I began accordion lessons at the ripe old age of seven. I began teaching at my home when I was about thirteen. My first band was with John Puskas on the sax and Bob Zemburski on the drums, along with a trumpet player, began as The Starliters. I played the accordion. We played mostly weddings at that time. We decided to change directions in about 1963 and brought on two friends of Bob's who were from Washington High Schoo: Paul Rivich on guitar and Mario Muniz on vocals. We dropped the trumpet player when we made the change and re-named the band the The Blue Angels. It was between "The Blue Angels" and "Innocence." I don't recall why we chose one over the other; my guess would be that the name Innocence was too provocative!
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| The Blue Angels: Rick Toth, John Puskas, Mario Muniz, and Bob Zemburski (holding Ken Simmons). |
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Ken Simmons Recalls The Blue Angels
Paul Rivich decided to leave the band after a couple of years and was replaced by Rick Toth. During the change I went on to play the organ and bass guitar. We decided early on that we were not going to be the typical band who played the current hit songs of the day. We embarked on playing all types of music from some of the classics of the late '50s to James Brown, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, and others that were current like The Detroit Wheels, Wayne Cochran, The Kingsmen, etc.
We performed sometimes with blue hair. I don't remember how the blue hair came about; I want to remember and say that Mario was dating a hair stylist and at the time you were able to buy hair spray in different colors! We usually wore the hair on stage. However, I do remember a time when we toured and played in a very small town. We elected during the day to wear the blue hair downtown and eat and at one of the local restaurants. Can you imagine the locals seeing that sight? Anything we could do for promotion of the show!
The most important decision we made was not only to be a regular band but also a show band. We worked on choreography as hard as playing the music itself. We had an array of clothes we wore, sometime changing several times during an evening. We wore tuxedos to leather pants and Nehru jackets. We had an elaborate lighting system that was controlled by the drummer which added to the show presentation. This got us into playing clubs in downtown Chicago.
We performed in many shows (in Indiana) at Madura's Danceland in Whiting, The Civic Center in Hammond, The Other Side in Michigan City, and The Chapel of The Dunes in Gary, to name a few. We were the back-up band for Chuck Berry, played on the same shows with The Turtles, Eric Burdon and The Animals, The Rivieras, and The Kingsman.
We played in many battle of the band shows along with Oscar and The Majestics, who also were regulars in that type of venue. We played dates all around the Midwest including Michigan and Illinois, and on college campuses for various parties, etc.
All our recordings (Cap Records) were done at the Chess Records studios in Chicago. We all were involved in the writing and producing of the records. We had a manager who helped us stay focused throughout the years. He had no formal training in music, and as a matter of fact was a steelworker. He loved what he did with the band and took glory in our success. Many, many days he would have to be at his job at Inland Steel at 6:00 a.m.after getting home from one of our gigs at 4:00 a.m. And, by the way, he was my father--an ironclad guarantee we would all behave!
We tried out very early in our career for a show called the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. We went to the audition and were told that we were too professional as they were looking for amateur acts!
The Vietnam War broke up the band in the late '60s. We did attempt to get together in the early '70s but it did not work out. Bob Zemburski did go on to play several years with Mickey Mack's band. Johnny Puskas is still rocking with a band he put together in Orlando Florida. They call themselves The Show Stoppers. I have remained very close to Bob as we are like brothers since we have known each other for about 50 years now. He was my best man some 42 years ago. Bob and I along with Mario went to visit John in Florida a few years ago.
John and I talk a couple of times a year. Mario, who lives in Texas, comes up to this area occasionally and Bob and I and Mario will talk for hours about, of course, The Blue Angels! As you can see this was not only an experience in playing music; we were with each other seven days and nights together either playing a date or practicing. This was and continues to be an ongoing relationship between some local guys who not only happened to play music but (the band) afforded us the most important experience of friendship for all of these years. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to share some of our experiences.
'Fame & Fortune' / 'Quicksand' (Cap 76)
'Dance With Me Lynda' / 'Shake A Tail Feather' (Cap 77)
'Please Don't Leave Me/ 'Let's Shout And Shimmy' (Cap 79)
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