Summer of Love 50th Anniversary Reunion

The Lemon Pipers were a 1960s psychedelic pop band from Cincinnati/Oxford, Ohio, known chiefly for their hugely popular hit record, "Green Tambourine", which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. “Green Tambourine” also reached #2 in Australia and #7 in England. In the late 60’s The Lemon Pipers were the predominant Cincinnati band and set the bar to which all other local bands were measured. The band played a mixture of blues, hard rock and folk rock, with covers by The Byrds, The Who, The Yardbirds and Cream. They gigged regularly in the Oxford bars and all of Cincinnati’s rock venues. The band is reuniting for The Summer of Love 50th Anniversary show with original members including lead singer, Ivan Browne. Joining the Lemon Pipers on stage, will be Cincinnati guitarist extraordinaire, Marcos Sastre.

 

Balderdash was formed in 1968 and was Cincinnati’s preeminent Blues and Jam band. Balderdash appeared regularly at the Ludlow Garage in Clifton. They opened for many top bands, ie: Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Frank Zappa, The Allman Brothers, Traffic , Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent and many more. Balderdash disbanded in 72 and reemerged at the 2009 Cincy Blues Fest (Ludlow Garage Reunion) and The Summer of Love 3 Concert. Balderdash excels in Funky Southern Down Home Style R & B, Soul and Blues. With it's solid lineup of four strong musicians and strong vocals, it is a band that is easy to dance to and a pleasure to listen to.

 

Haymarket Riot started out as a group of Anderson Township teenagers, who began playing music in their drummer’s basement. From there they began playing the Clifton bars, teen clubs, WSAI dances, high schools/colleges and evolved into one of the most popular bands in Cincinnati and the entire Midwest. They were signed to London Records (home of the Rolling Stones and Moody Blues) and played over 300 shows a year. A highlight was a tour which took them to Tallinn, Estonia and a sold-out performance that introduced the formally Soviet audience to genuine American powerhouse rock. The band’s performance at SOL will include an appearance by former member, Wes Boatman, a keyboard virtuoso, composer, and recipient of 9 Emmy Awards.

 

Rob Fetters is a notable and high profile Cincinnati singer, guitarist and commercial music composer. He has performed as a guitarist and singer for power pop bands The Raisins, The Bears, psychodots, and has released three solo albums. Additionally, he has done commercial scoring work for ABC, Disney, Nickelodeon, and PBS, as well as Microsoft, Crest and Kellogg’s.

 

Jim LaBarbarais a Cincinnati radio icon and will be MC’ing the SOL show. Jim began his career in broadcasting in 1959 while working on his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania and has been heard on hundreds of radio and television commercials. Throughout the years Jim worked under the pseudonyms of Jimmy Holiday while working in Meadville, Titusville, and DuBois, Pennsylvania, and J. Bentley Starr in Erie, Pennsylvania. He began using his real name on the 50,000-watt WKYC and WIXY in Cleveland and also the year he spent in Denver. However, he is best known as the "Music Professor," a moniker that was given to him when he began his work in Cincinnati where he worked for the powerful WLW, WCKY, WSAI, and WGRR FM, among others. Jim is regarded as a respected musicologist on early rock 'n' roll, was named one of the "Top 40 Radio Personalities of All Time," is listed in the Rock Jock Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio.

When Jim did his first radio show in 1959 he couldn't have imagined it would lead to a Hall of Fame career that spanned more than fifty years; one where he would work on some of the country's most powerful stations.

In addition to his phenomenal radio career, Jim is also an author and has written the very successful book, "MUSIC PROFESSOR"- A LIFE AMPLIFIED THROUGH RADIO & ROCK 'N' ROLL. For those who grew up in the 50's and the baby boomer generation, along with others interested in pop culture, you will be transported back to the beginning of rock music. Jim was with with the Supremes, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. He interviewed hundreds of entertainers including Bill Haley, Jackie Wilson, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, James Brown, Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Neil Diamond, John Denver, and others. It is with the help of these interviews that he tells his own story and in so doing gives a unique persperctive of the history of rock 'n' roll.

 

Backbeat is a local group of young rock musicians who have recorded with Beatles’ Abbey Road engineer, Geoff Emerick, and have appeared on several national TV shows. Before they were even 13 years old Backbeat appeared on the Rosie O’Donnell Show, Good Morning America, and CNN News. In 2001 they traveled to London and met with Beatles producer, George Martin, at Air Studios. They have opened for The Beach Boys, Little Richard, Herman’s Hermits, Rick Springfield and Sam & Dave.

 

Gary Griffin grew up in Bridgetown and played throughout the 70’s with successful Cincinnati bands, Haymarket Riot and Chillingsworth, before relocating to California in 1977. Since then he is best known for performing as a keyboardist and vocalist with The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Jan and Dean and The Surf City Allstars.

Griffin toured and recorded with Jan and Dean throughout the 80’s and 90’s, and has appeared as a regular on several television shows, most notably General Hospital and Full House (as a member of Jesse and The Rippers). In 2000, Griffin served as music director, alongside producer John Stamos, for the Emmy-nominated television mini-series, The Beach Boys: An American Family, for ABC. He also appeared as a recording engineer and bass guitarist in the film.

Griffin has produced an eclectic roster of artists, most notably Micky Dolenz of The Monkees, political satirist Harry Shearer, Dave Coulier, singer Sandra Stephens and Laura Hall of television's, "Whose Line Is It AnywayIn July, 2013, he appeared with John Stamos on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at the host’s request. He performed as part of a reunion of Jesse and the Rippers, the fictitious band from Full House.

Griffin has engineered several recent recordings by legendary pop music notables, such as Petula Clark, Jimmy Webb, Christopher Cross, Al Kooper, Rod McKuen and Mark Lindsay.

Griffin appears as session musician, Al DeLory in the Brian Wilson biopic, "Love and Mercy (film)", starring John Cusack, Paul Giamatti and Paul Dano, released in the summer of 2015.

In 2016, Griffin toured extensively singing and playing keyboards and vibes with Brian Wilson on his Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour, which has been extended into 2017.

In February, 2017, Vivid Sound Corporation in Japan released Griffin's first solo CD, "Sympathetic Vibrations".

Gary is the son of famed WWII navigator, Tom Griffin (aviator), a member of the Doolittle Raiders.

 

The Teardrops were a local Cincinnati girl-group formed in 1961 by two friends, Dorothy Dyer and Linda Schroeder, (both girls were 14 years of age at the time). They later added two additional members and began performing at local teen venues in Cincinnati. They were soon spotted by musician/arranger Bud Reneau, who introduced them to his partner, songwriter, Paul Trefzger. The group signed with Bud and Paul's Saxony Records in 1964. The quartet recorded "Tonight I'm Gonna Fall In Love” in the fall of 1964. It received airplay, in Cincinnati, on powerhouse radio station, WSAI, and in many other cities across the US. The Teardrop's local success had them opening for The Beach Boys and Sonny and Cher.

In early 1965, they followed up with several more singles, including "Tears Come Tumbling", and the group was signed to Musicor Records, home of label-mate Gene Pitney. By late 1966 both founding members had left the group and The Teardrops eventually broke up in 1969.

During the 1980’s, all of the Teardrops recordings resurfaced on vinyl in the United Kingdom, including the unreleased track "Here Comes Loneliness" which went on to become a Northern soul favorite along with the B-sides, "Bubblegummer", “You Won't Be There’, and "I'm Gonna Steal Your Boyfriend". In 2001, Saxony Records released a compact disc of all the Teardrops material.

 

West Davis is a well-known Cincinnati singer, frontman and drummer. During his local career he has performed with many popular and successful bands including Surdy Greebus 1968 ... Westfauster 1969-70, God's Good Air 1971, Daphne 1971 and Punk 1973. His group, Pezband played Chicago, New York and toured with Cheap Trick. In 2014, West added a solo CD to his resume titled, "Lifelike Parts".