ZOTS
Atlanta, GA
The Zots opened for many top bands and when Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs played at Misty Waters, Mac Davis ended up selling him a song. Mac went on to sign a deal with Lowery Music in Atlanta and released 45's on VJ and other labels and took an AR job and moved to the west coast and then Elvis and others recorded his songs and the rest is history as they say.
The early 60's in Decatur, Georgia, in the fast growing DeKalb, was a place called Misty Waters operated by a man everyone knew as Pop Childes. Now this was during the segregated times and the sign out on Candler Road read, Misty Waters "For White Only!" There was a roller skating rink, swimming pool, golf course and mini putt putt golf and a lake with a sand beach(see the picture of the pool area above). On the weekend nights the roller rink hosted many local and national recording stars and the roller rink became a dance floor. The local Atlanta radio stations like WQXI AM promoted shows there and many local bands and artists opened for the likes of Billy Joe Royal and the Royal Blues, Joe South and the Believers, Tommy Roe and the Satins(later The Roemans). I will cover these artists and others eventually in this blog. Please feel free to mention anybody you saw perform at Misty Waters, the purpose of this blog is to record and discuss the history of these great times. Quite a few artists went on to fame, one particular is Mac Davis, who moved to the area in 1960 from Lubbock, TX, to live with his mother right near Misty Waters. Mac soon met up with some local musicians who were part of a Southwest DeKalb High School band called The Zots. He took up Bongos and soon became the singer and they played all over including Misty Waters many times. Here is a YouTube Video of the Zots
Check out their sound:
(info and pics courtesy Duane Blalock)