March 18, 1972: Junction West

 

Wherein the writer reveals his meandering mental processes before finally getting down to business with an early version of a  band that was part of the Buffalo scene for many, many years: 

March 18, 1972 

A Winding Road

To Junction West 

        THE LONG and winding road to Junction West began with one of my favorite reveries. A promo man’s phone call last week started it off.

        “How’d you like to come down to The Nugget in Rochester next Tuesday and talk to Harry Chapin?” he offers.

        “You know,” I say, “Buffalo could use a place like that, bringing in people once a week like Chapin and Shawn Phillips and all. Nobody’s doing it here since Aliotta’s and Gilligan’s shut down.”

        That old fantasy about opening up a real music showcase club with local and national groups, there’s always two things that shoot it down.

* * *

FIRST, the music guys at UB bring in a lot of those people by themselves. The second comes home next day when somebody tells me what it cost to do up The Cross Bow.

        Seems the owners of the Keystone 90s in Lockport bought the Sizzle Steak House out on Sheridan Drive just east of Niagara Falls Boulevard, gave it an Olde Englishe touch and plan to bring in rock groups, some of them from Syracuse and Rochester.

        When the guy says they’ve come on heavy about getting free plugs for the place, it hit a nerve. I shrugged. Get to The Cross Bow in due time.

        The Sizzle, a folk coffeehouse, turned into a rock bar. Looks like the mini-folk revival is going down the pike. Good angle for the story coming up about those two folk guys.

        But halfway through a Tom Naples & Jack George set at Rosary Hill College that night, it all seemed unfair. Unfair to blister their still-tender careers with harsh light. Unfair also to dozens of other musicians who’ve been waiting longer.

        Like The Small Society. Felt like a white-hat good guy rolling out Falls Boulevard to see them at the Mark James Saturday night. Scurried away like a rat, criticizing my standards for dedication and showmanship all the way to North Tonawanda’s Wa-Ha-Kie.

* * *

A GUY NAMED Ed McDonald matches me up with my record review picture and tells me I’ll like this new group Warm Honey better than Parkside, who are finishing a set. Four or five songs tell me that despite Warm Honey’s talents, Parkside’s safe for a couple months yet.

        Wide-eyed now as Little Alex in “A Clockwork Orange,” the next move is a Sunday night snooker at The Hilltoppers on The Showboat. Used to be a guy from Fredonia with them, but he’s long gone. So is the freshness of 15 years ago, though they still make a living off it.

        Blue Monday brings news that the folk trio Orion evaporated along with the snow during their all-winter gig at Kissing Bridge. So much for the folk revival. At this late moment, there was one last possibility.

        The irony was as thick as the sleet as I scampered damply into, of all places, The Cross Bow, and settled into a pitcher of Canadian foamy amongst the tables left over from the Sizzle, not far from the bounce and raunch of the bartenders. OK, Junction West, get it on.

        And they did. Grand Funk with a little freakout organ and a splash of drum solo building to a killer ending. And “Hallelujah” by Sweathog.

* * *

ALL THE HEAVY rock essences carried off PRE-cisely. Words swallowed by the music (like the originals), leaving simple shouted declamations between choruses of sweet harmonies, two-, three- and four-part over that big Ovation PA with the quad horns that’s got just the right edge for this trebly room.

        They opened the place two weeks ago Sunday, packed it that night with friends they’ve been gathering over the past six months.

        They’ll be back next week Tuesday through Sunday. April 1, 2, 5, 7 and 8, they’ll open the season at Bemus Point’s Surf Club and April 14 it’s the teen center at Lafayette and Congress in Buffalo.

        With Sam & Dave’s “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby,” the inspiration for neatly-executed choreography by the lead singers Paul Campanella and Rob Horvatits becomes apparent.

        These guys grew up on mid ‘60s soul. Why, people used to flock to The Zodiac every midnight last fall just to hear their Rascals medley.

* * *

WHAT HURTS organist Peter Viapiano, who has a deep admiration for Felix Cavaliere, is that 80 percent of the high school kids now don’t know who The Rascals are.

        Another influence comes out in “A Taste of Honey.” It’s The Road’s arrangement. And they’re set up to cop it proper – two guitars, two singers, the organ.

        “The Road had such fabulous vocals,” Rob says.

        “I respect Jerry Hudson a great deal,” Paul adds. “He really knows how to get people moving.”

        “Don’t forget the show,” Peter says. “That’s our goal.”

        The group sees themselves in transition from their Three Dog Night days to becoming a high-powered show band. Booking agent Frank Sansone has been giving them pointers.

     Paul does the choreography in addition to being group spokesman, guitarist Mike Kucharski picks tunes, Rob arranges vocals.

        Meanwhile, bass guitarist Joe Secchiaroli minds the electricals, drummer Ron Sutliffe looks after finances, Peter handles transportation (they also practice at his house) and guitarist Mike Kobrin is social director and joke teller.

        “We’re like seven business partners,” Paul says, “and when we’re not in music we’re like the closest of friends. There’s not a night that some of us aren’t getting together. We go roller skating together. Tobogganing.

        “The show is like an old soul revue with music of the ‘60s – Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Righteous Brothers. If you’ve ever seen a soul revue, you know the way it gets people moving. It’s exciting.

* * *

“WE LIKE to hit the emotions of the people. Make ‘em laugh, move, cry. We like to get them involved, we like to be in constant contact with the people.”

        It happens in Chicago’s “Beginnings.” They stretch out the rhythmic section into “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and beyond that, a general call for the crowd to get up before they go into “Higher.”

        “We wanta make you happy,” Paul shouts. “That’s what we’re here for, that’s right, get up over there, c’mon, everybody here get up. OK, now, everybody jump up and down.”

        The bartenders dig it too. The burly one chuckles, “Haven’t had so much fun since I broke those fingers.” 

The box/sidebar:

A Sign Named Them 

Pertinent information about Junction West:

        Paul Campanella, 19, vocals, guitar and flute, Cardinal Dougherty High School, single.

        Rob Horvatits, 19, vocals and organ, Kenmore West, attending Erie Community College, single.

        Mike Kucharski, 20, guitar, flute and vocals, Maryvale High, sophomore at Canisius College, single.

        Mike Kobrin, 21, guitar and vocals, Bennett High, auto parts clerk, single.

        Peter Viapiano, 20, organ, piano and vocals, Cleveland Hill High, attending ECC, single.

            Joe Secchiaroli, 19, bass guitar, Hutch Tech, single.

        Ron Sutliffe, 22, drums, Kenmore West, attending ECC, married.

* * *

AFTER THE break-up of Soft Stone in mid-1970, Paul got together with three other members of the group – Mike Kucharski, Peter and Joe – plus Ron, whom he’d been with in Mixed Bag. And another singer and guitarist who left last summer.

        Rob, who had been in a band with Paul way back in eighth grade, came in last August and he brought in Mike Kobrin, a veteran of the Weekend Trip. Both had been in Amber Hill.

* * *

THE NAME came from a sign on Union Road at the Airport Plaza when Paul was singing with a couple guys with Flash. They all thought the name was good, but didn’t use it. With their permission, Paul took it when this band organized.

* * * * *

IN THE PHOTO: Front, from left, Peter Viapiano and Joe Secchiaroli; seated in the middle, Paul Campanella; standing, from left, Rob Horvatits, Mike Kobrin, Mike Kucharski and Ron Sutliffe.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTE: “For many Buffalonians, Junction West was the ‘70s,” the band’s Buffalo Music Hall of Fame bio declares. They played that funky music as the house band at the Executive and the Playboy Club and toured all the way down to the Florida Keys. But by that time, the lineup had undergone many changes. Among the players was legendary drummer Ted Reinhardt, a Hall of Famer in his own right. Key figure in it all was singer Harry Stewart, who was not yet part of the fold in March 1972, but who kept the band alive after it faltered in the 1980s.

After Harry’s death in 2010, his singing partner Joey James revived the group.  He brought in Maria Angelova to sing, reconnected with Ted and former keyboardist Kevin DellaPenta, added guitarist Frank Grizanti and bassist Bill Ludwig, and recruited the Hitmen Horns. High point was a sold-out show at the Tralf in November 2012.

        Poking around the internet, we find guitarist Mike Kucharski and organist Peter Viapiano leaving Junction West in the early 1970s to hook up with singer Jerry Hudson of The Road in a group called After Dark, which lasted a year.

        The band’s other guitarist, Mike Kobrin, traveled extensively with another funky Buffalo show group, United Sound, and returned to play with Lance Diamond and the band Hernandez.

        The website for Terrie George and the Shadows notes that singer Paul Campanella founded the original Shadows and moved to Las Vegas in the early ‘90s.

He just might be Paul X. Campanella, Hollywood actor who’s appeared in a bunch of films and TV shows. Also started his own production company to make films of his screenplays. His bio on IMDb notes that he is “known for intense character portrayals.” Picture in the Las Vegas Tribune in 2017, singing at an Italian-American club event, sure looks like that guy.

        The Erie Community College alumni website shows a photo of singer Rob Horvatits sitting at a keyboard, says he lives in the Orlando, Fla., area and lists him as an “Independent Entertainment Professional” with interests in computer software.

And then there’s bassist Joe Secchiaroli, who could be doing business as Joe the Off-Grid Guy in Williamsville, offering solar-powered air conditioning. What makes me think he's the right Joe? The Off-Grid Guy got an electrical engineering degree from Erie Community College in 1974.