Carl's Scrapbook: The 60s: Garage Bands

I had never heard anyone play a trap set (drums) live before. I mean, sure, I was in the high school band and those marching drummers were cool, but that afternoon in 1960, over at Jon Corneal's house, I felt a power I had never felt before. When Jon took off on that signature drum intro to the Ventures tune, "Walk Don't Run", I was almost so overwhelmed I couldn't play it. We probably played that song ten times that afternoon. Just me, Gerald and Jon, two guitars and drums. It was no longer just a solo thing -- we were a band. We were the Dynamics.

But I guess it was that eighth-grade talent show that totally did me in. We only came in second, but our teacher (I believe it was Mrs. Wheatland, but then that's another story all together) was so impressed (?) that she kept the band and the rest of our class in the auditorium for about an hour after the show was over. We played every song we knew and few that we didn't. I was hooked. I loved making the music and I loved the attention.

Quite often while walking past the High School Agricultural building on our way home after school we would stop and listen to the boys in the Ag band wailin' away on some ol' rock and roll song and realized they had a bass player. Somehow we managed to talk Aaron Hancock away from the ag band and then we had a bass player. Problem was, Aaron didn't own a bass - so we decided to run down the strings on Gearld's "Airline" guitar a half octave and use it for a bass. At the time Gearld was playing rhythm guitar and used Aaron's Gibson Les Paul Junior. The downside to this setup was - the low tuning made the guitar strings very loose (I guess we didn't realize you could actually buy bass strings) and Aaron played too hard to get a good tone.

One afternoon in 1961, on the Teen Center stage in downtown Auburndale, we were making an audition recording of the old George Gershwin classic, "Summertime", which featured another new member of the band, Buddy Canova, on Saxophone. Buddy was the son of locally legendary saxophonist, Bruce Canova, who was famous not only for his many musical attributes but he was also Auburndale's City Manager. When we couldn't seem to get the smooth feel required for the arrangement, Gerald asked Aaron if he would mind trading instruments - Aaron was all for the idea and switched to rhythm guitar. Gerald took over the loose string bass and both seemed much happier with this new arrangement. Gerald never switched back. Although he actually never owned a real bass until Gram Parsons bought him one when he joined the Legends (about a year later) he definately had the touch - right from the beginning.

The great thing about the early sixties was the circuit of Teen Recreation Centers that a young band could play. They didn't pay much --maybe 5 to 15 dollars (that's for the band, folks) depending on how much in demand you were-- but you had places to play. Thanks to Connie Zacker, the director of the Auburndale Teen [Civic] Center, we had introduction to Teen Recreation Centers in Winter Haven, Haines City, Bartow, Lake Alfred and the prestigious Lakeland Teen Midway (big town you know). Eventually we gained access to several out of county centers, including: Kissimmee, Dade City, Eustis, Mount Dora (the Hurricane Hut), Umitilla, and eventually the big-time (as local gigs go) Orlando Youth Center. Mrs. Zacker often acted as a sort of impromtu agent for all the local bands in the area, getting us many of the gigs we played.

In the course of the Dynamics two or three year history several members came and went or played part-time, including: Billy Joe Chambers (vocals and rhythm), Ray Lee (drums), and Randy Green (piano).

For a while, before the Dynamics broke up in 1962, we were joined by Bobby Braddock on the piano (Bobby's bio is in the "PolKats" section). Bobby a few years older than most of the guys in the band and had already developed a professionalism about him that would affect each one of us for decades to come. As a 14 or 15 year old kid, I can so remember bein' in the living room of his parents house there on Lake Stella and seein' something I had never seen before, an electric piano. When he walked over to that Wurlitzer and banged out the intro to "What'd I Say", it took my breath away. I can hear it and visualize it as if it were yesterday. Or the rehearsals we had in that same living room, with Bobby trying to get us "kids" to just play it simple and in time. It was also during this general time-frame that Bobby asked me to play electric guitar on a recording session (my first) he was producing. It was a song he had written called "That's When I Stopped Living" b/w "Fallout Shelter" (now a cult classic) and was being sung by my cousin Billy Chambers, who was the lead singer with the Dynamics at the time. Bobby and I probably only played together maybe a dozen times (including rehearsals) but the experience, for me, was profound and lasting.

I regret that I don't have any pictures of these latter events, but I am fortunate to have an excellent "live" recording my dad made from the WFLA-TV show "Hi-Time", where we appeared for the last time as the Dynamics. You will notice right away a slicker and more professional sound to the music (and if I do say so not bad for a bunch of kids). Bobby was also responsible for talking me into performing "Baby Elephant Walk" on the clarinet for that show - something I was somewhat opposed to (mostly out of fear).

Just after doing that "Hi-Time" show, Bobby Braddock left the group to play with the Starfires -- and Gerald Chambers and Jon Corneal left to play with the Legends. The Dynamics quickly faded into oblivion.

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