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Oddly Obscure: Olney’s Very Own ‘The Rear Ends’ (at The Huddle, 5th & Roselyn Streets, 1966)

Started by tomwatson · 11 months ago

(It occurs to me that the “Olney” in the above headline means nothing to non-Philadelphians, and even to some Philadelphians it means little. Perhaps an explanatory note would be in order. Olney is one of those neighborhoods that no one ever really has any need even to ... Continue reading »

6 comments

  • estiv

    2 years ago

    This explains the Hohner Pianet I once owned that had "Rear Ends/KLC/Philly" stenciled on the side. It had a lot of beer rings on top. And didn't Tim and Tom own one of the first fuzz boxes west of the Hudson River?
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    2 years ago

    Y'know, Estiv, I was curious about that fuzz box issue, so I e-mailed TomDooley and he got right back to me with this:

    "I don't know if it was one of the first, but Tim and I built it ourselves in shop class at Olney High, out of a Philco transistor radio and some other crap we found lying around. We just couldn't get it to produce the kinda nasty sound we wanted and Tim got pissed off and threw it against the wall. Then I tried it again and, wow. I still use that thing."
    reply
  • mucho maas

    2 years ago

    Tried to push them into the Southern Ca market during the early 60s. Had found an old recording stuck below the passenger seat of a beater on a used car lot. Thought they had tremendous capacity for crossover into the Kinneret market. But, as it remains today, Southern Ca is a remarkably different beast than the home of the Cheesesteak. Lakers have what, at least 6 (six!) rings since the 76ers last won.
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    2 years ago

    So many great groups had a hard time making it outside their homebase in those days: Dyke & the Blazers out of Denver, the Sonics out of Seattle. I checked in with Tom, and he sent this along:

    "What'd we know from touring? We were gigging just about every damn night in Philly, plus a few of the guys were going to school. And all of us had at least part-time jobs. I was teaching guitar at Zapf's down on 5th Street. Tim was selling records at the Sound Odyssey, Keith was working in his old man's garage...This guy came to us asking us to do some gigs on the West Coast, but the money wasn't so hot and we're all like, hey, who's gonna cover my shifts?"
    reply
  • Kevin Wolf

    2 years ago

    Interesting to hear of these "local" bands that almost and maybe should have broke wide.

    I grew up in Wildweeds territory, in CT/the Northeast. Perhaps I should work up a post.
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    2 years ago

    Hey, Kevin, as a Philly boy I have to admit I'd never heard of the Wildweeds. I just googled them and read their story and they sound like just my kind of group. But then please understand that my taste in rock is so severe that I consider the first three Rolling Stones albums to be their best, and that I not only have the first Kinks album on vinyl but the first Cher album.
    reply
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