Joe and the Nomads get a gig
By Bill Kelly
To prepare for their second audition at Tony Mart’s, Joe and the Nomads went looking for a keyboard player, so they walked to 8th Street to the Purple Dragon Coffee House.
From a block away you could see the big Purple Dragon head jutting out above the front door, which looked like it belonged on a Thanksgiving parade float. The building was owned by D. Allen Stretch, a city commissioner whose insurance office was on the corner with a carousel horse out front.
Not just a stage for singers and guitarists, the Purple Dragon microphone was also open to poets and storytellers, college kids and hippies arguing about the meaning of Bob Dylan’s lyrics. Stand-up comedians had yet to make the scene, but after Pittsburgh Paul read some of his poems, George Kresge took the microphone.
George was from Montclair, the same New Jersey hometown as Joe and the Nomads, but was four years older. Joe was to be a freshman at Kent State while George just graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in psychology.
Inspired by the comic strip “Mandrake the Magician,” George wanted to become a crime-fighting magician, and gave a class to some local policemen on psychological methods they could use, such as relaxation techniques, hypnosis, body language and voice inflections, but he didn’t think they were really interested. So he became interested in becoming an entertainer himself.
And while making predictions, he didn’t claim to have paranormal or clairvoyant powers; he developed the powers of suggestion and called himself a mentalist.
When George was finished, Tito Mambo approached him and they went into a corner where George explained how his act works, as Tito was interested in adapting some of the techniques for his own act.
Joe and the Nomads set up their drums and plugged in and talked with Stephanie about what songs they were going to do later at Tony Mart’s. They needed at least a half dozen popular cover tunes, and Stephanie played two of her own originals, though Joe explained that Tony didn’t like original songs.
Joe asked Tito to stick around and play the piano while he sat down on a stool and began playing his acoustic guitar. It was a Ventures’ surfing tune that everyone knew. The bongos and Tito on keys rounded out the sound. After an extended jam, Joe knew Tito was in another league, but asked him to join the Nomads for the Tony Mart’s audition. That with Stephanie made it a five-man combo.
Tito was honest about it. “I already have a band,” he said, “and I’ve already been fired by Tony three times in one week.”
But he wanted to go back to Tony Mart’s. And since it was a Monday and his band was off that night, Tito agreed to join the Nomads just for the audition, but he would have to go in disguise.
So early that eventing the three Nomads, Stephanie and Tito Mambo dressed as an Arab sheikh, went into Tony Mart’s with Tito sitting at the piano against the wall and his back to the audience, and Tony sitting at his usual spot at the small bar next to the front door.
Since the main act, Conway Twitty, and the house band, Levon and the Hawks, had the night off, the main stage was occupied by Joey Dee and the Starliters, in from New York City. They usually played the Peppermint Lounge, which they made famous with their hit song, “The Peppermint Twist,” and finished up their first set of the evening.
But the Nomads weren’t ready to kick in right away, as is the usual procedure, because Joe had left his guitar picks in the van. So he walked over to the main stage and asked their lead guitarist, a tall, skinny guy, if he could have a spare pick. He handed a guitar pick over to Joe, but didn’t say anything.
“I’m Joe, with the Nomads,” Walsh said, reaching out his hand. “We’re auditioning tonight.”
The guy shook Joe’s hand, didn’t say anything but just smiled as Joe continued, “We got an extra guitar slot if you want to sit in on any of our sets, feel free.”
The three Nomads kicked in with the power trio set of new Beatles songs, while Tito just played softly to fill in the sound and not call attention to himself. Stevie stood back against the wall and wasn’t introduced until the third song, a popular number before they did Stevie’s two originals, which they knew would make Tony wince.
But they didn’t get the hook or unplugged because Stevie was really strong and Tony liked her immediately. During her second song, the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” the tall, thin guy who played with the Skyliters plugged in and stood in the back, but added a dynamic third guitar that blew everybody away.
The guy didn’t need a guitar pick, he played some notes with his teeth.
Tony appeared perplexed as the crowd was suddenly paying attention to a no-name new band. And at the end of the song everybody was applauding, cheering and whistling, including the bartenders and bouncers, so Tony couldn’t give them the hook as the crowd clearly liked them.
Before the Nomads’ set was over the Starliters’ guitarist unplugged and unobtrusively left the back of the stage to go over to the other stage where his band was getting ready to play.
Ending with the Ventures’ surf song, “Wipe Out,” which kept people’s attention and got the dance floor going, the Nomads ended their extended audition as Joey Dee and the Starliters began playing, “The Peppermint Twist,” across the room.
While the whole room was twisting the night away, and Tito Mambo sneaked out the door, Joe was still pumping with excitement and was smiling as he approached Mr. Marotta at the bar.
“How’d we do Mr. Mart?” Joe asked.
“Youse guys did good,” said Marotta. “You got a job, three sets a night on the back stage through next Thursday,” he said, knowing that Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels were coming on Friday to play the weekend. The Nomads were just going to fill in for a few nights, but it was a gig, and while it was too late to include them in the newspaper ads, they would have their name on the Tony Mart’s marquee – along with Joey Dee and the Starliters, The Fall Guys, Conway Twitty and Levon and the Hawks.
After his successful audition, Joe Walsh talked to Tony about some gig details and then stuck around to see Joey Dee and the Skyliters, but was attracted, as was everyone else in the house, to the tall, skinny guy with the afro in the back with the guitar.
Joe zoomed in on the guitarist’s fingers and watched for a few minutes in awe and thought how the quiet guy talked with his guitar. Joe then searched his pockets and took out the guitar pick the guy with the left-handed Fender Stratocaster had given him and looked at it as if there were something magical about it, and he kissed it.
Next Up – Episode 21 – Tony Throws a Fairwell Party for the Hawks and Conway Twitty.
