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Chicago's Pop Gold Hit Makers |
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CHICAGO’S POP GOLD40 Years Of Hits: The Buckinghams, Ides Of March & The Cryan Shames
by Ernie Thomas
The Sixties began with cardigan sweater clad teen idols like Bobby Rydell and Bobby Vee crooning love songs and ended with freaky psychedelia artists like Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix. The mid-Sixties was a time when Chicago area bands flourished. The Shadows of Night, New Colony Six, Rotary Connection, The American Breed...it seemed every Chicago neighborhood had it’s own band on the rise. The Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” was a wake up call. American teenagers everywhere exiled themselves to the family garage, where they banged away on guitars, drums and bass. Chicagoland was no different. Among the cream of the Chicagoland crop were –– The Buckinghams, The Ides Of March and The Cryan’ Shames –– who comprise the aptly named “Chicago Gold” concert bill touring the Midwest this month, marking the 40th Anniversary for each of the three bands.
THAT WAS THEN...
Formed in Berwyn in early 1965, Ides Of March were school buddies who shared band class and a dream of rock ‘n’ roll stardom. “We saw The Beatles on television, saw how the girls went crazy over them and like teenage guys all over America, we figured we could do it too,” recalled singer, guitarist, songwriter, Jim Peterik. It took a few years, but “do it” they did. After enjoying a local hit on Chicago’s WLS-AM with a Beatlesque-original called, “You Wouldn’t Listen,” the band expanded their sound, combining hard-edged guitars with plenty of sassy brass and rolling keyboards. It’s been their sound ever since. After headlining several of the now legendary Dex Card/Wild Goose concerts (including some at Schererville’s Sherwood Club), the Ides signed with Warner Bros. Records and released a full-length album. In 1970, the Peterik-penned song, “Vehicle”, cracked the Billboard charts and thrust Ides of March into the spotlight, where they enjoyed a handful of other hit singles, the most memorable being “L.A. Goodbye.” The Buckinghams’ story actually began in 1964, when then newfound Beatle fan Carl Giammarese first met Nick Fortuna. “I was about 15 years old and in a band called The Centurys with my cousin Jerry,” recalled Giammarese. “I was a city kid and Jerry lived in the suburbs, so my father drove me out there. Nick knew my cousin and joined the band.” The Centurys was short-lived, but the Giammarese/Fortuna friendship has lasted four decades. After discovering that playing rock ‘n’ roll was a great way to meet girls, the duo –– Giammarese on guitar and Fortuna on bass –– formed a second band in 1965. They auditioned for a local television show, “All Time Hits”, which aired on WGN-TV. “They liked us, but they hated our name. We were called The Pulsations back then,” he said. “They told us to come up with a new name fast if we wanted to be on the show. A security guard backstage at WGN came up with ‘The Buckinghams’ just before we were to go on, so we took it.” In 1966, British Invasion bands ruled the charts. “People just assumed that we were a British band with Buckingham Palace and all,” laughed Giammarese. “We just went along with it.” After a short time spent at the Chicago-based U.S.A. Records, the Buckinghams jumped over to Columbia Records. That same year, a national teen magazine survey declared the Buckinghams “America’s Favorite Band in 1967”. Their single, “Kind Of A Drag” hit the #1 slot on the national Billboard charts and others followed –– “Don’t You Care”, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, “Susan” and “Hey Baby, They’re Playin’ Our Song”. The story was much the same for the Cryan Shames out of Hinsdale, who came together as The Travelers in 1965, determined to be their region’s answer to The Beatles. After signing with the Midwest-based Destination Records label and failing to chart with their cover of the George Harrison-penned “If I Needed Someone,” percussionist Jim “J.C. Hooke” Pilster muttered during a band meeting that it was cryan’ shame. Neither the members nor the record label were very happy with the band’s name at the time, so The Travelers changed to The Cryan’ Shames in 1966. That August, The newly christened group topped the WLS and WCFL radio playlists with a cover of The Searchers’ “Sugar & Spice.” Boosted by the mega-watt push of the two Chicago radio giants, “Sugar & Spice” landed at #49 on the national Billboard charts paved the way for a Columbia Records contract. Soon other hits followed, including – “We Could Be Happy”, “I Wanna Meet You” and “It Could Be We’re In Love.” All three of the “Chicago Gold” groups survived the psychedelic era but soon after called it quits. The Buckinghams and Cryan’ Shames both gave up the ghost in 1970, while The Ides held on until 1973.
THIS IS NOW...
In 1981, WLS-AM, requested a Buckinghams reunion concert on the WLS stage at Chicagofest.
“We figured we owed it to WLS for breaking the band back in the day, so why not give it a shot,” recalled Giammarese. “That show was so much fun that we knew we had to get back together full time. We’ve been at it ever since!” Only Giammarese and bassist Nick Fortuna still remain from the original 1960s line-up of the band. The current Buckinghams incarnation is rounded out by guitarist Bob Abrams, drummer Tommy Scheckel and keyboardist Bruce Soboroff. “The Sixties were a great time for us,” recalls Giammarese. “But it was like a whirlwind. It was cutting records, touring, doing television shows...then suddenly it was over. Today, it’s much more low-key than it was back then, so we're enjoyinhg it more. We're also a lot better now than we were back then.” In 1999, The Buckinghams released, Terra Firma, a collection of 10 newly written songs and a reworked acapella version of “Kind Of A Drag”. A few years earlier they released a five-song EP called, Sincerely. Both projects were co-produced by Giammarese and Soboroff. In 2004, the group rolled tape at a New York City gig and gave their fans a concert recording, Live And Well. Giammarese released a rather impressive full-length 2004 solo collection titled, Trying Not To Fade, best described as soft rock or smooth adult contemporary. “I think our sound today is just as strong as it was back then,” said Giammarese, speaking of when their Beatlesque images were plastered across the glossy covers of such teen fare as Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine.
“When we first got together we were horrible,” laughed Jim Peterik, who spent the 1980s at the top of the record charts as the driving force behind the band, Survivor. "Some bands talk about how they got together after several years and this ‘magic’ happens as if they’d never been apart. That’s garbage...we were horrible!” “Jim had kept his chops up with Survivor, but the rest of us were way rusty,” said Soumar. “I hadn’t played in years. Our guitarist Larry Millas stayed with music, but as an (studio) engineer. Our drummer Mike Borch hadn’t played in years. The rest of the guys went into business. Bob Bergland is a CPA for gosh sakes, so his bass had long been tucked away in the basement.” Other Ides alumni who returned were – John Larson on trumpet and Dave Southern on trombone. That one reunion gig has lasted an amazing 15 years. Supplementing the all original line up, today’s Ides Of March includes keyboardist Scott May, a Berwyn kid who grew up idolizing the hometown band. The Ides returned to writing new material. They released the albums –– Ideology and Age Before Beauty –– in 1992 and 1997, respectively. Last year they released a powerful double live CD which contained the new song, “One Hit Wonder,” which landed the band back on local radio. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that so many years have passed,” said Soumar. “When we’re playing, it’s like 1970 again.”
Along with sole original member Pilster, today’s Shames line-up is: Gregg Brucker (bass) Jeff Rutter (guitar), Dave Rice (keyboards/vocals) and Bruce “Rocky” Penn (drums), and new lead vocalist Bob Stroud, the well known Chicago radio personality [currently heard on 97.1-FM/The Drive].
“The Chicago Gold concerts are a great time,” promised the Ides’ Jim Peterik. “You will hear the songs you loved by these bands played better than ever, because let’s face it, after 40 years, it is pretty safe to say that we’ve gotten it right!” More information about these great bands online at: www.jimpeterick.com, www.idesofmarch.com, www.buckinghams.com and www.cryanshames.com “CHICAGO GOLD: THE 40th ANNIVERSARY” starring The Buckinghams, The Ides Of March & The Cryan Shames.is presented April 9 at Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, IN |
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The Cryan’
Shames began doing reunion shows again in 1986.