It was the Summer of ‘65
Having a blast during the video shoot for “She Rides on the Starshine.”
Satisfaction went to Number 1 on Oklahoma City Radio stations KOMA and WKY. They played it once an hour so I could literally hear it in the air as I delivered the afternoon edition of the Oklahoma City Times to the good residents of NW 50th, 51st and 52 streets in Northwest Oklahoma City.
It was in this period that I formed my life-long aspiration to write or produce a song the whole world would hear and appreciate. I already had an upright piano in my bedroom, and I used my paper route earnings to purchase a Fender Mustang guitar and Standel amp (15" speaker with Tuxedo grill cloth).
Later that same year guitarist Warren Neal and I formed the Cobras, and I acquired a Wurlitzer piano with Magnatone 4 x 12" which blasted our rehearsal for blocks from my parents’ garage.
We frequently battled local competition Johnnie Hughes and the Fender Benders, the Noblemen, and the Jesters. When every other band was playing Gloria or Wild Thing, we played the James Bond Theme and A Taste of Honey - What fun!!
I am still trying and have not given up! Two years ago, I moved back into my house rebuilt from complete destruction of the 2017 Thomas fire. My associate Jeff Evans began coming up to the studio weekly and for the first time in more than 25 years of working together we primarily worked on my own tunes. In so doing we have formed the loosely amalgamated Zircon Skyeband.
“She Rides on the Starshine” is out now!
Zircon Skyband features a collection of musicians from our label and from our lives. Ojai/Ventura-core Mia Bortolussi on vocals, Jeff Evans as engineer supreme, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, Robert Rachelli rocks as the drummer supreme, John Brokaw plays the guitar, synth, and vocals. In addition, we have the Okie Boys Mark Galloway (if you know him you know he's great!) on guitar, Dr. Heath Jones is the best sax man you've ever heard, Fred Rucker is our tunesmith, guitarist and vocalist, James Coffey is our Okie bassist by way of Florida and Joe Hopkins adds his flavor to the mix as engineer deluxe!! We are lucky to have Nicaraguan via Stockholm, Wisconsin Amaury Hererra as our Trumpeter and Glockenspielist, Libby Bird chimes in as our lanky sweet vocalist. And to top it off we have a cameo appearance from Grammy award winning drummer Bill Maxwell. Bill and I first met in the Taft Jr High marching band and renewed our friendship after nearly 60 years!
It had been about 5 years since we last released new material but that changed when last October when we released “She Rides on the Starshine” with 4 tunes and 4 videos!
We are excited to share “She Rides on the Starshine” by the Zircon Skyeband on Spotify. Play it more than once every day and tell your friends!!