An Interview With Richie Weintraub
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Richie Weintraub (RW): I started listening to Elvis back when he had 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'Heartbreak Hotel.' I loved the sound of the guitar and got one for my birthday. I was also a huge Dion and The Belmonts fan. And I loved Ray Charles!
60s: Was London & The Bridges your first band?
RW: Jon Sholle and I started off playing together when we were 12-years old. My brother's accordion teacher heard me singing in my room and asked if I could play at parties doing rock'n'roll for kids. Jon and I played a few of those for $5 bucks a piece! Jon was a great guitar player at 12. Some high school guys heard about us and called on the phone asking us to join their band. We formed The Epsilons. That band did very well becoming one of the best Sweet 16 bands on Long Island. We played together quite a long time. I left the band for many crazy reasons (mostly sports and my girlfriend...who is still my wife).
I was doing Sweet 16s and Bar Mitzvahs as a solo act for professional musicians (Steven Scott Orchestras) playing the parties. The managers of the pro party bands thought it might be great if we had a Beatles-type band for recording. He asked me if I had any songs; I said, "sure!" I called The Epsilons and asked them if they wanted to record. They said yes and we went in to New York City and recorded 'It just Ain't Right' and 'Leave Her Alone'. They sold the record to CBS's Columbia Records and we signed a contract! It was pretty cool for 17-year old kids. CBS put us on the Date record label that they we just launching at the time. The first records released on that label were from Peaches and Herb, The Distant Cousins and London and The Bridges. They put a full-page ad in Billboard. Our record was reviewed by Billboard and also appeared in Volume 1 of Crawdaddy along with Simon and Garfunkel. This was all very cool!
60s: Was London & The Bridges basically the same line-up as The Epsilons. Were the members the same between both groups?
RW: Yes. The band was the same.
60s: Who came up with the name London & The Bridges?
RW: I think it was DATE - or it sounds like Al Harvey. They were looking to capitalize on the British Invasion and made up the story that my name was Richard London.
60s: London & The Bridges was formed in Great Neck, New York in 1965.
RW: Yes, and the biggest kick was having a big photo in the two record stores in Great Neck with our photo and our record cover.
The band was: Marc Freeman (keyboards), Mike Levy (bass), John Sholle (lead guitar), John Waxman (drums) and Richie Weintraub (guitar and vocals).
60s: Johnny Miller later replaced Levy on bass. Where did you find Miller and why did Levy leave?
RW: Well, I guess we all wanted Johnny in the band, as he was a better bass player and a great singer. We needed that. We grew up with Johnny and knew him from the neighborhood. Mike's bass playing was not as good and we felt it was unprofessional. You can hear that on the records for sure. Eventually, we had Jon Sholle play the bass parts on the records.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
RW: Dylan meets The Dave Clark Five! (That is half a joke but maybe true.)
60s: Where did the band typically play?
RW: We played high schools, parties, Sweet 16s and eventually did a lot of promotion gigs for CBS. They used to call them Freebies. You played for free to get radio airtime. CBS did spend some money on us. I guess we should have kept going…but I was young and not very hungry to be a big star. So, I left the band.
60s: What was a typical CBS promotional gig like?
RW: You would be brought to a location via whatever cars or vehicles were arranged by the local promotion people. They had people who were in charge of getting you airtime and gigs with radio stations. These guys were pretty good. They worked with the big name bands, too.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
RW: They flew us to Cleveland and to Hartford, Connecticut but (we played) mostly in the New York area.
60s: How did you hook up with producer Al Harvey? Did he also act as a manager at all?
RW: Al Harvey worked for Steven Scott Music. He did act as our manager. It might not have been the best choice…but we were young.
60s: Why do you believe that Al Harvey was not the best choice for a manager?
RW: He wasn't exactly the type to get you to the top. He wasn’t a hungry guy who could move things. He was just a nice guy.
60s: Was Harvey responsible for the Columbia Records recording deal?
RW: Yes.
60s: Where did London & The Bridges record the three Date singles?
RW: We recorded in the same Columbia Records Studio as Bob Dylan on 52nd Street in New York City. That was cool!
60s: You and Sholle composed almost all of the band's songs. Did you consider yourselves a songwriting team?
RW: I guess I wrote the songs myself and then had Jon make them sound better as he was the real musician. I wrote the lyrics and the melody. He fixed up the music.
60s: Do you recall which song of yours performed highest on the charts?
RW: ‘Tell It To The Preacher’ did the best. We almost made the Top 100 on Billboard. We were bubbling under the top (that was listed on the charts in those days). I was told it did do well in some sections of the country.
60s: Where did you typically find your inspiration as a songwriter?
RW: Mostly girls that dumped on me! My favorite song was ‘City I Was Born In.’ Anyone from Great Neck gets it!
60s: Did you write any songs during your stint with London & The Bridges that the band did not record?
RW: There were a few. I wrote a lot more much later in life. I was over 40 (when I wrote them).
60s: Other than the three Date singles, do any other London & The Bridges recordings exist? Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks?
RW: We had a whole album of songs that we recorded before we had the contract…but I do not have a copy. I believe Jon Waxman still has those songs. They’re all songs I wrote. They were pretty old school - very early-‘60's. Some of the titles were ‘Karen,’ ‘If You’d Come Back To Me” and ‘Zombie,’ an instrumental. There were more but that is all I remember.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances?
RW: Yes. We appeared on Upbeat in Cleveland, Ohio. We also did some other local TV shows in the New York and Albany areas. I had a kinescope of us on Upbeat…but it is also lost.
60s: London & The Bridges reportedly split after you got married. Why did you decide not to remain a member?
RW: Chalk it up to he lack of hunger to be a rock star. I guess I was happy doing what I was doing. I was a teacher for a while. I did sing in some bars after leaving the band. I moved to Hong Kong for my new job in the toy business, and I had a great band called A.W.O.L. We had a much better band due to great musicians. This was a cover band. We did great stuff: Cream, Hendrix, Kinks, Deep Purple and even Guns N Roses. We were heavy and fun! It was all classic rock. I loved that band! We did not do originals but we did appear on Asia MTV. We did lots of big shows in Hong Kong.
60s: After London & The Bridges, Sholle and Miller joined with members of the Savages to form Today's Special. How much interaction did you have with the Savages prior to the merger?
RW: Well, I actually co-wrote a couple of their songs and sang back up on their EP. Frankly, that was a problem since they "forgot" to give me credit on the songs, which was just not right! No big deal. Paul Simon's brother was their producer and…a major jerk!
60s: Today's Special recorded a Decca single (‘Krista’ b/w ‘Stop & Say You're Sorry’). Were either of those your songs?
RW: I sang background on ‘Stop & Say You're Sorry and I wrote ‘Lost In A World’ with Johnny Miller. Did you know that the bass player in Today's Special was Neil Portnow? He is the president of the Grammy Association! We see him on TV on the Grammy program. He’s a great guy! I loved Neil. He was just the nicest person I knew. We used to practice at his house for Today's Special records. They played at my wedding. I got married when I was 20 years old.
60s: You sang vocals on the Decca single but did you ever consider joining Today's Special?
RW: I got married and went back to college and then had a teaching job. I just wasn't into the same scene that those guys were. We were all good friends but…it was not for me at the time. My dad was the president of the Ideal Toy Corporation. I came from a pretty wealthy family. I loved the music but at the time I just did not have the desire to stay up all night, party and just do music. I guess it was my background that got in the way of my talents.
60s: Do you recall why and what year Today's Special disbanded?
RW: Not really. I was pretty much gone by that time. I loved their record.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with London & The Bridges?
RW: Great experience for life. I suppose we had a shot if we kept at it. Maybe we would have had a hit. I guess that is the one regret. I just wasn't hungry coming from a wealthy family. I was a too much of a jock for the rock scene in the ‘60's. My friends all smoked certain substances. I was a gym teacher!
Today I am Senior Vice President of Design for Boys Toys and Games at Mattel, Inc. I run the design of Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Tyco RC, Cars movie toys, UNO games, Batman action figures and other fun stuff! Not too bad! We have a great band called The Toys. We play at company functions but we have a big bar gig coming up. I am looking forward to that! |
