BLUE ASH (The Early Years)
Blue Ash began at the end of July, 1969, when bass guitarist
Frank Secich asked Jim Kendzor, a singer he knew, if
he'd like to form a band. They agreed and set off to
round out the group. First recruit was guitarist Bill
"Goog" Yendrek and a few weeks later they met drummer
David Evans and started rehearsing at Goog's in
Brookfield, Ohio.
In early September, they went to Geoffrey Jones of
Flowers Inc. Entertainment Agency who agreed to
personal representation. Geoff would be their manager
for the next ten years. Blue Ash debuted at a psychedelic club called "The Freak
Out" in Youngstown, Ohio on October 3, 1969. Over the
next year they developed a loyal following with their
on-stage antics such as bringing Goog's
sister Anna (who was vocally and lyrically challenged) up to sing, their smashing of equipment
and their wild, anarchic version of John Lennon's
"Cold Turkey". In August 1970, they performed the Who's
rock opera "Tommy" in it's entirety at the
Steelworker's Hall in Youngstown. In September, Bill
Yendrek quit the band. He was replaced by Bill "Cupid"
Bartolin.
In late 1970, the group was approached by Bob Mack
(Pittsburgh DJ, promoter and discoverer of Tommy
James) and asked if they'd like to go to
Philadelphia's Sigma Sound to record. Bob had a song
written by Teri Gruber called "We'll Live Tomorrow".
It was a tribute to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. The
studio session made a great impact on the boys and
they would spend the next year and a half accumulating
an enormous amount of original material and building
a huge following while playing over 200 dates a year
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia.
BLUE ASH (The Peppermint and Mercury Years)
In July of 1972, the group signed a contract with
Peppermint Productions of Youngstown and began
recording and sending out demos. In October,
legendary A&R man and rock writer Paul
Nelson from Mercury Records flew to Youngstown to see
Blue Ash "live" and immediately began signing
procedures. They started recording their first album
"No More, No Less" in February 1973 with Peppermint's
John Grazier producing and with Gary Rhamy
engineering. Executive producer Paul Nelson
introduced them to a never-before-published,
never-before-recorded Bob Dylan song called "Dusty Old
Fairgrounds" and suggested they record their version
of the Beatles' "Anytime At All" both of which appear
on the lp. The rest of the album was made up of nine
(Secich-Bartolin) songs and one by Jim Kendzor.
On May 15, Mercury released the first Blue Ash 45
"Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)" b/w "Dusty Old
Fairgrounds" On May 25, "No More, No Less" was
released. Rave reviews and feature articles followed in
Rolling Stone, Creem, Crawdaddy, Zoo World, Circus, Phonograph
Record, New Times, Record World, Billboard, Rock Scene, Fusion and many others.
That summer they began touring and opening for acts
like Bob Seger, Iggy and the Stooges, Ted Nugent,
Nazareth, Aerosmith and more. Blue Ash along with
Raspberries, Big Star and Badfinger became "critical
darlings" of a new sound later to be called power pop. Despite the
good press Blue Ash was not getting much national
radio airplay or sales. The last Mercury single
"Anytime At All" b/w "She's So Nice" didn't break
despite being played on American Bandstand and they
were released by Mercury in May 1974.
BLUE ASH (The Playboy Years)
In June 1974, original drummer David Evans left the
group and was replaced by roadie Jeff Rozniata. The
group was as prolific as ever turning out tons of
demos and getting interest. During this time
(1974-1976) they recorded over 100 songs at
Peppermint. In 1976, producer Steve Friedman offered to
take them to Miami's Criteria Studio. There they recorded
four songs which Steve took to LA and got Blue Ash
a singles deal with Playboy Records. The first 45
"Look At You Now" released May '77 became a regional
hit in the southern U.S. and Playboy offered a full
lp deal. The lp "Front Page News" was recorded in
August 1977 at LA's Village Recorders studio and
released in October of that year. The lp was selling
well but in early 1978 Playboy pulled the plug on it's
record division and Blue Ash was once again without a
label. The group continued to play live adding drummer
George Grexa, guitarist Max Schang and keyboard wizard
Brian Wingrove. One last recording session at
Peppermint in 1979, would be one of their best.
Original members Frank Secich, Jim Kendzor and Bill
Bartolin, along with drummer Bob Tocco and Brian
Wingrove did two of their most memorable tracks:
"Around Again" and "She Isn't There" which had remained
unreleased until now. Blue Ash called it quits in June
1979.
BLUE ASH (The After Years)
In 1979, British popsters, The Records recorded
"Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)" for an EP that came
with their debut LP "Shades In Bed". In the 80's "A
Million Miles Away" was covered by Finnish rock star,
Michael Monroe, and recently by Simon Chainsaw
and the Forgotten Boys from Brazil. "Everywhere I Go"
has been released by Ohio's Infidels on the CD
re-issue of their fabulous "9:25 and Seven Seconds" album
and there is another great rendition of it on Billy
Sullivan's "All-American Popster" CD.
Australian power pop group, The Finkers, do "Tonight's
My Lucky Night" on their very fine "Last Thing On My
Mind" CD. Blue Ash's "Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)" also appears on Rhino's
"Poptopia! Power Pop Classics Of The 70's" and Blue Ash is also on Rhino's "I
Shall Be Unreleased" the songs of Bob Dylan with their cover of
"Dusty Old Fairgrounds". In July 2003, original members
Frank Secich, David Evans, Jim Kendzor and Bill
Bartolin got together privately in Ohio to play once
again. They had such a good time they decided to
reform the band.
BLUE ASH (The Around Again Years)
It was official! The Blue Ash reunion was on. Blue Ash
played their first gig in 25 years at the International Pop Overthrow in Philadelphia in November of 2003.The
original line-up was Jim Kendzor (vocals), David Evans
(drums), Bill "Cupid" Bartolin (lead guitar) and Frank
Secich (now rhythm guitar). Also in addition Jeff
Rozniata (drummer 1974-76) and pianist Brian Wingrove
returned along with a new bassist Bobby Darke, as Blue Ash
took the stage at Youngstown's B&B Backstage on August
28, 2004. The reunion concert coincided with the 2004
summer release of the Blue Ash "Around Again" 2 CD set
on Not Lame Records.
The 44 previously unreleased recordings on "Around
Again" have a colorful history. In May of 1972, Steve
Friedman on behalf of Peppermint Recording Studio
owner (Gary Rhamy) offered Blue Ash a production deal.
Although no money was involved, Friedman came up with
a novel arrangement to pay the band in studio time...
two full days of recording each month for five years.
The first demos got the attention of Mercury Records
and resulted in the "No More, No Less" LP. Recording
of new songs and demos continued every month for the
next 5 years. When Blue Ash broke up in 1979, the
recordings were for the most part forgotten.
Fast forward to May, 2003 and a phone call between
rock writer Mark Hershberger and Frank Secich. The
subject...releasing Blue Ash on CD. Mark connected
Frank with Bruce Brodeen of Not Lame Records who
wondered if any rare recordings of Blue Ash existed.
He was told about the Peppermint sessions but the
question was, did they still exist? Frank called Gary
and to everyone's great fortune, Gary had the wisdom
to safely store the recordings away all these years.
After reuniting in July 2003, members of the band
could hardly believe what they were hearing and
seeing...there were 219 recordings!
Thanks to the collective efforts of Gary Rhamy, Mark
Hershberger, Steve Friedman, Bruce Brodeen, John
Grazier, and manager Geoff Jones, the "Around Again"
CDs were not only made possible, but are now available
on Not Lame Records. Blue Ash will also be releasing most
of the remainder of the rare recordings through "Lost In
The Grooves" in 2007. The recordings will be available
online only.
The Blue Ash 2 CD set "Around Again" is now available for downloads at Maryatt Music.
http://www.maryattmusic.com/
photo by Geoff Jones
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