Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Turning Image (aka The Halfways) managed to survive and evolve in the face of the ever-changing musical landscape that comprised the late-1960’s and early-1970s. Despite never recording, the group was very popular in Maryland, Washington DC and in their home state of Virginia. Although drummer Michael Hadder quit the music business when The Turning Image dissolved in the mid-‘70’s, he’s fully aware of his band’s many accomplishments.
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An Interview With Michael Hadder
60s: How did you first get interested in music?
Michael Hadder (MH): Like most people my age, I was sitting in my living room in early February of 1964, when The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and that really was the catalyst for my interest in music. We had an old dobro, which is similar to a guitar, around the house and my Dad taught me a few chords and I played everyday, but it really wasn't my instrument. When I started middle school, I went to my first sock hop and saw my first live band. The drummer had a set of silver Ludwigs, and I knew that's what I wanted to do with my life.
60s: Was The Turning Image your first band?
MH: Yep, my first band. We were together about 10 years.
60s: Where and where was The Turning Image formed?
MH: It was formed in Manassas, Virginia, which is a famous Civil War town, in the fall of 1967. Larry Hixson and I had been friends and classmates since 1964; he introduced me to Gene Thompson and it grew from there.
We started out as trio called The Halfways and eventually expanded to a six-man band and a name change in the early 1970s to The Turning Image.
60s: Who all comprised the band?
MH: The original trio consisted of Gene Thompson on lead guitar and vocals; Larry Hixson on rhythm guitar; and me on drums.
In the summer of 1969, we added Tommy Griffith on lead vocals. He was replaced by Alan Johnson who was our lead singer until about 1973 when Tommy came back into the fold. Larry left in the early ‘70’s and he was replaced by keyboard player Clay Johnson. One of our best acquisitions was recruiting Dennis Bailey on bass and vocals in the summer of 1969; he also played trombone. It wasn't too much later we decided to add other horn players as well. Several horn players (Mark Krebs being our first) came and went but the "classic" Turning Image line up ended up as: Gene Thompson: lead guitar, coronet and vocals; Dennis Bailey: bass guitar, trombone and vocals; Tommy Griffith: lead vocals and keyboards; Michael Hadder: drums; Tom Tierney: Alto, Baritone and Tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute, guitar and vocals; and Billy Bowden: trumpet.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What bands influenced you?
MH: Because of the brass section and tight musicianship, I always thought we sounded somewhat like another band from Virginia - Bill Deal & The Rhondels - who had some chart success in the 1960's and were from Virginia Beach. As far as what influenced me, I was always drawn to what we're basically jazz drummers playing in rock bands like Dino Danelli of The Rascals and Danny Seraphine of Chicago. This naturally led me to listen to some of the true great jazz drummers like Max Roach, Gene Krupa and, of course, Buddy Rich who inspired me the most. There was a time when I listened to jazz and its drummers as much as I listened to Top 40 in my formative years.
60s: Ads from the period promote that the band played "jazz, country, contemporary and oldies"...
MH: That ad about the country, jazz thing was actually designed by WPRW, a local radio station in Manassas. While it's true, we did do a little of each, they sort of exaggerated I guess. I can remember driving one day, and hearing these ads on the radio over and over and wondering how they came up with it. Our big thing was taking songs and adding brass to them and changing the arrangements to suit the horns. In some cases we would also change the tempo as well. The great thing about this was, the audience would be familar with the tune already, but we would put our own spin on it. We basiclly stuck to whatever was popular at that time.
60s: What was the Northern Virginia rock and roll scene like in the '60's?
MH: The suburbs of Washington, DC and Baltimore were very rural in the early 1950's but, at that point, what used to be farms became subdivided with post World War II families moving in. In the mid-1960's, what we now call "baby boomers" became teenagers looking for live entertainment. If you lived in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs, there was no Merriweather Post Pavilion, no Wolf Trap, and no Capital Centre yet. These would all come later. Unless you lived in the District or Baltimore, your best chance to see live music was to see a local band. There was plenty of opportunity if you were good enough.
60s: Where did the band typically play?
MH: County fairs, proms, homecomings, military bases, wedding receptions, car dealerships, community centers, private parties, malls, nightclubs, dances, National Guard Armory Halls and even parades. The military bases we performed at included Andrews Air Force Base, Fort Belvoir and Quantico. We also played a WPRW sponsored beauty pageant, which was a good gig.
60s: Did you play any of the local teen clubs?
MH: Yes. The one that comes to mind was a Teen Club at Vint Hill Farms, which was part of a military base. We played there several times and actually played there one afternoon and did a gig somewhere else later that night. Sometimes we did two gigs in a single day.
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
MH: We had representation in both Virginia and Maryland, so we played all over those entire two states plus Washington, DC.
60s: Did The Turning Image participate in any battle of the bands?
MH: That’s a most interesting question. We played our first one on July 4th, 1969 and beat some established bands at that time and that is what really propelled us to think that maybe this was really going to turn into something. Up until that point, we were just playing for friends and family, but our success with that battle of the bands put us in demand.
I can’t remember all the participants but I do recall The Blue Mist, Intrigue, and The Cure (not the famous band with the same name) as some of the other bands we competed against over the years. We placed second three times and once won first place.
60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?
MH: The Disciples of Sound, The Blue Mist, Bob Brady and the Concords, The Hangmen and The King Cobras.
60s: Did The Turning Image have a manager?
MH: Our first manager was Gerald Kay. He was very active in all the local organizations like The Rotary Club, Lions Club and was responsible for getting us our early gigs. We were also represented in Maryland by a guy named Paul Stream, who had ties with the local media and radio, so he kept us busy in Maryland.
60s: How popular locally did The Turning Image become?
MH: Looking back I have to say fairly popular. We were always busy.
60s: Why didn’t The Turning Image ever record?
MH: Back in those days, there were very few local studios in our area, and recording time was really expensive so we concentrated on playing live. Early on we did try recording with reel-to-reel recorders, but the results were not what we had hoped for.
60s: Did The Turning Image write any original songs? Who was the band's primary songwriter?
MH: Yes; in fact, at our first battle of the bands, one of the songs was an original. And we wrote another one in the ‘70’s and made it part of our live act. We all contributed with the writing and arrangements equally.
60s: Do any '60's Turning Image recordings exist? Are there any vintage live recordings, or unreleased tracks?
MH: I do have a recording back in the real early days of just the original trio doing an instrumental. Gene has a tape of a performance in Maryland, but the condition of the tape is pretty old.
60s: What TV shows did The Turning Image appear on? Do you recall anything specific about the appearances?
MH: We appeared on local television back in 1969, on a program that was broadcast live and in color. Color TV was pretty much still in its infancy at that time, so the studio lights were quite hot and bright and they had four cameras pointed at us, and we were told to look at the one with the red light on. That TV appearance gave us good exposure and we gained immediate respect for bands who play live on television. It’s not as easy as it looks. Also, during that period, we had 2 Solid Gold-type dancers by the name of Linda Hixson (Larry's sister) and Sharon Stacy. Both of these girls were very pretty and really good dancers and added a lot to our show at the time. Linda also was our first official keyboard player.
60s: Does any home movie film footage exist of the band?
MH: Yes. Gerald Kay, our manager at the time, did shoot some video of us when we were on TV, which we only saw once. We lost track of him over 30 years ago, so the location and existence of that film is unknown.
60s: The Turning Image apparently played together until 1976. How do you explain the cohesiveness of the band during a time when the majority of local groups were unable to remain together once the musical trends began to change so greatly?
MH: We were blessed to have really good musicians who could adapt to almost anything that was popular at the time. The majority of the group could read music and that gave us a tremendous advantage. No matter what the trend was at the time, we could do it, which is why we chose the name “Turning Image” in the first place. We were always evolving. However, the biggest reason we stayed together for so long was that the personalities of the band members were such that we got along so well, and that remains so to this day.
60s: Why did the band break up in 1976?
MH: I guess you could say we became responsible adults. Tommy was married with kids; Gene was married and had moved out of the Northern Virginia area. I was getting married, and Dennis got accepted at a music college near Dallas, Texas. By that time, disco had taken over the airwaves and we did not want to be a disco band. Also, people had started to hire disc jockeys to supply their events with music for a fraction of what we were charging, so it was time to call it a day.
60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Turning Image?
MH: No. By that time I was happily married and remain so to this day. I was tired of being on the road every weekend and I knew I could never be in a band as successful as this one was.
60s: What keeps you busy today?
MH: For the past 36 years, I have been in the Civil Engineering business and it has been very good to me. But an interesting thing happened in 1992 that keeps me connected with music. I met the supergroup Three Dog Night through a mutual friend that year and shortly thereafter started volunteering my services to sell their merchandise at their concerts in the Mid-Atlantic. Since 1992, I have sold for them at almost 60 shows in seven states and it has been a lot of fun. I have gotten to know everyone in the group, and become especially good friends with Cory Wells, through whom I discovered this website when you did the interview with him on his early career. I think the world of Cory. He is so genuine and such a great guy, and we have become really good friends over the years.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Turning Image?
MH: We were so lucky to come along at a time when local radio stations were owned by people who really knew and loved music. It was not unusual to hear Frank Sinatra and The Iron Butterfly being played on the same AM station at the same time. We were exposed and inspired by the genius of Lennon-McCartney; the rebellion of Steppenwolf; the politics of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; the incredible vocal power of Three Dog Night; the jazz fusion of Chicago, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Steely Dan; the festivals of Woodstock, Monterey, and Altamont, etc. It was exploding all around us on both sides of the Atlantic and constantly challenged us as musicians. What started out as a three-piece group to meet girls on the weekend, evolved into a six-piece band, a van with our name on it, a two-man road crew (consisting of Larry Goodman and Tommy Dever), the best of equipment and a light show. I’m very proud of what we accomplished, and that Larry, Gene, Dennis and I remain the best of friends to this day over 40 years later.
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Postscript (February 2010)
Last September when we had the reunion, I really did not fully appreciate the fact that people had come from all over the U.S. to make it happen. As I walked in to the concert hall, there were two old black & white photos of us from 1969. I am not at all an emotional person; however, as we are getting ready to go on, I look out from the drum kit and it dawns on me that every single person in those two old photos from 40 years ago, is on stage, together, back in the city where it all began. I thought since those photos were taken we have gone through education, careers, marriage, children, in some cases divorce, grandchildren, relocating all over the U.S. (as far as California in one case), and yet by some miracle, the planets are aligned perfectly, and we are all together again for one more show. I really started to get a lump in my throat. All of these people made the sacrifices neccesary to travel here and make this event happen. When we started the band way back in 1967, who could ever envisioned this? Not to mention the fact that friends in the audience, such as Elaine Kaylor, traveled all the way from Wyoming. I have been so blessed to be a part of something that has been so special. You people ARE THE BEST.
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