Performing History 1960's

The Survivors was the first working rock band I joined. I was 14 and it was 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The next summer I joined a high-powered psychedelic rock band named Our Mother's Children that toured and provided me with an income of several hundred dollars a week. Later we shortened the band name to The Children. Our management agency was "A Squared Productions," run by Jeep Holland. We had a salaried roadie, and our own, new Dodge van. I played Hammond and Farfisa organs. We were the opening act for Iggy Pop, Bob Seeger, Ted Nugent, John Mayall Blues Band, Spencer Davis, Canned Heat, and lots of big rock bands. Most Friday afternoons we started our week-ends by slipping out of high school one period early to play a TGIF Kegger at one of several fraternity houses at the University of Michigan. Those Friday gigs were from 4 until 6. We'd load up fast and make it to a teen night club that same night or a concert hall like the Grandee Ballroom or Ford Auditorium, both in Detroit. Saturday nights we were often back at a frat house or another club. We were regulars at the Grandee Ballroom in Detroit,
The Club in Monroe, The Fifth Dimension in Ann Arbor, and we toured throughout Michigan. We had a standing invitation at the wildest fraternities on campus, which were Sigma Nu and Theta Chi. The Children lasted through 1966, 1967, and 1968.