Monday, December 03, 2012

The Lost Morning Reign Tapes: "A Little Bit of Your Love"




When we of The Morning Reign moved our operation to Seattle in 1969, our goal was to play more gigs. Cac and Shad had both graduated from Willamette University, and Gene and I had both decided that college was not for us. Because Geno and I were more like Rock Star Lead Singer and Guitar Hero, respectively. We dint need no edge yew kay shun.

Larry and Steven had joined the band, about a day before we left for Seattle. Though awesome musicians, both of them were younger than the rest of us, still living at home, and uprooting from their bedrooms in their parent’s homes was more of an ordeal than say, it was for me, married with a child. Man we were pumped that the both of them had agreed to come with us. 

Steve, Larry, and Gene, along with his wife Kathy (Kathy gets a mention in this song) moved into a house on 1st Avenue in Burien, a few miles from downtown Seattle, and that’s where we practiced, in a daylight basement attached to a garage. Cac lived in Burien with his wife, and Doug lived with Donna and I and our baby Stacey, in White Center. All in all, it was a pretty good arrangement. We would all meet everyday at the band house, in Burien, where all the equipment was, practice, choose new songs to learn, wash the truck, and write songs.  

And we loved to go downtown to visit our booking agent, pick up contracts, and schmooze. At the time we were being represented by General Entertainment Corporation, who had set up shop in a beautifully remodeled old Seattle brick building, one of the first old Seattle downtown buildings to get a complete makeover. It felt like we were in good hands, when we would walk by the refurbished old Seattle brick walls on our way up the stairs to that second floor office, and then, the world’s most charming young booking agent, the handsome and ultra cool John Bauer would meet us, and give us our assignment for the next few weeks. Being in Seattle, just minutes from our agent’s office, helped us get more jobs. We were playing 3 to five nights a week, and even some daytime jobs. Not getting rich, but definitely surviving.

This song comes from that period. I like this song because it was a latter day collaborative piece for Geno and I, it’s hooky, and you can pretty much hear that we had become, after the addition of Lare and Steven, musically solid. Steven’s excellent drumming and timekeeping, and Larry’s stellar keys are very apparent. And I don’t want to miss mentioning Doug. Listening back to these old Reign songs, from this recording session especially, makes me feel like Doug may have been a teensy bit under appreciated by us Reignsters. Because the bass parts are rock solid and creative. And I am certain, that when we played this one live, in front of Doug’s drivin’ bass, we were dancin'.

 To hear "A Little Bit of your Love" click here





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Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Lost Morning Reign Tapes: "Feelin’ All The Things"


Cac, Larry, Steven, of The Morning Reign, 1969


Erg. My achin’ back. Working part time as I do, as a handyman, at 64, can tend to get a guy into trouble. OK Checklist: Hang miniblinds, Check. Modify strike plates on doors so they close properly. Check. Add trim around kitchen door. Check. Climb into 2’ high attic space and crawl to other side of house to see why vent is leaking. Uh, could we get a younger handyman for that one madame?

Going through these old tunes from Morning Reign days has been really fun, and even enlightening. For me, hearing the lyrics I was writing at that time can be, of course, stunningly embarrassing, but also, I kinda like that boy there with the pen and the napkin, risking ridicule, scribbling down something about losing a friend in Viet Nam, or professing his love for his child, or imagining what it will be like to be old..........huh?!....imagining what it will be like to be old? 

I guess one is never too young to start thinking about aging, but when one is young, it’s probably not a topic one dwells on, as one skips down several flights of stairs or drinks a pint of whisky. But apparently, it caught in my craw long enough for me to lay down some words on the subject, at 21, and dammit t’hell, I pretty much got it right. And then, just because they are nominated by me for sainthood, and because I am an annoying force, my Morning Reign compatriots actually learned the song, and we ended up recording the thing at Gary Nieland’s studio in Salem Oregon, in late 1969. S’cuse me a moment. I gotta go take some Aleve.

 To hear "Feelin' All The Things", click here


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Monday, November 26, 2012

The Closet




In 1971 I left my old band The Morning Reign, to settle down and get a real job, as I have previously detailed in my blog entry titled “The Institute of Sanitation Technology”. And for a year or so I worked as a janitor, for a larger janitorial company, in Bellevue, Kirkland, and Seattle Washington. It was actually kind of interesting. Not a bad job at all. 

I worked at several different places over that time, on the night shift, and the place I worked the longest was at General Telephone in Kirkland, right downtown at the bay inlet. And just a block away from one of my all time fave restaurants, Le Provencal. At night, when I worked, it was quiet, save for the seven or eight guys who worked overnight cleaning and troubleshooting the frames full of wires on four or five floors. I got to know all these guys quite well, play cards with them, and even the building exec, who I spoke with frequently when cleaning his office, became a friend. When I told him I was leaving, to become a baker’s apprentice, he offered me a job with the phone company! 

The guys who "worked the frames", as they put it, were a bunch of cray crays, a few years older than I, and we all got along great. They worked hard, but they also took long breaks, you know, when you work the night shift, nobody is looking. 

Among my jobs at the building was to sometimes restock the “Office Supplies” closet where multiple supplies were kept, reams of paper, paper clippy stuff, but also, all that stuff that is sometimes needed in an office, well, needed at General Telephone in Kirkland, 1971, anyway. I mean stuff like boxes of cough drops, individual packets of lots of different kinds of pills, Eccedrin, aspirin, Midol, and packets of tea, coffee, that kinda stuff an office worker might need. 

Now, it took me about a month to realize that the supplies in the closet were being depleted at, well, what I thought was an awfully high rate of usage. Like, for example, one night, I would go to replenish the closet, and all the coffee packets would be gone, a few dozen of them, and then, next day, only a couple missing. Or say, all of a sudden, a full box of those Eccedrin packets would be gone. Well maybe I’m not a genius but it wouldn’t take much brain power to figure out that many of these supplies were being carted off in droves by employees. Which kind of put me in a weird position. I was quite young, I didn’t really know what to do about it. So I did nothing. I just kept replenishing what went missing. It was basically an honor system, and it was not working. Well, it was working for somebody. Or several somebodies. 

So since this whole closet thing has been occasionally popping into my mind over the years, especially when a 20 would go missing from the till in my bakery, or bakery supplies, a song came down about a year ago, and I have just finished recording it, with the able assistance of Tim Ellis and JP Garau. You might notice a teensy bit of sarcasm in my voice. I hope you enjoy my paean to pilfering, "The Closet".

 To hear "The Closet" click here

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

She's an Angel on Paper



I don’t even know where to begin to describe how much I love my family. First, there's my wife Marie, the light of my life, my sweetheart, my best friend, and man, this gal knows how to make a guy laugh. Marie’s knowledge of and use of the English language never ceases to tickle me. Marie is monster smart. But you probably knew that. 

My step-son Blaine lives with us. No surprise that Blaine is the brightest of bulbs, and given his disability, and how he deals with it, he's basically my hero. Plus he can talk sports way over my head, so I am required to remain humble when I start pontificatin’ about any sports thing I think I know something about. Blaine and I spend quite a bit of time together. We’re buddies.

My eldest daughter Stacey, who lives in Washington, has a great husband named Tim and 4 of the most amazing children ever. It has been such an honor to watch Stacey raise these great kids, Joseph, Colin, Owen, (or has it been permanently changed to “O-Dog”), and Caitlyn. Where’s the Kleenex?

My youngest daughter Amy also lives in Washington, with her husband Gary, and has two kids, Caledonia and Ellery. They’re great parents too.

Ok so maybe I never achieved rock stardom. Or have a luxury yacht sitting on the Columbia. But I do have one awesome family, and on this Thanksgiving Day, 2013, I am so very thankful. 

And not to speak for Marie, but I know she’s thankful too, for Blaine and I, and for my daughters, and for these 6 wonderful grandchildren that I brought along with me as part of my dowry! Just this past week, we have been having regular texting with our 10 year old precious Caledonia, who has a funny streak of her own! You cannot imagine how much it pleases me to know that Marie and Calla are carrying on an animated texting session. Especially when Marie blergs out a huge laugh and keeps going till she has to wipe her eyes.

And speaking of Calla, the drawing of an angel you see above is from her hand, and was given to Marie last summer at grandson Joseph’s high school graduation party which we attended at Gramma Donna’s house. After we came home, that angel on paper sat in our foyer for a few days before It struck me that there was a song in my heart, inspired by that drawing. Thanks Calla!!

 To hear "An Angel on Paper" click here

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Lost Morning Reign Tapes: Hallelujah Baby!!!




There was a short period of time, from mid 1969 to early 1970, when the Reign line-up included both Larry Sieber on keys and Howard Holland on drums. We were still all living in Salem, Oregon, and waiting for Doug to graduate from Willamette so we could hit the road like a real hippie rock band. At the time we were being represented by General Entertainment Corp, which was based in Seattle, and we were counting the days until we could move up there, so that, as Cac used to say, we could “babysit our booking agent”. 

During this time we had been making occasional trips to Los Angeles to record, and were being coached by our benefactors there, Mark Wildey and Joey Paige. Mark and Joe had been sending us some songs they had found at publishing houses for our consideration, and had set up a recording date at Capitol Records. You might say, in a word or two, we were fucking pumped.

Among the songs we recorded at Capitol was a ditty I had found on the flip side of 45 rpm hit by a group called The Neon Philharmonic. The hit was titled, “Morning Girl”, a really pretty song which was brilliantly orchestrated with strings. But the flip side, “Hallelujah Baby!, which I fell in love with, was more soulful and not as poppy as “Morning Girl”. I talked the guys into learning the song, and we layed it down at Capitol. 

Capitol Records, 1969
Egads, 6 semi-hippie college kids unloading our gear into Capitol Records. “S’cuse me, Geno”, I might have been heard to say, “ Have you seen my shades”?. We gathered with our producer in Studio B, a big recording room, and set up. On that day, Mel Torme, oops I mean “The Velvet Fog”, was recording in Studio A. As the day went on, I stepped into the hallway a couple times, and when the door to Studio A would open, I could hear the monitors blasting out the sound of Mel’s voice. Mel Torme, people. The guy who wrote “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”. The number two played Christmas song in history,  only bested by White Christmas. 

During the recording of Hallelujah Baby!, the guys were having a bit of trouble with the tempo, speeding the thing up a little too much, and of course for this issue, we always blame the drummer. It was probably more like a combination of factors that were contributing to the tempo problem, maybe even me, as I stood by Howard, chewing my gum at record chews per minute. I mean since I was recording in Capitol Records and I was 21 and within earshot of Mel Torme and pretty much a nervous wreck.

At one point, the production team stopped the band from playing yet again. “Ok boys lets go for take 25”.......and that’s when Cac said, “no Grammy for that last take then I guess”..... and that’s when Mark Wildey opened up the mic in the booth and said, “No fellas, there’s only one person around here with a Grammy”.......so it turns out that, the guy who was engineering the session, whose hand I probably shook, and whose name I do not know, apparently had received a Grammy for being the engineer on the song, “Wichita Lineman”, by Glen Campbell. 

So maybe we never did get the tempo quite right, I mean after we found out there was a Grammy winner in the booth working the tape machine. But it is one of the lost songs, and I am on a tear to put these tunes online. So here it is......one more lost song uploaded!! Hallelujah Baby!!

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Sunday, November 11, 2012

The Lost Morning Reign Tapes: Midnight Approaches

Top left: Larry, Geno, Steven
Bottom left: Cac, Doug, Ric
The Morning Reign, 1970


As I go through the recently uncovered Morning Reign recordings, I am struck by several things, as I sit with my headphones on, tapping my foot. The first thing I discover, just by listening, is who is playing on the songs. I can tell, for example, which of our drummers, by the drumming style, plays on the recording. Also, I am informed by the style of the music, since, even though we were only together for six years, we went through several phases of development, in our playing style, and also in the style of the original material.

First, there was the folk rock stage, when we wrote and recorded some original Seaberg/Heliker songs while we were still students at Willamette, and I myself could still hold court with a stellar version of "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" or Tom Paxton's "Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound", if left to my own devices. Then there was the Sunshine Pop Era, which was partly inspired by the times, I think, but also by our work with Dennis Lambert, who had offered us his song "Can I Believe in You", which had sunshine pop written all over it. But we were becoming a pack of road weary Jon Fogerty lovin' rockers around that period of time, and before ya knew it, we were crankin' out originals in our Seattle basement studio dissin' on the Viet Nam war. The song I post here today, "Midnight Approaches", came through during that period.

Doug and I, and Donna and Stacey were living in a flat in White Center, on Delridge Way, in Seattle, which, at the time, was affectionately referred to by locals as rat city. I painted the entire foyer of that apartment flat black, much to the chagrin of our landlord, Ling Quan, who owned a small grocery a couple doors down. That apartment and building was demolished many years ago, and that area has been reborn, with lots of new construction and businesses.

Larry, Steve, and Gene were living in Burien, not far from us, where we rehearsed, and Cac had an apartment in Renton with his wife Cheryl. Leroy was our roadie, and his Dalmation "Roach" was our mascot. Imagine that. A dog named after an insect.

We were all 20 somethings. And a 20 something, in 1969, wrote the words to this song, so remember that, and just try to not listen to the words. This song was fun to play. It has a smoothness to it that just felt right. This line up of musicians and the way we played together is vintage Morning Reign. It's also some pretty nasty pre-grunge Seattle shit.

To hear "Midnight Approaches" click here

My story in annoying detail:
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Friday, November 02, 2012

The Lost Morning Reign Tapes: Anyway That You Want Me


The journey of The Morning Reign, 1966-72, was peppered throughout with lots of travel, whether we were playing gigs in Crescent City or Aspen, and we also made a gaggle of trips to LA to record, or once, to film a TV appearance. During this time we used several vehicles, but in 1969 we purchased, with our hard earned lira, a brand new Ford Chassis Cab truck, from a Ford dealership in Salem, which we outfitted with a 12 foot long cargo box, and divided it in half, the rear for the equipment, (man we could stuff that area), and the front half for two double bunk beds, where we could actually sleep during our overnight drives to some God forsaken coastal burg. Cac and Doug did almost all the driving, which was such a blessing, since they could get us from point A to point B responsibly and, well, alive. But Doug liked to joke that, during those times when he would fall asleep, it was no problem, cuz he always woke up when he hit the little alarm bumps on the sides of the roads. Instilling such confidence in a young father. Here are a couple photos of the aforementioned truck, our pride and joy. I sat in that passenger seat many a time, keeping Shad awake.




Great Falls, Montana
In 1968 The Reign traveled to LA to do some recording, and we stayed at the home of Cac's folks, in South Pasadena, which was very comfortable for us all. We drove the truck down, and proceeded to fill our days and nights with clothes shopping, recording, and playing gigs at night. Ah the energy of youth!

We played three gigs on that trip. The first day we backed up a fantastic band from LA, Thee Midniters, at some sort of teen dance. We were all familiar with Thee Midniters big instrumental hit, "Whittier Boulevard", and were anxious to meet them and see them play. They waltzed into the venue carrying some of the smallest amps I had ever seen, and then proceeded to blow our minds with their big sound. I mean since we pretty much aspired to a humongus Blue Cheerish wall of amps on our back line. "Let's take a trip down Whittier Boulevard!!!!", they all shouted as they launched into their famous record. And that's when my chin hit the floor. It was a lesson we probably all needed to learn.

The second gig we played was at a high school, with five or six other acts, some kind of daytime gig. We were one of the featured acts, and played right before The Box Tops, whose hit, "The Letter" was on everyone's lips. Our set went well, with throngs of boppers groovin' to the Reign. It was fun. When our set was over, the Box Tops took the stage and began with their second hit, "Cry Like a Baby", which starts with a drum riff. But the drummer made a mistake, and the beginning of the set was sloppy. The band continued, and finished their set. I was still standing back stage when their set was over. Alex Chilton, the Box Tops lead singer, who passed away in 2010, flew into an absolute rage, calling out the drummer for his error in the first few seconds of their set, actually standing him up against a wall. I was like, Jesus, chill.

Our third gig that trip was kind of a surprise, because when we got to the venue, we found that we were playing a prom for Casey Kasem, whose daughter had asked him to book a band for her prom. He had dragged his feet and found that no decent bands in LA were available. But he had called around and found out that we were in town, and we took the gig at the last minute. Of course, even though this was in the early days of Casey's radio fame, we were thrilled to get to meet him and play for him. He stayed through the whole show, hanging out in the dressing room, and when it was over, took us aside for some kind words and advice. "You know, the last time I told anyone to record a song, I told Cannibal and The Headhunters to record "Land of a Thousand Dances", Casey said. "But you guys, you've got yourselves a hit there with that song, 'Anyway That You Want Me'. You have to record that!!" Coming from Casey, we thought we just might heed his advice.

"Anyway That You Want Me", was written by Chip Taylor, (actor Jon Voight's brother), who had considerable songwriting success, particularly with the classic "Wild Thing". We had first heard it when an English group, "The Liverpool Five" who had a minor hit with it, was touring the Northwest, and we played on the same show. So we ripped it off. But Gene had come up with a killer guitar figure to play in the vamp, and he sang it beautifully, which I think was probably the charm of our version. So we went with Kaseys advice, put the thing down on tape, and released it as soon as possible. It got a lot of airtime in The Northwest, and was probably our most popular self produced song. Here's Gene, in 1969, croonin', meltin' hearts. And here is the formerly lost recording of "Anyway That You Want Me".

























My story in annoying detail:

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Thursday, November 01, 2012

The Morning Reign Chronicles: Music From Big Beige




In 1968, The Morning Reign was going through some changes. Our fearless leader, Craig “Cac” Chastain had graduated from Willamette University. He was now free to spend more time on booking the band and doin’ all that leader stuff. Our bass player Doug “Shad” Heatherington was in his senior year, and we were pretty much waiting for him to finish so we could leave town more often or as they say in 2012 band parlance, “tour”. Gene was still living on campus. Bob Baker, soon to be replaced by keyboardist Larry Sieber, was considering leaving college at OCE in Monmouth and joining the military. Howard Holland, our drummer, was also living at his folk’s house. I had married, and Donna and I were the proud parents of our beautiful and most amazing baby daughter, Stacey Renae Seaberg. 

Shad, Cac, and I, (and Donna and Stacey!) needed a place to live in Salem where we could live and also where the band could rehearse. On the outskirts of Salem, on the edges of farm country, we found ourselves a large house with a detached garage that we thought would work. The house was huge, an old Salem farmhouse, which still had a huge garden area, at least the size of a full lot. So that’s where we headquartered for a year or so until we all moved to Seattle. 

We fixed up the garage and hung crappy old musty carpets on the walls, some posters, and cranked up the incense. During this time we were experimenting more and more with original material, and also putting our own stamp on other songs we had not written. Almost every day, the other guys would come over, and we would hit the practice room for a few hours. It was a bit cramped in there but we made it work. And we could play as loud as we liked!

Salem, Oregon, 1968. Living in a large older rural home with my buddies and wife and daughter. And getting loaded a lot. As I recall, my share of rent for three of us was $35 a month. Dems was da days.

Once, just before we left for about a four week tour, probably to the grasslands of eastern Oregon and beyond, I tossed a baggie full of marijuana seeds into the garden area at the side of the house. Our landlord, Elizabeth Akulaw, a lovely older Russian lady, who lived adjacent to us, was still cultivating the land and growing vegetables, so the soil was fertile and full of nutrients. Lo and behold, when we returned from our trip, we found a stand of about 25 pot plants, about 5’ high, within picking distance of the kitchen door. Hmmm, thought I, better get these guys outa here. 
Cac, Shad, Howard, Bob, Geno, Ric
Thanks to Craig and KathyAnn Chastain for the photos!!









Not long after that caper, Larry joined the band, and we headed for Seattle. But I recall the days at Big Beige with such fondness. As you can see from these photos, it was a grand place to live, and was a happy time for us all. 







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Monday, October 29, 2012

The Lost Morning Reign Tapes: "The Lights of Louisville"

Mark Wildey, Charlie Underwood, and Joey Paige, Nashville West Studios, 1968

Sometime in 1968 my old rock band, The Morning Reign, was invited to Los Angeles to record a few songs at Nashville West Studios, by our benefactors and producers Mark Wildey and Joey Paige. That’s them above, standing with Nashville West owner and recording engineer Charlie Underwood, who had come to LA from the south where he had been recording engineer at Sun Records, during the very early years of rock and roll. Charlie was a modest fellow, but his list of achievements in the recording industry were many as engineer, producer and even songwriter. I have always found it a fun fact that he engineered the classic “Monster Mash”. In his studio in LA, where The Reign recorded, he had recently engineered hits for Bill Cosby, Brenton Wood, and The Iron Butterfly. His gold record for The Butterfly’s “In-A -Gadda-Da Vita” (I call it In-A Gadda-Da-Vita-Meata-Vegamin), stood proudly on the wall above my head as I sat waiting for results in the control room.

Englishman Mark Wildey had been successful in the recording industry due to his producing efforts, including co-producing the Kingsmen’s “Up and Away" album and also producing The People, whose “I Love You” had been a smash. Joey Paige had partnered up with Mark for some projects, including The Reign. Joey was a successful performer and recording artist who had played bass for years with The Everly Brothers, and was known as “The Third Everly Brother”, due to his integral part in the Everly’s band. We are still in touch with Joey, who has posted here and on The Morning Reign Facebook pages. We all love Joe.

 On this short trip to LA, we found our way to The Whiskey-A-Go-Go one night, to support Mark's other project at the time, "The People". The People had two drummers, which was kind of amazing to us, and as their finale, played a loud and long rock version of The William Tell Overture, or The Lone Ranger Theme, as it is commonly known, which was absolutely fantastic. Not much of a dance tune though.

 During the band's break, I found my way to the sidewalk for a breather, and as I stood waiting on the corner I found myself standing shoulder to shoulder with Eric Burdon of The Animals. At that moment I think I may have uttered OMG! in my brain, many years before OMG! was invented. And then, all flustered, I totally forgot to tell him that in my junior year of high school, I rode my bike way down Hawthorne where my girlfriend Sandy Stone was babysitting, and she and I had completely worn out a 45 of "House of the Risin' Sun".

The band line up on that trip included Bob Baker, Howard Holland, Craig Chastain, Gene Heliker, Doug Heatherington, and me. We recorded several songs including “Wait ‘til You See”, “Just A Friend”, and Say It Once Again”, which were originals,  "The Deafening Roar of Silence", and “The Lights of Louisville”, which I believe was written by Gene Clark of The Byrds, though I have never been able to confirm this. Another song they had asked us to consider recording, but which we refused, was a ditty titled "Little Doggy Heaven", and which, unfortunately, I could still sing to you. These songs were found at publishers and given to us to learn by Mark and Joey. On "Lights of Louisville", they had me try several vocal interpretations after the rest of the boys had laid down the instrument tracks.. It was a fantastic time for a bunch of guys with music in their hearts and stars in their eyes.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

The Morning Reign Reunite!!




It was a crisp and cool Fall morning in the Pacific Northwest in 1966 when Willamette University upperclassman Craig “Cac” Chastain spied frosh folk singers Ric Seaberg and Gene Heliker, sitting on a length of concrete stairs by the ivy covered brick facade of Old Waller Hall on the Willamette campus. Looking to be in the neighborhood of 12 or 13 years of age, Ric and Gene, who had met at a Willamette incoming freshman camp retreat weeks earlier, sat strumming their accoustic guitars, already tinkering with what would become their first original composition. 

Cac, a guitarist himself, approached with great interest, and within minutes the three were chatting about forming a rock band to play frat gigs and school dances. Craig and his friend Doug Heatherington, a bassist, had both been involved in campus rock bands at Willamette. Classically trained Craig had sung lead and laid down his guitar chops in the popular “Bootleggers”, and Doug with the less famous but equally talented “Stoics”. Both young men were members of campus fraternity Delta Tau Delta.

As the days and weeks passed during that first semester at the university for Ric and Gene, studies would admittedly take a back seat to their love of music. And for the next six years, Cac, Gene, Doug, and Ric, along with several other local musicians who provided their talents along the way, Steve Tate, Larry Sieber, Bob Baker, Howard Holland, and others, took their band to every venue and nook and cranny where a rockin’ band was required, from LA to BC, from Pochatello to Long Beach. 

Now, forty years later, the Morning Reign has recently reunited and performed live, Saturday, October 20, 2012. Here’s the video. Drummer, videographer, and longtime friend of NW rock Chuck Stenberg shot this 30 minute piece of film. Thanks Chuck!

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Sunday, October 07, 2012

What The Hell Is a Morning Reign?.......

Top Row, Doug "Shad" Heatherington, Bob Baker, Craig "Cac" Chastain, Ric Seaberg
Bottom Row, Gene "Geno" Heliker, Steven "Little Stevie" Tate
What the hell is a morning reign?.....is a question I may have asked myself, back in the day, when those guys up there, including me, were plying our trade as a Northwest Frickin’ Rockin’ Machine from 1966 to 1972. None of us has really been able to pinpoint how we ended up choosing “Morning Reign” as our moniker, maybe it was Cac, who would’ve calmed us down with all the names we were throwing around, and picked one, dammit! I do remember that among the names on our list were The Yellow Brick Road and Peanuts and The Warm Puppies, which of course I favored, since I would’ve been Peanuts. This is the absolute truth people, my memory is golden. I mean for an old coot.
If you google Morning Reign, besides a few entries for The Real Morning Reign, that’s us, and some other entries for The Pretend Mourning Reign, with a “u”, an outfit out of California who coincidentally were attempting to rock about the same time we were, you will find several other entries where “morning reign” is used to describe, well, a reign that happens in the morning, like say, a morning DJ team has left the airwaves, and their “morning reign’ has come to an end. 
When my Morning Reign days were over, I sought out a baker’s apprenticeship in Seattle, and within 4 years, opened up my own bakery in Oregon, which became my tiring livelihood for the next 20 years. Those hours that bakers like me keep, sheesh, up at 2 or 3, and then start crankin’ out the danish and other sweets so that by 7am, when the doors open, your showcases are sparkling with all those goodies, eclairs, doughnuts, napoleons, pies and cakes. I would sometimes stand like a fly on the wall, watching customers ooooh and ahhhhhh, at 7, which was basically past my lunchtime, King of the Bakery, all duck lippy and feeling like I’d accomplished something great. Kind of like my own personal morning reign. So that’s weird. 

Yesterday, Sunday, October 7, 2012, we all traveled to the home of Steven Tate, our illustrious drummer, our Baron of the Backbeat, The Sultan of Sticks, The Maestro of the Metronome, and general all around great guy, to finally get him worked into the 40 minute set we will be doing at The Salem Armory on October 20th. Of course we had a great time just hanging with Steven, and then adding his musical touch to the band is another thing, because when you have a drummer as good as Steve, it is a bit of magic. 

We all met at a rehearsal hall in Bellingham, Washington, and then Steven’s sweetheart Debbie was kind enough to prepare a delightful array of foods for us hungry hardworkin’ rockers.

So that’s The Morning Reign up there, in the Morning Reign 8x10 glossy 2012, the six once slim and sexy heart throbs, who have now thrown down their damn canes, and picked up their damn axes, and who will soon rock ya’ll like your backbone ain’t home. Something like that. 

But one thing is for certain. With Steven drivin’ the bus, we WILL be rockin’ da house.


Thinking of you and missing you Larry Sieber!!

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Thursday, October 04, 2012

The Morning Reign Chronicles Continued



Here are The Real Brains behind The Morning Reign, Craig (Cac) Chastain, and Doug (The Shadow) Heatherington, shown here at yesterday’s rehearsal for our impending October 20th performance. Shad and Cac are both ultra quick studies, having been musically inclined since both their mothers admonished them at age 1 1/2 to quit pounding out a back beat on their high chairs. Oh and perhaps it should be noted that both these cats graduated from Willamette University, where we all met in 1966. I didn’t last at Willamette, since, well, as soon as Shad graduated (he’s a year younger than Cac), we hit the road to play dates from Aspen to LA, and golly, Ms. Udris’ 3rd year Russian class was just not on the agenda for me. I mean since I was the complete rock star wannabe. My higher education over the next few years included smoking copious amounts of old school weed and riding in the back of a chassis cab flat bed truck with a 12 foot long box on it. Ah the pleasures of the road.

When we first got together, we practiced our three chord songs on the Willamette campus, wherever anyone would have us, in the basement of Delta Tau Delta, or the ivy covered and amazing Waller Hall at Willamette, (shown here, built in 1864) kickin' out garagey if not passionate versions of Gloria and Sweets For My Sweet, Mustang Sally, Louie Louie, (we in the 1966 Morning Reign just called it “Louis”), and other C-F-G rockin’ ditties. At one point, when we had overstayed our amplified welcome at yet another room, we landed in the daylight basement of Cac’s very kind and yet perhaps deluded accounting professor. That lengthy and ball bustin’ scream I used to lay down right before the guitar solo in Foxy Lady was, I’m sure, a favorite throughout that little south Salem bedroom community. 

So now, after 40 years, we are again practicing to attempt an 8 song set at The Salem Armory on October 20, where an hour of Chuck Stenberg’s engaging film about early NW rock will be shown, right before we take the stage. We are having a blast, and the tunes are starting to come together, owing, partly, to those really smart and studious guys above. More cowbell!!

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Practice Practice Practice

The Reign from left, Gene (Geno) Heliker, Bob Baker, Howard Holland, Me (sitting), Doug (Shad) heatherington, Craig (Cac) Chastain

Ok So We of The Reign have held two practice sessions since deciding to throw our fate to the wind and play this October 20 gig and the results are in. We still fucking rock. Sure, we might be 40 pounds heavier and wear bifocals to see the chord charts on the music stands before us, which most of us sit at in a comfortable chair, wearing sensible shoes. But the heart of a rocker still beats strong in each of us.

The highlight of our second session, which was held last evening, was that one of our former drummers,  Howard Holland, who will likely not perform at the gig, was kind enough to drive up to Portland from Salem to help us out, give us a solid back beat while we rehearse. Howard is one awesome cat. Howard, (pictured above), was with us during the time we recorded at Capitol Records, and is just an excellent rock drummer. Heavy handed as hell, like Keith Moon. And just about as wild as Keith Moon too. Howard has made his mark with a popular and interesting Auto Body business, Howard's Backyard Auto Body and Videos.

Sitting there with these dudes, working out the tunes, the dynamic is just exactly what it used to be. Musically, we take a lot of direction from Geno, cuz he is our brilliant and handsome musical guru. Then we just do the tunes, over and over, till it starts to sound like something. Looking over at each of my buddy's familiar faces, as I sing and bang on my cowbell, though many years older and all wrinkled up and shit, is completely awesome. Talk about de jevu all over again!

We have been enjoying picking tunes to rehearse that we might actually be able to shape into a listenable experience for our future audience. Cac provided the following list which was the repertoire from our last gig together at John John's in Seattle, 1970. Some of them are in code, but you get the idea.


HOUR 1
Lodi
Workin on a Groovy Thing
Here’s A Ride
Have Mercy Baby
Street
Fly Away
Born on the Bayou
He Ain’t Heavy
Evil Ways
HOUR 2
Wilson Picket medley
You Got Me Hummin’
Hard to Handle
Higher
Easy to be hard
CTA
Proud Mary
Can you dance to it
Something
Nobody
HOUR 3
Soul Shake
Domino
Wrap It up
Cold Sweat
Anyway that you want me
Green River
Mustang Sally
Can’t turn it loose
HOUR 4
Higher
Hold On I’m Comin/Knock on Wood
God Bless the Child
My Baby Specializes
Limousine Driver
Freedom Blues
Just Like a woman
Gimme some lovin’
TNUC
So we have been using old lists and other stuff to come up with the tunes we are rehearsing. But it's still a secret which songs we are gonna do at the gig. Stay tuned.
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