info.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
@fitzfawn If their stuff on Bear Family wasn't good,then I'd surely like to know what is.
I wouldn't call their stuff on Bear Family good either,BUT I surely call it FANTASTIC!
Ya mean they had even better stuff than what was on Bear Family?How in the world could that be possible!
wes50smusic1 1 year ago
Jerry Kroon is now playing with Don McLean. You can see him on drums on You Tube:
Don McLean-American Pie-Live On Imus In the Morning.
dbrockon 4 years ago
Jerry!
Thanks so much for commenting! Danny and Dick are my cousins. Sadly, I never got to meet Danny. He died just before my first visit to Iowa.
It is a great version of the song and I love listening to it.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Why the change of heart, Jerry. I thought you
didn't want any involvement in your musical past. The Velaires are still playing and love
it. Don Bourret and Bob Dawdy
dbrockon 4 years ago
I want to make the trip from St. Louis to Siouxland to see you play before I die. Too bad Ruskin Park slid into the river or I'd try to re-open it so you could play there.
I hope Bob hasn't lost any of that tremendous speed that I remember so well-- probably one of the five best guitarists I've ever seen and that includes people like Steve Miller.
One suggestion-- ditch the vests and re-shoot your web page picture. Looks like Eddie Skeets remembered you in his will.
csandste 4 years ago
We rented the vest for a concert at the River
Boat, when played with the Embers. We will get
a new picture one of these days. When you get our age, you don't move very fast. We aren't
looking for a new carrer, just having fun. Thanks for your comments on our old band.
dbrockon 4 years ago
I notice that Danny has a link on Wikipedia, but the Velaires although linked are empty. Someone should write a Wiki article that fills in the pieces I'm not aware of. I was shocked that my little college band was only one degree of separation away. When I left Marlys Roe was with the Talismen-- had no idea.
Or be like M.L. and write a book. Everybody does these days.
csandste 4 years ago
My name is Gary Kimble St. Martin... I played with Danny n the Velaires for about a year and half, and Greg scott an the Embers before an after Velaires I talked with Tom in Tenn, recently ... would love to talk and write old band members especially Dick, an Bob Dawdy see me E an tele # in reply to mudhooks I recorded to records with Velaires in Omaha one with Carolyn singing one with Danny love to hear those tunes they were great call me if u like or E me... Thanks, Gary
garystmartin 4 years ago
I was going to do a video with the "White Bird" song, at least. Unfortunately, I had an accident on Monday and can't got out to get any footage. I didn't want to just use old footage. We just had a huge snow storm last night and today, with more on the way, which, if I am able to hobble out to the car on the weekend, should give me some nice footage for at least one video.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Anneke Look for photo of Me with Danny and The Velaires etc.. sent today .... Let me know if you get it... Gary
garystmartin 3 years ago
Dick sent me "living Without Love", and "Danny and Carolyn". The latter was recorded in 1978. These appear to be re-recordings. I think he might have done that just for me.
The note in the "Living with Love" says that the liner notes didn't list the back-up musicians on it. It was done in Nashville, in January 1976.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
Beautiful sunset footage, and a rocking version of the song!
kenrg 4 years ago
I think so... Apparently, it will also be played on an upcoming special of Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap radio program for Chuck Berry's 80th birthday.
Mudhooks 4 years ago
The song, I mean... not my video.
Mudhooks 4 years ago