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PIGNEMONTHEWIZARDSFRONIGNSAS

Lawrence, ansas s a typicalU.S.College ourn.Homeof The University fKansas,Lawrence as alwaysbeen a smallcultr. i :-alasis n the vast Mid-Westplains.A placewhere he farm boy goes o l ive l-: big city i feand the city boygoes o party. n the 1960'sLawrence as ullyentrenchedn the Hippie ifestyle,trying to duplicatewhat the West Coast brethrenhad created during the"summerOf Love".Musicwas a big part of the sceneand bands rom nearbyKansasCitygravitatedowards he smellof incense manatingrom Lawrence.In 1968Pig Newtonwas born.Ron Sandhaus nd Bob Menadier ere n TheAbstracts, localK.C. rock band.Across own the band "ln BlackAnd White"were urningheadswith heirbrandof psychedelic luesbut membersRobCrainand Hal Piercewere ookingo expand heirsound.By the end of '68 the bandmanaged o recrui t rummerMarcCaplanwho w-rsplaying ouland rockwithlocals RudyAnd The Fascinat ions".y 1969 f ie band were regulars t themany Lawrence Be-lrts"and benefit howsas we!rat the legendary ansasCityVolkerParkwhichhadbecome gather ingpot o ' theci ty 'sHippie ont ingency.Pig Newtoncreatedmusic hat was a strangebrew of varying nfluencesranging rom Love,Jefferson irplane, he Byrds .lnd he GratefulDead o TheBluesProject, ohn Mayall,The Roll ingStonesand included he rich history fKansasCityRhythm& Blues, he band's r ig inalunesweredist inct iven thei r)azzy approach owards he emergingpsychedella nd their trademark oundcould be easily ecognized hen they tackleda classiccover une like Dylan's"AllAlong The Watchtower". uring he schoolsemester he band stayedbusyplaying egulargigs for the University rowd, brjrt he summerusualiy eanihaving o find a part ime ob to makeends meet.Facedwith that reality n theSummerof '69 the banddecided o take o the rrrad n thei rblue 1953SchoolBus. A friendhad offereda place o stay in Phiiadelphiao that became heband'sdestination.t was here hat he name Pig,Newton& The WizardsFromKansas"was born whichof coursewas latershortenedwhen Pig Newtonwassentpacking.Once heysettled n the CityOf Brotl ierly ove, he bandmanagedto landan odd assortment f gigs, ncluding two week stayat a "BikerBar' l nsea View, connect icutwhich ncluded ree lodgingamongsta group of Ex-Convicts and Bikers the l ikes of which these Mid-West boys were notaccustomedo. A successful igduring his wo weekstaywas any one at whichthe bikersdecidednot o "messwith he band".Tfrepig NewtonSummerof '6gTourhitsuchbastions f psychedelias The ChezParee(An tlanticCity esbianbar)and the CafeAu Go Go in Greenwich il lagewhichwas favorably eviewedin Bi l lboard agazine.

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Amazingly,till ntact y heendof heSummer,hebandheaded ack o thecomforts f home.Drummerv{arc aplan'sarentsinanced recordingessionat he ocalCavern oundStr"idioso help heband anda better ecordingeal.Mercuryadalreadyignedrieband o a minimalealbut hebandwas ookingformore.Elektra entguitarnaster onnieMack o Lawrenceo listen ndhangoutwith heband. heywere nterestedutdecided ot o buyout hecontractwithMercury. apitol howed reat nterestoobutnothing vercameof it.TheCavernSound apescontainhe first ecordedersions f six songs hat aterappeared n he Mercury P.Theearlierecordingf "CloudsOf Exchange"hatappears n this LP was made o land a gig at the Fillmore astand wasmotivatedy an ad n Rolling toneMagazine hebandgot hegigandplayedonThanksgivingeekend f 69.When heband inally otserious bout oingan LP orMercuryheyweregivenhechoice f recordingnWoodstock,.Y. rSan Francisco.heyheaded estbut eplaceduitarist andhaus ithanother"ln BlackAndWhite" lumni ohnCoffin t Mercury'sromptingnd heyspentseveralmonths t Mercury's ission treetStudio.Duringhis imeotheractsweresharinghestudioikeVanMorrison,owerOf Power, oldBlood ndTheSirDouglas uintet. heMercury Pwas eleased ithoutmuchpromotionnddidn't el lnearly swellas heband nd he abel adhoped. y heFall f 1g70the boyswereout of moneyand hadno significantigson the horizon. hemembers egan o explore tltermusicalnterestsnd hebandevaporatedntothepungent anFranciscoir.Themusic ound n hisLP hasgoneunheardornearly 0years.Rockadelicwould ike o thank heband nembersorallowings o exposehe bandat heirbest.TheWizards ave ongbeen egends mongsthosepsychedelicans inthe know" ndnowa newgenerationf musicanscanappreciateheirgenius.Andsomeof youmaywonder....wherere hey oday???BobMenadiers aparalegaln LosAngeles hileHalPierce ndRonSandhausreboth awyersnKansas ity.RobCrain esigns ndsells everagequipmentn Denver ndstillrecords riginalmusic n his homestudio.MarcCaplan unsa smallcontractfurniture ompany nd s stillan active layer n the bluesand azzscene nKansas ity, eleasingeveral D'sover he ast ewyears ndbeinghedrivingforcebehindhisproject.Rockadel ic would l ike to express sincere thanks to thefol lowing folks who helped on this project. TomSorre l ls , Mark Fre l lberg, Clark Fav i l le , PaulPennington, Stan Getz and L isa Caplan

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