Leavell seated on the left
Mullinex seated in the middle
Charlie Hayward on the right
The two guys against the wall are not identified. Please sent their identification along with any suggestions or unwanted comments to robertoreg2003@yahoo.com

"Photo 4. The Tuscaloosa Music Dogs. Left - Chuck Leavell, Middle - Lou Mullinex,
Far Right - Charley Hayward. I don't know the names of the two guys in the back. Maybe some of your tribe could refresh our memories on that. I don't remember the band name either. I just made up The Tuscaloosa Music Dogs."
JOHNNY TOWNSEND

THE TUSCALOOSA ALL-STARS
"Photo(s) 3. A proof sheet of The Tuscaloosa All-Stars taken at a recording session in B'ham. The Tuscaloosa All-Stars consisted of Tippy Armstrong, Bill Connell, MIke Duke, Joe Rudd, Eddie Hinton, Jennifer Toffel and Fred Styles (among others). Wow, I'm really sorry I missed that one. What a great band that would have been."
- JOHNNY TOWNSEND

"Photo 2. Somebody's front porch in T-Town. Sitting - Lou Mullinex (always liked that picture of Lordy Lou), Standing left to right - Jennifer Toffel (now Mrs. T.), The late Art Schilling (miss that boy) and Jenny Fraley. *PHOTO BY JENNIFER TOFFEL"
- JOHNNY TOWNSEND

MIKE DUKE HUMS HIS FAVORITE SONG WHILE EATING A BABY RUTH

Photo 1. The immortal Mike Duke commerating his favorite song "Baby Ruth" by munching on his favorite snack of the same name. *PHOTO BY JENNIFER TOFFEL

CAUTION: WEIRD LOAD!!!!

we left on June 14th so we probably got to Alabama around the 21st or
a few days afterwards.

kb

http://www.skypilotclub.com

skypilotclub
81774 Lost Creek Road
Dexter OR 97431

ATTENTION EVERYONE IN THE HEART OF DIXIE!!!!

MONDAY, JUNE 21, MARKS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF A '39 INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER SCHOOL BUS CROSSING THE MISSISSIPPI STATE LINE AND BRINGING KEN KESEY AND HIS MERRY PRANKSTERS TO BAMA!!!!

Buddah's blessing is with you and yours,there is sadness and Joy
to
celebrate the passing of one of us a transition of the familiar to
the
spiritual plane,Bryan Wheeler was and is a friend of mine...
We will see him again in another manifestation...
Peace, Bob another B.W.
-Bob Weston

THE LATE BRYAN WHEELER OF THE LOCUST FORK BAND

From: biggkevkahuna
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:05:17 EDT
Subject: Re: [MFV] THE RUBBER BAND


Robert, I went to your site and saw your tribute to BW. He was a friend of mine also. He was playing in a band with a bunch of close friends down at the FloraBama. They were called The Dixie Flyers. Rock Killough,Larry T Wilson, John Joiner Darrell Roberts and BW. Larry talked to BW the day that he died. BW was having chest pains. Larry T tried to get him to go to the hospital. BW said that if he didn't feel better in the morning that he would. He never saw the morning. BW was one of the nicest human beings. and is missed by many

SAILCAT
- PHOTO TAKEN IN NEW YORK CITY BY TUSCALOOSA NATIVE JENNIFER TOFFEL-TOWNSEND WHILE SHE WAS STUDYING FILM AT NYU
Motorcycle Mama
Sailcat
(Elektra)
1972 I was in the tenth grade in 1972, and I remember having the 45 of "Motorcycle Mama." Hell, it was quite a major hit, as I recall, and although it came to be lumped into the category of "novelty songs," it was a really nifty tune from an album that had mucho more good music pressed into it's grooves. A lost classic for sure.

From it's now legendary cover art by MAD magazine's Jack Davis, to the excellent production of Pete Carr, the Muscle Shoals guitar hero, "Motorcycle Mama" is a joy ride from beginning to end, featuring the vocals of Court Pickett and Johnny Wyker, and some really good songs, many of them written by Wyker.

The vinyl opens with a jam-up bluegrass thang, which also wraps the LP up at the end of side dos. Sandwiched in between are gems like "Rainbow Road," a song on which Wyker drawls the lead vocals like a Southern fried Mick Jagger, before plunging right into "The Thief," which is sprinkled with some ultra-fine guitar pickin.' And that one segues into "Highway Rider," a number that features a nice instrumental jam tacked onto the end. Side one ends with a Pete Carr composition called "The Dream," a psychedelic trip across the vast and fertile fields of the Sailcat mind.

"If You've Got a Daughter" features Court singing a Wyker tune, which sets the stage for one of my favorite tracks, the ethereal instrumental "Ambush," a groovy, piano based tune featuring Chuck Leavell. That's right, Chuck Leavell of Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones fame. Oh, I failed to mention the cast of players collected on this slab-o-wax? How about Scott Boyer? Yep. He's on it. Joe Rudd, Fred Prouty, Lou Mullinix, Clayton Ivey, Art Shilling, Bill Connell, Al Lester, Tom Russell, Jesse Gormell (on the spoons) and The Memphis Horns are all playing here. Wyker steps up the the mike again for "BB Gun," once again strutting his Dixie Jagger thang, and the results are really rockin. "It'll Be a Long Time" leads us into the mega-hit that landed the boys on American Bandstand, "Motorcycle Mama." Can any of us ever forget that immortal last line, "If the chain don't break?"

"Walking Together Backwards" showcases Wyker once again, and "On The Brighter Side of It All" wraps thangs up for a good time trip down memory lane. Rumor has it that you can order the cd at wyker.com. If not, you can at least email the cat who was half of Sailcat, and let him tell you some "Cat Tails." Your life will be all the more brighter for it.

-Buffalo Smith- courtesy of Gritz Magazine
http://gritz.net/PAGES/oldandheavy.html

SUPERB SITE DEDICATED TO THE MUSIC OF THE LATE EDDIE HINTON

http://www.geocities.jp/hideki_wtnb/eddiehinton.html

MANY THANK YOUS AND BEST WISHES GO OUT TO JOHNNY TOWNSEND FOR PROVIDING "CUBA,ALABAMA" WITH THESE WONDERFUL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE IMMORTAL "RUBBER BAND".

PLEASE CHECK OUT JOHNNY'S WEBSITE AND BUY HIS NEW CD
http://www.JohnTown.com

TIPPY ARMSTRONG

The late guitarist, Tippy Armstrong, is a legend in Tuscaloosa. It is said that the great Eddie Hinton told Tippy to tie weights to his fingers on his left hand during sleep so they'd grow longer at night during puberty. They did!

Tippy played with the Rubber Band and later with SouthCamp.

TIPPY ARMSTRONG WITH JOHNNY WYKER IN THE BACKGROUND AT THE OLD HICKORY ON PANAMA CITY BEACH IN THE SUMMER OF '65. WYKER AND JOE SOBOTKA CO-WROTE "LET LOVE COME BETWEEN US".


THE MAGNIFICENT 7 IN FRONT OF THE OLD HICKORY ON PANAMA CITY BEACH

T-TOWN GIG ON THE QUAD- THE LATE LOU MULLINEX ON DRUMS, RONNIE SEITEL WHO PLAYED FOR THIS SIDE UP, CHARLIE HAYWARD(now playing for the Charlie Daniels Band) ON BASS AND FRANK FRIEDMAN WHO ALSO PLAYED FOR THIS SIDE UP

N.Y. SESSIONS OF THE RUBBER BAND IN CBS STUDIOS WHEN "LET LOVE COME BETWEEN US" WAS RECORDED

RUBBER BAND POSTER

TIPPY ARMSTRONG AT N.Y.C. RECORDING SESSION WITH THE RUBBER BAND

THE RUBBER BAND

LET LOVE COME BETWEEN US
James & Bobby Purify [THIS CAME OFF THE INTERNET- THIS SONG WAS REALLY WRITTEN BY JOHNNY WYKER AND JOE SOBOTKA]

Baby I found a way to stop all this fussin', yeah
It's just not right darling
The way that we fight
Girl, if you would listen to what we have to say
We could stop all this fussin'
And we could do it this way
We could let love come between us
And let love bring us together
And let love be born today
And let love, let love live forever

I don't believe that you realize
How much I need you darling
And the way my heart cries
It's so hard for us to get alone
And if you'd only listen to the words of our song
And let love come between us
And let love bring us together
And let love be born today
And let love, let love live forever

From the CASH BOX TOP 100 SINGLES for the week ending November 4, 1967

83 TEN LITTLE INDIANS
Yardbirds-Epic 10248 -- -- -- 1
84 GEORGIA PINES
Candymen-ABC 10995 -- -- -- 1

THE MAGNIFICENT RUBBERS!!!!

Robert,
Thanks for all the cool pics. It's fun to see the Old Dutch in those old postcards. Have you got anything on the Old Hickory. That's where we did most of out stompin' in those days. We took over for the Swingin' Medallions after they had their hit with Double Shot Of My Baby's Love. We did do a few thangs at the Dutch filling in for the James Gang. By the way, I dig your site. You must have fun with archiving some of that old stuff. I'm sending you a picture of the 3 Amigos from T-Town. Me, Chuck Leavell, and Mike Duke at the Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam back in the day and another pick of the Magnificent Rubbers from some gig in Jackson, Miss. I think the guy in the middle standing up was a local DJ. The band from left to right starting in front is Jackie Sims, Johnny Wyker, Tippy Armstrong, Tommy Stewart. Sitting on the back of the couch is Joe Sabotka and Me. Far left standing is Denny Green and the other guy is the DJ to be named later. I'll send you some more pictures of the Rubber Band when I have a little more time.
Regards,

Johnny Townsendhttp://www.JohnTown.com
http://www.JohnTown.com

THE OLD DUTCH

CHUCK LEAVELL, MIKE DUKE AND JOHN TOWNSEND AT CHARLIE DANIELS' VOLUNTEER JAM BACK IN THE DAY

THE OLD DUTCH TAVERN

The Hangout, looking east.

The Old Dutch

Robert,
I certainly have no problem with your using any of that on your site and I wish you well with your projects. Greg showed me the prototype for the book when he came to a gig I did in Birmingham in April. I also turned him on to a bunch of other folks related to the other bands you mentioned.
Also, here's a peice I wrote for Greg Haynes on the Rubber Band. If you'd like to use this, you have my permission. You might want to contact Greg to make sure there's no conflict with his book.
Stay well and in touch,

John Townsend

http://www.JohnTown.com

"God invented time so everything wouldn't happen at once" - J.D. Wyker


Greg,
I hope this is the kind of thing you have in mind. It was fun to write. I hope you enjoy it.



Johnny Townsend on the Rubber Band.

I entered the University of Alabama at age 18 fully intending to get through pre-med and go on to become a doctor. I had been playing in a band called the NightCats with my old school buddy, guitarist Tippy Armstrong. We had been making a little money playing on weekends doing a mixture of blues and current radio hits. About the end of my sophomore year I was losing my mind studying for a chemistry final one night when I got a call from a guy named Johnny Wyker who was putting together a band and said he already had some things booked and convinced me that it would be the perfect way to finance my college education. I said I would do it on one condition. That condition was that my friend Tippy could be the guitar player.. We formed a seven piece band with some horn players and worked up a plethora of R&B songs that were wildly popular in those days. We dubbed ourselves The Magnificent Seven. (We actually played the themesong from the movie "The Magnificent Seven"as our theme song) The magnificent part about it was that we soon became the most popular band on campus an in no time at all we were doing gigs at all the major colleges in the southeast. We headlined beach clubs in Florida and eventually some recordings we made at Boutwell studio in Birmingham found their way to a big time producer in New York named Charlie Calello. We had to change the name of the band because The Magnificent Seven was a copyrighted movie title. Overnight we became The Rubber Band. Our first record made with Calello came out on Colombia records and was a big turn table hit in pretty much every city in the U.S. Number one in 20 major markets, as I remember. We didn¹t sell a lot of records because we were novices at big time show biz and didn¹t have a manager on our case to make sure the record company had records in the store. At the time Colombia didn¹t even realize that it was their record. Go figure. But we had the taste of success and wanted more. That record, by the way was titled Let Love Come Between Us. It was later recorded by James and Bobby Purify and went near, if not the top of the charts. Anyway, I remember those as halcyon days. Being a small town kid who was raised by very conservative and religious parents, I got to see a lot of the world while traveling with the Rubber Band. Those years were an awakening of sorts for me and I still think I owe a lot to Johnny Wyker and that call I got that night. Incidentally, I never became a doctor, neither did I finish college. The lure of music and all the great times we were having was much too strong. Anyone that¹s ever spent any time with a group of guys in a band like that will agree that it¹s like a rolling ³group encounter² where everyone knows the most intimate details of each others lives and the jokes are numbered. I treasure those times and I think of those guys quite a bit to this day and the fun we had with the Rubber Band. It seems that there are a lot of fans out there that remember us as well. I get several emails a month and run into folks all over the country that remember us. It¹s a great feeling knowing the music you made seems to have a life of its own long after the party has ended.

Buddy:
Sent you Greg Haynes' alabama directory but I went ahead and copied the Candymen and James Gang stuff.
Scott says that Wilbur Walton, Jr. is back in Dothan, living with his ailing mother. See if you can get this stuff to him. His 45, 24 Hours of Loneliness, is selling for between 20 and 30 pounds in England and Tiger Jack Garrett in Tuscaloosa plays the James Gang's version of Georgia Pines every Saturday morning on his oldies show on WTBC in Tuscaloosa. Lots of interest in this stuff.
On this end, I'm gonna try to add information to the Rubber Band, the K-Otics and the Rockin' Gibraltars.
Also need to get Greg to qualify The Minutes(The Five Minutes) from Tuscaloosa as a "Beach Music" band. [existed between ' 60 and '69 and played 60 per cent R & B).
Best,
Roberto

Ala, Dothan Candymen Peterson., Bob Drums 1963-1966

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll Adkins, John Rainey Deceased Lead Guitar 1963-1970

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll Nix, Robert Drums 1966-1968

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll Daughtery, Dean Atlanta, Ga Keyboards 1963-1969 With Atlanta Rhythm Section

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll Justo, Rodney Tampa, Fla. Lead Vocals
1963-1969 Rodney lives today in Tampa and stays in touch with former band mates

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll Gilmore, Billy Deceased Bass 1963-1969 Went to Classics IV after Candymen

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll bowie, larry 1969-1970

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll tidder, david 1969-1970

Ala, Dothan Candymen Roll wyatt,tommy Deceased 1969-1970

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Walton, Wilbur Dothan, Ala lead vocals 1963-1970

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Taylor, Marvin Atlanta, Ga. Guitar 1969-1970

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Wyatt, Tommy Deceased Bass 1969-1970

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Creech, Greg Drums 1969-1970

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Bazzell, John Keyboards 1968-1970

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Mulkey, John 1964-1967

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Dean, Jimmy Guitar 1964-1967

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Guarino, Fred 1964-1967

Ala, Dothan Wilbur Walton & the James Gang Roll Lathem, Butch 1964-1967

From : robert register
Sent : Monday, June 14, 2004 1:33 PM
To : robertoreg@hotmail.com
Subject : Fwd: Re: The Origins of "The Rubber Band" According to John Townsend

| | | Inbox




Note: forwarded message attached.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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From:
To: robert register ,
Subject: Re: The Origins of "The Rubber Band" According to John Townsend
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 11:14 PM
Robert,

Thanks for your help. John has written a story for the book about the Rubber
Band and I have seen John in the past month in Birmingham performing. The Rubber
Band's "Let Love Come Between Us" is included on "The Soundtrack to The Heeey
Baby Days of Beach Music." One of my major concerns is identifying the various
performers in the groups from Alabama in the60's, their names, their
instruments, and the years they performed in the group.Please look overthe
directory and you'll see that I have some holes to fill. To date we have had
many folks from Alabama who have helped us in obtaining correct information such
as John Townsend, John Wyker, Buddie Buie, Jimmy Dean, Bobby Dupree, Rodney
Justo (Tampa) Tommy Mann, Kim Venable, Marvin Taylor, Rick Countryman, and
others. Give me a call at home and I'll fill you in on what we have and it will
give you an ideaof where the help is most needed. Thank you for being so
interested.

Regards,

Greg Haynes
>
> From: robert register
> Date: 2004/06/13 Sun PM 05:33:26 EDT
> To: JTRecords@JohnTown.com
> Subject: The Origins of "The Rubber Band" According to John Townsend
>
> John:
>
> My name is Robert Register. I live in Northport. I hotlinked some of your
biography onto my weblog, "Cuba, Alabama." Hope you don't mind and I will be
glad to delete it if you wish. You may view what I copied at
http://www.robertoreg.blogspot.com
>
> http://www.heybabydays.com/
>
> Please feel free to contact Greg Haynes through the above website devoted to
his new book, "The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music".
>
> He would appreciate any information you may have concerning "The Rubber Band",
"The K-Otics", "The Rockin' Gibraltars", "The Candymen" and "Wilbur Walton, Jr.
and The James Gang" and so would I.
> Best
wishes,
> Robert
Register

http://www.heybabydays.com/

Please feel free to contact Greg Haynes through the following website devoted to his new book, "The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music".

He would appreciate any information concerning "The Rubber Band", "The K-Otics", "The Rockin' Gibraltars", "The Candymen" and "Wilbur Walton, Jr. and The James Gang".

The Origins of THE RUBBER BAND by John Townsend


Fast forward to college: I entered the University of Alabama at age 18 fully intending to get through pre-med and go on to become a doctor. About the end of my sophomore year I was losing my mind studying for a chemistry final one night when I got a call from a guy named Johnny Wyker.
He was putting together a band and already had some things booked and convinced me that it would be the perfect way to finance my college education. I said I would do it on one condition. That condition was that my friend Tippy Armstrong, with w ihom I had played in my first bands, could be the guitar player. We formed a seven piece band with some horn players and called ourselves The Magnificent Seven. The magnificent part about it was that we soon became the most popular band on campus an in no time at all we were doing gigs at all the major colleges in the southeast. We headlined beach clubs in Florida and eventually some recordings we did in Muscle Shoals found their way to a big time producer in New York named Charlie Calello. We had to change the name of the band because The Magnificent Seven was a copyrighted movie title. Overnight we became The Rubber Band.
Our first record made with Calello came out on Colombia records and was a big turn table hit in pretty much every city in the U.S. We didn't sell a lot of records because we were novices at big time show biz but we had the taste of success and wanted more. That record, by the way was titled Let Love Come Between Us. It was later recorded by James and Bobby Purify and went near the top of the charts as I remember. As time went on, and as happens with all bands, we eventually broke up. By that time medical school was only a memory. Tippy became a Muscle Shoals session guitarist some years later. Johnny Wyker is an entrepreneur of sorts in the music industry in the Muscle Shoals area.


http://johntown.com/about1.html

An Interview with Pete Carr



Tell us about The Five Minutes.
Duane and Gregg told me about a band in Alabama that they knew who needed a guitar player. So I moved to Decatur Alabama in 1966 to play guitar for a band called The Five Minutes. Their guitar player, Eddie Hinton, was leaving the band to pursue studio work, and I was called in to be his replacement. Irony and fate have shown their faces to me many times in my life. I would later become the replacement for Eddie Hinton again when he left the Muscle Shoals Sound Rhythm Section in a twist of fate. Johnny Sandlin, Mabron McKinney and Paul Hornsby were the other members of the band. I remember Sandlin playing me songs such as "It's All Over Now" by Bobby Womack and the Valentinoes. I already knew the Rolling Stones version of that song, which I loved, but I also liked Womack's version. Sandlin had heard Womack's version first and did not like the Stones version. They were both great recordings in different ways. Sandlin also got me to sit down with the classic B.B. King album "Live at the Regal." I credit Johnny Sandlin and Paul Hornsby as both being big-brother influences and teachers that helped me in my music career.

I first met John Wyker. A long time friend of mine, who is from Decatur, at Johnny Sandlin's house. John was in a band called the Rubber Band and had a hit single out. John Wyker recalls, "I remember the first time I ever saw Pete when Duane Allman brought him to Decatur in about 1965 when Pete was about somethingteen, (1?) 13 or 15 or 16, but not much older than that and he was so thin that you could barely see anything except long wild hair and big Beatle boots with stacked Cuban heels and he talked like the great baseball player Pete Rose, attitude and lightning fast and he was playing guitar like a cocky little mad genius and he was smokin' Duane Allman and Gregg loved his playing. I mean Pete was a kid, but even back then you just knew that Pete's brain was wired to be lightning fast. Computers were invented years later and Pete was one of the first ones to learn to play hot licks on them too! A few years later, as I watched in the recording studio, Pete and whoever would go back to the studio and take their places. Pete would pick up his guitar and instantly start playing EXACTLY what the song needed, intro, feel, EVERYTHANG and that's the way it went session after session, over and over and time and again."

How did the Hour Glass come to be?
The Five Minutes band couldn't find a lead singer and we were about to disband. At the same time Duane and Gregg Allman needed new band members and called upon Sandlin, Hornsby and McKinney to join their band. I was just a kid and they really had no need for three guitar players in the band so I left and traveled around Alabama meeting some great musicians. I would also go back to Daytona Beach and play at the Pier over the ocean. This new Allman Joys band would later be seen in St. Louis by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands' manager who persuaded them to move to California and changed their name to Hour Glass. I lived just across the river from Gregg and Duane, about a ten minute drive, and they had just flown back home from California with a recording of the first Hour Glass Album.
http://www.gritz.net/inner_views/pete_carr.html

'The Spooks' band existed in Tuscaloosa around 1961, and according to member and fellow AU student John Curry was " A simple little group that played a few old John Hooker tunes,The Ventures, Buddy Holly and others. We went through several evolutionary changes as most bands do, but we really needed a vocalist."

'The Spooks' had got word that Eddie Hinton was pretty good, Eddie told 'The Spooks' they were all crazy, he didn't sing and they didn't need him. Somehow they persuaded Eddie that they didn't mind if he learned on the job, which the shy seventeen year old did, and eventually taking up guitar and harp to make 'The Spooks' one of the most sought after fraternity bands of the area. During the Spring of '65 Eddie informed the band that the 'The Old Dutch Inn' a club and college hang out on Panama City Beach wanted the Spooks to be the house band for the summer season. Some of the members had other commitments that summer and could not go, so Eddie went alone and joined the band the 5 Men-its, which went through several line ups, but after one member left became 'The Minutes'. Members of the 'Minutes' included Johnny Sandlin - Drums, Mabron McKinny - Base and Paul Hornsby on keyboard.
http://www.zanerecords.com/artists/hinton/biog2.html