I became interested in music as a child. My mom is from England and during the war—the “Big One”, World War II—she used to go see all the big bands at the time swing. That carried over to our home and as long as I can remember she played music constantly and she played piano by ear tremendously.
Ralph DeLorso, Jr. Recalls The Midnite Movers
I heard Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and of course Benny Goodman with Gene Krupa. At the age of four I started playing drums, but not like your typical youngster, with pots and pans—I played snare drum and a kit at that age. I know it astounded my parents since they actually bought a Slingerland drum kit for my older brother but he didn’t want to learn the proper way of playing.
I played in fife and drum corps, V.F.W. and Bugle and Drum Corps. P.A.L. and started study at a young age of five and I loved it. At that time I was very, very fortunate to study for two years with Al Cardello on Homestead Ave. in Hartford, Connecticut. I then went and studied with Al LePak at LePaks on Capitol Ave. and also with Art Perretta, Tilly Lisbein and Richie LaPoire (who was Bette Midler’s first drummer). The influential instructor was Joe (Skinny) Porcaro, whom I studied with for nine years and, yes, he is the late Jeff Porcaro’s (of Toto) father.
I was the youngest drummer and already had played with The Detroit Souls. I was their original drummer but because of my age (at 13 and 14) I couldn’t play in clubs without permission. Back then the image of the band was with older players in their late teens (18, 19 even 22 years old); it was cool to rehearse with me but not play out so they got Ron Carruba, a great drummer still to this day. I then went on to form The Midnite Movers.
I formed The Midnite Movers in 1968 in Windsor. The first original band was Paula Finstad (keyboards and vocals); Lenny Hansel (bass and vocals); Pete Plante (guitar and vocals); Billy Yesacavich (Tenor and Alto horns); Bob Borawski (Tenor sax); my brother, Louie, as lead singer (he actually was the oldest and could drive so we had him as driver set up gigs); I played my Ludwig’s Blue Sparkle Kit.
The second Movers were David Aston (keyboards; Paula had died); Dave Noder (bass); Pete Plant (guitar); and Lenny Hansel (guitar and sometimes played rhythm guitar). We also used David Gottelf—and later his brother Eric Gotthetf—on bass horns. Billy Yersacavitch died of a cerebral hemorrhage at 15 was replaced with David Bloom. We added Tom Cote on trumpet (he also played flute and trombone). Singers were Jody Combo and Howard Smith and our sound man was David Smith.
Our sound was definitely soul and R&B. We were influenced by James Brown, Archie Bell and The Drells, Hugh Masekela, Sly and The Family Stone, Chambers Brothers, Cold Blood ,Sam and Dave and, of course, Wilson Pickett.
The scene was alive then with (groups like) The Beatles and The Strawberry Alarm Clock. Psychedelic music was coming on strong so we adapted and funked up songs like ‘Fire’ and ‘Purple Haze’ with horns. We also loved and played a lot of Electric Flag and Them.
We played high school gigs, colleges, teen clubs, and outdoor concerts and later we played night clubs like the Scarlett Dragon and also Richard Duggan’s club. We caught a break when we backed up Wilson Pickett in Hartford when he came there. We were also a warm-up band for Archie Bell and The Drells. We played in New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Philadelphia.
We entered a battle of the bands for WDRC, Dick Robinson and Brad Davis. We went up against The Fabulous Downbeats (whom I also later played with), The Great Train Robbery, Peace and Quiet and The Show Stoppers. We came in second place. The Downbeats came in first place and The Show Stoppers came in third. We won a recording contact with Doc Cavalier at Syncron Studios, and $1,000 to spend. We ended up with Archie Demato as our agent. He was a thief; he got us gigs okay but took almost 30% of our money. We had to join the union (I already was a member of Local 400 for eight years). We therefore ended up playing a lot of Ramada Inns.
We recorded on the Cadet label (the Wildweeds did too) at Music Town Recording. Our 45-rpm single was an old Lenny Welch tune, ‘Since I Fell For You,’ and one of our originals, ‘Must Pay The Price.’ We also recorded ‘Soul Cat On The Flat’ at Syncron Studios in East Hartford and recorded at Nicklous Recording in Hartford, Max Stein, and Complex 4 in New Haven. I know we were recorded, too, for The Brad Davis Show when we appeared in ’69. Each (session) was a learning experience; personalities clashed and egos got bruised—and that was on a good day. But it was rewarding and I learned everything I could and made good use of the situation.
We only wrote six tunes. Pete Plante basically wrote all our songs though I wrote some for Frankie Crocker of New York Radio station—‘It’s a Rap’-like intro to music of ‘Agent Double O Soul’ in ‘69.
We disbanded in 1971 after most of us were being drafted for Vietnam. Back then it was our time. We all grew from that experience and took from it memories that can never be duplicated. We’d like to have a tribute night of our time. We may be much better musicians now—God, I hope so—but in respect for the time we captured the tenure of the moment; we not only had a music we could call our own—but also a culture…from hair to clothes…to a spirit in all of us. It was our moment in time and one that we can call our own.
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