The beginning of our journey......

I would like to welcome you to "El Paso's Musicians (Past and Present)" My intent with this site is to bring information about musicians I have known in El Paso from the 60's to present day. Many of the musicians that you will be reading about were either in groups that I played in while living in El Paso, as well as, the ones that I befriended all throughout high school and college. I graduated from UTEP in 1972 and in 1973 my wife and I left El Paso with a vocal show group called The Sounds Royale. The group started out with Sam Stephenson (guitar-vocals), Gayle Hageman (bass-vocals), Tedd McKeever (keyboards-vocals), Debbie Wilson (flute-vocals) and myself, Rick Kern (drums-vocals) The group was based out of Newport Beach, CA. We performed at mainly Orange County venues such as The Disneyland Hotel, Charley Browns in Huntington Beach, The Newporter Inn, Del Webb's Townhouse and the San Francisco Hyatt Regency. For many years all the members of our group were scattered all over the place. Sam, has retired as the Dir. of Safety for Union Pacific Railroad and moved back to his hometown of El Paso, Tx. Gayle, Tedd and Wayne have all passed away. Sam and I are still trying to find Debbie. I am sure she is warming many hearts out there somewhere with her fabulous voice. In 1978 my wife and I moved back to El Paso to be with our respective families and to start our own family. Both of our kids, Ricky and Nicole are musicians both living in Austin. Nicole use to play electric cello with an Austin band called Alex Dupree and the TrapDoor Band. She also played and toured with a popular Austin band called "Balmorhea". Both of our kids went to UT Austin. Ricky graduated in May, 2007 and Nicole graduated in May, 2008. They both love photography and film. The YouTube videos on this site were produced by my son to show our capability to show videos of performers on this site. Unfortunately when the Blogger site enabled encryption it deleted my videos. Hopefully we'll be able to retrieve them again in the future. He also did my colorful splash page that you see when you first log on to the site. There were two other groups that I played with while on the road. When the Sounds Royale disbanded I advertised my profile at the Local Musicians Union that I belonged to in Los Angeles. Two guys were looking for a drummer/vocalist and that was the beginning of "Tapestry". The members were Curt Hespe (keyboard-bass-horn-vocals) Dan Evans (guitar-bass horn-vocals) and myself (drums-horn-vocals) This was the group that travelled the most. We played many show rooms from one corner of the U.S. to the other, including two tours of Canada. Our very first job, after only being rehearsed for two weeks, was the Sahara in Lake Tahoe. During that time we appeared on the same billboard with Elvis, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes, The Fifth Dimension and the Jackson 5. We were suppose to be there for one week and they held us over for 5. The only bad part of that booking was when we all came down with the flu at the same time. Remember the saying "the show must go on" well, it did with the grace of God and alot of liquids. This group continued travelling all over the country. We even took a three day break to cut an album in Cincinatti, Ohio at Queen City Studios. We sold the album mainly to people that saw our shows. This group lasted about three years. My last group on the road was also called "Tapestry" It consisted of Dan Evans from the first Tapestry, Jerry Johnson (bass-guitar-steel guitar-vocals), Danny Miller (guitar-vocals) and myself on drums and vocals. This group came together as a result of my old friendship with Jerry Johnson. He was a Chaplains Assistant at Ft. Bliss in El Paso in 1969. We played in a group called the Basic Sound at the Knights Club. That club was in the old Rodeway Inn at Bassett Center. Jerry was living in Long Beach, CA. when I asked him if he would like to form a new group. Out of my three groups on the road, this one was the group that was more destined for a recording contract and opportunity to break out of the club scene. We will never forget the night that we were playing at the Reubens in West Covina, CA. when our agent came in and told us that we were going to be on the Captain and Tennile TV Special with Neil Diamond. Dick Clark was the producer of the show. We signed the contract and had our original songs ready to showcase. There was only one small problem - none of the networks picked up the contract. How do you say "that's show biz" It was not too long after that I left the group and came back to my home town of El Paso where I still live. This is the rest of the story....
Showing posts with label Ed Clore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Clore. Show all posts

Saturday, November 17, 2007

B.F. Wrinkle - Oct. 2, 2008

(Click Image to View)
L-R John Allen, Ed Clore, Ron Stone,
Nando Gallardo and Eddie Peineda
were laying it down just like they did
in the old days - what a great sound!
Submitted by Rick Kern
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Captain Radio - 2008

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L-R Ed Clore-Bass, Vocals, Rick Benitez-Drums, Vocals,
Rick Armstrong-Keyboards, Percussion, Guitar, Vocals,
Brian Russo-Guitar, Vocals, Gary Hollis-Guitar, Vocals
Captain Radio is one of El Paso's really popular bands.
These guys have been a part of El Paso's rich music history
for many years. Check out their MySpace site at:
Submitted by Rick Kern




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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Jack Welch & The Fatz Katz - 1989

The Fatz Katz in 1989 consisted of Eddie Pineda-guitar,
Junior Meraz-drums, Jack Welch-keyboards & sax,
and Ed Clore-bass. This picture is from the Fatz Night
Club on Doniphan.
Submitted by Ed Clore
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The Jack Welch Show - 1985

The Jack Welch Show was comprised of Ken Reynolds-
guitar, Cuco Serrano-drums, Jack Welch-keyboards &
sax, and Ed Clore-bass. The group played mainly at
Memories night club on Doniphan.
Submitted by Ed Clore
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Monday, November 12, 2007

BF Wrinkle - 1975

(Click Image to View)
Standing L-R: Ed Clore-Bass, Eric Cooksey-Guitar,
Rob Platt-Vocals, Seated: Nando Gallardo-Drums and
John Allen-Keyboards. This local El Paso group was
featured at the Black Garter, Gold Rush and the New Buffalo.
Submitted by Ed Clore


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Jesus Christ Superstar Band - 1977

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This was the band for the 1977 production of
Jesus Christ Superstar that played at the Chamizal.
The members of the band were: Ron Stokes, Ed Clore,
Janice Bedard, Mike Fones and Bob Coyne.
The leads were: John Kominicki - as Jesus, Rick Markowski
as Judas, Jane Powell as Mary Magdalene, Louie Torres as
Pilate, George Powell was Caiaphas and Greg Taylor was Herrod.
Submitted by Bob Coyne






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Bob Coyne -1979

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This is Bob Coyne in 1979 when he and Ed Clore
were playing in the "Easy Band" with Eddie
Alvarado on drums and Richard Bolagnes
(singer) at the Scheherazade Club near the
El Paso airport. This was the last house band
gig he had before moving to Houston. Bob says
"If I recall correctly, Mike Francis asked us to
cover the gig for a weekend and the club owner
(Nabil) hired us to stay."
Submitted by Bob Coyne

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Ed Clore & Cat - 1979

(Click Image to View)
This was in 1979 when I was playing with
the "Easy Band" with Bob Coyne, Eddie
Alvarado and Richard Bolagnes.
Submitted by Bob Coyne

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