April 18, 1970: The Road

After Raven in 1970, there was The Road. They also had just played Kleinhans Music Hall. They, too, had a record contract. They were pop stars, adored by throngs of teens. Then they wanted to be taken seriously …

 

Saturday, April 18, 1970

 

The Road – Upward

 

New Understanding,

Contract, Music

 

You had to be at that concert in Kleinhans Music Hall March 17 to see how tough things really are for The Road.

It should have been beautiful. There they were, playing opposite the Grateful Dead, playing under Lukas Foss, playing a well-polished set of their own.

But did the crowd go crazy for them? Did these kids, kids their own age, a serious rock crowd, did these people even care?

* * *

THE OTHER side of the story was The Buffalo Evening News fashion show a week later.

The Road was there, brought back by popular demand, for the third year in a row. For 11,000 teenage girls over three days. Last year the crowd stormed the stage and the group wound up bumped, bruised, tattered and, well …

That’s the problem. Can the biggest rock band in Buffalo, the biggest, yes, in all Western New York, with fan clubs in West Seneca and Tonawanda, can they change their appeal? Can The Road escape the past and become “meaningful”?

They’re working at it. It’s evident as the seven of them talk in manager Fred Saia’s second-floor office along the asphalt plain of Niagara Falls Boulevard.

* * *

IT TAKES a while to sort everybody out. Organist Jim Hesse, standing next to a wall full of group pictures, explains who’s who.

There’s Jerry and Phil Hudson and Nick DiStefano, they’re the singers. Nick used to be on drums. Jim’s brother, Joe, who plays bass; guitarist Ralph J. Parker and drummer Larry Rizzuto, who rejoined the group six months ago. He’s not on their album.

And then there’s Fred, jovial and confident. Gordon of the Gordon-James Photography studio next door. He and his partner did the album-cover photo.

Plus producer Rick Sargent, looking a little like Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane. Danny Sansanese, Fred’s partner, who sits quietly. And Tom Schlum, the group’s equipment handler.

* * *

FRED EXPLAINS just how successful The Road has been.

Their remake of the 1965 Zombies hit, “She’s Not There,” sold 60,000 copies in the Buffalo area alone and 250,000 nationwide, he says. It was number 76 in the country.

“It sold here more than a million seller would,” Rick Sargent adds. “Some guy told me Wilmer & the Dukes were a bigger outfit, but they haven’t sold nearly that many records.”

The Road’s latest single, Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul,” is 27th in Detroit, Fred says. Top 20 in Seattle and Phoenix. He produces a February copy of Billboard. The Road’s album is 199th for the second week.

* * *

THE GROUP is playing Wednesdays now at Gilligan’s. Next Friday they’re at Frontier Central High School. A week from tonight they’re at Williamsville North. A week from tomorrow at Genesee Community College with The Byrds.

On May 1, it’s the official opening of The Gallery in Niagara Falls, May 2 at Lewiston-Porter High, May 3 at Alfred Tech. Then it’s West Seneca High May 8 and Salamanca High May 9. They’re booked for July 4. LeisureLand.

“We’re stable,” curly-headed Phil observes. “It’s a good point to be at as a group. There’s only one way to go. Next year we want to be at the top. But it’s going to take a lot of work and a lot of recording and a lot of the types of thing people want to hear.”

“I just got a call yesterday,” Fred says. “We’re going to record in three weeks. In New York City probably.”

* * *

THIS WILL BE the first recording under the new three-year contract The Road has with Kama Sutra. Three singles and another album this year, Fred says.

Nobody is sure what’s going to be recorded, but Jerry says they have some ideas. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” a Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell hit. “Touch My Sky,” which Jerry wrote.

“We’re writing some things, finally,” Jerry says. “We should be coming up with some more original material in the next few weeks. Just about everybody’s writing.”

“We have more or less a variety of sounds,” Phil says. “Anything that consists of harmony. You might say poly-chordal.

What music do they like? Phil digs “anything beautiful.” Jerry likes harmony and good lyrics that explain something simply. Jim likes Chicago. For Joe, it’s “anything well-done, but not too much of any one thing.” Larry says Beatles, Chicago, Blind Faith and Bach.

“I like Lukas Foss,” Jerry adds. “He goes: ‘You’re going to play this part like a cloud hanging over everything.’ He called it his dream. Long-hair music obliterated by pop.”

“The music causes some disagreement, but it’s not a major problem,” says Ralph, squinting his eyes. “Not as much as it used to be. We have more of an understanding now.”

* * *

THEY attribute this to Scientology, which all but Ralph and Larry have gotten into this year.

“We heard a talk at the center on Kenmore Avenue,” Phil says. “We went into it on our own, looking for answers. I think our lives have become more peaceful. Relations in the group picked up 100 percent.”

Scientology, original material, this could be the year things get really big.

“The whole Buffalo scene is getting better,” Joe says. “There are a lot of good groups coming up around here. This is going to be a big music city someday. Give it another year.”

 

And once again, there’s the box, the sidebar:

 

Spin-Offs From Other Groups

 

Some pertinent and impertinent information about The Road:

Jerry, 21, the leader, birthday Dec. 4, and his brother, Phil, 20, birthday Feb. 21, both graduates of Cardinal O’Hara High School, both single.

Nick, 21, birthday June 16, graduate of Frontier Central High School, married, one daughter.

Joe, 23, birthday June 20, and his brother, Jim, 22, birthday Nov. 20, both graduates of Kenmore East High School. Joe is married, has a son. Jim has had a steady girl for about a year.

Ralph, or sometimes R. J., 21, birthday April 21, graduate of St. Joseph’s High School, married.

Larry, 20, birthday Jan. 20, graduate of Bennett High School, married.

Rick Sargent’s biography of the group says they got together in September 1967. Jerry, Phil and Ralph were half of the Six Pact. Joe and Nick came from Just Us Five. Larry was playing with the Ugly Brothers and Jim came from Caesar & The Romans.

At first they were The Mellow Brick Rode. Their first single, “All Your Eggs in One Basket,” came out in summer 1968 with that name.

        “We changed it that winter,” Jerry recalls. “There was a legal hassle and the name was kinda teeny-boppish. We didn’t like the fairy-tale thing. The Road is shorter, more stable. And everybody was calling us that anyway."