Oct. 3, 1970: The Coincidentals

 

Bassist Pete Haskell, who has hung his hat in his hometown of Elmira for the past two decades plus and has kept playing music professionally. He also has reunited regularly over the years with his bandmates in the Coincidentals and has been a longtime member of Local 92, AFM, the musicians’ union in Buffalo.

What’s more, Pete still has a great collection of photos, including the one which accompanies this article and a few with Stan Szelest. Check them out on his website, peterhaskell.com, along with his memories about the bands he played with in the 1960s. 

Oct. 3, 1970

The Coincidentals

They Follow the Middle Ground 

The TV flickers noiselessly in color on some Canadian station and that green push-button phone is miraculously quiet for an afternoon like this at Pete Haskell’s house in Depew.

Up above the chair where drummer Joe Ferrara sits is a photo of The Coincidentals when Pete’s blonde wife, Dee Anna, was still singing with them and singer Stan Robbins was Stanley Pembleton, U.S. Army.

Stan’s a little late. Out buying shoes for his daughter. And it’s a Monday anyway, everybody’s day off from that six-night-a-week gig which agent Fred Saia got them more than a year ago at the Page One in Williamsville.

* * *

THE COINCIDENTALS feel amazingly like Pete’s household. Neat. Comfortable, relaxed and happy. Which isn’t easy for musicians

Maybe it has something to do with earning as much as factory or office workers. Maybe it’s because they’re in that easy time between youth and middle age. Or maybe it comes from being musicians for so long.

One way or another, The Coincidentals have been around ever since Pete and guitarist Ed Blodgett got a band together when they were both students at UB.

“We’ve probably put as much time into this as some people do to become doctors,” Pete says, “although we’re not as highly paid. We’ve spent at least 10 years learning and we’re still learning.”

“You have to look at it as a business,” Ed points out. “And you have to make money.”

* * *

THE DIFFERENCE between this and other jobs is that you deduct your own taxes, take out your own Blue Cross and pay both halves of your Social Security. They wonder if they should incorporate – Coincidentals Inc.

A far cry from 10 years ago. Pete was fresh from the Navy and playing with bands where he was stationed down South. His father wanted him to be an architect, but he took music instead.

And Ed, who had played with makeshift bands in Cuba, N.Y., was weighing music against the psychology he was studying. Psychology finally lost four years later.

* * *

“LET ME find those pictures,” Pete says. “I’ve got a picture taken in 1963 that you won’t be-LIEVE.”

There’s one from 1960 with Pete, and that’s Cory Wells, now with Three Dog Night. They were packing a club called Lulubelle’s on Best Street and they played a lot of Ray Charles.

The one of Stan & The Ravens was taken in 1962. Stan Szelest looks like Dr. Caligari. There’s Coincidentals sax player Nick Salamone, Pete and Sandy Konikoff, who’s been drumming for Joe Cocker lately.

Dee Anna came along on New Year’s 1962-63. Stan & The Ravens were at The Hideaway and she begged to sing.

“She knocked me out,” Pete says. When he got The Coincidentals back in gear, he called her up.

Dee Anna had a twin sister, Sandy, who sang, and both were with the group in 1964 when it toured Air Force bases from Florida to Greenland with Nick playing horn and Stan Robbins on drums.

Joe Ferrara, who began drumming on a set of boxes at home, joined in 1965 after playing with The Vibratos in all those Dellwood Ballroom hops.

* * *

GUITARIST Jim Davidson, Sandy’s husband, joined the group in 1966 when Ed, Nick and Stan all went into the service and The Coincidentals did a lot of Sergio Mendes.

Then Pete, Dee Anna, Jim and Sandy all went to New York City to sing some things for producer Bob Crewe, who deftly named them Wives & Lovers, after a song that was popular then. They recorded four tunes. None has been released.

* * *

MEANWHILE, in Buffalo, they were doing jingles. Pete even has the tapes:

“If it’s now, if it’s new, you’ll find more of it at …” (store name omitted ... anybody remember what it was?) And one for a supermarket.

They built quite a following. They even got a fan club – The Board of Directors. But they never stayed more than two consecutive weeks in one place until they hit the Page One.

“The owner, Joe Marina, he’ll do anything for you,” Nick says. “That’s why we’ve been there so long, because of him. He’ll let you do your job and he won’t interfere.”

“He’s the best boss we ever had,” Pete adds. “He has us in his own home constantly. It’s like he’s adopted us.”

On stage, The Coincidentals know their job and their sound is as comfortable as they are. Full, but not loud. Lively, but not heavy. And they can harmonize like the Four Freshmen.

“We hit a happy medium,” Nick remarks. “Older people come in and say, ‘I hate rock ‘n roll, but when you guys play it, I like it.’ They understand the words and they understand the rhythm.”

“We’re the only group in town that you can understand the words to ‘Delta Lady,’” Stan puts in.

Pete calls the tunes and counts them down. Also may say a few words to the crowd. A whole line of patter – a show – isn’t what makes it six nights a week, week after week. The music keeps things moving.

* * *

THEY practice on Fridays and get together on at least one break a night to polish up harmonies. Pete writes out arrangements and new songs usually come pretty quickly, like “Candida” last week.

“What we do is pick the best of the Top 10 and make them better,” Pete comments. “Musically, ‘Candida’ doesn’t offer much, but people love it. Every break they’re playing it on the jukebox.”

Putting the audience and the group sound first can cause problems. The Coincidentals talk about two. 

The first is clothes.

“That’s one of the biggest hassles this group has,” Nick says. “We like to dress the same on stage. And do you know how hard it is to go around the city and try to find five suits the same? In all our sizes?”    

* * *

THE SECOND problem is enthusiasm.

“It’s hard sometimes,” Joe says. “Here you’re not playing for yourself. You’re playing for the unit. I feel it’s a matter of maturity. You don’t feel you have to knock your brains out.”

“If you’re really competent,” Pete adds, “you want to play something fancy instead of simple things, especially if you see another musician out there. But you can’t.”

“It’s good music,” Ed offers. “The musicians may not follow us, but the people do.” 

The box/sidebar 

Seeking a New Name 

Pertinent and impertinent information about The Coincidentals:

Pete Haskell, 31, bass guitar, grew up in Elmira, attended UB, married, a son.

Ed Blodgett, 27, guitar, Cuba, N.Y., High School, UB psychology graduate, married, a son.

Nick Salamone, 28, sax and flute, Bennett High School, “College? I went to the Adirondacks and took a gig,” married, a daughter.

Stan Robbins, 27, vocals and percussion, Burgard Vocational, married, a daughter.

Joe Ferrara, 25, drums, Seneca Vocational, attended Buffalo State, married.

* * *

NEXT WEEK The Coincidentals plan to go into Jerry Meyers’ Act-One Recording Studios. When they come out, they’ll be hoping they’ve laid down a hit record and they’ll probably have a new name.

“We’ve been working on some new material written by Jake (Don Jakubowski, recently organist with The Road) and we’ve got some ideas on other things we want to do,” says Pete, who played on the upcoming Joe Jeffrey single.

“The name of the group definitely will be changed,” he adds. “We’ve had the name 10 years and it’s dated, even though it’s got a reputation and a drawing power in Buffalo. Jerry’s going to pick a name. Something current.”