The Upside Dawne

upside dawne.jpg (216119 bytes) UpsideDawnePoster-1967.jpg (197435 bytes)

The Album (Oct 29, 1967)

12" LP - AH12367 - limited release
These are from the master tape

Seven and Seven Is.mp3 On The Outside (Lookin' In).mp3
Heatwave-Gloria.mp3 Somebody To Love.mp3
Respect.mp3 Hold On.mp3
Supremes Medley.mp3 Light My Fire.mp3
Stormy Monday.mp3 1-2-3 Shotgun.mp3
  Walk On By.mp3

The Upside Dawne recorded a track for a local Movie Studio - Centron

Tell It Like It Is V1.mp3 Tell It Like It Is V2.mp3

The EP
from the "vinyl"

 

Poor Side Of Town.mp3 Get Out My Life Woman.mp3
You Dont Know.mp3 Grovin Is Easy.mp3

 

I think I joined Larry Miller, Steve Hall and Jack Manahan for a short stint in The Illusions when I first landed in Lawrence in 1966 -- actually, I think I played gigs with them the summer prior to moving to Lawrence. I recall a venue in Herrington where we stayed at the owner's house and she brought in a bucket of "mountain oysters" for breakfast, though I could be confusing this some other place. Anyway... The Illusions quickly morphed into The Upside Dawne with Tom Burdine on bass, Steve on drums, Jack on organ and Larry Franklin on rhythm guitar, though he dropped out pretty quickly. Tom didn't make his grades and we got Paul Miller to fill the bass spot and at this point, the band really started to sound pretty dang good! I don't recall the exact sequence, but Scott Korchak we hired as a vocalist, rhythm guitarist and trumpeter... And a little later, Garth Fundis joined playing trumpet and singing. I think our best recording was one we did for a demo EP... I think we did "Poor Side of Town", "You Don't Know Like I Know", "Get Out My Life, Woman" and something else -- I can't remember what.
    - Jim Stringer
The Illusions morphed into the Upside Dawne when Mike Jordan (lead guitar) and Bob Basow (vocal, sax) in the Illusions graduated from KU.  Steve Hall (drums) knew Jim Stringer (lead guitar), who knew Larry Franklin (rhythm guiter) and, I think, Tom Burdine (bass), so that's how they came to join the group. Garth Fundis and Paul Miller had played together in another band. Although I was only an adequate organist (I handled the booking though!), a lot of really outstanding musicians came through the Upside Dawne! We travelled the Midwest most every weekend, and found week-long work in Colorado occasionally during the summer. We had some pretty interesting times travelling; Steve and Jim will remember the car fire on the way to Chillicothe, I'm sure. Later we got a 48-passenger school bus, painted it green, and outfitted it with old airplane recliner seats and a couple of bunk beds for the band. It wasn't really designed to go 80 miles an hour, but nobody argues with an 8-ton vehicle going that speed! While some of my friends in college had part time jobs at fast food restaurants, we were travelling, having fun, and getting paid for it. I think I definitely got the better deal!

When Jim Stringer and Steve Hall left to form Tide (1968, I believe), the Upside Dawne expanded into a 7-piece group that I thought would have been the best version of the group if we'd been able to stay together longer. That group included Scott Korchak, Garth Fundis and Dana Elniff on horns and vocals, and several musicians from another group whose name I can't recall. There's a demo recording of that group around somewhere, but it's been lost to posterity. The group disbanded in the spring of 1969 when I graduated from KU. I moved to KC, where I joined the Blues Garden and partnered briefly with Mike Waggoner in the music and concert promotion business. Mike and I promoted several KC-area concerts, including the infamous 1969 Led Zeppelin concert at KCK Memorial Hall.

New Sound Projections: Steve Hall and I started the booking agency in our college fraternity room initially to get jobs for the Upside Dawne.  The business phone rang in our fraternity room, and later in the basement of my folks' house! We sent promotional material to high schools and other organizations in the Midwest to get jobs for the Upside Dawne and other groups we found.

- Jack Manahan

 

 

 

Up The Heard The Runabouts The Group The Mirage The Illusions The Golden Pharos The Commancheros The Argons The Jerms The Morning Dew The Chosen Ones The Renegades The Upside Dawne SMACK Spider And The Crabs The Red Dogs BLT Skeptics Tide Burlington Express Delta EricAndTheNorsemen BG & The Bunch The Young Raiders The Bluethings