Imogene (Gene) Bloomfield

 I first ran across the name Gene Bloomfield on the 1983 Ace Ball album, Ace Ball Sings Gene Bloomfield And Some Of His Own. You can read all about Ace's Pueblo years here.

 Not much is known about Imogene Eleanor Bloomfield.  Found out she was born in 1914, and the 1940 census shows she lived in Illinois with her husband, Leo (who passed away in 1972).

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, in 1949 she penned "Forever and a Day" with song-a-minute guy David Hall of Nordyke Publishing, the big song poem racket out of Los Angeles.

Somewhere along the way the Bloomfields made it to Pueblo, where she continued to write songs, eventually partnering with Ball.  At the age of 71 she recorded what is believed to be her only solo record, the endearing "My Letter of Prayer." Found this demo via my buddy Joel Scherzer.

 Listen to a sample of "My Letter of Prayer"

She left this world in 1992 and is buried, next to Leo, at the Imperial Cemetery, off the Beulah Highway. 

Dave Krane - Life is a Wonderful Thing

Listen to a sample

Found this on Ebay. Was a no-brainer to add this private custom 78rpm to the collection.

Kinney Recording Service disc. Found a few other pieces from the same outfit, including a 45 from Denver East High, and this red vinyl release from the Sterling ISD (Elementary, Junior, and High School concert). A Google map search of 766 Marion Street, as noted on the label, finds a four bedroom near Cheesman Park. Records from the 1940s show Harold and Margaret Wunderwald lived there.  What their affiliation is (or isn't) to the Kinney Recording Service is anyone's guess.

As for Dave Krane? No clue. Can't find a thing on this guy. I look to the readers for help solving this mystery.

So live it, and love it....

Monty Baker and the Trolls, in pictures.

(NOTE: Pictures are watermarked)

The Trolls

Doug Rymerson, Fred Brescher, Monty Baker, 

Phil Head, and Richard Gonzales

Pueblo, Colorado

September, 1965

As I mentioned in the last post, Monty Baker and his family gave his collection of Trolls, New World Blues Dictionary, and Jade memorabilia to me, to keep his memory alive. I truly didn't know where to start, as I have been entrusted with pictures, videos, and reel-to-reels of never-before-seen pieces of Southern Colorado music history. The gift is truly overwhelming.

Unfortunately when I met with Monty, shortly before he passed away, he couldn't recollect much about these images.  He remembered that they were shot in and around Pueblo, in the summer and fall 1965, but that's it.

Monty thought the first picture might have been taken at a school dance. The Trolls were regulars at the Pueblo nightclubs The Honeybucket, The Columbine, and Jerry's. He thought the other two pictures originated from one of those locales.

 Monty Baker, Fred Brescher, Phil Head, 

Richard Gonzales, and Doug Rymerson

Photos above were taken during a photo shoot for a gig poster (below).

As noted in the 2011 profile piece, Monty recollected the photo shoot for the band's one and only picture sleeve for "I Don't Recall"/ "Stupid Girl":

“Freddie wasn’t in the picture. Two nights before we took that shot, he touched his amp with one hand, while he played the organ with the other, resulting in a violent jerk of his arms, collapsing his lungs, and he ended up in the hospital."

Alternative picture sleeve photo for "I Don't Recall" / "Stupid Girl."

The above photo was deemed "too serious" for the picture sleeve, so the group (minus Fred) headed over to Mineral Palace Park, for a more lighthearted shoot.

"Our manager, Tony Spicola took that picture (of the sleeve)," Baker said, in 2011. "He wanted us eating ice cream. When he took the shot, Phil’s ice cream came out of his cone.”

Below is an "after the fall" shot (note ice cream residue on table and both Richard's and Doug's ice cream has been consumed).

My sincerest thanks to Monty and his family. Stay tuned to the blog for more posts from the Monty Baker archives.

Monty Baker (1944-2014)

It is with great sadness that I report that Monty Baker, the bassist for the Minnesota-based band The Radiants, and the Pueblo-based bands The Trolls and Jade, along with the Colorado Springs-based New World Blues Dictionary, passed away on Nov. 19, 2014, after a long illness.

I had regularly kept in touch with Monty over the past few years, documenting his time in these bands for a 2011 story. He was immensely supportive of this blog, and the effort to call attention to the history and wealth of music which came out of Southern Colorado.

I was honored to visit with him at his home in Northern Iowa, just three weeks before his passing.

We talked about his band memories, and shared a few laughs and tears. Before I left, he gave me a present - a large bag of memorabilia from his band days, items his family is entrusting with me to preserve and use to further memorialize him, and his music. I will be posting some of these pictures, reel-to-reel audio clips from concerts and studio recordings, and Super 8 movies, along with the stories he shared on our last visit, here.

Monty, thank you for the music.

The author and Monty Baker - Oct. 26, 2014 

Clyde Casebier and His Arkansas Valley Boys

Listen to a sample

Clyde Casebier and His Arkansas Valley Boys

Clyde Casebier - lead guitar

Lloyd Swan - accordion and piano

Willie Wheeler - steel guitar

Tommy Drake - double bass
Frog" Gentry - rhythm guitar (1914-1986)

Vocals: Coy Palmer and Gene Dunn

Formed sometime in the early 1940s, Clyde and his band started out in Wichita Kansas (sometimes billed as the Ark Valley Boys), before moving to Pueblo.

"My grandfather heard Spade Cooley and his band play, and decided that after he was out of the U.S. Navy, that he would have his own band. He based his sound on Spade Cooley and Bob Wills," said Lori Giebel.

Establishing themselves in the area, they became so popular that they opened the Arkansas Valley Barn to play their music, which was regular packed with adoring fans. A regular on KGHF in Pueblo, Clyde also had his own all-request program, where he and the band performed live, on the air.

"He went on to be the leader of a band in Phoenix and had a radio show as The Money Men," Giebel said. "The band also included his oldest daughter Jeannine on violin. He continued his band throughout the years and included his other two daughters, Janet on violin, and Joyce on bass.  Our home always included our jam sessions, as grandpa taught me, I was on guitar, and my little sister, Sheri on drums and bass. Later on, he taught my oldest daughter, Jennifer to play guitar."

In a 1949 issue of Railroad Journal, I found an advertisement for Clyde and the boys:

DONAHUE'S COSMOPOLITAN CLUB — DANCING EVERY NIGHT

Music By Clyde Casebier's Arkansas Valley Boys

Your Favorite Drinks and Beer 

315 Bay State Ave.

Cindy Bertram and Her Band

Side One:
Two Finger Joe
Oil Can Waltz
Joe Frank's Waltz
Dulcimer Polka
Yellow Bird
Windsor Special

Side Two:
Onion Lizzie
Waddo Waltz
Hoey Polka
Sunflower Waltz
Pennsylvania Polka
In The Mood

October has me in a polka mood.

Found this LP on a dig in Colorado last spring. Standard issue vanity pressing with no year noted, and no markings whatsoever (but pressed on groovy blue vinyl!).  I really didn't need yet another Colorado polka record, but then I flipped over the album, and saw this pasted picture.

I totally want to hang out with these people.

Back of the album is autographed by Cindy (on accordion), keyboardist Rachel Bertram, Tom Schell on trumpet, and on dulcimer, Paul C. Strickline.

Typical polka numbers here, but I got a kick out of the accordion version of this Glenn Miller standard.

Listen to a sample of "In the Mood"

Quick Internet search finds that Cindy attended Adams City High, in Commerce City (the same school that hatched the surf-rockers, The Shelltones), and graduated in 1971 (NOTE:  Commerce City was home to the prolific Infal label).

In 1968 Cindy and her band released an EP on the Band Box label (Band Box 386: “Forever and Ever”/"Shpitzkoph” and “Somewhere My Love”/“Gary’s Polka").  Label on the disc shows "Record #2." The album above indicates "Volume 1." 

Newspaper archive searches show that Cindy and her band were active through 1974, performing at the Blue Willows Lounge (formerly the Dutchman Inn), in Greeley.

Digging around the Internet shows that Rachel passed away in 2005. Can't find any other information on the other band members. Sent a few e-mails to some Cindy Bertrams I located online.  Alas, none were she.

Tony Martinez

Listen to a sample

"Asta El Ultimore Rayo" - Tony Martinez

Musica Del Corazon (1983)

I've had this Trinidad single for quite a few years, but haven't been able to find anything on it.  In an effort to clear out some of these neglected discs in my collection, I thought I would post it on here.

Nice Hispanic single by Tony Martinez.  Lots of guesses on this one.  Internet doesn't really help much.  Band members are noted on the label, so that fills in a few holes. Found out that drummer Felipe "Dunnie" Orlando Romero, Sr. passed away in 2013. Bassist Henry "Hank" Vargas was later in the Rocky Ford-based group Chickens of Depression.

Recorded at Steel City studios in Pueblo.

I'm pretty darn sure that the Tony Martinez on this record, is the same who appears on the Flintstone Brothers single "Hungry Hungry Hungry," recorded at Norman Petty studios (note the name "Dunnie" on the label), as well as the Shag label single, also noted below. If anyone has any additional information, or can provide audio of these two records, drop me a line.