PIGNEMON THEWIZARDS FRONI IGNSAS

Lawrence, Kansasis a typicalU.S. Collegetourn.Home of The University Of Kansas,Lawrencehas alwaysbeen a smallcultr.i:-al oasis in the vast Mid-West plains.A placewhere the farm boy goes to live tl-: big city life and the city boy goes to party.In the 1960'sLawrence was fullyentrenched the Hippielifestyle, in trying to duplicatewhat the West Coast brethren had created during the "summer Of Love".Musicwas a big part of the scene and bands from nearby KansasCity gravitated towardsthe smellof incenseemanating from Lawrence. I n 1 9 6 8 P i g N e w to nw a s b o rn .Ron Sandhaus and Bob Menadier wer e in The Abstracts, local K.C. rock band. Acrosstown the band "ln Black And White" a were turningheadswith theirbrandof psychedelic bluesbut membersRob Crain a n d H a l P i e rcew e re l o o ki n g expandtheirsound.By the end of ' 68 the ban d to m a n a g e d re cru i t ru mme rMar c Caplanwho w- r s playing to d soul and r ock with l o c a l s"Ru d y A n d T h e F a sci nations". 1969 tfie band wer e r egular sat the By "Be-lrts" many Lawrence and benefitshowsas we!rat the legendary KansasCity V o l k e rPa rkw h i chh a d b e co me gather ing a spotfo' the city' sHippie contingenc y . Pig Newton created music that was a strange brew of varying influences ranging from Love,Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds:.lnd The GratefulDeadto The Blues Project,John Mayall,The RollingStonesand included the rich historyof Ka n s a sC i ty R h yth m& B l u e s,The band' sor iginal tuneswer e distinctive thei r in and their trademarksound )azzy approachtowardsthe emergingpsychedella could be easilyrecognized when they tackleda classiccover tune like Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower". Duringthe schoolsemester the band stayedbusy playing regulargigs for the University crowd, brjrtthe summer usualiy reani havingto find a part time job to make ends meet. Facedwith that realityin the Su m m ero f '6 9 th e b a n d d e ci ded take to the r r r adin their blue 1953 School to Bus. A friend had offereda place to stay in Phiiadelphia that becamethe so band'sdestination. was here that the name "Pig,Newton The WizardsFrom lt & Kansas"was born which of coursewas later shortened when Pig Newtonwas sent packing. Oncethey settledin the City Of Brotlierly Love,the band managed to land an odd assortment gigs, including two week stay at a "BikerBar'lin of a s e a Vi e w , co n n e cti cu w h i ch included ee lodgingamongsta gr oup of Ex t fr Convicts and Bikers the likes of which these Mid-West boys were not accustomed A successful duringthis two week staywas any one at which to. gig the bikersdecidednot to "messwith the band".Tfre pig NewtonSummerof '6g Tour hit such bastions psychedelia The Chez Paree(An of as AtlanticCity lesbian bar) and the CafeAu Go Go in Greenwich Villagewhichwas favorably reviewed i n B i l l b oa rd g a zi n e . ma

Amazingly, intact the endof the Summer, bandheaded still by the backto the comforts home. of Drummer parents lv{arc Caplan's financed recording a session at the localCavern Sound Str"idios helpthe bandlanda better to recording deal. Mercury already had signed band a minimal butthe bandwaslooking trie to deal for more.Elektra sentguitar rnaster Lonnie Mackto Lawrence listen to and hang out withthe band. Theywereinterested decided to buy out the contract but not greatinterest but nothing withMercury. Capitol showed too evercameof it. The CavernSoundtapescontain first recorded ihe versions six songsthat later of appeared the Mercury Theearlier on LP. recording "Clouds Exchange" of Of that appearson this LP was madeto land a gig at the Fillmore East and was motivated an ad in Rolling by StoneMagazine The bandgotthe gig and played on Thanksgiving weekend 69.Whenthe bandfinally serious of got about doing an LP for Mercury theyweregiven choice recording Woodstock, or the of in N.Y. San Francisco. Theyheaded westbut replaced guitarist Sandhaus another with "ln BlackAnd White" alumni JohnCoffin Mercury's prompting theyspent at and several months Mercury's at Street Studio. During Mission this timeotheracts weresharing studio Van Morrison, the like Tower Power, Of ColdBloodandThe Sir Douglas The Mercury was released Quintet. LP without muchpromotion and didn't nearly wellas theband sell as andthelabel hadhoped. the Fallof 1g70 By the boyswere out of moneyand had no significant on the horizon. gigs The members began explore to otltermusical interests the bandevaporated and into the pungent Francisco San air. The music foundon thisLP hasgoneunheard nearly years. for 30 Rockadelic wouldliketo thank bandrnembers allowing to expose bandat their the for us the best.The Wizards havelongbeenlegends amongst thosepsychedelic "in fans the know" and nowa newgeneration music of fanscan appreciate genius. their And someof you maywonder....where theytoday???Bob Menadier a are is paralegal LosAngeles in whileHalPierce RonSandhaus bothlawyers and are in Kansas City.RobCrain designs sellsbeverage and equipment Denver still in and records original musicin his homestudio. MarcCaplanruns a smallcontract furniture company and is stillan activeplayer the bluesandjazz scenein on Kansas City,releasing several CD'soverthe lastfewyearsand being driving the forcebehind project. this

Rockadelic would like to express sincere thanks to the following folks who helped on this project. Tom Sorrells, Mark Frellberg, Clark Faville, Paul Pennington, Stan Getz and Lisa Caplan

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