After obtaining an acetate by a previously unknown (to us) Chicago band named Evening's Breezes, we took to Google and located Howie Roxx (nee Howard Sheldon). Sheldon was surprised that the acetate still existed, as the only other copy he was aware of was no longer playable.
"I have waited a lifetime for someone to re-discover Evening's Breezes" he informed 60sgaragebands.com. "I have nearly thought that maybe no one remembered us. In a scant two+ years of existence, we covered a lot of ground locally - playing from Northern Illinois to Kankakee. We played Old Town Chicago on a regular basis. We won the March 1967 Battle of the Bands in 1967 at Navy Pier Chicago. We were even a featured band on a flat bed trailer for the 75th Anniversary of Franklin Park (IL) in the downtown area in 1967. We opened for The New Colony Six at The Blue Village in 1968. Another '60s band from Chicago played there as well, The Flock, and perhaps The Cryan' Shames, too."
The acetate features two cover versions of popular songs of the day. Sheldon recalls, "When 'Enter The Young' by The Association and 'Love Is A Beautiful Thing' by The Young Rascals were covered by Evening's Breezes, it was late 1966 or early 1967. I remember it only too well as I was a founding member of the band. Evening's Breezes recorded that demo at RCA Recording Studios in Downtown Chicago @ $50 per hour. The session lasted several hours for two songs. If I recall correctly, the two songs cost us as a band $500 in 1960's dollars. Quite a sum for a fledgling band of five. There was a recording session horror story that night. Every band's worst nightmare."
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Howard Sheldon Recalls Evening's Breezes
Evening's Breezes was a '60s original/cover garage-band from 1966-1968, based in Franklin Park, IL. The members were Howard Sheldon - Rhythm and lead guitar/vocals/songwriting; Rick Salabes - Lead vocals/lead guitar/songwriting; John Morzos - Drummer/vocals/songwriting; Bruce Domenella - Keyboards/vocals; and John Rayniak - Bass guitar.
When I think of Evening's Breezes, I think of the movie That Thing You Do by Tom Hanks 1996. IMDB summed it up as, "A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager." Tom Hanks so beautifully captured what it was like to be a garage-band in the '60s trying to reach stardom and gather beautiful/adoring fans. It is the epitome of '60s rock and roll garage-band storytelling.
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Evening's Breezes came about through an evolutionary process. As with most rock-pop bands, it takes a while to assemble the right pieces of the puzzle to form a group of individuals that will work together for the common good of the band. Evening's Breezes was no exception.
Two bands predate Evening's Breezes, although, a core of three individuals stayed the course. They are Howard Sheldon, aka Howie Roxx; John Morzos, aka "Little John"; and John "Hawk" Rayniak, aka "Big John".
The first incarnation was called The Sinner Men and added the vocal and lead guitar playing abilities of Rich Sobon. The lurid name was fit for four young testosterone-charged high school teens from East Leyden High School in Franklin Park. East Leyden High School was the same high school that John Friga went to and at the same time period--the mid-'60s. John Friga, now Jonathan Cain, was the singer-songwriter and keyboard player for the successful band known as Journey.
The second incarnation was called The We Count 4. The band's name was kind of a misnomer, because the band had five members: Bob Campbell, lead singer; Rich Sobon, lead guitar; John Rayniak, bass guitar; Howard Sheldon, rhythm guitar; and John Morzos, drums. This was the first band that actually played gigs at East Leyden High School "sock hops" in the gymnasium. Why were they called sock hops?
Well, because no one was supposed to wear street shoes on the wooden gymnasium floor. The gymnasium wooden floor was for basketball and rubber gym shoes, which would not harm the floor. Sock hop meant that you took off your shoes and danced in your socks, shoe-less. A "hop" was an event where music was played and people danced.
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A Gig Memory: East Leyden High School
East Leyden High School contacted Howie's sister Donna about booking Evening's Breezes for a gig in the auditorium and offered $100 for the five of us to play the gig, at $20 a man. Donna was told that Evening's Breezes would play for no less than $125 at $25 a man. Donna went back to the school and successfully negotiated the vast sum of $125 for the gig.
Another Gig Memory: At a Gig in Antioch, Illinois
The venue had a basement for the band to store personal items and a dressing room. Howie was down in the basement during a break when several local hoods came downstairs looking for Rick, who was dating one of their girlfriends by the name of Debbie. A mistaken identity got Howie's ass kicked. They would not believe that Howie was not Rick. Never be alone in a dressing room.
In bands, people come and people go. Pete Best, the original drummer for The Beatles, was replaced by Richard Starkey, aka Ringo Starr. We Count 4 came to an end and more personnel changes led to the formation of Evening's Breezes. The core players--Howard Sheldon, John Rayniak and John Morzos--stayed the same. A keyboardist was then added. His name was John Veremis.
A lead vocalist was needed. Ads were placed in the local newspaper and several people auditioned. One of the auditioners was a friend of John Rayniak, Bill Kissane (sp?). Bill was really slick; he was sort of an Elvis Pressley type of a singer. With his pomade pompadour hairstyle and odd mannerisms at practice and his love for his Chevy, rather than being serious about being a lead singer, Bill did not last very long.
By the mid-'60s the Elvis/Fabian look and musical style was on its way out. The Beatles and the British Rock Invasion was the latest thing. In moving forward to get famous and be consistent with what was popular at the time, Bill was let go. Next...keyboardist John Veremis was replaced.
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So the hunt continued on for a lead vocalist and a new keyboard player. Howie had a day job at Motorola in Franklin Park. Rumor was that a fellow in another part of the factory was a lead singer and was looking for a band to sing with. So Rick Salabes was asked to audition as lead singer for a new "nameless" band. As I recall, Rick rather unwillingly but politely came to audition just to appease me.
He thought that he would show up for the audition, let us know that we really were not good enough for him and he would be on his way looking for another opportunity. Well, he was pleasantly surprised and decided to join. Because of the style of music that Evening's Breezes wanted to cover and the necessity to write originals, another keyboardist was needed. Bruce (Woody) Domenella was conscripted as the last piece of the puzzle and the band was named Evening's Breezes and the gigging commenced.
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Evening's Breezes needed a "band van." John Rayniak
bought a Ford Econoline Van and had it painted by an artist friend of his ala Magical
Mystery Tour style. It was the most visible part of Evening's Breezes. When
we showed up for a gig, we really looked like the real-deal--also as a band we
were the real-deal.
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Evening's Breezes had professional management. Two different band managers got us the needed high-end local gigs that made a difference between Evening's Breezes staying a sock-hop band playing at high school events or playing in Old Town Chicago and eventually playing at the coveted Battle of the Bands at Navy Pier and winning that event in March, 1967. Those two managers were Schomberg Enterprises, Chicago and Charles Zemater Theatrical Agency, Chicago.
A lot of our gigs were at teen clubs like The Blue Village and the Schiller Park Fireman's Hall (another battle of the bands competition that we won). We played all over Chicago land--from Northern Illinois to the south in an abandoned grocery store turned teen club in Kankakee, Illinois. Evening's Breezes also had a National Fan Club based in Bellwood, Illinois.
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In the summer of 1967, Evening's Breezes recorded a demo of two covers--'Love Is A Beautiful Thing' by The Young Rascals and 'Enter The Young' by The Association--at RCA Studios in downtown Chicago. Subsequently, several acetate 45-rpm were made by a recording studio--MBS Recording Studios, also in downtown Chicago.
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Of course every recording in 1967 was done on 1"
magnetic tape. The session was over and there was a voice over the speaker from
the control room. "We have a problem." This is something that you never want to
hear in a recording studio at the end of a successful session. "Sorry boys, but
the tape broke and you will have to do the vocals over. We will comp you
whatever time it takes to redo your vocals." We had already struggled with the
vocals at the end of 'Enter The Young'; really the vocals that we were trying
to hit were out of our range. But one take finally made it and we were really
pleased with the results only to find out that they were lost because the "tape
broke" when the engineer was rewinding it. We re-recorded the vocals a number
of times in the midnight hours and were never really satisfied with the final
outcome, only to come to a point of "too tired" and it will have to be "good
enough." It was a disappointment, but still a great memory.
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I would not trade having been in a '60s garage band for any other experience in life. It is how I grew as a person. The life lessons there were learned--for example, having friends, camaraderie, team spirit in getting things done, cooperation, learning how to fight fairly, and making friends that have lasted throughout an entire lifetime are just a few. The negatives of drugs, alcohol, and bad relationships were a part of the learning process as well. You learned that substance abuse does not work in the long haul of life. All lessons are valuable, good and bad. However, you need to learn by making mistakes; there is no other way to learn how to live life. Having been in a '60s garage band I learned all of those lessons and more. I am proud to have been a part of Chicago's '60s history.
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Howard Sheldon (aka Howie Roxx) - Lead-Rhythm Guitar/Vocals/Songwriter
I graduated from E. Leyden High School, June 1965, in Franklin Park, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago. I went to Triton College for a year and studied music theory. In 1966 I started my first gigging band--The We Count 4. It was a silly name because there were actually five members in the band: Bob Campbell, Rick Sobon, John Morzos, John Rayniak and I. Three of those members, John Morzos, John Rayniak and I, became the core of a band that lasted from 1966-1968 by the name of Evening's Breezes. That cover/original band did really well and played numerous gigs all over the Chicago area. The band's claim to fame was winning the March 1967 Battle of the Bands at Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois. It was a citywide event and a treasured memory for me. Evening's Breezes also won other battle of the bands as well.
Evening's Breezes had professional management and recorded two demo covers at RCA Recording Studios: 'Love is a Beautiful Thing' by The Young Rascals and 'Enter The Young' by The Association. The demo never made it to vinyl but was in a limited distribution of 45-rpm on acetate. The band broke up in mid-1968 due to members being drafted into the Vietnam War.
In November 1968 a friend on mine, Rick Salabes (lead singer/lead guitar player for Evening's Breezes) and I moved to Los Angeles to seek fortune/fame and play music. Several months later he was drafted into the Vietnam War. I subsequently married my girlfriend Karen, a "California Girl" two months after I moved to L.A. Karen was a cousin of one of our roadies from L.A. that I had met at a gig in February of 1968. She was visiting an aunt in my hometown of Franklin Park.
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"Woody" aka Bruce Domenella - Keyboards/Vocals
They called me Woody. I guess I earned that moniker in a number of ways. I am a keyboard player in a guitar-dominated field, but I loved playing music and performing--in particular with these guys. Audience appreciation was our feedback and motivation, along with the fun we were having making music and being buddies along the journey.
On and off the stage, we played hard and had wild spontaneous experiences--like the time we played the gig in downstate Illinois in what was formerly a grocery store. After the gig was over we partied like always. When we woke up from our stupor on Sunday morning we found ourselves sleeping in the display window on Main Street in varying degrees of modesty with passers-by staring at us on their way to church; this was just one memory of many.
Sadly, I came to a divide in my life where I was compelled to choose between my passion and my pragmatic need to focus on career and independence. I can't say I made the wrong decision; I had a successful career and embraced the field of computers and communications.
But, it was an agonizing and painful transition. And I still thrill with nostalgia when I reflect on the pure joy of that momentary eye contact with these guys in the middle of a song--knowing that this was among the best of life's experiences.
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What are the Members of Evening's Breezes Doing Now?
Rick Salabes lives in Arizona and works for a bio-medical diagnosing equipment provider. Rick provides installation and technical support. After Rick came home from the war in Vietnam and returned to civilian life, he continued to play music in a dance cover band that toured a large part of the United States with his life-long friend Wayne Wagner. To this day Rick is a devout bachelor.
Howard Sheldon, aka Howie Roxx, also lives in Arizona and is a semi-retired musician and Internet business entrepreneur. Howie co-founded a classic rock cover band named Metropolis Arizona that played in Arizona from 2003 to 2010. One highlight for that band was playing for Senator John McCain during his Presidential Campaign in April 2008 in Prescott, Arizona. Here is their MySpace website. Metropolis Arizona is no longer together. Howie has other musical project in the fire so to speak all of the time. Here are two websites that have his current projects: Soundtrack/Soundscape/Film related music and ReverbNation.
John Morzos, aka "Little John", owns a machine shop and lives on a small farm in Northwest Illinois.
After the break-up of Evening's Breezes, John Rayniak Jr. took over the family business JR Manufacturing and did quite well making plating racks for the plating business. With new EPA rules and business changes John sold JR Manufacturing in 2001. John is married to a lovely woman, his wife Mary of 31 years. John and Mary have five children; seven grandchildren and counting. They live on five "open and free" acres in Wisconsin. John and Mary are successful online Internet entrepreneurs.
Woody (Bruce) Domenella, inspired by the space race, entered the field of electronics with the dream of someday traveling into space. He never made it beyond the ionosphere, but he did work on projects that blew things up, zapped enemy radars, networked enormous phone systems together, and helped the bulls and bears of the financial industry navigate the stock market. He is presently in Florida providing emergency communications services for disaster response agencies. He's still waiting for that ride off the planet.
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