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Bob Elliot

B Brothers, The Jimmy Boyer Show, Deno’s, Liberty (Drums)

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Below is post from Bob Elliot from www.GrandRapidsRocks.com:

I wish I had run across this site sooner. This brings back SOOOOO many great memories! I got to be friends with the band, “Me and Dem Guys” when they played at Westgate Bowl in the Alpine Saloon in 1968. Though I don’t remember all the members individually, I DO remember how great they sounded and how I would rush down the concourse to try to catch a few songs on my breaks. I still have a picture of them somewhere in my collection of road memorabilia. There were three separate bars in Westgate at the time: The Alpine Saloon, The Bucket Pub and The Gate Room. I was playing drums with “The ‘B’ Brothers” in the Bucket Pub when they were booked into the Alpine Saloon. The ‘B’ Brothers was a music and comedy trio, and we did shows on the weekends and sometimes during the week as well. We came there from Aspen, Co. on Feb. 6, 1967, a road group based in Oklahoma City. We found a home in the Bucket Pub and moved our home base there that same year. In 1969, we left for most of the year to play the Nevada circuit, returning to Westgate in Dec. ’69. At that time we had outgrown the Bucket Pub and the management moved us into the Alpine Saloon as the house band, where we stayed until we split up in 1973. I saw a post from Bob Reilly of the “Common People” above (from 2005). Bob and I were roommates and shared an apartment on College SW in ’68 and ’69. They also played the Alpine Saloon a few times. I lost track of Bob Reilly years ago, and if anyone reading this knows how to reach him, I would love to hear from you. I can be reached at: squid701@comcast.net. For anyone interested in contacting Bobby Charles (Charlie Winkler), Rod Jacobs, Dan Jacobs, Chuck Jacobs, Kenny Gordon, Jerry Graham or any other member of “The Bobby Charles Band from the ‘Stardust’ days, feel free to contact me and I will do what I can to put you in touch with them. I hear from Charlie just about every day. I met him in ’67, get to be close friends with him and all his groups (including the rock & roll group he had at the “Tiki Lounge” (with Charlie, Denis Solee on Sax,reed instruments & percussion, Bob Stenad on guitar, Randy Marsh on drums, and an incredible girl vocalist by the name of Nancy Westbrook). I left Michigan for the west coast in January of 1975, and after 2 more years of the road (including a sit-down stay in Sacramento at the El Rancho Hotel backing and opening for top name country artists, including Marty Robbins, Tammy Wynette, Dottie West, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis and several others). In 1977 I left to form my own group and sat down in Modesto, Ca. (where I still live) for a five year stay at “Scorpios”, and after breaking up, I formed another version of the same band, moved over town to a club called “the Lyons Den” and stayed there for five more years before I finally hung it up. In 2000 I started playing casuals with a few of the members of my last group from the ’80s and played three more years. But though we did well, it was too much of a strain on my marriage and being older I was feeling the pressure to work a day job and play up to 4 nights a week, so I hung it up for good. I don’t know how appropriate this post is for your site, but I can’t help but want to share my Grand Rapids connections with everyone of you who also experienced those great times & the great Michigan bands of the ’60s and the ’70s. Thanks to all of you for keeping the memories alive. With any luck the memories will outlive us all, and the memories of “Me and Dem Guys” will be right up there at the top of the list, I’m sure. Thanks to all of you for caring about the music….Bob Elliott… May 15, 2010

Posted by: Bob Elliott at May 15, 2010 08:06 AM

 

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