The Band

THE BAND

"also named Atlantic Coast Line and House of Common"

The beginning of The Band - Andy Patterson and Ron Logan in Waycross, Georgia. This is at Andy's house. Andy has a Western Auto electric Truetone guitar and Ron is playing a classic Silvertone model that came with the amplifier built into the case! Those Truetones would test your will to be a guitar player because it took determination (and iron fingers) to depress the strings on those things!

Next came Dave Strickland and his Hagstrom II bass. The Fender Bassman in the background is a 1964 model with a 60 watt tube head and a speaker cabinet with two 12 inch speakers. Dave, Andy and Ron met at Valdosta State College and began planning their assault on the musical frontiers of South Georgia. History was made shortly after that. Not musical history, just history... of some kind.

A later upgrade in bass equipment to a Jazz tobacco sunburst Fender bass, and you can just see the side of it in the background - a Kustom charcoal gray rolled and tucked Naugahyde covered 100 watt bass amp with a D140F JBL Bass Driver and dual chrome ports! Talk about being ready for rock 'n' roll! However, even with the top-notch equipment fame and fortune still eluded me. Looking back now I realize it was that shirt and tie!

Other bands had a fuzz box, a tone box, a direct box, a reverb box or an echo box. But The Band was the only band ever known to have a Mazola Box, which held essential gear such as cables, microphones, tools, tape and a Gibson Fuzztone that would work only when you unscrewed the cover and left it open! Without the Mazola box we would have been just another band.

More members gleefully join "The Band"! Guitarist Andy Patterson on the left and Bassist Dave Strickland to his left, enthusiastically greet new singer Van Brown and drummer Bill Kell, certain that stardom was just around the corner.

The hardest working man in show business, our agent and roadie, Glen "Satch" Sapp. Thanks, Satch, for the use of your truck and for all of those tense moments when semi-hostile locals would come up and ask you who was playing, and at the risk of being called a "smart ass" (and even getting it kicked), you would have to answer, "The Band"!

Drummer Bill Kell and Guitarist Andy Patterson of "The Band", between practices.

Dusty Justice brings talent and experience to the group. Dusty can play guitar, bass, keyboards, sax and probably other instruments, but he can also sing! He formerly played with the Furies and was close friends with Doodle Faulk of The Strange Bedfellows and Jak of Diamonds.

Yet another member of the group, Van Brown provides vocal harmonies, rhythm guitar (a lefty playing righty, which absolutely blows my mind!) and humorous views on everything from our talent to our future. He continues to do so to this very day.

Van's recent blog

That's Dave, the bassboy on the left and Ronnie Moore, with the electric organ, on the right.

Andy works out a drum part, while the rest of "The Band" searches for the lost chord. It's probably in the Mazola box.

Sand, Sun and Surf, and some wind apparently got in their hair. Bill Kell, Dave Strickland and Andy Patterson get all wrapped up in their... flags. This photograph was taken in a beach cottage on Jekyll Island, Georgia.

The Band that plays together stays together: Dusty and Bill at the beach, relaxing after a grueling South Georgia tour. This was a remote area that the public did not know about. You will notice there are no fans around. The guys needed their "down time" to recouperate.

Where are they now?

The beach is still a favorite spot for celebrities to relax. Andy now supports the Georgia Dawgs, the Valdosta Wildcats and whatever brewery has a special price going on! He is also the driving force and research brain behind this Web site. Yo Andy!

A man for all seasons, Andy is a stand up guy in a Bluegrass band, often performing at high social functions, such as this one on the veranda of the White House. Famous drummer, Ringo, is seen sitting in on guitar. The other members are secret service and their identities cannot be revealed for national security reasons.

Dave keeps on trying! Here he is with CRS, a blues group that recently reorganized after the lead guitarist had to leave town for business reasons. I wonder how that paternity suit is going.

From left to right: Bob Milbury, Steve Harlow, Moe Guilbert, Russ Debarros, Dave Strickland, Tim Robinson and Chuck Storla.

Dave's group setting up for a party November 2003. A good time was had by all.

Dave even played with The Bushmen for a while, as seen in the above picture! It was a limited engagement. It started on 01/23/2005 at about 11:00 PM and ended on 01/23/2005 at approximately 11:15 PM.

Dave, Van, Bill and Andy - waiting for the beer to arrive.

Dusty, Dave and Bill watch as Van tells them "There ain't no beer", just before the riot broke out during a Band reunion, probably sometime in the middle '80's?

Hear Evil, Speak Evil and See Evil - the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Dave, the bassman, Andy the double bassman and Van Van the crazy man, at a recent reunion. Ron Logan was there - he took the picture.

Here they are - the band you've all been waiting for! The Band - 2004.

Dave Strickland, Van Brown, Andy Patterson and Ron Logan!

The Band later changed it name to The House of Commons. Highlights of their career included playing the breaks for the Gentries at the Bees Knees in Fitzgerald, GA and culminating in a reunion performance at the Goodstock garage band festival in Summersville, W. VA in June of 2007.

Drummer Bill Kell has been busy too. Here are pictures of his current band - The Residuals right after winning the Fortune 500 Corporate Battle of the Bands at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland!

The Residuals in front of the display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoring their First Place win!

The Residuals with Bill Kell on the drums during the Battle of the Bands competition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Here's a tighter shot, giving you a better view of Bill Kell at the drum kit!

A close-up of the display at the Hall of Fame showing Bill and the Residuals winning the Battle of the Bands!

GOODSTOCK GARAGE BAND FESTIVAL

In June of 2007 Larry McClurg put on a festival featuring garage bands from the 1960s in Summerville W. VA. Artie Kornfeld, creator of the original Woodstock festival in 1969 assisted with logistics and advice for a successful festival. This festival was three days of love, peace and brotherhood. Larry was the lead singer for a 1968 band called Mind Garage, a W. VA. experimental, psychedelic rock band given credit for inventing Christian Rock. Mind Garage has the dubious distinction of being invited to perform at Woodstock and declining to do so.

Goodstock. What a strange and amazing Festival! PLENTY of first class entertainment! The ultimate in venues. Kudos to all volunteers worked VERY HARD to help create the proper environment. Without people willing to go above and beyond, Goodstock could not have happened or been what it was. But as in all things where the play of opposites comes in (life), this was no exception. And so everything happened as it should. Musicians, sound people, organizers of OTHER events of this type found a wealth of connections and new friends.

The Band (later known as The House of Commons) was invited to perform at Goodstock after bassist Dave Strickland (original member of The Band) expressed an interest to Larry. Members of The Band had not played together for over 20 years. They performed at Goodstock as a "reunion" band and were a real crowd pleaser. The Band had one goal: NOT TO SUCK. Based on crowd response and reviews on the Goodstock message board, The Band succeeded in their goal.

The House of Commons present: GOODSTOCK, 2007

Phase I--Preparation

The first practice occurred in the home of Bill and Tina Kell in Providence, Rhode Island.