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Nickel Revolution Looks Back on December 1967

Posted: November 12, 2011 in 1967

One of the great joys of publishing the Nickel Revolution website and blog is the discoveries members are making in their treasure boxes of rock and roll memories. Our bass player and forever member, Scott Jeffy, is a pretty organized guy and when he was going through his old Nickel Revolution stack of stuff, he discovered a calendar he had kept.

On the calendar he wrote where we were playing and how much revenue we generated. No surprise coming from an entrepreneurial family, Scott was tracking the money as a measure of our progress. The money we earned would go up every year and it is amazing when you convert 1960s dollars into 2011 dollars.

Here is a full overview of The Nickel Revolution’s December 1967 calendar of bookings, location and revenue.

Friday, December 1 –Wayzata High School, Wayzata, MN $120

Saturday, December 2 – Interlachen Ballroom, Fairmont, MN $130

Thursday, December 7 –Arch Bishop High School, St Paul, MN $120

Friday, December 8 –New City Opera House, Minneapolis, MN $88 (creative spelling on Nickel for 12/8…they got it right on 12/31)

Wednesday, December 13 – Bimbo’s, West Bank Minneapolis, MN $96

Friday, December 15 – Eaton Ranch, Mendota, MN $130

Saturday, December 16 –Chaska High School, Chaska, MN $185

Tuesday, December 19 – Magoo’s, Minneapolis, MN $70

Hey look–the Magoo’s discount of 25 cents is good today…and tomorrow it will be good too. Only problem is that they are out of business.

Thursday, December 21, Bimbo’s, Minneapolis, MN $72 Note that Scott marked, “scale” on the calendar for this date. As union members, this was the minimum rate required for musicians. And the union received copies of all contracts. You can see we played above union rates the majority of the time, as did other rock bands.

Also, the top venues in the Twin Cities did not pay what the out of town ballrooms and schools were willing to pay. Thankfully our agents, Central Booking Alliance, kept a nice balance of getting us into the top Minneapolis-St. Paul clubs to continue to build our local following while booking us out of town to generate a better income.

Friday, December 22, Lakeview High School, Cottonwood, MN $130

Saturday, December 23, Zumbrota High School, Zumbrota, MN $150

There is a memorable story on the trip down to Zumbrota in southern Minnesota. As you can see, the band was racking up a lot of miles and our entertainment on those trips was generally Ron “Honeybear” Hort with his endless humor. He found the name of the town, Zumbrota, funny. “We’re heading to Zumbrota,” quickly turned into, “That’s Zum (some) brota you got there.” His antics didn’t stop in the van, that evening he entertained the locals constantly saying, “Hey, that’s Zum Brota you got there.” A little glimpse into road trips with Bear.

Wednesday, December 27, Maple Lake Pavilion, Maple Lake, MN $120

Thursday, December 28, Adams High School, Adams, MN $175

Friday, December 29, Orchid Inn, Sleepy Eye, MN $150

Saturday, December 30, Someplace Else, Robbinsdale, MN $76

Sunday, December 31, New City Opera House, Minneapolis, MN $100

This New Year’s Eve gig was a blast to play. First of all it was heavily promoted on radio (WDGY and KDWB) and in the Minneapolis Tribune. Additionally, the club distributed posters and we have included a photo of one here. Notice how the art is drastically changing, just as the music was changing—going for more of a San Francisco, psychedelic look.

What made this gig extra special was the opportunity to play with so many bands that we were friends with. You played short sets, which meant only playing the “A” list songs and not the lesser tunes used to fill long four hour gigs, “everyone take two solos…we got time to fill.”

New City Opera House was one of our favorite places to play, located on Nicollet and Lake Street in Minneapolis. It was formally the historic, Mr. Lucky’s club. They remodeled, updated the stage lighting and changed the name to reflect the times and changes in musical direction.

They added a second venue next door call Magoo’s, which had a different feel. While New City Opera House was a rock club, Magoo’s was more laid back and the music wasn’t as loud. They served pizza and beer and had plenty of seating for the audience.

Let’s look again at the revenue side of things

December 1967

Total number of appearances: 17

Total Revenue: $1,912

Average per appearance: $112

Using an online inflation calculator will tell you the relative buying power of a dollar in the United States between any two years. In doing so, we have converted The Nickel Revolution’s December 1967 earnings into 2011 dollars

Conversion to 2011 Dollars

Total number of appearances: 17

Total Revenue: $12,738

Average per appearance: $749

$1,912.00 in 1967 had the same buying power as $12,737.70 in 2011. Annual inflation over this period was 4.40%.

How many local/regional bands earn $749 per night in 2011? The purpose of this illustration is to demonstrate how well musicians could do in what some people call the Golden Age of Rock—especially on a local/regional basis.

We welcome your comments and feedback on this blog. You can post here and share this with your friends via Facebook and Twitter (see easy links). If you want to email us any questions or comments: NickelRevolution@gmail.com

Visit our YouTube Channel to listen to our recordings

See these great websites for further insights to Twin Cities bands from the 50s, 60s, 70s:

http://www.jeanneandersen.net/musichighlights.html

http://minniepaulmusic.com/

Pre-Nickel Appearance with Dick Gregory

Posted: October 14, 2011 in 1967

Early in 1967, The Inchanters (pre-Nickel Revolution name) would take a 400 Mile RoadTrip (keep in mind, everyone was still in high school) to play in concert with Dick Gregory on Saturday, March 18, 1967. The venue was Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri (near St Joseph, Missouri).

Dick Gregory had a powerful talent for combining comedy with his civil rights activism. The band was looking forward to this gig that Dick Shapiro of Central Booking Alliance had arranged for them as Dick Gregory was well known and often appeared on network television, especially late shows like Johnny Carson and Steve Allen. Also appearing in concert was The Bagdad Orchestra (big band swing). So, The Inchanters were included to entice the university rockers to attend.

Visit Dick Gregory here:

http://www.dickgregory.com/

It was a wonderful opportunity, especially backstage, to meet and interact with Dick Gregory. A fine gentleman filled with wit and humor. Learning about him today will reveal how important a part he played in bringing civil rights front and center—no longer shoved to the back of the bus. This was a rare opportunity for a white rock band from Minnesota and the guys were grateful for the invitation (plus universities paid well too).

The line-up in the band at this time was Ron “Honeybear” Hort (keyboards), Jeff Simon (lead guitar), Scott Jeffy (bass), Louie Lenz (rhythm guitar) and Jerry Lenz (drums).

Road Trip Photos

* Special mention to Louie and Jerry’s younger brother Allen Lenz: “thanks brother for scribbling all over my Dick Gregory autograph!”

Visit our YouTube Channel to listen to our recordings

See these great websites for further insights to Twin Cities bands from the 50s, 60s, 70s:

http://www.jeanneandersen.net/musichighlights.html

http://minniepaulmusic.com/

How We Became The Nickel Revolution

Posted: October 6, 2011 in 1967

After beginning this blog and announcing our reunion, we started getting questions about the band from friends and family. One of the most-asked questions is, “How did you get the name, The Nickel Revolution?”

If you’ve read the post, “Before The Nickel Revolution,” you’ve already learned that we began as the “Wailing Phantoms,” for a couple of months and then renamed the group, “The Inchanters.” The group included Keith Follese, Scott Jeffy, Louie and Jerry Lenz.

Later under the Inchanters, Ron Honeybear Hort would replace Follese on keyboards and we’d add Jeff Goldberg on lead guitar. This would be late 1966-67. Most every band goes through name changes and as the styles of music expanded with more rock/R&B/blues/folk influences, so too did groups adapt and decide to put a fresh coat of paint on their brand. We were ready to change as our repertoire was expanding. Our agents, Central Booking Alliance, also wanted us to do so, and the process of finding a new name began.

We had developed a list of potential names and one Saturday morning we were sitting about the kitchen table at Scott’s house, working on the new name thing. Scott grabbed the Minneapolis Tribune to see if anything would spark an idea. It did, as he spotted an article about a nickel shortage…and a revolution of sorts.

Thanks to the internet, we located a source that describes what was happening with nickels in the late 60s. The disappearance of 90% silver coins from circulation in the US in the mid-1960s created a desire for the coins. People quickly realized that the debased copper sandwich coins were low-value, so folks started saving every pre-1965 (90% silver) coin that they could find. This resulted in a coin shortage from 1965 to 1967. It created a nickel revolution (saving the old coins instead of spending them) and the government having to rush production on the cheaper nickel coin.

So, there really is a good story behind the name, The Nickel Revolution.

The name was an instant “like” among the members and the experts at Central Booking Alliance dubbed it, “perfect,” because it fit right in with the emerging rock bands of the era; Pink Floyd, Canned Heat, Vanilla Fudge, Three Dog Night. You can quickly see how a name like Nickel Revolution was very marketable.

The logo and design of The Nickel Revolution can be credited to the talents of Skip Dahlin who was the original bass guitar player of the Accents. Skip was a gifted illustrator and many bands called on his creativity to come up with the right look and design. For the Nickel Revolution, Skip keyed in on the Indian Head Nickel, and thus the brave’s head is the centerpiece of the Nickel Revolution’s logo. It worked perfect for Jerry’s bass drum head and always drew rave reviews wherever the band played.

Listen to The Nickel Revolution now on You Tube

Link for Sweet, Sweet Lovin’: Sweet, Sweet Lovin’

Link for Treat Her Right: Treat Her Right

See these great websites for further insights to Twin Cities bands from the 50s, 60s, 70s:

http://www.jeanneandersen.net/musichighlights.html

http://minniepaulmusic.com/

The Young Rascals Experience November 1967

Posted: August 27, 2011 in 1967

The Nickel Revolution had a very good relationship with our agent, Dick Shapiro of Central Booking Agency. We came from business families and knew the importance of being on time. The importance of being reliable and following through. So, when Dick needed a band he trusted to be the Minneapolis Ambassadors for The Young Rascals, he called upon The Nickel Revolution.

It was November 1967 and the Young Rascals were one of the hottest bands in the USA when their tour came to Minneapolis. Dick Shapiro booked the group and WDGY was the presenting radio station for the concert at Minneapolis Auditorium.

The Nickel Revolution met the Rascals at the airport, helped them sort out their equipment and loaded it into the Nickel Revolution van and trailer for transport to the Minneapolis Auditorium.

Before the concert and after the concert, we were invited to hang out backstage with The Young Rascals and had a blast getting to know them better.

The Saturday night concert was a huge success for Dick Shaprio of Central Book and WDGY. We were thrilled to play a small part in it. On Sunday, we met the band at their hotel, and helped transport everything back to the airport. Again, we walked them down to their gate, still having a blast.

Enjoy the photos from our experience!