In the summer of 1961, Newports drummer Scott
Mitchell and sax player Paul Demotto left for College, and pianist Dick
Heintze moved on from performing for a while to marry and start a
family. Blaine Smith (guitar) and Bill White (bass) reorganized the band
with new players, and now fronted by singer Cal Linley (Calvin
Linthicum’s stage name). The
photo below is unfortunately the only one we have from the period of
summer 1961 - summer 1963 when
Cal
fronted the group, in spite of numerous photos that we have from other periods. Taken
in summer 1962, at a dance at Kenwood Country Club, it shows our full
lineup at that time. Others who played in the Newports at sometime during this period
include Pepper Archenbeau (drums), Paul Clarke (tenor sax), Mike Smith
(piano), Dianne Meenahan and Pat Brown (“Filterettes”), and later on,
John Hurd (piano and organ).
The band’s popularity grew substantially during this period, and we
were often playing twice on weekends, even though we were all still high
school juniors and seniors. Gigs included school dances, CYO (Catholic
Youth Organization) and other church dances, private parties, some Milt
Grant events, a summer stint at Glen Echo Amusement Park, many record
hops for Wheaton radio station WDON, and other affairs.
The band also recorded several records during this period (see below),
and backed
Virginia
rockabilly singer Doug Powell on a record released by Mercury. |