 
 
Sanford, ME native John Wright and Bostonian Wayne Ulaky had something in common; they were the only
long hairs on the Boston College campus in 1966. They were also musicians.
With two days notice, Wright learned 60 songs, ranging from originals to covers by The Kinks,
The Yardbirds, Them, and Arthur Lee's Love, for the band's debut at Salisbury Beach's Five O'Clock Club.
R & B was more popular than the Beacon St. Union's psychedelia so the club response was not exactly
overwhelming, but they learned the rock business fast as they split 100 dollars after nine sets. It was back to Boston.
Their first Boston gig took place at The Olde Brown Derby located on Boylston Street near where WBCN stands today.
The show was attended by Paul Shapiro and Peter Wolf of the Hallucinations, who enjoyed the show.
"The Hallucinations were the coolest band in Boston then. If the Beatles had shown up, we wouldn't have
been more excited," recalled entertainment lawyer Bob Rosenblatt from his New York office.
This began a friendship where both bands often played together.
Word spread quickly, and the band landed a regular slot at Where It's At, opening for acts such as
Jerry Lee Lewis, Buffalo Springfield, The Blues Project (whom Rosenblatt bought his Farfisa from), and
Jose Feliciano. The night that they were to open for Chuck Berry, Berry showed up in a taxi with an amp in one
hand and his guitar in the other The Union suddenly became his band for the evening. It was around this time
that the band caught the attention of Music Productions' Joe Casey ( Modern Lovers, Neighborhoods, Frank J. Russo).
Casey's New York connections had the band packing their distorted guitars and sunshine harmonies for the
Summer of Love. Promising shows at The Bitter End, Cafe Wha, and Steve Paul's SCENE had the underground
whispering.
The SCENE, located at W44th St. and 8th Ave. became the Union's stronghold at a very memorable time.
Stars The Who, Hendrix, Al Kooper, Laura Nyro and Brian Epstein's associate, Matt Weiss were all regulars.
Some of them often climbed on stage for some spontaneous jam sessions. Band members found themselves on
the same stage as Keith Moon, John Entwistle, Jimi Hendrix and Al Kooper and even spent
some time hanging out in the back of John Lennon's psychedelic limosine with Weiss. Things were looking up.
Will the next contestant please sign in?
On the same evening, the Beacon Street Union was scheduled to meet with MGM producer Wes Farrell and Laura Nyro
(two separate meetings) and opted to meet with Farrell. No one will ever know Nyro had to say; the band signed on
with Farrell and MGM.
Oh, about Farrell:
In 1961, Wes Farrell was a staff writer for a prominent publishing companyi Roosevelt Music, for whom he
penned "Hang on Sloopy" (The McCoys), and Come a Little Bit Closer (Jay and the Americans), among others.
By 1967, he had become an established producer who had worked with The Cowsills, Brooklyn Bridge, and
Every Mother's Son, all of which were commercial acts bordering on bubblegum. The Wes Farrell-Beacon Street
marriage was not necessarily compatible (Union leaning more towards the left) but the outcome was
guaranteed to be interesting. Off to The Record Plant, New York's hippest recording studio, we go.
As we know, the releases were delayed while MGM put together their Bosstown Sound campaign. Much to the
band's dismay came the double page, full color Billboard Ad, declaring the sound to challenge the civilized world.
They never expected it because MGM never said a word to anyone about their intentions.
The album The Eyes of the Beacon St. Union was released in March of 1968. It featured the single
South End Incident/Speed Kills. "We were almost crying when we heard the album," said Rosenblatt.
"Everything sounded great in the studio, really full. The acetate sounded great but something happened to the
mastering. The music was lost. It sounded like the band was playing in the next city."
The radio stations wouldn't touch it for one of two reasons: a) The lyrical content
(it was about a South End knifing) or b) it sounded that bad. Then came the critics.
When asked what the low point of John Lincoln Wright's experience with Beacon St. Union was, in a recent Globe Magazine
with D.C. Dennison, his answer was as follows:
"The press reaction. We got slammed pretty hard, and we were just kids. We weren't 27 or 30 year olds like a lot of band
who were lying about their ages. We were just out of high school, really, sophomores in college, trying to do something.
But two weeks didn't go by when Rolling Stone didn't put some kind of nail in the coffin of
our career. And that hurt, and it took a lot of years to get over that. "
"No one was saying anything bad about us before the album. Michael Bloomfield
once told me that he had heard that we were the best thing out of Boston, " added Rosenblatt. The wounded Union
dragged themselves back to the studio.
The Clown Died In Marvin Gardens was the Beacon St. Union's answer to Sgt Pepper. Not much unlike the Beatles
Pepper suits, they incorporated civil war confederate army jackets to their look. The cover photo was an eerie scene of
the band standing around a "dead" clown. It was shot by Joel Brodsky who had previously shot the Doors Strange Days"
cover. (The Clown was the same man who posed as the juggler of The Doors LP). The title cut was the strongest effort to date
bar the Volga Boat Song embellishment. It was a twisted tale about a trip around a Monopoly board. It was released in
November '68, just in time to make the New York Times Top 50 Albums of 1968. The Single Four Hundred and Five,
from the Eyes album b/w Blue Suede Shoes,
from the Clown album did okay in some parts of the country, and the follow up May I Light Your Cigarette b/w The
Farrell ditty Mayola" did about the same. The disillusioned and dismayed Rosenblatt split for Boston. Wright and Ulaky
quickly followed. It was over.
The remaining two pieced together an outfit called Eagle and went back to the studio with Farrell. It was released on an
MGM subsidiary. David Bieber called the album "an outgrowth of the band" in a 1973 Real Paper article.
Dick Richard Weisburg went on to become marketing director for Channel 7 in Boston.
Wayne Ulaky took interest in the amusement park business and today is the proprietor of Canobie Lake Park.
Paul Shepard Tartachny still plays today as the leader of the C & W band North Country.
Bob Rhodes Rosenblatt is an entertainment lawyer in New York. He also just worked on a motion picture in California.
John Lincoln Wright leads the Sour Mash Boys and recently celebrated his
20th anniversary in the business.
Wes Farrell went on to create The Partridge Family and is still active as a producer/songwriter today.
(c) 2016 Motherlode.TV
|
