Dave Coviello Recalls The Marble Collection
A couple of years later I met Lenny Eldridge, Jimmy White, Richie Hawk, Bill Lindsley and Tom Murphy and we formed a group called The Dirty Ole Men. We even bought a '52 Cadillac Hearse and the lead singer dressed up as a mortician with a full length tux with tails and a top hat to boot. We became a sensation in the Naugatuck Valley area for a few years.
Once the group disbanded, Lenny (on lead guitar), Jimmy (drums) and I (keyboards) stuck together to get down to some serious business. We found a bass player named Bruce Webb and of course Charles Byrd on lead vocals (who I knew since the third grade) and we started rehearsing as The Marble Collection in 1967. Johnny Parris, who owned Act One Entertainments, came to hear us, became our manager and took us under his wing.
Each member had great influences as far as music. Lenny was influenced by The Beatles; Charley was influenced by Hendrix, Paul McCartney and The Doors; Bruce was a Hendrix fan; I was a soul music and British Invasion freak; and Jimmy liked everything from Janis Joplin to The Beatles and The Doors. None of the musicians were monsters but the chemistry was magical in the true sense of the word. It was easy for us to compose music and perform. We started out doing cover material and all our influences combined made all our songs sound tight and very close to the original records. Charlie Byrd had a monster voice back then and still does today. Everyone in the band sang.
The New Haven scene in the '60s was the greatest time in my life. There was a lot to do in Connecticut as a whole. The Marble Collection played all over Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. We did a lot of gigs at UConn, Yale, Actors Colony, the Zodiac chain of clubs, and the teen clubs such as The Hullabaloos in Ansonia, New Haven and Hartford, and The Electric Grape in Milford. We did numerous outside events as well.
Our popularity sparked us to record, which--without Johnny Parris, who had more faith in us than we had in ourselves--would never had taken off like it did. In 1968, we released 'Love In Spring' and 'Glad You're Mine' (C-143), which got us on TV. We were put on The Brad Davis Show on WTIC in Hartford four times and then we were sponsored by Ovation to use their equipment in upcoming events. We were performing at least four times a week for two weeks straight. Everything started happening for us.
We started performing at The Eastern States Exposition with The Cowsills. We performed as front acts for Sly and The Family Stone at Quigley Stadium; for Chicago at Southern Connecticut State College (two different times); for Sam and Dave in Concert at Quinnipiac; and for Rare Earth and Steppenwolf in concert at the New Haven Arena.
In 1969, we then released 'Big Girl' and 'Friend Like You' (CO 2995). We recorded our first two songs at East Coast Sounds in New London, Connecticut, and they were put out on the Cotique label out of New York. Our next two recordings were recorded at Poison Ring Studios in Wallingford, and they were put out on our own Marble Disc label. We did two more recordings called 'Lovin' Eyes' and 'The Man' at Dynamic Studios in New Haven but they were not released. It takes a lot of hard work and discipline (to record) and (in) doing only what you are suppose to play. That goes for any recording session. Lenny and I were the writers in the group but Lenny was the major contributor in the composing. You can find all our recordings--including the two that were not released--on YouTube thanks to Bobby Roche in Atlanta.
Unfortunately, like all good things, The Marble Collection came to an end in late 1971 because of other interests. I went on to record and work with Tension from New Haven (they are also on YouTube). I then put together The Menagerie, which traveled from Connecticut to Florida for four years. The Marble Collection and Tension were also documented in two books published, one called Connecticut Rocks by Paul Edward Bezanker, and the other The New Haven Sounds by Paul Lepri.
I went on to other things later in life in Florida touring with Wayne Cochran and The CC Riders, who I performed with in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras with Doc Severensen, Jimmy Bowhorne, Al Hirt and Englebert Humperdink. I owe everything to the experiences I had with The Marble Collection and Johnny Parris in the late '60s.
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